A total of 29 children are reported to have fallen victim to sexual abuse in January 2024.
This was revealed by the Child and Family Protection Service in its monthly statistics publicized for the month of January.
The Child and Family Protection Service in its post on social media platform ‘X’ revealed that 181 cases of violence against children were received and attended to that month.
These include cases of violence against children, family issues, care and support issues, behavioral problems, and child rights violations among others.
65 of the 181 victims were between the ages of 10 – 13, 73 between the ages of 14 – 16, 34 between the ages of 6 – 9, 33 between the ages of 2 – 5, 18 above 17 years of age and six victims under a year old.
Looking at the places of incidence, five of these cases were reported from Haa Alif atoll, 13 from Haa Dhaal atoll, 14 from Raa atoll, 10 from Baa atoll, eight from Alif Alif atoll, four from Alif Dhaal atoll, four from Thaa atoll, one from Faafu atoll, one from Dhaalu atoll, five from Shaviyani atoll, two from Noonu atoll, 12 from Lhaviyani atoll, two from Kaafu atoll, 107 from capital Malé City, five from Laamu atoll, six from Gaaf Alif atoll, seven from Fuvahmulah City, 10 from Gaaf Dhaal atoll and 13 cases were reported from southernmost Addu City.
The 76 cases of violence against children include 29 victims of sexual abuse, 20 of whom were girls and nine were boys, 32 victims of physical abuse including 25 boys and seven girls and 18 victims of emotional abuse including 10 girls and eight boys.
Further, 25 victims of neglect including 12 boys and 13 girls and one victim of harassment were also reported. Reported to have been harassed was a girl.
One girl was a victim of cyberbullying, two boys and two girls were victims of bullying and 20 boys and seven girls had witnessed domestic violence in the past month.
13 girls and 12 boys were victims of exploitation and two girls and two boys were victims of blackmail.
One girl is also reported to have been a victim of commercial sexual exploitation.
Further, two girls were victims of other cases.
Out of the 19 behavioral problems filed with the authorities in January, four were to do with children throwing temper tantrums involving one girl and three boys. A girl and a boy refused to attend school during that month and six boys, and a girl were linked with other behavioral problems.
Four boys and two girls were also reported to have run away from home during the past month.
Further, three children were linked to social support and well-being cases, where they were not provided adequate shelter.
The authorities also received 36 cases linked to family issues including 11 boys and nine girls trapped with parenting issues and four boys and five girls with parents who had issues with getting access to their children. The parents of five girls and two boys were embroiled in custody battles as well.
18 other types of cases were also reported involving 15 girls and three boys, however, the authorities did not provide the details of the nature of these cases.
Three cases of child rights violations were reported during that month as well, involving one child who was denied birth registration, two children who were violated of their right to shelter.
During January this year the Child and Family Protection Service’s child helpline 1412 received 2,431 calls including 802 follow-up calls on reported cases, 215 calls seeking information, 62 to report cases, 857 silent calls, 79 prank calls and 416 others.
The caller identification of 1,199 phone calls remains unknown. 54 children and 1,178 adults are to have made the remaining phone calls.
Statistics go on to indicate that 172 children were under state care by the end of January, including 97 boys and 75 girls.
Eight girls and six boys were newly taken into state care and one girl was fostered during January.
In addition to this, the Child and Family Protection Service provided counseling services to 43, including parenting sessions for 10. Two cases were attended to from outlying islands.
