HIV/Aids Africa

Reports from the Women and Child Protection Unit
in Windhoek indicate that the percentage of children who are raped and sexually
abused is much higher than any other violence committed against children. But
communities are now much more aware of the possibilities and dangers of children
being sexually abused or molested and report it more often compared to previous
years.?Children become victims of crime when they are physically, mentally and
or emotionally affected by crime against them or crime in their immediate
surroundings? said Amanda Kruger, the director of LifeLine/Childline Namibia.
The high levels of poverty caused by the AIDS pandemic add to the vulnerability
of children. Statistics of children as victims of crime from a supplement of the
United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) to the State of the World’s Children
Report 2005 are showing an increase in this problem. According to the UNICEF
supplement, ?childhood is meant to be the best years of life – years of joy and
free of worries. For many children this is not the case; instead their childhood
is characterised by suffering and hardships.?LifeLine/Childline visits all
Windhoek primary schools (Grade 3) annually, but visits rural schools once only
and covers the entire primary schools to teach and sensitise them about the
possibilities of crimes against children. The organisation has been running this
programme since 1998, and they believe that in order to stop sexual abuse of
children, the focus must be on prevention.?Awareness-raising campaigns and
public discourse on gender, power relations and children’s rights are crucial in
this regard,? says UNICEF.Kruger said that there were cases were teenage boys
sexually abuse and even rape younger children. But Kruger says that directly
referring cases like that to the police is not good as these young offenders get
locked up with elders who rape or abuse them, and this does not help the
situation but just adds to the problem.?By trying to end or minimise the
problem, we try to counsel the children, as some of these kids might have been
abused themselves?, said Kruger. Social workers from various ministries and the
Women and Child Protection Unit also assist in the cases of children who become
victims of crime. Childline/Lifeline has a focused programme on 8 to
12-year-olds, in an educational drama called ‘feeling yes/feeling no’. This
programme is there to teach children about general life-skills like prevention
of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence, and is sponsored by USAID and
Kindernothilfe.?In Namibia and other southern African countries, a complex
crisis is emerging, consisting of the worsening of HIV/AIDS, deepening food
insecurity and weakening capacities at national, communities and household
levels. While the country has enjoyed peace since its Independence in 1990 and
armed conflict has not been a threat to Namibian children, other forms of
violence in the society and within families, particularly sexual violence, are
of concern?, warns UNICEF.LifeLine/Childline, with the support of Pepsi, will
add a puppet programme still in progress for children aged 4 to 7 years, the
most vulnerable group, said Kruger. The organisation has various drama shows to
sensitise the children on how to protect them from rape, drugs, sugar daddies
etc. There is also child prostitution, parents who sell their children for cash,
an action caused by poverty.