[COLUMNIST] Saving the children from sexual abuse

It is deeply shocked when the children were having a cousin’s sleepover at her mother-in-law’s place during school holidays, an uncle asked his six years old niece to perform a sex act on him. In fact, her mother suspected the uncle had begun grooming her daughter by being excessively physical with her but did not take any action.

This month alone, a jobless man was charged with 15 offences involving sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl, as well as keeping pornographic items. A bus driver was charged uploaded videos of schoolkids, kissing the cheek of a 4-year-old girl and repeatedly observing a nine-year-old girl for sexual purpose and a teacher has been remanded into a case of physical sexual assault on a 12-year-old male student that move would raise a red flag as a paedophilia.

Child sexual abuse is the sexual activity with a child by an adult and the most prevalent health problem children face with the most serious array of consequences.

In the first six months of 2022, the Royal Malaysian Police has recorded a total of 1,348 sexual abuse cases involving children with a breakdown of 641 cases of rape, 47 cases of gang rape, 127 cases of incest, 95 cases of unnatural sex and 438 cases of molestation.

Then during the 2018 to November 27, 2023 period, meanwhile out of 6,540 cases under six categories of offences in the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, 91 per cent or 5,965 cases involve physical sexual assault on a child.

Additionally, the recent report stated that 2,2722 cases of child sexual crime were recorded from 2020 to April 2024. Studies show that child abuse offenders and paedophiles have a high recidivism rate and are repeat offenders after imprisonment or treatment.

Childs sexual abuse, paedophilia and grooming of children can begin without people recognising it because it can be a small act in everyday life. While paedophiles come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. It can be from anybody and demonstrate similar characteristics.

A paedophile prefer to have sex with children. They also have an abnormal taste, an unnatural desire and an attraction for sexual relations to achieve pleasure only with children.

Paedophilia is not a new sex crime. What is new is the attention that it is getting in the public arena in Malaysia, especially after the case of Richard Huckle who posed as a Christian missionary and a freelance photographer.

While a groomer is someone who builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so that they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. A predator can groom a child for sex in just one hour, according to the Bukit Aman CID Sexual, Women and Children Crime Investigation Division.

Criminologists found that 40% of the sexual offending risk is explained by genetic factors(nature) and 2% of the risk was attributed to environmental factors(nurture) shared between siblings, such as parental attitudes, neighbourhood and education.

Experts also believe that there is no permanent cure for child sexual abuse offenders, especially paedophilia; some claim therapy treatment can work but it’s a challenge. Since paedophiles are sociopaths whose behaviour is antisocial and lack a sense of empathy and moral responsibility for their victims, the disorder is chronic and lifelong.

Crime prevention should be the priority for police but that should not be their responsibility alone. Parents and guardians must take good care of children and keep an eye on children’s online activity. They must also dismantle the culture of shame associated with talking about sexual education by using greater empathy in child sexual offending. Additionally, parents are required to teach their children to identify the private body parts to distinguish between safe touches so children would be aware of what is acceptable.

Research revealed that 9 out of 10 are close to the mothers of their victims who are highly susceptible to abuse due to their vulnerability and trust in others.

They must pay attention and respond when any adult seems overly focused on befriending a child, regularly make a spot check on child nurseries and babysitters and do not allow a child to go alone on vacation or spend the night with someone other than those proven to be trustworthy and reliable.

Certainly do not assume that a person is reliable because of position, status or title or because they work in a place where children commonly gather.

Parents and child abuse counsellors need to provide children who have been sexually abused with the support and resources they need to heal and recover. Furthermore, expert stated that some parents of the child who suffered sexual abuse may also develop mental illnesses and increase the likelihood of mental disabilities in future generation.

In July 2024, the Internet Watch Foundation and UNICEF have identified a significant and growing threat where AI technology is being exploited to produce child sexual abuse material and hide on the Dark Web. Offenders and paedophiles can use AI to take an image of a child and make it appear as though the child is nude or engaged in sexual acts or grooming online.

Besides parents, guardians and experts’ intervention, combating child sexual abuse especially on the Dark Web that provide airtight confidentiality and has created an environment conducive to child sexual abuse, requires the authorities to be more proactive and two steps ahead. It demands law enforcement agencies, cybersecurity experts, ethical hackers and technical resources combined with an innovative approach to improve technology that can be used securely as well as to prevent complex attacks related to child sexual abuse and online exploitation.

Therefore, it can only get worse if we do not act.

Datuk Seri Dr. Akhbar Satar is the Director and Professorial Chair at Institute of Crime and Criminology, HELP University.

** The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.