By Mohamed T Massaquoi
A task force committee is being established to tackle child abuse and gender based violence with more aggression than before in the southern district of Pujehun.
The committee will design and enforce regulations to protect mainly young girls from sexual assaults and women from violence from men.
The move is the result of collaboration between the British non-governmental organization Save the Children International and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. The two institutions recently concluded a consultative meeting with district stakeholders on child protection regulations. The meeting was aimed at developing strategic plans in combating child abuse and gender based violence which are widespread in the district.
The acting Social and Development Officer of the children’s affairs ministry, Martin Foday, told Politico that “sexual assault and gender based violence are on the increase in the district and we are setting up these regulations in order to stop or minimize the high level of violations against children and women.’’
He added that provision would also be made on the part of men whose rights may be violated by women as well in order to work on “equity.”
In an exclusive interview with Politico, the Child Protection Programme Manager of Save the Children International, Sidie Yayah Koroma, said sexual abuse against children including gender based violence had been on the increase in the entire district. He said that became more alarming at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in the country.
Koroma called on the district stakeholders to take active part in the establishment of the regulations “or strong community bye laws.” He also called for the support of the law enforcement agencies in the fight against sexual assaults and violence against women.
Child abuse including sexual assaults on young girls and violence against women are rife in Pujehun. Between late last year and early this year, there have many reports of sexual assaults on women and girls, including the gang raping of a young woman leading to her death.
In February this year, police in the district reported that there was a case of sexual abuse involving a seven-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man. And in May the body of a seven-year-old child in Yonni Town, Kpanga Kabodeh Chiefdom, was found floating in a community water well. It was reported that the child had been sent to fetch water from the well.
Just a month before that, women in the district blasted the Resident Minister of the Southern Region for failing to address their challenges.
Amid all of those, the district has no resident magistrate who, until recently, used to sit only twice a month.
Sadiq Sillah, Chairman of the Pujehun District Council, noted that child abuse, sexual violations against children and women would remain endemic except a task force committee on sexual violation findings was formed in order to help prosecute perpetrators.
“Fines will be spelt out for those who contravene the regulations, either child labour or by trafficking, sexual penetration and gender based violence in general,’’ he said.
(C) Politico 29/07/15
