SWAZILAND: Police take action on child abuse

SWAZILAND: Police take action on child abuse

MBABANE, 25 March (PLUSNEWS) - In a bid to better combat child abuse, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has provided the Swazi police with closed-circuit television systems to record witness testimonies to help in abuse cases.

The 31 closed-circuit systems and video recorders donated by UNICEF last week were expected to help the police build solid evidence for court cases, and could serve as a deterrent against abuse.

"Because child abuse as a crime is a relatively new phenomenon, at least in the awareness of Swazis, the police have had to learn to conduct investigations that result in evidence that can stand up in court," said Angus MacLeod, a fund raiser for the NGO, the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA).

"Swaziland has no rampant child abuse problem, but the awareness of these crimes has deeply shocked this conservative country, and press attention has made it seem like an epidemic. Contextually, however, it is a matter of recognising a problem for the first time, and coming to grips with it," he told IRIN.

Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini accepted the UNICEF-donated equipment at a ceremony attended by Police Commissioner Edgar Hillary, hundreds of police officers and the entire current class of police recruits, the first group of incoming law enforcers to be indoctrinated from the start on the seriousness of child abuse crimes.

"This is a nation that cares for its children, particularly in light of multiple challenges like poverty, drought and HIV/AIDS," Dlamini said.

"Government is convinced that the greater empowerment of women and children ... especially in relation to sexual abuse is the key to more progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS," he added.

Such a statement on gender empowerment has been seen by women's groups as a step forward in a nation where a conservative leadership has consigned women to legal minority status in the name of tradition.

"We hope we are laying important foundation stones for ensuring protection and justice for the children of Swaziland," UNICEF country director Alan Brody said as he donated the equipment.

Brody explained in an interview with IRIN that when UNICEF made a decision three years ago to concentrate its efforts on the fight against HIV and AIDS in Swaziland, the group did not have plans to buy equipment for police stations, or to be heavily involved in what was to become a nationwide campaign against sexual abuse and the exploitation of children.

"The tide of the HIV and AIDS epidemic has greatly sharpened concerns about sexual abuse," he said.

A SWAGAA study in 2000 into child sex abuse helped raise national awareness. However, it has taken time for the police, and wider Swazi society, to take child abuse crimes seriously.

A woman who sought to lay charges against a boyfriend who raped her 11-year-old daughter told IRIN last year: "I went to the police, but they took it as a not serious thing. It wasn't until I came back with a counsellor from SWAGAA that an officer took my statement."

Brody said that he hoped "the infrastructure that is being put in place to arrest and capture perpetrators of crimes against children will send a message that this is unacceptable behaviour, and it will act as a deterrent."

A recent UNICEF report echoes the emphasis on deterrence. "It is recognised that formal police and law enforcement institutions and mechanisms that mete out sanctions to offenders work to best effect when they are part of a larger system of socialisation, control and education. The occasional public cases, prosecutions, convictions and imprisonments serve as examples of what awaits those who refuse to heed the many warnings provided by society," it said.

SWAGAA statistics show a 50 percent rise in reported cases of child abuse in each of the past three years, but the NGO has cautioned that this does not reflect an explosion in this type of crime.

"It is a matter of better reporting. People are becoming aware of child abuse, which used to be ignored. There are now places to go for counselling, and the police are getting involved," abuse counsellor Sindile Mcanyana told IRIN.

[ENDS]

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