SHOCKER: 28.6% GIRLS BELOW 13YRS SEXUALLY ABUSED - REPORT

MBABANE – There is an increase in the number of girls below 13 years, who are sexually abused.
According to the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) 2022 Final Report, 28.6 per cent of the girls were found to be sexually abused in the country. The report was presented to the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thuli Dladla at Mountain View Hotel, yesterday. This is the second and most recent study to be conducted following another one in 2007.
Presenting the statistics, Senior Children Coordination Officer Sibongile Dlamini said this is very much shocking, adding that this is also reflected in recent newspaper headlines, where a 13-year-old was found raped in Matsapha and pregnant. This, she said, needs the DPM’s Office to work harder in addressing the issues of violence against children in the country.  Dlamini stated that four forms of sexual violence are experienced by children, including unwanted sexual touching, unwanted attempted sex, pressured sex and physically forced sex.

Violence

She added that one in four females experiences sexual violence and most common perpetrators of the first incident of sexual violence are known to the families and sometimes neighbours.
“Two out of three female survivors of sexual violence, about 66.3 per cent and one out of two male survivors of sexual violence, about 48.4 per cent told someone about their experience,” Dlamini said. Among females, about 4.6 per cent experienced unwanted sexual touching, 3.7 per cent experienced unwanted attempted sex, 1.7 per cent experienced pressured sex and 2.2 per cent experienced physically forced sex. There were 2.9 per cent who experienced pressured or physically forced sex. Among females aged 13 to 24 years, who had sex were 16.7 per cent and 1.3 per cent of males had pressured or physically forced sex at first sexual debut. There were 1.5 per cent of males who experienced unwanted sexual touching and 1.6 per cent who experienced unwanted attempted sex.

Abused

However, she said when compared to 2007, the number of children aged 13 to 24 years, who were sexually abused, shows to have declined. This, she said, is because there were 57.7 per cent reported cases, while in 2022 there were 16.7 per cent. “There were also statistically significant declines in all forms of lifetime sexual violence, including any sexual violence where 48.9 per cent to 8.1 per cent cases were reported, unwanted sexual touching recorded 24.3 per cent to 4.6 per cent, unwanted attempted sex was 27.7 per cent to 3.7 per cent, pressured sex recorded 18 per cent to 1.7 per cent and physically forced sex was 7 per cent to 2.2 per cent.

Furthermore, she said the study showed that current or ex-intimate partners were also perpetrators of sexual violence, among the female children, who were older. Among male children, she said most of their first encounters of sexual violence are usually with a classmate, school mate or friend. Dlamini said the perpetrators of sexual violence among male children are cousins and uncles. “The children in the country are no longer safe anywhere, whether in school, community and at home,” she said. According to Dlamini, for this reason, the children now fear to even go home because they become a target to sexual violence. She said young male children are also survivors of sexual violence. She said the study also looked at young people aged 13 to 24 years.

She said the study has shown that physical violence mostly affects male children, including boys and young men, compared to females. She said the picture painted by the study shows that more females than males experience lifetime sexual violence. This, she said, is not to say that males do not experience violence. According to Dlamini, more males are experiencing physical violence in the community and schools, among other areas. “When exposed to violence, this then leads to injuries.”  She said four in 10 females and three in 10 males experienced an injury due to physical violence, adding that there were 40.3 per cent females and 30.3 males, who have been found to be exposed to physical violence in the country.
Dlamini noted that the degree of the injuries varied with others having bruises, others stabbed and as such, incurred deep wounds or even broken bones as a result of physical violence.
The senior children coordination officer said it is for this reason that the issue of violence against children needs to be given serious attention.

She said the survey also shows that the male children further witnessed physical violence in their homes and community and as a result, more of such cases were being experienced in society because they also turn violent following their experiences. Dlamini noted that they also discovered that both boys and girls are exposed to physical discipline or verbal aggression from parents, which affects the children negatively. She said some parents use abusive language when trying to correct their children, including being referred to as fools, lazy and others. According to Dlamini, it has been also discovered that some parents agree with attitudes supportive of domestic violence and also endorse harmful gender norms. Furthermore, she noted that parents also agree to physical punishment when asked if they believe that to raise or bring up a child properly, the parent or caregiver needs to physically punish the child.

Dlamini said while government, through the Ministry of Education and Training, encourages positive discipline, parents and guidance were against same. She stated that there is hope following that through the Department of Gender and Family Issues, a national positive parenting strategy was endorsed. The children coordination officer said this is to promote alternative ways for parents and guardians to engage and talk to children, whether they are found on the wrong or not.  Following what the study has revealed, she said they need to strengthen their efforts in prevention, responses and targeting of spaces moving forward.

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