By Mesha Sealey

A total of 177 sexual assault cases are pending trial at the High Court, according to a list provided by the Supreme Court of Judicature on Friday last.

Of this number, 130 involve children under the age of 16. five of the 130 cases include carnal knowledge of girls under 15 years of age, two relate to carnal knowledge of a child under 12 years of age, 111 invovle the rape of a child under 16 years of age, nine cases are sex by abusing a position of trust, and 22 relate to sexual activity with a child family member.

When contacted, Director of the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), Ann Greene, told the Sunday Chronicle that sexual abuse was the second-most reported form of child abuse, with child neglect taking the number one position.

“Sexual abuse, for us right now, is of great concern. There are too many children being sexually abused, and these are only the ones that come to our attention,” she stated.

Greene added: “It’s only the tip of the iceberg, because a lot of children are being abused, but it’s not known. Sexual abuse is something that is done behind closed doors. A lot of times, children don’t have a voice to tell of being abused. Some children don’t even know it’s abuse. It’s a norm. That is the extent of the sexual abuse.”

According to a report by the CPA, for the period January to October 2020, almost 900 of the 4,030 child abuse cases reported were of sexual nature. While the figures recorded were lower than that of the previous year, which saw 890 child sexual abuse cases being reported, Greene noted that this was not due to low prevalence, but rather to a drop in the number of persons reporting child abuse.

Greene previously told this newspaper that with schools being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency had lost one of its most critical partners in the fight against child abuse. Teachers throughout Guyana have played key roles in identifying and reporting cases of children being abused for many years.

However, with the arrival of COVID-19, schools had been shut since March 2020, leaving the CPA at a disadvantage, in terms of child abuse reports. Although the school closures served as a defence mechanism against the deadly virus, it left many defenseless children confined within proximity of their abusers.

In December, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security had partnered with telecommunications giants—Digicel and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT)– The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Telecommunications Agency to create a toll-free hotline as part of the measures for promoting the reporting, prevention and response services to cases of violence.

The 914 hotline aims to integrate the services available at both the Domestic Violence Units, and the Childcare and Protection Agency, and it is the hope of all stakeholders involved, including local authorities, that the 24-hour service will result in more persons reaching out to the CPA in cases of all forms of abuse, especially those involving children.

“It is up to us– as adults, as Guyanese– to look and see the signs, and know that child protection is everyone’s business. Every adult should be concerned about the children,” Greene reiterated on Saturday.