NCC launches campaign on child abuse prevention |04 June 2020

To coincide with this year’s Children’s Day on June 1, the National Council for Children (NCC) is inviting every Seychellois to join in a nationwide campaign on child abuse prevention.

Amid new concerns about child abuse, the NCC plans to make the month of June a Child Abuse Prevention Month, and is stressing on the importance of reporting suspected cases to protect children and prevent child abuse.

With added pressures brought on by the COVID-19 situation concerns, which amounts to job insecurity, financial strain, and other effects of the crisis, children are at greater risk as some parents and caregivers struggle to cope.

The NCC’s chief executive, Jean-Claude Matombe, said: “Preventing child abuse matters even more so today than it did prior to the COVID-19 outbreak because families and parents are experiencing more stress, more anxiety, and more instability. These factors make it more difficult to parent in the way we all want to. It’s hard to be a parent or caregiver in the best of times. In the new reality, it is much harder.”

The public is being invited to participate in the campaign by enrolling for child protection workshops – parenting classes and getting their kids to know more about protective behaviour at the NCC headquarters or in the workplace or in their district.

The one-month campaign aims to encourage the public to report their concerns in order to get help to children more quickly. The aim is to create a new social norm around reporting and tackling the barriers that stop people from taking action. The campaign, which is being developed in collaboration with different child protection partners, will address all forms of abuse and neglect. Many forms of abuse and neglect present alongside one another and the most common reason for a child not to report is that they are scared and don’t know to who to tell.

Children and young people find it extremely difficult to ask for help from anyone if they are being abused. The most common barriers that stop them asking for help are:

• having no one to turn to: absence of a trusted someone to tell and feelings of isolation
• fears and anxieties manipulated by the abuser
• developmental barriers
• emotional barriers and anxieties
• no one listened and no one asked: lack of recognition of abuse by others
• anxiety over the confidentiality of their information

The key messages of the campaign are:

• Together, we can tackle child abuse.
• We all have a role to play in protecting children and young people from child abuse and neglect.
• All children have a right to be safe and should be protected from all forms of abuse and neglect.

• Many people do not act because they’re worried about being wrong. You don’t have to be absolutely certain; if you’re concerned a child is being abused or their safety is at risk, speak to someone. Report it anonymously to the department of social services, the NCC or if a child or young person is in immediate danger then dial the police and ask for assistance.

“Equally important is recognising that the time to act is now,” said the NCC spokesperson Sharon Jean Meriton. “COVID-19 has made life difficult for everyone – especially children and families. Although the risk to our children’s physical health from the outbreak itself appears to be low, the risk to our nation’s children for experiencing child abuse and neglect in times of extreme stress and uncertainty is actually quite high.”

She adds that “we must work in partnership across all sectors to make prevention a priority so children can thrive and encourage everyone to report suspected abuse cases”.

“You don’t have to be absolutely certain about your suspicions; if you have a feeling that something’s not right, talk to a child protection professional who can look into it,” she concludes.

Protecting children is everybody’s business.

Contributed by the NCC