Jammu and Kashmir Need Your Vote on Change.org to Introduce Basic Child Sex Safety Education to Schools

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Please take a minute to read this and then go to the link at the bottom of the story and sign on to the Change.org application. Jammu and Kashmir is one of the worst areas in the world to be a child with respect to child abuse. Your support can make a difference in the lives of many children.

Introduce ‘Personal Safety Education’ in School Curriculum

to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

Musab Omer started this petition to Girish Chandra Murmu (Governor of Jammu and Kashmir) and I have been working on raising awareness about child sexual abuse in Jammu and Kashmir since early 2016. Nine out of ten people, I usually speak to, deny the occurrence of child sexual abuse in Kashmir. The response I am most familiar with is that ‘child sexual abuse doesn’t happen in Kashmir.’ 

However, according to a study conducted by Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), 53% of children across 13 states of India were sexually abused in 2007.

Asifa Bano was kidnapped, drugged, raped and murdered by a group of men.

I fail to understand that if child sexual abuse doesn’t happen in Jammu and Kashmir then how did Kathua rape and murder take place?

In fact, it was the brutal rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Kathua, which prompted the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet to pass an ordinance on Protection of Children from Sexual Violence Ordinance (POCSVO) in April 2018.

Zainab Ansari, Zainab had been raped multiple times and strangled, and her body was thrown into a dumpster

Similarly, on the other side of the border, the brutal rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl prompted the Government of Punjab in Pakistan to announce plans to introduce ‘Child Abuse Awareness’ in their school curriculum.

Undoubtedly, child sexual abuse is quite prevalent in our society, yet we wait for incidents like Kathua and Punjab to happen before taking any much needed preventive measures to address such issues.

My question is very simple: Can we not act proactively and come up with solutions to prevent social evils like child sexual abuse beforehand?

It is very important to understand that child sexual abuse scars a child for a lifetime and the healing process in such cases is very slow. Our Judiciary doesn't help either because the lengthy trials only lead to re-victimisation of a child/adult who dares to speak up against his or her childhood abuser/s.

Therefore, I want the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to introduce a comprehensive ‘Personal Safety Education Program’ in our school curriculum to address child sexual abuse at its roots.

Our children must be made aware about what’s 'safe touch' and what’s 'unsafe touch' from a very young age, in addition to sensitising the teachers and parents in our respective societies about this serious issue. It is time to overcome the myths and social stigma attributed to sex education.

Please sign my petition and join me in saving thousands of children from falling prey to child predators in Jammu and Kashmir.

There are many good web-sites on safe touch - unsafe touch; or, good touch - bad touch. In the USA, Erin's Law has been accepted in most of the states with funding coming from the federal government. 

Please click on sign my petition and help shine a light into one of the darkest areas of the world.