Sex Education and Stronger Justice System Can Prevent Child Rape
Photo courtesy of Hancock Clarion
“We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.” Nelson Mandela
In 2023, 1,502 girl children were raped in Sri Lanka and of them 167 became pregnant. These figures were disclosed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police and head of the Bureau for the Prevention of Abuse of Women and Children (CWB), Renuka Jayasundara, who has been disseminating statistics to the public with the intention of raising awareness with regard to child rape.
The majority of rape cases are statutory rape. The usual victims are girls below the age of 16, mainly from broken homes. The mother has travelled abroad for employment and the father, a daily wage earner, is unable to look after the child properly so the child is left in the care of extended family such as an aunt or grandparents.
According to the statistics from the CWB, a majority of child rape and pregnancies involved romantic affairs. These unattended, neglected or abandoned children seek affection elsewhere, often becoming entangled with peers who fulfil their needs for affection and belonging. Without adequate sex education or parental care, these entanglements can become violent and abusive, leading to tragic consequences.
Crimes of statutory rape are rarely reported by the victims but usually brought out by close friends of the child victim, family members or a teacher. Most victims are afraid to speak out and follow legal procedures to seek justice due to the backlash they may receive from their parents and their community. Social norms shun sexual activity before wedlock. Even if the child is raped, the community views the child and the family as an impure stain of shame; the blame will be placed on the child and the family for the way the child was raised. This stigma results in the family of the child hesitating to report incidents of rape even when they find out about the violence.
Sex education and parent-child communication can prevent child rape
Underage rape can impact a child’s normal development, affecting their ability to function well socially and emotionally. This includes an increased likelihood of facing challenges in relationships, difficulties in thinking, experiencing depression, anxiety, internalising and externalising problems, displaying sexualised behaviours and showing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These negative consequences can intensify when a child is exposed to various forms of victimisation within their family and community.
The baby will be born under the direst of socio-economic circumstances. According to the DIG, there are no proper mechanisms in place to monitor what happens to the new born placed in the custody of the Department of Probation and Child Care Services. Teenage mothers may face a higher risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth compared to adult women. These risks include premature birth, low birth weight, preeclampsia and maternal mortality. Babies born to teenage mothers are at a higher risk of health problems and developmental delays. Premature birth due to underage mothers not having mature reproductive systems leads to a higher likelihood of premature labour and birth, increasing risk of complications. The baby will face developmental delays due to the mother lacking resources and knowledge to provide for the baby. The baby will not be welcomed in most circumstances as the mother would be reminded of the violation she had suffered from the baby’s father. The parents and family of the child-mother would also look at the baby as a grim reminder of the dishonour by which their family is affected. A baby born under such circumstances will have to fight against its own mental and physical challenges and the devastating societal pressures as they grows up.
Factors contributing to teenage rape and pregnancies
For years, concerned Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the government have gone back and forth on the issue of age appropriate sex education in schools. The result of lack of sex education leaves the children unaware of the hormonal and emotional changes they undergo during coming of age. The child lacks knowledge about signs and preventive measures of sexual abuse and is left defenceless against potential sexual predators. The education sector is fearful of the backlash of the predominant conservative community.
Children are naturally curious beings and their curiosity often extends to understanding their own bodies and reproductive functions. It is essential to recognise that children may seek out information and answers to their questions independently, especially in today’s age of easy access to information through the internet and other sources. A child may use their smartphone, conduct a search engine query then land on the top most visited site of the category. Most of the time it will be an adult entertainment address. Therefore, the first “sex education” a child receives is not in the safe space of their classroom with a trusted and professional adult whose duty is the child’s wellbeing, delivering useful and practical knowledge of the subject. Rather, the child enters a world filled with deranged productions by paid professionals or home amateurs of pornography. It is here that the conversation about sex education ends. The child has stumbled upon sex entertainment and mistakes it completely for what natural, hygienic acts of sexual activity ought to be. Children, who are eager to learn by copying, will attempt to imitate the actions they see being performed by these entertainers. The child’s brain will be hijacked by pornography. Adult pornography, one of the most addictive forms of content, will be the teacher to the children on the taboo subject of sex education. The child will look for a partner to perform these acts. Caregivers should remember that it is not the child’s responsibility to safeguard themselves from predators; it is the caregiver’s responsibility to foster an environment for the child to live free from fear of exploitation.
Urban Sri Lankan parents often say that they lack time to spend with their children amid their busy schedules. Juggling between work and bills, parents remain ignorant of the dangers that lurk just beneath the surface of their child’s smartphone. Parents finds the smartphone to be a great tool for keeping the child engaged, allowing them to carry on with their work without interference and then realise their mistakes too late.
In 2023, there were 98,000 child sexual abuse material uploaded onto the internet from Sri Lankan IP addresses. Parents should be aware that Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA) does not discriminate and that the majority of perpetrators are people already know the children in person.
Parents often shy away from talking about sex. This reluctance can stem from various reasons including cultural taboos, personal discomfort, lack of knowledge or resources or fear of saying the wrong thing. However, avoiding discussions about sex can have negative consequences for children’s development and wellbeing. Parents may shy away from affectionate relations with children. Due to these factors, a child will grow up without developing trust with their parents. Such weak parent-child relationships help perpetrators. Parents must examine themselves before blaming others for the sexual exploitation of their children and make an effort to at least spend two hours of quality time a day with their children. If this connection is strong, the child will be unlikely to engage in unwanted, risky and otherwise violent behaviour. The child would also be more likely to communicate instances of sexual violations they come across.
The disturbingly slow access to justice for victims of child sexual abuse cases is appalling. Most cases take between five to ten years on an average for the deliverance of a judgment. The lack of swift justice being enforced on perpetrators of child sexual violence and rape in particular and the lack of media attention given to these verdicts disempower the victims from speaking in their struggle to obtain justice. The victims fear that nothing worthwhile will come from the pursuit of justice and that only their suffering will be prolonged. Some victims will let go of their cases, deciding that their peace of mind is more important than chasing their perpetrators through arduous bureaucratic procedures. These victims may find healing in their lives before the justice system does anything for them. Due to slow justice, the perpetrators are aware that they can get away with committing heinous crimes. There is a very limited number of options a victim can practically take that would bring the perpetrator to book. When it comes to a child victim, the perpetrator may assume that the child is less likely to report issues of sexual abuse and therefore take advantage.
The duty to children goes beyond looking at numbers; it requires solid, concrete action. By breaking the silence around sex education, having important conversations between parents and children and pushing for practical change in the legal system, every child can be protected from the horrors of rape.
