Special court for child sexual abuse cases: Najib
Kuala Lumpur: The Government plans to establish a special court to hear child sexual crimes cases, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said Monday.
He said this is among the proposals included under the Child Sexual Crimes Bill, which will be tabled during the current Parliament meeting.
"A special court will be set up under the Child Sexual Crimes Bill. Justice must not only be done (and) seen to be done, it must also be done swiftly," Najib said at a two-day "Child Sexual Crimes" seminar at the Putra World Trade Centre.
The seminar, organised by Permata in cooperation with several ministries, was attended by almost 2,000 people who included wives of political leaders, academicians, nursery operators and university students.
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| PM Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak |
Najib said statistics from the Social Welfare Department revealed that 5,779 child sexual abuse cases were recorded between 2010 and 2015, with an average of 963 cases a year.
He said police statistics showed in 2015 and 2016, there were 2,759 cases of rape, 412 cases of incest, 1,423 cases of molest and 422 cases of unnatural sex involving children under the age of 18.
"These cases should not have happened. We should not allow our children to continue to be subjected to exploitation by sex predators," Najib said.
He urged all political parties to cooperate and pass the bill in the Dewan Rakyat in order to protect children.
Najib said law and morality are linked and it is incomprehensible that an adult can rape and harm children when they were supposed to be protecting the young.
"In the Surah, children are referred to as gifts from God, and religious awareness on the importance of protecting children is the best kind of awareness.
"This is not just in Islam. In the Bible, it is said in the Matthew chapter that those who do not take care of children will not be welcomed into the Kingdom of God."
He added that sexually abusing a child will also potentially cause mental health issues in the child's development, that includes depression, eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, anti-social behaviour and insomnia.
Najib advised parents to ensure that their children do not become victims of these crimes and to educate them on "appropriate and inappropriate touch", and called on society to show concern over the issue.
His wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, said the number of child sexual abuse cases is worrying.
"Many more of these cases are unreported because these families want to protect their reputation," Rosmah said during her address.
She added that the presence of an Indonesian delegation led by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri at the seminar shows that other governments in the region are equally concerned about child sexual abuse.
Also present was Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Great! Now if we could just get the USA and Canada interested in saving our children...
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