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Throughout the world there is a growing awareness of the serious problem of child abuse and neglect. In South Africa child abuse has reached epidemic proportions. In 1996, the SAPS Child Protection Unit (CPU) alone dealt with 32 033 cases of abuse against children (excluding offences under the Child Care Act 74/1983, such as child neglect and abandonment). This constitutes an increase of 47% on the 15 224 cases reported in 1993. According to the SAPS dockets registered countrywide (including in the former TBVC states), the police in total dealt with 56 479 cases of child abuse during 1996 - 42% more cases than those reported by the CPU over the same period. These included 18 075 cases of child rape, 580 cases of statutory rape, 173 cases of indecent assault of boys under nineteen, 3 160 cases of indecent assault, 2 289 cases of murder, 2 805 cases of attempted murder, 10 425 cases of serious assault and 17 355 cases of common assault. A particularly disturbing fact is that child rapes make up more than a third (35%) of all the rape cases reported to the SAPS, compared to 9% of all murder, 10% of attempted murder, 5% of common assault and 9% of all serious assault cases. These figures can be even larger since a recent study by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) revealed that a quarter (25%) of child abuse cases were not reported to the police. It was also clear from the research that the South African public did not have a clear idea of what child abuse is and that very few realised that the term child abuse include physical, sexual and emotional abuse as well as neglect. This ignorance could also have an effect on the rate of reporting. When asked what abuse is, only a very small percentage (3%) of the respondents who participated in the survey mentioned physical, sexual and emotional abuse. A quarter (25%) regarded abuse as only sexual and 12% thought of it as only physical. Another 10% saw child abuse as any type of harm or bad treatment of a child, thus including physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. Emotional abuse alone was mentioned in only 3% of the cases, while emotional abuse in combination with physical or sexual abuse or neglect was mentioned in respectively 7%, 1% and 0,6% of the cases. The respondents seem to be particularly unaware of the impact of emotional abuse on children. Just more than a third (36%) stated that repeated yelling and swearing at a child almost always leads to long-term emotional problems for the child. In contrast, 74% of the American public regarded this type of adult behaviour to children to very often lead to a child experiencing long-term emotional problems. ?Members of the public must clearly know what physical, sexual and emotional child abuse is to be able to report child abuse. They must also know what signs to look for to identify the abused child and what to do if they suspect child abuse or if a child discloses abuse,? says Mrs Evanthe Schurink, Programme Manager of Child and Family Welfare at the HSRC. ?To be effective, approaches aimed at preventing child abuse must involve the society at large. The early detection of abusive situations depends upon the awareness and concern of the general public. It could be reasoned that the more aware and educated the public is of the negative impact of abuse on children, the more likely they will be to report child abuse or to personally act upon abusive situations,? she remarked. Mrs Schurink added that voluntary action and report of child abuse by the public constituted the core of the child protection system. Members of the public should report child abuse at an early stage before serious physical, mental or emotional damage is done to a child. All other detection and mandatory reporting by professionals such as medical personnel and social workers usually occur at a stage where injuries are severe and the damage done is permanent or even fatal. Mrs Schurink therefore felt that it was crucial to monitor the public?s perception of what child abuse is, how serious it is compared to other social problems, what the impact of abuse is on children, and how child abuse could be prevented. In this way ordinary citizens can be trained to become child protectors. It was clear from the survey findings that the media plays an important role in the formation of the public?s opinion of child abuse. The majority (60%) of respondents stated that they gained their perception of child abuse from what they saw or heard through the media. ?Because of its major influence on public perception, the media plays a vital role in informing and educating the public. Moreover, the way that the media portrays children has a profound impact on society's attitude towards children and childhood, which invariably affects the way adults behave towards children. This implies that the media has a clear responsibility to portray child abuse as accurately and honestly as possible and according to the principle of the best interests of the child(ren) concerned,? Mrs Schurink said.
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