German Inquiry Board on Child Sexual Abuse Says Society to Blame

Source: Xinhua|  |Editor: Mu Xuequan

BERLIN -- The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Germany (UKASK) has accused the German public of failing to protect victims of child sexual abuse, according to a report published by UKASK on Wednesday.

Accounts given by victims of child abuse, which were analyzed by the UKASK commission, showed "how often the environment and society as a whole have failed and children have not been protected", said Sabine Andresen, chairwoman of the UKASK commission. "Responsibility must be assumed for this."

Since 2016, almost 1,700 affected people have reported to the commission about sexual violence in their families, social environment, at school, church, sports and other recreational facilities. Fifty-six percent of the victims were abused within their own families.

The number of children affected by sexual abuse has increased recently. According to statistics published by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on Tuesday, 13,683 children were recorded as victims of sexual abuse in 2018, compared to 12,850 in 2017.

According to the commission, one of the most important issues was the "silence of the others". Close family members, neighbors, teachers or employees of child protective services would have contributed to the fact that the abuse which the victims had experienced "did not end and that they were prevented from coming to terms with it later".

Sexually abused children are voiceless - and when those of can speak up for them fail to do so, children are condemned to suffer much longer than they would otherwise have to.

Affected people also talked about "defensive reactions" in their families or institutions when they tried to uncover sexual violence as children or adolescents. Instead of believing and supporting the victims, their social environment would often "exclude or blame" them for their actions, a UKASK statement read.

As adults, former victims of child sexual abuse would experience "these resistances and denials" again.

The commission's work shows that victims still "fail to overcome structural and financial hurdles" when dealing with the consequences of sexual abuse.

UKASK is therefore demanding that the number of "counseling centers must be expanded" and that employees in governmental authorities, such as job centers, health insurance companies or the judiciary, should be trained in dealing with people traumatized by sexual abuse.

The need for abundant counseling of child sex abuse survivors, whether still children or adults, cannot possibly be overstated! The cost will pay for itself many times over in terms of health and productivity of survivors.

"Basic knowledge about sexual violence and its consequences" should be included in the syllabus for studying education, medicine, psychology and law, according to UKASK.

This is a good start! But it is not society's fault that these things are not included in the syllabus for doctors and lawyers. The government should also be educating children on identifying CSA and on how to report it and who to report it to. They should be doing this from kindergarten. That's how you give children a voice.