Dewunmi Tijani is a programme monitoring evaluation specialist, researcher, journalist and a social worker. She is also a woman and child advocate and the Co-founder/ Executive Director of SOWI FOUNDATION. In this interview with OLUWATOSIN OMONIYI, she speaks about prevalence of child abuse and strategies for combating it
Despite efforts to curb the menace of sexual abuse and child molestation, it’s still on the rise. What do you think is responsible for this?
Child sexual abuse is a subset of sexual assault which unfortunately is a gross dastardly act that involves an adult or older adolescent using a child for sexual stimulation whether by asking or pressuring and in most cases come by force because a minor can never consent to the act. Child sexual abuse in Nigeria is an offence under several sections of chapter 21 of the country’s criminal code as the age of consent is 18.
However, there has been an alarming increase in this cruel act as UNICEF reported that six out of 10 children in Nigeria experience emotional, physical or sexual abuse before the age of 18.
The sad part is that many of them were not reported to the appropriate authorities due to intimidation by the abusers, fear of stigmatisation of the victim, or frustration of the reported cases by authorities due to claim that there were no evidence or proof that the vict i m s were abused.
Ignorance and lack of information are other factors because some people either just don’t k n o w how to go about it or can’t get justice for been sexually molested. All these have empowered sexual abusers to do more because they feel they can get away with it.
Meanwhile, as a girl-child/women advocate, I believe a lot of things have gone wrong in bringing up our children, especially making our boys feel superior to the girls, which started by putting all chores on the girl-children and neglecting the boys. In some cases, we overlook boys beating up their sisters at home or intimidating the girls because they can.
This notion they carry outside to violate other girls because they already have that superior empowerment that they have the power to subdue the female gender. This, I will put as training girls for untrained boys.
The selfish and lopsided advice of warning boys not to impregnate any girl because we cannot cater for some pregnancy should be abolished. Parents should educate their boys that they have no right to violate any girl or sexually exploit her.
Girls should also be empowered and trained that they are not inferior to anyone and should not subject themselves to any form of abuse by the opposite gender.
They should instill confidence and virtues in their girl-children and let them understand how far they can go in life by protecting themselves from any form of danger and reporting anyone they come across, including the boys too.
You mentioned “training girls for untrained boys”. Can you suggest ways in which parents are to bridge the gap?
Raising children by giving them the same priorities, care and attention with no preference or indulging our boys at the expense of the girls will erase that mentality of dominance in the boys. The era of waking up the girls to go clean and cook while we leave the boys to sleep should be extinguished because it is causing lot of damage on the mentality of our male children. Do not allow your boy-child to bully your girl because they will grow up and exhibit such attitude outside, as they say charity begins at home. It’s high time we visited our foundation and check where we have gone wrong in bringing up our children and even learn from the mistakes in our own upbringing as parents. In addition, husbands should treat their wives right, so that their sons will understand how to treat a woman. A lot of abusers are discovered to be from violent homes due to the way their fathers maltreated their mothers. So, they grew up with the notion that women are meant to be enslaved and exploited.
Talking about home and parenting, how can we prevent our children from being abused?
We should start by catching these children young by making them our friends. That era of exhibiting excessive strictness is old-fashioned. Let these children be able to talk to you freely as a parent. Morals should also not be left to mothers to instill in children.
Fathers should put efforts in bringing children up and teach them values too. Boys and girls should be told there penis and vaginas should not be touched inappropriately by any Aunty or Uncle. These organs should not be given any pet name. Parents should not shy away from sexual education when it comes to their children.
This we can teach according to age and exposure because the things we think are unholy to teach our children are what they will teach them the negative aspect which will be so detrimental.
A global study has found that 7.0 – 36 per cent of women report having experienced some type of sexual abuse in childhood Therefore, our children should not experience what we are informed about and could prevent.
What experience do you have to share in the course of handling sex abuse cases?
Most of the victims that come to us are not interested in prosecution, and the ones we have are still pending in court. However, what we focus on at SOWI FOUNDATION is more on recovery which is more of public and mental health.
You know the adverse effects of sexual abuses are gross and cause immense damage to the reproductive health and well- being of women and girls.
We have seen cases that has resulted to stress-induced physiological changes, some resulted to drug and substance use, someone had persistent gy-
necological problems and a few came down with psychological problems such as fear of sex and loss of pleasure, depression, anxiety, sleep and eating disorders and so on. These aftermaths are what we usually work on to boost their mental health, and most of them we partner with agencies, hospitals, psychologists and individual counselors to implement because they are subjected to funding. W
hat are your suggestions to concerned authorities, organizations and establishment about penalizing sexual abusers?
Well, like I mentioned earlier, it is a common knowledge that most sexual abuse incidents are not reported because some victims and their families, fearing stigmatisation, police extortion and lack of trust in the judicial process, choose not to report cases to the authorities.
Yet, one significant way of ameliorating sexual violence in the society is prosecution in the court and awarding of punishments to the perpetrators of sexual violence. Hospitals on the other hand also demand for police report before treatment and that’s very unfair because it’s a time-bound crime, and a victim that has been intimidated by the police would find it difficult to get a police report to the hospital.
So, such victims might just drop the case in frustration. Therefore, I will appeal to hospitals for the sake of humanity and lives they’ve pledged to save to attend promptly to sexually abused victims and help in gatherings evidence against these culprits.
How do you see prevalence of sex abuse cases in schools and churches?
We have read a lot of these cases and the prevalence rate is so worrisome because these are meant to be the safest and most trusted places children could be. It is rather unfortunate we have negative reports from most of these institutions. Remember the boy from Deeper Life School case, the alleged murder and rape of a 22-year-old University of Benin student, Uwavera Omozuwa, popularly known as Uwa, in a church where she was studying and more like that are worrisome.
Yet, few have gotten to any logical conclusion. I therefore reiterate protection and prevention. That is why I will say religious bodies should teach more on morals than prosperity. Sex talk is not what we should evade in churches, especially at Sunday schools. Counseling units should also be active in churches and schools with professionals in church.
How do you see role of police in investigating and prosecution of sex abuse cases?
At this point, I can’t start telling the police their roles but I will only appeal to them not to trivialise sexual abuse cases. Victims should not be intimidated but encouraged and empathised with. Derogatory comments and vilified questions such as dressing, being at the wrong place at the wrong time or accused of making up claims of rape should be avoided.
As a matter of fact, I will appeal that Specially Trained Officer (STO) in rape and sexual offence cases should be in charge of these cases because they are vital roles in terms of case processing, supporting investigation and providing services directly to the victim of rape, and such officers should be in each police station. The Child Rights Act should also be domesticated in and implemented in every state.
The judiciary and legislature also have a vital role to play in combating the menace of sexual abuse. Article 3 of CRC states that, “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”. Therefore, sexually abused children should be given utmost priorities and preferences.