Having their say - children's views on sexual abuse and exploitation

What is the best way to stop sexual abuse of children by adults? What suggestions do children have for tackling this problem? Tearfund investigated sexual behaviour in young people in Sri Lanka and gathered their views on strategies to prevent sexual abuse.

The study involved 145 school children aged 13 to 17 years in Moratuwa district. It aimed to discover:

• prevalence of perceived and actual sexual behaviour among young people
• children's perceptions and understanding of how to prevent sexual exploitation of children and how to help victims of abuse
• their knowledge about sex and their experience of sex education.

The study found that:

• 17 percent of children say they know others their age who have done sexual things - seven percent with other children, six percent with adults and one percent with adults for money.
• Ten percent of children say they have done sexual things themselves - eight percent with others their age, five percent with adults and six percent with adults for money.
• Most children feel it is not acceptable for children to do sexual things with adults as this damages children and society.
• Children learn about sex from magazines and videos (46 percent), friends (32 percent), school (12 percent) or their parents (10 percent).
• 80 percent say they have heard about AIDS, but only 37 percent know that it can be prevented by using condoms.
• 43 percent of children say they have had some education on how the body develops, 41 percent have learnt about diseases you can get through sex, but only 23 percent have received education on pregnancy and having a baby.
• More than half the children would like more education on all of these areas.

The children have creative ideas on intervention to prevent or stop sexual abuse of children, including:

• encouraging adults to address the root causes of negligence of children and educating them on child protection
• teaching children about the importance of speaking out
• offering peer support for abused children
• improving parent-child relationships
• providing study and employment to remove children from risky situations
• informing children about the health risks of sexual activity
• punishing adult perpetrators.

The authors recommend that policy-makers tackling the problems of child sexual abuse should:

• develop sex education strategies that include a wide range of related topics and leave behind the 'traditional' human biology lesson
• inform parents and teachers of the importance of their explanation of sex
• make adults aware of their responsibilities in protection, moral education, and support of children
• encourage religious leaders to support good parenting
• train school teachers in appropriate sex education, child protection and counselling of children at risk
• insist that police see children as victims and take these abuses seriously by punishing the offenders
• allow children to contribute to finding a solution to these problems.

Source(s):
'"Children don't do sex with adults for pleasure": Sri Lankan children's views on sex and sexual exploitation', Child Abuse and Neglect 24 (7): 995-1003, by G. Miles, 2000
HINARI subscribers can access the full-text article here. Full document.

Funded by: Tearfund

id21 Research Highlight: 21 May 2002

Further Information:
Glenn Michael Miles
Children at Risk Facilitator: Cambodia
Tearfund
100 Church Road
Teddington
Middlesex
TW11 8QE
UK
Or
GPO Box 2654
Phnom Penh 3
Cambodia

Tel: +855 23 214 106
Contact the contributor: tearfund@camnet.com.kh

Tear Fund

Other related links:
See id21's collection of links relevant to maternal and child health.