Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 20, 2006
HARARE, 20 November (PLUSNEWS) - A child is abused every hour in Zimbabwe, according to new data released by a group of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working to stop the suffering.
"More than 8,600 cases of child abuse were reported in Zimbabwe in 2005 - that is 24 every day ... More than half of all cases reported involve sexual abuse of children," said James Elder, the United Nations' Children's Fund (Unicef) spokesman in Zimbabwe.
The data was compiled by the Child Protection Working Group (CPWG), a network of NGOs, churches, community groups, UN agencies and the government, formed in 2002 to respond to the humanitarian needs of children.
"Cases of abuse against Zimbabwean children appear to be spiralling out of control," Elder said.
In the first nine months of this year, Childline, a phone-in service for children in distress or adults wishing to report cases of abuse, reported more than 34,000 calls, or more than five every hour. The NGO said 70 percent of calls received were related to sexual abuse of children.
"Children who are sexually abused are also the most vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS. The impact can therefore, quite literally, last a lifetime and be fatal," said Elder. He added Zimbabwe has one of the largest populations of orphans and vulnerable children - about two million - exposing more of them to abuse.
Child abuse can sometimes cripple families psychologically and financially. Stella Marongwe, 34, a Zimbabwean cross-border informal trader who sells cigarettes in Zambia, almost committed suicide when she learnt that her husband had been raping their 10-year-old daughter in her absence.
"It devastated me so much when I discovered that the very father of my daughter was sexually abusing her. I completely trusted him and was shocked one day when I examined the child and noticed that her private parts were damaged," Marongwe told IRIN. The husband is now serving a 25-year jail term after being convicted for raping the girl on ten occasions while Marongwe was away.
The child contracted a sexually transmitted disease but, fortunately, two tests showed she was HIV-negative. She is, however, shunned by her schoolmates. "She thinks all men are devils and has vowed to take revenge when she grows up; she is very bitter," said Marongwe.
The abuse has affected the family financially as well. Marongwe has cut down on her trips to Zambia because she is afraid her only other child, a daughter aged 14, might meet the same fate. She has also had to seek legal protection to prevent her husband's relatives from taking her daughters on the grounds that she was neglecting them.
CPWG has called for nationwide prevention programmes to be dramatically stepped up, and has stressed the need for parents, guardians and teachers to ensure a protective environment for children, and be vigilant in detecting and preventing all forms of child abuse. It has also called for the development of life-skills programmes to empower children, and the need for traditional and religious leaders to be unequivocal in their condemnation of child abuse.
The group said the myth held by some men that having sex with virgins could cure sexually transmitted diseases had added to the problem of child abuse.
HIV-related illnesses kill 3,000 Zimbabweans every week and 72 babies become HIV-positive every day as a result of a lack of programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
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