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2,295 reports of child abuse cases for 2013 – Minister Webster
A total of 2,295 reports of child abuse cases were received in 2013, in addition to 1,473 cases of neglect, according to the Minister of Human Services Jennifer Webster.
Minister of Human Services Jennifer Webster
“In 2014, we plan to up the ante because we have noticed a trend of parents neglecting their children, leaving their homes and leaving small minors unattended for extended periods of time and we plan to pursue the law as it relates to those parents, because we feel that this should not be allowed to happen within our society,” Webster said
There were 574 reported cases of sexual abuse. Minister Webster said that neglect remains the main cause of abuse.
“We feel that this should not be allowed to happen within our society… our children are our nation’s future, so in 2014 you can look forward to heightened focus as it relates to children being neglected by their parents,” Webster underscored.
According to international reports, children are daily beaten up in the worst ways as a form of punishment for wrongdoing and hourly children are being sexually violated, grossly neglected, rejected and abandoned by their parents: Abandoned being used in the wider sense of not being loved, wanted and accepted by the parent. The home has proven to be the most dangerous place for a child.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) children are entitled to grow up in an environment that ensures they are protected.
The organisation helps create a protective environment for children that fortify them against abuse in the same way that good health and adequate nutrition strengthen them against disease.
“Creating this protective environment is the best way we can safeguard children from abuses,” the body emphasises.
The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security does this by raising awareness and enhancing capacities at various levels of society and in the government. And the Ministry advocates that all children are entitled to protection – as laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, while the duties of families, communities and individuals to respect those rights.
Meanwhile, the Ministry is gearing to establish a ‘One Stop Shop’ mechanism for abused children which is aimed at improving the investigation of child abuse reports and to provide therapeutic services to victims.
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