Stop violence against children

TOMORROW is the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression.
Violence has claimed the lives of too many children every year, and affects millions worldwide.
Violence comes in many forms.
Children are too often at the receiving end of acts of aggression, whether they be related to armed conflict, gangs or violence at home or in school.
The day was established to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse, and to re-affirm the importance of protecting the rights of children.
However, it is also a time to recognise the resilience children can show, and how, with the right support, they can prove that being born into conflict does not have to define their lives.
Child abuse and brutality is one of the most disturbing realities of our times.
Young children are the most vulnerable and hence an easy target for bullies and other perpetrators of aggression and violence.
Most common types of child abuse are – physical, sexual and emotion.
Physical abuse is injury caused to a child from physical aggression. The injury may result from beating, pushing, shaking, kicking, throwing and burning with hot objects.
Many children are physically abused by someone close to them.
Hundreds of thousands of children die from injuries inflicted upon them.
For those who survive physical abuse, emotional scars are deeper than the physical scars.
Sexual abuse is when a child is sexually abused when they are forced to take part in sexual activities. Globally, about 1.8 million children are victims of prostitution and pornography.
Every year, one million children fall prey to trafficking.
Sexual abuse is never the child’s fault. It is the responsibility of the adult not to engage in sexual acts with children, regardless of the child’s behaviour.
Emotional abuse is the most common type of child abuse.
Children can be emotionally abused by their parents, teachers, peers, or other adults in positions of power.
A child suffering emotional abuse shows signs of low self-esteem, social withdrawal and lack of social skills.
Emotional abuse can have a far more long-lasting negative effect than physical or sexual abuse.
In May 2021, a Special Parliamentary Committee examined measures to prevent violence against women and girls.
The inquiry found a lack of support, funding, and coordination from the government contributed to an inadequate response to the high volume of cases of violence against women and girls.
The committee was told in 2020, approximately 15,000 cases of domestic violence were reported, but only 300 people were prosecuted, and 100 people were convicted.
Police officials admitted at the inquiry that the police force cannot currently keep women and children safe and lack resources for thorough investigations.
Rates of family and sexual violence are among the highest in the world and perpetrators are rarely prosecuted.
The extent of such cases in PNG is not known partly because there is no effective reporting system.
Also most of them reported as abuses are carried out in secret and are performed on a vulnerable group who are helplessly dependent upon their adult counterparts to take some form of remedial or corrective measures.
Depending on the age of these children and the status of their case, a prolonged absence of need can lead to a sense of isolation, loneliness and anxiety.
Imagine being a child who has been removed from the secure environment of their family.
Violence faced at a very young age scars a person for life.
Each one of us has a duty to protect the fundamental rights of our children.
Let us not steal away the childhood from the young, innocent minds who will lead PNG tomorrow.