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[ADDIS ABABA - 13 May 2007] - Sexual violence against children was the highest recorded crime in Addis Ababa during the past four months, the African Child Right Policy Forum, a children's legal protection centre, has disclosed. "A total of 324 civil and criminal cases were reported in from January to April, 2007, out of which the highest recorded crimes were found to be sexual violence against children," Helen Seifu, Manager of the protection centre, said. Among the major concerns highlighted during a workshop was the lack of care and support given to children at schools. Doctors taking care of abused children were not also doing enough to help the kids, the workshop observed. "Some schools don't take responsibility for children abused in their compound, parents don't trust their children who say they were raped or sexually molested by a member of the family or a close relative, and when they do, they are usually silenced," participants noted. "The Police do not treat a child beyond 15 as a child, though the international convention which Ethiopia has ratified says a child is below 18," one of the participants of the workshop noted. "Hence, if a person rapes a child whose age is 16, the plaintiff will be released on bail," she said adding this emanated from the misunderstanding on the international convention on definition of the child, particularly girls. Another participant complained the police don't investigate when child rights are abused. "Neither does it take a preventive measure," she said. Victims shoulder burden The issue of presenting and finding evidence was said to be put on the shouldera of the victim rather than the Police. "The police do nothing other than recording, names, addresses and the type of accident that occurred," the participant from an NGO working on the rights of children noted. She said it was wrong to ask for evidence from a helpless child who is raped; yet that is what the police usually do. Inspector Atsede Wordofa, Children's Protection Unit (CPU) head at the Addis Ababa Police Commission sited some problems in her organisation as causes of the wrongdoings on the part of the Police. "CPU has its own structural problems which it is now trying to solve. Indeed, a police has to make his or her own personal skills to encourage a child to speak freely. On the other hand, to simply hold a person suspected of child violence is against the person's human right," she said justifying the reason why the police refrain from detaining a suspect. "That is why police needs sufficient evidence to do so," the Inspector added. According to Atsede, police have trouble with the doctors who trace evidence of violence in rape cases. "First of all, doctors tend to take the issue of children as something personal and they tell they are always busy to go on with the examination," she said. "In the meantime, evidence could be lost." Further information:
pdf: http://allafrica.com/stories/200705141020.html