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

Ex-priest in Australia faces child sex charges

The Associated Press

Sat, Sep 6, 2008 (12:18 a.m.)

A former Roman Catholic priest already facing dozens of charges related to allegations of sexual abuse at an exclusive Australian boarding school has been charged with an additional 60 child sex offenses, police said Wednesday.

Police also arrested two other men Wednesday in connection with the investigation into alleged abuse in the 1980s at two religious schools.

The new charges and arrests come after Pope Benedict XVI visited Australia in July and publicly condemned sexual predators in the church, apologizing to their victims.

The 65-year-old ex-priest, identified by his attorney as Brian Spillane of Sydney, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with 60 counts relating to alleged sexual assaults against eight people, New South Wales state police said.

He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 15, a police spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. The spokeswoman declined to provide any additional information, including details of the allegations or the specific charges.

Spillane was originally charged in May with 33 child sex offenses against five people as a result of a police investigation into allegations of abuse in the 1980s at St. Stanislaus in the city of Bathurst, 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Sydney. Spillane worked at the school on and off between the 1970s and early 1990s.

Police on Wednesday also arrested a 66-year-old Catholic brother in connection with their probe into St. Stanislaus and a 63-year-old former teacher of another religious school in Bathurst that is also under investigation.

The Catholic brother was arrested in Sydney and charged with 28 sexual offenses dating back to the 1970s and '80s. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court Sept. 15. Police did not name the man or say whether he taught at St. Stanislaus. Many members of Catholic orders teach in religious schools.

The other suspect arrested Wednesday, a former teacher who lives on Russell Island in Queensland state, was charged with three counts of indecent assault relating to alleged offenses at the Anglican All Saints College in Bathurst in 1973. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court Nov. 17.

Police did not release either man's name or details about the allegations against them.

Police Superintendent Michael Goodwin said that since the original allegations became public, additional people have come forward claiming to have been abused at the schools.

"Police are currently working through a significant amount of information in relation to these sexual assault matters most of which date back to the 1970s and 80s," Goodwin said in a statement.

"As a result of information from the public, (the police probe) has been expanded to investigate any instances of sexual abuse relating to any former student of any school in the Bathurst area," he said. "Inquiries are continuing, and I cannot rule out further arrests at this stage."

Spillane's lawyer, Greg Walsh, said Wednesday that his client maintained his innocence and said the case had been "highly contaminated," in part because the accusers' complaints were based on repressed memories.

"They've (the memories) been concocted," Walsh said. "There's no scientific basis on recovered memories."

Walsh declined to elaborate or say whether police or psychologists worked with the accusers to draw out the memories of alleged abuse.

"I can't go into details," he said, adding only that there were "a number of bizarre aspects" to the case.

John Edwards, principal of St. Stanislaus, said the school first learned of the allegations against the former priest five or six years ago, after a link to a Web site containing graphic descriptions of sex acts that had allegedly taken place at the school was sent to several staff members. Officials at the school forwarded the information to police, Edwards said.

"We never heard anything further of it," Edwards said.

On July 3, the school was served with a search warrant listing the names of three former staff members, including Spillane, Edwards said. But police would not tell Edwards whether the other two former staff members were also accused of molesting students, or whether they were simply potential witnesses.