CHILD ABUSE

I was just watching a show on TV called Satyamev Jayate, which is a new show being hosted by Aamir Khan. I was just surfing through and since there was nothing on I just decided on watching it and it was actually quite good. Today’s topic was child abuse and I was amazed to learn about the statistics and even more about the perpetrators. A few people came forward to share their experiences and it was very brave of them to relive their most horrid memories just so that they may be able to help so many others.

 I am a parent and this is a real concern for me. There are children all over the world, as young as a few months old, who are being abused by, in most cases, someone close to the family. Although this is not a new topic for me, it is still and I think always will be a great concern for me.  Of course I have taught my daughter not to talk with strangers and she even knows the emergency police line, but this is Bhutan and emergency response system, well!, that might take hours. So the best thing to teach my child would be how to avoid such situations. But how do we avoid it in the first place?

It fills me with dread to think about the thousands of kids who are being abused and choose to keep silent, firstly because they are too young to understand whose fault it actually is and secondly because they are afraid of what the consequences might be. In some cases even the parents are so ignorant that even when a child has been brave enough to confess about an abuse, they are too afraid to do anything about it just because of what others might think. But is there really something to be ashamed of? How is it the fault of an innocent child? It is only and only the perpetrator who should be ashamed and brought to justice. I can think of a few punishments befitting this crime but I don’t think the Government would agree to make them legal (if you know what I mean…).

These things are happening in our country also and I wonder how we can stop this. I know the incidences are not that much but it’s there and if we can do something now we might be able to make a difference. I don’t know what kind of laws are in place to combat these issues but I think I need to know and so I will. It would also be great to have a ‘Child Line’ in Bhutan that every child is aware of. These things are not in my power but I won’t just be giving up. If these are things that I can’t do then I shall do what I CAN do and contribute in my own small way……so should you!