18 Apr 2017

Stepping Stones International is collaborating with the European Union on the ke boikarabelo jwa rona campaign to advocate and focus on child protection on sexual abuse and exploitation.

The campaign comes after the 2014/2015 gaining traction by action campaign that similarly engaged the community with an outreach designed to combat the escalating problem of child sexual abuse and exploitation in Botswana.

Speaking to BOPA, Stepping Stones International human rights advisor and project coordinator, Mr Chirwah Mahloko said ke boikarabelo jwa rona campaign began last year and would be coming to an end this year.

Mr Mahloko said the project aimed to report cases of child sexual abuse, and help victims get justice and psycho-social support.

He said they were currently working on 41 cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation across the country.

He explained that they had established working relations with all stakeholders to ensure victims and their families were given efficient support services when they reported such cases.

He further said they empowered victims on how to access such services, raise awareness and gave them all the support necessary to go through with their cases.

Mr Mahloko said they came up with an approach of enhancing quality service for victims by offering training to stakeholders on how to offer optimum service.

The stakeholders include among others the police, social workers, psychologists and lawyers, who are engaged to assist in some cases.

He added that they had also come up with score cards that checked and monitored if institutions mandated to provide support services to victims of sexual abuse and exploitation had the capacity to provide optimal services.

Mr Mahloko elaborated that they had developed an action plan to monitor gaps and had done research to identify them in service delivery and evaluating their preparedness.
“Child sexual abuse and exploitation is a rife matter.

The size of it goes unnoticed because it goes unreported. We have also realised that 80 per cent of sexual abuses are perpetrated by people victims already know,” he elaborated.

He advised that cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation should not be tried or solved at home as such an arrangement  denied children psychological, legal and health attention, hence risking the health and wellbeing of the children.

He said some children had contacted HIV from being sexually abused, adding that if the case had been reported they could have been attended to and given proper medication in time to curb the infection.

Mr Mahloko implored parents and care givers to be close to their children and emphasised that they should be open and create a friendly relationship with children so they were free to share everything with them.

He said they should not judge children and instead be quick to act on getting proper help to address the situation.

Moreover, he said child sexual victims were more vulnerable to being abused again if they were not counselled as they may put themselves in similar situations and hope for a different outcome.

“Often the behaviour of a victim is misunderstood as to why they behave the way they do. In some cases they develop more interest in sex, others resent opposite gender. Until they receive proper counselling and psychosocial support, they fail to relate well,” Mr  Mahloko said.

He cited that they have had older women who were abused at tender ages opening up and seeking help years after the abuse during their campaigns. He said they helped anyone who had been a victim and they were always available to ensure they got proper help.

Even though the project ends this year, he said as an organisation they would continue to address cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation although it is an expensive exercise.

They worked with BONELA, Botswana National Association of Social Workers and S&D Psychological Consultants. BOPA