How safe are our children?

Photo source: Youth Today

International response

It is clear that child mistreatment occurs internationally in both developing, transitional and industrialised countries, making it a global issue. Although child abuse and neglect happen around the world, some children such as those living in developing and transitional countries have been found to be more likely to suffer.

Although developing countries have been found to have higher rates of child mistreatment than industrialised countries, it is important to recognise that it is not an isolated issue. UNICEF created a report in 2003 detailing their findings of their comparative analysis of physical abuse in the top 27 richest countries. They found that almost 3,500 children under the age of 15 died from abuse and neglect in industrialised countries.

- US being one of the worst countries

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/fatality.pdf

The reason for the differences between industrialised and developing countries can be summarised in community and societal factors listed by the WHO which include:

· Gender inequality

· Poor living standards

· High levels of unemployment

· Easy availability of alcohol and/or drugs

· A lack of anti-child mistreatment, pornography, prostitution and child labour policies

The WHO notes that child mistreatment is complex and difficult to study due to a lack of uniform research methods being used globally. These include: definitions of child mistreatment used; the type studies; coverage and quality of statistics and surveys from self-reporting victims, parents or caregivers. This would indicate that in order to successfully combat child mistreatment, international law should be developed and used for the common goal of protecting all children.

Response from the different countries:

United Kingdom

- Interestingly, there is a lack of complete statistics regarding children who are the most vulnerable in society.

- The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) have estimated that one in five adults 18 to 74 years experienced at least one form of child abuse, whether emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or witnessing domestic violence or abuse, before the age of 16 years (8.5 million people).

- Unfortunately, the majority of child abuse cases seem to remain hidden and do not enter the criminal justice system. This is evidenced in the fact one in seven adults who called the National Association for People Abused in Childhood’s helpline had not told anyone about their abuse before.

- There is actually no single source that measures the scale and nature of abuse experienced by children in England and Wales. This poses the question as to why? What exists are different indicators which create a full picture.

Charities such as NSPCC have composed key policy calls from this year 2020:

They’re calling on governments across the UK to:

- Invest in recovery planning that will provide local multiagency partnerships with the resources to identify and respond to the risks children and young people have experienced in lockdown

- Ensure that schools are equipped to recognise and respond sensitively and consistently to students who may have experienced abuse, trauma, or adverse experiences during lockdown.

- Such policies ought to be taken into account by the government, to ensure that children are protected.

What issues have occurred in the UK?

- Earlier on this year, MET police and politicians in the UK have turned the blind eye towards recent Westminster child abuse claims. It is interesting to note that mainstream media didn’t place as much emphasis on this case, which reflects how the government needs to be held to account and that justice needs to be served for children who have been abused and experienced maltreatment. It was reported that there was an organised Westminster paedophile network, even though the government refutes these claims.

- In this case, the victims, being the children were ignored and the UK political parties, police and prosecutors seemed to show excessive deference to MPs and ministers fighting to clear their reputations, an investigation has found.

- The sense of deference highlights the lack of awareness and importance the UK Government seems to place on the issue of child maltreatment and abuse. This is further emphasised by the fact that several prominent MP’s managed to escape prosecution. Evidently, it seems that the political parties showed themselves, even very recently, to be more concerned about political fallout than safeguarding; and some cases the honours systems prioritised reputation and discretion in making awards, with little or no regard for victims of nominated persons.

What are the different charities which prevent child maltreatment in the UK?

- NSPCC (The UK’s Children Charity)

- Coram Children’s Legal Centre

- The Children’s Society

United States:

- The law on child abuse – CAPTA – Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was enacted on January 31, 1974.

- Following on from the previous year, 2019. Child maltreatment still happens in America, which is generally recognised as: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect (educational neglect, medical neglect, and other forms), and emotional maltreatment.

- In America, the child welfare agency deems a child’s case as either substantiated or indicated child maltreatment.

What does this mean?

- Substantiated cases – are those which an allegation of maltreatment or risk of maltreatment was supported or founded according to state law or policy.

- Indicated cases – are those in which an allegation of maltreatment or risk of maltreatment could not be substantiated, but there was reason to suspect maltreatment or the risk of maltreatment.

- Unfortunately, in America, in 2017 there were approximately 674,000 maltreated children substantiated in the United States, a rate of 9 per thousand.

- According to statistics in that year, within the population of 1000 people, 15 children aged 0 – 3 years old, were substantiated victims. This is because, in the US, younger children are more likely to experience maltreatment than older victims, this relates to fact that they are incredibly dependent on their parents/carers or guardians, thus, prone to abuse.

What happened in 2018?

- America perceived child abuse as a serious public health problem which seems to be prevalent across populations with 81% of Hispanics, 76% of non – Hispanic whites, 74% of African – Americans and 67% of Asians in agreement.

- Additionally, 44% of non – Hispanic whites, 42% of Hispanics and 40% of African – Americans state that they know someone who has experienced child abuse and neglect compared to 27% of Asians.

- The current statistics have not yet been gathered.

Different charities which prevent child maltreatment in America?

- Prevent Child Abuse America

- Hope for Children Foundation which helps Children in the USA

- Charity Watch

- Child Help

How has the recent pandemic, COVID-19, affected the increase in domestic violence and child abuse?

- The national crises of the coronavirus pandemic ramp up the stress amongst families and couples, which could result in abuse within the home.

- In the UK, there seems to have been many risk factors associated with abuse and neglect have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, while the support services that would traditionally identify and respond to these concerns have been unable to see many of the children and families they work face – to – face.

Project Blue Ribbon

Over the past few days, Article 10 has been in collaboration with Project Blue Ribbon to bring awareness to child maltreatment and in this article, it seeks to emphasize the international response towards the treatment of the vulnerable in society. Therefore, to further your understanding on this topic, don’t hesitate to check out the student – led organisation, Project Blue Ribbon, based in India who highlight current and fact – checked issues in a bitesize manner, surrounding child maltreatment, that still occurs.

What can I do?

To educate yourself, follow Project Blue Ribbon on Instagram: @project.blue.ribbon

Follow us on Instagram: @article10_

Encourage your followers and friends to know more about this.

Thank you for reading.