Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development

Child Abuse

What is Child Abuse?

The physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or

neglect of children. Any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child. Child abuse can occur in a child's home, or in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with.

Issues Concerning Child Abuse

the number of child abuse cases reported to the

Ministry of Welfare (JKM) increased to 2,961 cases last year compared to 2,789 in 2009. ALMOST 4,000 children in Malaysia were rescued from various abuses by the Social Welfare Department from 2008 till July this year. In 2006 and 2007, the number of child abuse cases for both years stood at 4,278. Judging by the steady rise in cases reported, it is feared that Malaysia would have recorded 10,000 cases in just the last four years. STATISTICS from the Social Welfare Department revealed that child abuse cases were reported mostly in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang since 2006. At 2,656 cases, Selangor had the worst record with over 1,000 more reports compared with Kuala Lumpur (1,646) and Penang had 709 reported cases.

mothers and fathers who have lesser parenting skills, who do not care about their children parents with documented substance abuse, most commonly alcoho l, cocaine, and heroin,

Causes

Families stressed by poverty are releasing their frustrations on children

quarreling spouses who cause the child to be the victim

those who come from rural villages, who cannot take the culture shock of living in the city

What we concern mostly are :

Girls as the main target for sexual abuse GIRLS are more than 10 times likely to be sexually abused compared to boys. Statistics showed that for this year till July, there were only 21 sexually-abused boys aged below 18 while there were 335 girls. (2009) For the whole of last year, 35 boys were reported to have been abused sexually as compared to 698 girls.(2008)

Ways to Overcome
Laws and Constitutions
Upgrade the sentence upon those who found guilty Increase the fine from RM 20 000 to RM 30 000 Increase the jail sentence from 10 years to 15 years ( This is based on the Section 31 of the Child Act 2001 )

Held a campaign
Teach kids how to react upon facing abuses Teach them how to scream Teach them techniques of getting away from being abuse and what they have to do if they are being abuse Can start this campaign throughout the schools in Malaysia

Motivate parents
Do commercials advertisements to encourage mothers to take care of their children by themselves Educate parents to not to trust their babysitters or maid in taking care of their children Continuously publish advertisement in the newspaper about the consequences of neglecting their children Everything has to be done CONTINUOUSLY!

Cooperate with the Neighborhood Organization ( Rukun Tetangga) and Police

Patrolling in marked areas (especially around Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang) Encourage the society to report and acknowledge the ministry about any assumption of child abuse cases (by using the members of RT and police as the middle person

Teach martial arts (escaping techniques)

Especially for girls This way they can really protect themselves when needed Although girls are consider weaker than boys but with some techniques of escaping from dangerous situations, the girls can nail it Can be implemented during co curriculum hours at schools 2 days a week or more if necessary and every session should last for at least an hour

Sponsors (motivations books, nutritional food, manual of ways of preventing abuses)

Encourage the NGOs and other companies to support the effort of the Women, Family and Community Development in reducing the case of child abuse Consider this as a part of their responsible towards the society and another ways of showing their humanity for one another

THE END
Thank you