The number of sex offences against children in Wales
reaches record high
..
The figure has more than doubled in the last five years alone
By Annie Gouk, Aamir Mohammed
Wales Online
The number of sex offences against children in Wales is increasing (Image: Tom Hull/NSPCC)
The number of child sex offences being recorded by police in Wales has reached its highest level since 2002, according to the latest official crime statistics.
Exclusive analysis of the stats, show that there were 3,973 crimes against children in Wales recorded by police in the 12 months to June 2019.
The figure is up from 3,920 from the previous year and it the highest number recorded since at least 2002, when the figures first began.
It means the figure has more than doubled in the last five years alone, rising by nearly 170% from 513 cases in the year to June 2014.
The spike in figures may be due to an actual rise in abuse, but it may also be linked to more victims feeling able to come forward, and better recording practices by police.
These crimes include rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation and grooming of children under the age of 16 - the age of consent in the UK.
In cases where the gender of the victim is given, three quarters of those affected in Wales were girls.
Andrew Fellowes, NSPCC Public Affairs Manager, said: “These figures draw back the curtains to give us a sense of the scale of child sexual abuse.
“The increase could be down to a number of reasons including more people speaking out, better police recording, or a rise in offending, particularly online.
“It can be difficult to comprehend such vast numbers but we must all remember that behind these statistics are real children who have suffered and have to deal with the devastating consequences that abuse inflicts.
“We know it is difficult to talk about abuse but it is vital children know they can come forward and they receive swift, appropriate support that they deserve.”
The offences recorded in Wales last year included 1,061 cases of sexual activity involving a child under 16; 827 cases of sexual activity involving a child under 13; and 590 cases of sexual assault on a female child under 13.
Police also recorded 379 cases of rape of a female child under 16; 375 cases of sexual grooming; 303 cases of rape of a female child under 13; and 233 of sexual assault on a male child under 13.
The remaining offences included 133 instances of rape of a male child under 13; 54 of rape of a male child under 16; and 18 of abuse of children through sexual exploitation.
Denbighshire saw the highest rate of this type of crime in Wales, with 214 cases recorded in the last year. It works out as 124 cases of child sexual abuse for every 10,000 children living in the area - much higher than the national average of 71 for every 10,000 children.
1.8 million Albertans have been sexually abused - survey
Virginia Wright, CTV
CALGARY -- Approximately 43 per cent of the province’s population have experienced sexual abuse in their lifetime, according to new statistics.
"With an estimated 1.8 million individuals in Alberta experiencing sexual abuse in their lifetime, this research shows us that sexual abuse is a health and safety issue of epidemic proportions," said Debra Tomlinson, CEO of Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services (AASAS) in a press release.
The AASAS surveyed 1,512 adult Albertans and found 45 per cent of them had been sexually abused before.
Based on their findings, the group estimates 1,477,846 adults and 324,972 children in Alberta have been sexually abused.
The population of Alberta is a little less than 4.4 million. That would mean there are about 700,000 children. Close to half of whom have been sexually abused to some degree. Unfortunately, this report fails to define sexual abuse.
According to the telephone study:
38 per cent of respondents reported being abused both during childhood as well as in adulthood
34 per cent reported being abused while they were under 18
28 per cent were first assaulted as adults.
"Understanding the problem of sexual violence is key to finding solutions," said Tomlinson. "The experience of sexual violence is linked to some of our most serious health and social issues like, mental illness, human trafficking, suicide, homelessness and domestic violence."
The survey found females are more likely to be sexually assaulted than males and, with consideration for the age of victims, the rate of sexual assault against males decreases while the rate of sexual assault against females continue.
"Research is important, and our government will continue to address the prevalence of sexual abuse in our communities," said Minister of Community and Social Services Rajan Sawhney. "We have recently passed Alberta’s version of Clare’s Law. We remain committed to providing supports and services to survivors of sexual violence."
Clare's Law
The legislation will allow the “right to ask” and the “right to know” for victims or potential victims of domestic violence to obtain information from police about whether an intimate partner has a violent or abusive past.
It’s based on a law implemented in the United Kingdom in 2014. It is named after Clare Wood, who was killed in England in 2009 and was unaware of her partner’s violent past, including that he served six years for holding a woman captive at knifepoint for 12 hours.
Alberta has Canada’s third-highest rate of police-reported intimate partner violence.
Alberta’s version of Clare’s Law will provide the opportunity for victims and potential victims to apply for information on whether their partner has a history of domestic violence, or the “right to ask.”
Until now, the most recent data on the prevalence of child sexual abuse in Canada was from 36 years ago. The report is modelled on the previous report but the study was expanded to include information on sexual assault throughout a lifespan–under and over the age of 18, along with combined data.
"People who experience sexual abuse are our family members, our friends and our colleagues," said Tomlinson. "And each and every one of us has a role to play in ensuring survivors get support."
The Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services noted that these findings do not measure the amount of sexual assault incidents that occur in the province.
Right! Only the number of victims, most of whom are revictimized many times, some thousands of times.
Resources for survivors of sexual assault is available at Victim Resources – Sexual Assault and Violence.
Tech firms saw 50% rise in online child sexual abuse content in 2019, report says
Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter were among 164 companies that submitted reports of such imagery, according to the report
Shelby Brown, C/NetThe number of photos and videos of child sexual abuse online surged over 50% in 2019, according to a Friday report from The New York Times. Nearly 70 million images and videos were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Times reported.
Out of the 164 companies that submitted reports, Snapchat, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple, Dropbox and Google also reportedly detected abusive imagery and videos.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but it spoke with the Times.
"These numbers show that any service provider that allows individuals to host images and videos are susceptible to child sexual exploitation material being posted," John Shehan, vice president at the national center, told the Times.
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"Send Nudes": A New Study Shows How Often Boys Pressure Girls For Explicit Photos
Katherine, A Mighty Girl
In an article about the study for The New York Times, psychologist Lisa Damour writes, "Teenagers are drafted into a sexual culture that rests on a harmful premise: on the heterosexual field, boys typically play offense and girls play defense… Most schools and many parents already tell teenagers not to send sexualized selfies. But why don't we also tell adolescents to stop asking for nude photos from one another?" Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls
In some cases, boys also used existing pictures to pressure girls to send more by threatening to broadcast the previous ones. Boys not in relationships also asked girls for pictures, and almost 12% of the stories reported a barrage of requests from multiple people that left girls feeling that "requests for photographs are inevitable and unavoidable." But most notably, Thomas found that girls seemed to have no framework for what to do: "while many young women took on the responsibility of negotiating these pressures, they also reported expressing confusion… [because they] lack the tools to do so."
Damour, who explores this topic in depth in her book Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls, says that parents and educators can make simple changes to help support young women in this situation, starting by focusing as much on the requesting as on the sending by requiring greater accountability from boys making such requests. "It is of course true that simply declaring a new behavioral code will not erase a problem," she writes. "But rules can make a difference." When an adult says "it's not O.K. to request naked pictures because then you are putting someone else in a terrible position," it sets what Damour calls a "behavioral speed bump" that both girls and boys can use to counter adolescent impulsiveness.
It also gives girls something they desperately need: clear guidance about what to do if someone harasses them about sending a nude picture. "If parents and schools have made it clear that the requests are a violation," Damour points out, "girls would feel that they had the option of taking screen shots of them and seeking help from adults." By doing so, Damour, who is also the author of Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions Into Adulthood, argues that we are "laying out high and equitable expectations for young people as they begin their own romantic lives [which] can only be a step in the right direction." After all, she observes, "In the wider culture, it appears we have suddenly come to the limit of our tolerance for the sexualized abuse of power by adult men. A logical next step is to recalibrate some of the toxic norms that have taken hold among teenagers."
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Indonesia’s growing child prostitution problem
Lisa Moore
This file photo shows Indonesian sex workers covering their faces in Surabaya city's red-light district. (AFP)
Since the early 2000s, child prostitution has become an increasingly difficult issue for Indonesia. This issue particularly affects the party islands of Bali and Batam where tourists exploit the child sex trade. As “sex tourism” rises worldwide, Indonesia has become a major “destination country” for human trafficking. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 children and women are trafficked each year in Indonesia – 30 percent are below the age of 18.
“The Women’s Institute, based in West Java, reports that some 43.5 percent of trafficking victims are as young as 14 years old.” An additional “40,000 to 70,000 children who are not trafficked are victims of other sexual exploitation.” Human rights activists have claimed that “Australian paedophile rings had infiltrated Bali using the pretence of adopting or fostering impoverished children.” To say this is a rampant issue would be a severe understatement.
Boys are more vulnerable to sexual abuse because they are “generally considered to have masculine and strong characteristics that are more dominant than in girls.” Perpetrators assume that they are thus at a lower risk of being caught, this is generally because boys are more likely to stay quiet about what they have experienced.
With technology constantly advancing, so does the aspect of sexual abuse. Traffickers have been creating accounts on a variety of social media platforms in order to sell sex acts from their victims. We saw an example of this in 2016 when a “pimp’s” stronghold was raided at a hotel in Bogor. It was estimated that this particular individual had trafficked nearly 100 children using platforms such as Facebook and Grinder. Unfortunately, this is just one example of the crisis.
There are many reasons why child sex trafficking exists and has increased in recent years. Usually, poverty and lack of economic opportunities can be seen as underlying issues in countries such as Indonesia. And while this is still true in Indonesia’s case, it is also due to the weak implementation of the Child Protection Act, especially at the provincial level, the rise of child sex tourism, and girls being forced into prostitution. Furthermore, families and close friends can also play a role in sex trafficking – forcing children into trafficking to pay off familial debt or being tricked into believing their children will have a better life.
Indonesian women and girls can be trafficked as far as China, Thailand, and Eastern Europe. In West Kalimantan, girls are forced to prostitute themselves in jungle brothels. Indonesia’s low education, rampant poverty, social acceptance of child labour, lack of birth registration, and early marriages have all contributed to the prevalence of child trafficking in the country. Although there are laws against such actions, there is little to no enforcement carried out by the Indonesian government on its legislation to act against widespread sex abuses.
The government of Indonesia developed a National Plan of Action (NPA) on human rights back in the early 2000s. In 2008, the Indonesian government “commenced the second five-year phase of the NPA in the regions of Jakarta, West Java, East Java, North Sumatra, and Lampung.” This plan was implemented to protect child rights as well as to combat trafficking and sexual exploitation. This legislation would continue to promote action against the “worst forms of child labour through direct, targeted interventions”.
But lack of action, lack of legislation, and lack of enforcement have allowed the illegal activity to grow. Often, the government ignores the situation and provides no additional enforcement. They should be blocking pornographic and sex sites and appealing to social media users to report such crimes. There also needs to be “increased efforts to effectively monitor labour recruitment agencies and brokers and investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers.” The government could also clarify procedures in identifying victims who are vulnerable to trafficking, including much of the labour force in Indonesia.
In addition to the government’s failed actions, the problem also lies within law enforcement. There exists a sore lack of communication between officials who must prosecute and punish perpetrators and the police who often discover the illicit activity. Yet, this issue goes even further, public officials often “wilfully ignore, facilitate, or engage in trafficking crimes.” Due to the lack of anti-trafficking training and knowledge among law enforcement authorities, prosecuting and tracking perpetrators can be extremely difficult. The national police’s numbers for reporting and solving these crimes is disturbingly low compared to estimates of how many of these crimes are actually occurring.
While the Indonesian government and the police force continue to fail at ending child prostitution and sex trafficking, perpetrators continue to profit and grow. The Indonesian government lacks the means of severe punishment and sanctions against such perpetrators. However, sex trafficking and prostitution are not contained within Indonesia – we see an increasing number of Indonesian children being trafficked worldwide. The need for international awareness and pressure placed on the Indonesian government could increase prosecution and awareness of the issue. International aid should be provided to victims and their families who are suffering. This crisis requires the attention, care, and commitment of the international community.
Refugee adjudicator says woman’s choice to keep baby means rape never happened
BY BRIAN HILL AND JAMIE MAURACHER GLOBAL NEWS
Sexual assault and gender-based violence experts say they are deeply disturbed by the recent decision of a Canadian refugee adjudicator who said it “does not make sense” that a woman would keep a child conceived by rape.
The adjudicator also said she would have expected the woman to report the rape to medical professionals and her family “if, indeed, it took place.”
“(I am) sensitive to the subject of rape, but the claimant’s explanation does not make sense as to why she would keep a child who would remind her of being raped, unless that is not the case,” wrote Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) adjudicator Sarwanjit Randhawa in her April 2019 decision.
I suspect she grew up in Canada, not India. Just a guess.
During a hearing held roughly two weeks earlier, Randhawa asked the claimant if she considered having an abortion when she found out she was pregnant.
The woman said, no, it was her first child and she is against abortion. She also said she knows what it’s like to grow up without parents and that it isn’t the baby’s fault how she was conceived.
Still, Randhawa asked the woman why she chose to keep her baby.
“If you’re raped, why would you keep a child of rape?” she asked.
There is considerably more on this story including other incidents of callous abuse and revictimizing abused women on Global News.
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Pakistan Court Rules That Men Can Marry Underage Girls After They've Had Their First Period
The ruling comes in direct violation of the Child Marriage Restraint Act
A high court in Pakistan has ruled that men can marry underage girls, under Sharia law, after they have experienced their first menstrual cycle.
Sharia law is the religious law of Islam derived from the teachings of the Quran, which acts as a divine code or guide for living.
The ruling was made by the Sindh High Court on Feb. 3 during the hearing of Huma Younus, a 14-year-old Catholic girl who was abducted, pressured to convert to Islam, and forced into child marriage.
To prove the marriage was invalid and illegal, Younus' parents brought a copy of her baptismal certificate and testimony from her school to the hearing to corroborate her age. Her family cited the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, which prohibits the marriage of any child under the age of 18.
The judges, however, ruled that the marriage between Younus and her abductor, Abdul Jabbar, was legal under Sharia law because she had already experienced her first period.
Many Asian girls undergo puberty before they are even 10 years old. This probably evolved because of the extremely high number of little girls who don't make it to double digits in age before losing their virginity.
16th century Dutch adventurer Jan Huygen van Linschoten, secretary to the Bishop of Goa for 6 years, called Indian men the most lecherous of all men, for he determined that it was very difficult to find a girl of 7 years of age who was still a virgin (8th story on link).
Mohammed married Aisha when she was 6 but waited until she was 9 before consummating the marriage. It is likely that Aisha had entered puberty by then.
After the high court’s devastating verdict, Younus' parents and their lawyer Tabassum Yousaf, announced that they will seek justice from Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
“We shall not stop until we get justice,” Yousaf told AsiaNews.
Yousaf also revealed that Younus did not even attend the hearing, making it nearly four months since the family was all together.
Child marriage is a major human rights violation, which causes irreparable harm to young girls all over the world, threatening their health and safety, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Affecting 1 in 5 girls worldwide, child marriage can significantly limit a girl's future or force them into motherhood at an early age, increasing the risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Despite the existence of the Sindh Child Marriage Act, authorities have done little to enforce the law. While a bill to completely ban child marriage in Pakistan has been proposed, it is currently “stuck” in parliament.
"Equality Now urges the Pakistani government, and specifically the Courts, to pay due respect to its international legal commitments and to uphold its own laws by reversing this erroneous decision and ensuring that a fair and correct judicial process is followed from this point onwards,” Equality Now’s Global Lead Flavia Mwangovya told Global Citizen.
“This includes enabling Huma’s parents to see her and ensuring that Huma attends the court hearings,” Mwangovya added.
It's more than a little disturbing that the fact the guy kidnapped the girl is not even an issue here.
Sharia!
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