BY BIDEMI NELSON
Complicity can equally be subtle. Subtle signs of complicity include scenarios where a third party sees or hears and perceives that a child is being abused, maltreated or exploited but deliberately ignores the crime just because of the absence of any relationship with the child victim. For instance, if you see a child receiving sexual solicitations from an adult and all you do is sigh at the moral decadence in the world without stopping the act, then you are also an accomplice in that crime. Another subtle sign of complicity which has very grave consequences for children in the long-run is the promulgation of inadequate legislations coupled with weak and delayed enforcement activities, to protect children’s rights. An instance of such complicity is where the law expressly prohibits child marriages but weakly enforces it due to prioritizing cultural and religious requirements over children’s wellbeing.
The future is somewhat clearing up for some industries, considering their expanded economic activities and rise in demand despite Covid-19 albeit, the future of the educational sector is still quite vague.
The abruptness of the response to the pandemic and the need to protect learners especially children, have led to severe learning disruptions, caused by schools’ closure, globally.
Intriguingly, while the closure of schools was aimed to protect learners from a public health menace, another age-old menace still exists in the very homes to which children are being confined, with far more deadly consequences. .
For many children, school has always been an escape route from the dangers of child abuse in their homes. School attendance reduces these children’s exposure to their abuser(s), thereby reducing their chances of victimization.
However, with school closure lingering, the risk of child abuse escalating and even spreading to other children in the home are now the “New Normal” many children don’t want to ever get used to.
Child abuse is any activity that hurts or maltreats children and negatively impacts on their development and wellbeing. Child abuse can be physical (using force or power), emotional (using words or gestures), sexual (child rape or grooming children for sex) or it could be child neglect (refusing to provide the necessary things children need to thrive).
Many child abuse crimes take place in children’s homes and sometimes go unnoticed for a long period. While this is cause for concern, there is however a greater danger that aggravates child abuse situations which children face.
This danger is the presence of an accomplice(s) who plays an active role in child abuse complicity. Complicity is when other people actively encourage the crime of child abuse by supporting or cooperating with the abuser.
The assurance of complicity in child abuse crimes is what every abuser needs to become innovative and habitual in the commission of the offence. Complicity takes many forms and can either be obvious or subtle.
In obvious complicity, adults or children willingly join to perpetrate the act of child abuse either through active participation or by encouraging the perpetrator to commit the crime.
An instance of complicity could occur if a parent is spanking a child for stealing and another parent, probably the step-parent, joins in, to also beat the child or nags uncontrollable about the child’s theft history, just to incite more beating episodes for the child by the angered parent.
Complicity can also take place in the form of joining a perpetrator of a child abuse crime to hide or cover up the crime. This can sometimes happen because the abuser threatened the third party who is privy to the abuse or because of an existing relationship between the abuser and that third party, which the third party is not willing to jeopardize.
As such, the third party can lie about the child abuse crime or even claim ignorance about the crime. In extreme cases, the children victims are threatened or shamed by the same third party to shut them up, permanently.
Complicity can equally be subtle. Subtle signs of complicity include scenarios where a third party sees or hears and perceives that a child is being abused, maltreated or exploited but deliberately ignores the crime just because of the absence of any relationship with the child victim.
For instance, if you see a child receiving sexual solicitations from an adult and all you do is sigh at the moral decadence in the world without stopping the act, then you are also an accomplice in that crime.
Another subtle sign of complicity which has very grave consequences for children in the long-run is the promulgation of inadequate legislations coupled with weak and delayed enforcement activities, to protect children’s rights.
An instance of such complicity is where the law expressly prohibits child marriages but weakly enforces it due to prioritizing cultural and religious requirements over children’s wellbeing.
Another instance is where an adult brings in an under-aged female child for a family planning procedure to be performed on her and the physician responsible for the procedure does not see the need to probe, report or facilitate the detention of such adult in accordance with relevant laws.
Evidently, the lapses in protecting child rights globally, calls for more public sensitization on these rights and what their violations entail. The media alongside health, community and religious leaders must conscientiously merge child rights and abuse messages with the content they regularly push out.
Hospitals can sensitize expectant and new parents on child rights violations by graphic displays on hospital premises or by regular counseling during hospital visits. People, who provide goods and services for children both directly and indirectly, must be knowledgeable of children’s fundamental rights.
Government officials, security agents (police and traffic wardens, among others), school administrators and even outfits that cater to children’s needs like clothing lines and advertising agencies, are not excluded.
While we may not be able to influence schools re-opening anytime soon, we can all ensure that the crimes of child abuse and its complicity are mitigated.
Bidemi Nelson is a public affairs commentator and the Chief Executive Officer of Shield of Innocence Initiative, based in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. She can be reached at Phone Number: +2348033656954, www.facebook.com/shieldoi, www.instagram.com/shieldoi and www.twitter.com/shieldoi1.
