The Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Service received and attended a total of 132 cases of violence against children, during May 2023, alone.

The ministry on Wednesday publicized statistics for the fifth month of the ongoing year, revealing that the authority received and attended a total of 306 cases.

These include cases of violence against children, domestic violence, gender-based violence, family issues, care and support issues, behavioral problems, child rights violations, self-harming and suicidal behavior, social support and well-being and cases of children in conflict with the law.

132 cases of violence against children were reported to the authority in May alone.

Out of these, a majority involved cases of children falling victim to sexual abuse. 31 children were reported to have fallen victim to sexual abuse in May.

The remaining cases include 22 cases of physical abuse inflicted on children, 22 children falling victim to emotional abuse and 17 children who were victims of negligence. Further, 15 cases of children having witnessed domestic violence, nine cases of bullying and harassment, five others, four victims of cyber bullying, three cases of children being exploited by extremist groups, two cases of children falling victim to cyber grooming, one case of blackmail and one case of exploitation.

80 girls and 52 boys were victims of violence in the past month.

Further, of the 47 cases linked to gender-based violence and domestic violence reported in May, 22 were of emotional and verbal abuse, 16 were of physical violence and abuse, two were of intimidation, two were of rape, one case of economic and financial abuse, one case of sexual harassment, one case of controlling behavior, one case of withholding and damage to property and one case of sexual violence and abuse.

40 girls and seven boys were victims of gender-based violence and domestic abuse that month.

In addition to this, 40 cases were to do with family issues, of which nine were related to access to the child, 14 victims were identified to have parenting issues, six were issues related to maintenance and 11 relating to rights to custody.

22 boys and 18 girls were victims of family issues.

The ministry also received 31 cases of self-harm and suicidal behavior during the past month. These included 10 victims of self-harm including eight girls and two boys, 12 victims who had suicidal behavior including four boys and eight girls as well as three boys and six girls with suicidal thoughts.

Throughout May, 17 cases of care and support for the elderly and persons with disabilities were also reported. These include 13 cases of failure to give care and support for persons with disabilities and four cases of failure to give care and support for the elderly.

The ministry also reported 29 cases of behavioral problems including seven children who threw temper tantrums, six children who ran away from home, six children who refused to attend school, three children who had disciplinary issues, three children with delinquent behavior, three others and one child exhibiting aggressive, oppositional or antisocial behavior.

20 boys and nine girls were reported to have behavioral problems among these cases.

Further, the ministry also received three cases of child rights violations where one girl and two boys are involved. One of them was stripped of their right to education and the remaining two were denied birth registration.

Also, four boys were reported to be in violation of the law. One of them vandalized and deliberately damaged property and the remaining three children are implicated in other issues.

During the past month, three girls were not provided adequate social support and well-being. As such, two girls were not provided right to shelter, with one girl being stripped off her right to healthcare access.

Statistics go on to indicate that 182 children were under state care by the end of May, including 105 boys and 77 girls.

Two boys and two girls were reintegrated with families and one boy was taken into state care.

Moreover, two girls were placed with a foster family during May.