Sex abuse by children on the rise in NI: charity

THERE has been a huge spike in the number of young people in Northern Ireland seeking counselling about child-on-child sexual abuse, Childline has said.

The children’s charity said it held 3,878 counselling sessions with young people from across the UK concerned about sexual abuse among peers last year, an increase of 29% on the previous year.

But in Northern Ireland there were 100 of these sessions in 2017/18 — more than double the number compared to the previous year.

The true scale of the problem “could be much worse”, Childline said, as “many children and teen- agers do not understand what has happened to them is abuse”.

“Young people who contacted Childline about peer-on-peer sexual abuse revealed a lack of understanding about consent, with some feeling unsure about whether something is abuse if they are in a relationship,” a Childline spokeswoman added.

Dame Esther Rantzen, the charity’s founder and president, said: “Young people tell us that they have been compelled to take part in behaviour against their will, which sometimes involves them suffering violence.

“We know that relationships can be confusing and it can be hard to know if the dynamic is changing and things are starting to go wrong.”

Childline, which is run by the NSPCC, has relaunched its #ListenToYourSelfie campaign to try to prevent sexual abuse between children and to encourage young people who have been abused by a peer to speak up.

Children worried about sexual abuse between peers can call Childline on 0800 11 11.