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Child sex abuse is rampant

Feb 14, 2018 Editorial

The world was shocked and Americans were outraged about the high profile court cases of child sexual abuse in the United States. Some of the victims were violated by the now disgraced former gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar.
It was painful to watch several young women, including Olympic stars, daringly break their silence and relive the nightmare of how the once leading sports physician, Nassar, took advantage of their childhood trust and innocence and sexually abused them.
It was revealed in court that Nassar molested about 265 young gymnasts under the guise of providing medical care.
Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison for possession of thousands of child pornography images, and to another 175 years in jail for the sexual abuse of the gymnasts. But his penalty could never repair the cruel injustice meted out to the innocent young women who were merely pursuing their dreams as gymnasts.
While the sordid details of Nassar’s sexual abuse of young girls lasted for more than two decades as revealed in courtrooms in the US, officials here in Guyana are aware of the scourge of sexual abuse of children across the country. Even though there are no heart wrenching stories from victims like those in Nassar’s case, officials have made it clear that child sex abuse cases here are no less real.
The recent arrest of a 44-year-old bus driver of Diamond Housing scheme for allegedly raping a three-year girl and the sentence of a 46-year-old pastor from Rosignol, West Bank Berbice to 40 years in prison for raping a minor whom he was counseling show that sexual abuse of children in Guyana is real.
Most of us regard sexual abuse of children as a heinous crime but we often turn a blind eye and maintain our silence. The result is that many cases are not reported. Nonetheless, the figures are staggering, even though they are grossly under-reported. For the 2015/2016 period, there were more than 300 sexual abuse cases of children reported to the Ministry of Social Protection, and while the statistics for 2017 are not yet available, there is a high probability that the number could be higher.
In Guyana, the media is often inundated with cases or allegations of child sexual abuse; but for every case reported, there are often several which are not reported to the public or even to those closest to the victim. Unreported child sexual abuse cases are especially disturbing.
It is clear that we have dropped the ball by not ensuring that our children are safe and secure from child molesters. We have to do more than talk; we need tougher legislation with harsher penalties to address the problem, but legislation alone cannot solve the problem. We need to change our culture in order to stamp out sexual abuse of children.
Naturally, it will take time to change the existing culture and to get children and people dealing with them to speak up against any type of abuse of children–psychological, physical or sexual. The traditional taboos must be broken. Child abuse in all its forms is horrible and its consequences are devastating. Children should be loved and nurtured, not molested and abused.
Unfortunately, child sexual abuse has become a crisis in Guyana and the victims often experience not only physical pain, but severe emotional and psychological pain; which, if not addressed can lead to victims taking drastic measures, such as committing suicide or becoming self-destructive in an effort to forget the abuse.
Sadly, strangers are not often the culprits; the criminals are trusted family members. Some of them are such as fathers, stepdads, grandfathers, uncles and other close male relatives.
Increasingly, teachers, religious leaders, coaches and doctors have been caught engaging in this evil act.

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