The Chairperson of International Federation of Women Lawyers, (FIDA) Rivers state branch, Anthonia Osadebe says they are currently treating huge cases of child abuse in Rivers state.
The FIDA chairperson said in an interview that there are over thirty cases of child abuse in the state ranging from child labour to sexual abuse.
“There are lots of child abuse cases in Rivers state. Currently, we have ten cases of child labour where young girls are picked from their hometowns and brought to Rivers state to work as house helps.
” I had one that I just sent home two days ago. You needed to see this girl’s body, so many marks. We had to arraign the guardian in court.
” We also have ten cases of rape and fifteen cases on defilement. Defilement is used when the child is below 13 but if the child is above 13, it is regarded as rape. We are working hard to bring perpetrators to book on these cases.”
On his part, A professor of psychology at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Professor Joseph Kinanee, enumerated some of the mental health implications child abuse can have on children.
” Any intentional harm done to a child by someone held in trust is regarded as child abuse. This can be sexual, emotional or physical.
” In sexual abuse, if a girl-child experiences rape, it can affect the child in different ways.
“The victim may grow up to hate everything about the opposite sex and may start to prefer same sex or the victim may grow up to like sex so much, thereby exposing herself to all sorts of sexual diseases.
” In emotional abuse, this could come in form of neglect or verbal abuse. In this form of abuse, the caregiver or institution expected to take care of a child constantly teases or insult a child using words like” stupid, foolish or verbal curses like”you won’t amount to anything”
“These words have led to the high rate of crime in the society. This is because when a child hears these words a lot, they begin to register in his or her mind and they start acting on them.
” In the area of physical abuse, when bruises are left on a child or a child is constantly subjected to hard labour, this can lead to low self-esteem, ill health or even death.
” Caregivers should pay close attention and give adequate care to their wards to help curb this increasing rate of child abuse in the state”
