Over 300 child abuse victims given assistance in three months
Times News Service
MUSCAT: More than 300 cases of child abuse have been dealt with by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) in the third quarter of 2018.
“The child protection committee dealt with 336 cases of child abuse from various governorates in the Sultanate during the period of July to September,” the ministry said online. Among those, 174 were male, while 162 were female. With regard to the areas that the reports came from, “Most cases were recorded in Muscat (146), followed by South Batinah (41), while Buraimi recorded 33 cases, Dhakilyah, 33; North Batinah, 28; and Dhaira, 19 cases. The fewest reported cases were in Dhofar (2) and Musandam (2).”
The ministry added that 225 of these cases were reported through the child protection hotline. “Of those cases, 122 were of neglect, 48 were cases of physical abuse, 42 were psychological and 13 were sexual.”
According to the ministry, 11 children who suffered abuse were sent to Dar Al Wifaq child welfare centre, of which 8 were male and 3 were female. The childhood welfare centre takes children who have not experienced natural family nurturing, and provides them with shelter, food, educational, social and cultural programmes, and entertainment activities. The Department of Family Protection was established by MoSD through Ministerial Decree No. 330/2012.
It is responsible for developing family protection plans and strengthening the efforts that serve the family in coordination with relevant bodies in the field of protection. Safia bint Hamoud Al Aisri, Head of Department at Dar Al Wifaq said that the department ensures the provision of stability and family cohesion, and provides a safe environment away from negative behaviour, and receives reports through the hotline to protect the children.
Authorities explained that the variance in the number of reported cases is likely due to differences in population in different areas of the Sultanate. In January, 2017, Oman launched a 24/7 child protection hotline (1100), which aims to combat any abuse. its also supports children under 18 years of age who are exposed to various types of abuse. The helpline guarantees full confidentiality of the data received from the caller, including caller’s identity, if the caller does not want to be identified.