Guyana records 4900 child abuse cases in 2018

There has been a growing number of reported child abuse cases in Guyana and for last year, over 4900 such cases were recorded, an alarming number that is fuelled by neglect and other social ills.
According to the Ministry of the Presidency, over 4900 child abuse matters were reported last year to the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA). From this number, 2400 were as a result of neglect. Up to January, 400 cases were reported with 122 being of a sexual nature.
It further states, “According to the statistics, 60 per cent of child neglect occurs when a child is between the ages of 4-13 years old, while 83 per cent of child sexual abuse occurs when a child is between the ages of 8-18 years old”.
But Director of the CCPA, Ann Greene is of the view that this number is far less than the actual statistics since abuse is a “hidden crime”.
“Child abuse is a hidden crime and particularly, sexual abuse is behind closed doors and some of the victims, they literally do not have a voice to report abuse, meaning many children are being abused and they can’t report. So even if we do get a report, that’s the tip of the iceberg,” Greene was quoted as saying.
Just a few days ago, ChildLink researcher Samantha Alleyne stated that she was very disturbed by the findings of a study that was conducted on child abuse.
“National statistics compiled by Child Care and Protection Agency confirmed that abuse of children, both physical and sexual, starts from as young as zero to three (years old). The data indicates that the sexual abuse of girl children remains high in the country. The number of reported cases is as follows; 801 in 2018, 392 in 2017 and 616 in 2016. Similarly, cases reported for boy children were 179 in 2018, 442 in 2017 and 118 in 2016,” Alleyne told the gathering.
She added that during her research, it was also found that some parents were reluctant to accept the abuse story their children had told them. In such a case, she said a parent even blamed her child for what happened, saying that the child wanted to separate her from her spouse.
The interviews ran for one month with nine children and eight adults. However, she found that children between the ages of 14 to 18 and eight to 13 were more vulnerable to these attacks.