Minister: NGO to be set up to support sexually abused children
KUCHING: A nongovernmental organisation (NGO) will be set up to support children who are victims of sexual abuse, says Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.
The Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Sarawak said the NGO would also extend its support to the families of the victims.
“Among the objectives of this NGO is to create awareness of sexual abuse on children and this will be done through various educational programmes, networking and ‘train-the-trainers’ programmes.
“Aside from that, this NGO will also provide support for the victims and their families through counseling, guidance as well as legal procedures; as we all know, the legal processes may take too long and this is the kind of experience that the child will have to go through.
“There’s a proverb: ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’; the child needs to move on from their traumatic experience as fast as possible - that is why this support system must be present to reduce the pressure on them,” she said during a press conference, held after a courtesy call on the Registrar of Societies (RoS) Sarawak at Queen’s Court near Jalan Wan Alwi here yesterday.
Citing statistics from the police, Fatimah said a total of 807 rape cases involving underage youngsters were recorded from 2017 to 2023, out of which 398 resulted in pregnancies.
In the same period, she said there were a total of 47 cases involving children getting sexually molested.
“It is saddening to see these cases happen to individuals, especially the children. It is a very traumatic experience for them, and these cases did not only occur on girls, but also the boys.
“That is why this NGO is set up so that we can ensure the children are well-protected and at the same time the cases can be reduced,” she said.
Also present at the press conference was RoS Sarawak director Georgina Apphia Ngau.