Uganda: Child Sexual Abuse Eating Our Future Away

By: Anslem Wandega

The media recently reported various cases of child sexual abuse in Uganda. This social upheaval continues to rank high amongst other forms of child abuse in our country today.

In traditional African society, defilement was rarely heard of. It may, however, have been happening but the society at large had created a system where children were protected through many avenues, ranging from stringent taboos centered on relationships and living arrangements.

Anybody who touched a child inappropriately or even made an attempt to sleep with that child was not only considered an imbecile, but was severely punished by the society. Such a "societal predator" was better seen dead than alive by society members.

These days, things have changed! Our society's most trusted individuals-parents, relatives, church leaders, friends, teachers, etc have turned to wreak havoc on children. In faith-based institutions, some men of god have not escaped Satan's temptations as they have turned to vulnerable children for sexual gratification.

Schools which used to be safe havens for children have turned into places where teachers admire their pupils, proceed to establish sexual relationships with them only to be discovered when the girls get pregnant.

The dot com era has also brought with it pornography. Urban and peri-urban youths and adults after enjoying seeing pornographic materials in the mushrooming video dens and internet cafes resort to sexual abuse of children.

Some parents fear to report child sexual abuse in cases where alleged offenders or their relatives are richer or are in positions of higher authority. Others fear the cost involved in facilitating the police to arrest the alleged offenders and in meeting related medical exam fees. Many others fear "bringing shame" to their families when their close relatives are found to have defiled their children.

Sexually abused children are at a risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Pregnant teenagers who abort and do not receive proper treatment and support in time to save them from the complications of an aborted pregnancy die.

These children also suffer long term psychological trauma, which manifests in form of pelvic pains, headaches, asthma and gynecological problems. Some in the long run, even fail to make the best sexual and reproductive health decisions for themselves, and are often unable as adults to negotiate safe sex, or enjoy intimacy relationships. Many others accept victimization as an inevitable aspect of being female whereas others fail to trust even their husbands viewing them as potential defilers.

This should end or else children will continue to suffer and regard sexual abuse as normal and continue to be abused.

We urgently need a strong law against pornography so as to shield children from pornography-induced sexual abuse. The government should then earmark substantial financial and other resources to enforce it as well as other laws against child sexual abuse.

There is a need to build the capacity of non-governmental and governmental institutions to offer child-friendly services to enable child-victims of sexual abuse to return to normalcy. Other programs to uplift the social and economic standards of vulnerable families and encourage reportage of child sexual abuse with ease should be developed and executed.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) in one of his most popular pieces wrote that the only opportunity for evil to prevail is when good people sit back and watch. Time to save our society from becoming extinct is now.

Mr Wandega is a development worker in Addis Ababa , Ethiopi