The Assistant Minister for Women and Children, Sashi Kiran, has revealed alarming statistics about child sexual abuse in Fiji. According to UNICEF data, five out of every six children in Fiji experience abuse or neglect from their families.
The latest data from the Fiji Police Force shows that 324 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in the first six months of this year.
The Director of Public Prosecutions reported that the average age of the youngest victims of child sexual abuse in the past six years is two years old, with the youngest victim being only six months old. Shockingly, the average age of the youngest accused person is 12 years old.
Three out of five reported rape cases are against children, and 23 out of 1,000 female births are from mothers below the age of 18 years. Among the 324 cases recorded by the police, 215 victims were between 13 and 17 years old, 94 were between six and 12 years old, and 15 were in the 0 to 5-year-old category.
Sashi Kiran believes that these figures should be a source of shame and soul-searching for the nation. Women’s Minister Lynda Tabuya underscores the indispensable nature of laws to protect children in transforming the situation, and also stresses that everyone must commit to this cause.
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