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Child abuse 'worsens' in Zim
28/02/2008 09:58 - (SA)
Angus Shaw
Harare - Child rape has increased by 42% in Zimbabwe, the United Nations children's agency says, linking worsening child abuse and domestic violence to family tensions caused by the nation's economic meltdown.
The United Nations Children's Fund launched a new "Stand Up and Speak Out" campaign calling on children, relatives and church and other groups to fight what it called the "staggering statistics on the unspeakable evils of child abuse".
Unicef said the number of cases of rape of minors reported to police surged from 2 192 in 2003 to 3 112 in 2006. Many other cases likely went unreported in a climate of secrecy and denial, it said.
Dr Festo Kavishe, the agency's chief representative in Zimbabwe, said in the nation's economic crisis social workers reported adults unable to provide normal care, food and schooling vented their anger on children.
'Intolerable economic pressures'
Kavishe said: "There is a tendency for people to take out their frustrations on children when they are unable to provide necessary care.
"Child rape, that most abhorrent of crime, is just one type of abuse. Zimbabwe's current economic challenges have meant an increase in verbal abuse, neglect and physical violence."
He said the child victims of "intolerable economic pressures" suffered by parents unable to provide adequate food, education or medical care faced futures that could include more violence, poverty, joblessness, early pregnancy and prostitution in girls and alcohol and substance abuse.
The nation's one million children orphaned by HIV/Aids were particularly vulnerable to abuse by relatives and those in authority, even in schools and care institutions, he said.
The worst economic crisis in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 also created a category of children known as "diaspora orphans", the children of economic fugitives living and working in neighbouring South Africa and in Europe, the United States and Australia.
Domestic violence
A Unicef cartoon clip to be aired on peak time evening viewing on state television depicted a mother working abroad whose husband took in a new lover who squandered money sent home and neglected the child, locking the child outside the home without food or shelter.
An estimated four million Zimbabweans - one-fourth the population - had left the country to find work abroad, splitting up families.
Kavishe said cases of domestic violence and assault soared in families, where the remaining breadwinner was unable to put food on the table and fulfil a traditional role as head of the family.
He said: "That is not uncommon in southern African countries, but it is still inexcusable.
"Parents need to understand they should reduce the pressure of economic tensions by other means, such as regenerating their means of livelihood and survival."
It was surprising how many people were surviving" through street vending and other "coping" activities, he said.
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