Fight goes on against abuse of children

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-05 08:27

GUANGZHOU -- A scheme to protect children from abuse, launched in three provinces in 2006, is to be extended across Guangdong, the provincial women's federation said on Thursday.

Zhang Liling, the federation's director, said the scheme, organized by the United Nations Children's Fund, will be extended across Guangdong by 2010.

The program will include sending supervisors to work in local communities to help protect children from various forms violence and abuse, and also offer counseling and support to victims, she said.

In Foshan, where the scheme was piloted, authorities have said that over the next two years a number of shelters will be set up to accommodate victims of abuse.

The program will also include training programs for parents and teachers on how to prevent children from being abused, Zhang said.

A survey conducted by the federation found that 90 percent of children in the two pilot communities of Foshan, had suffered some form of abuse between July 2006 and March of last year.

Cases of physical, mental and sexual abuse, as well as general neglect, were reported Zhang said.

Thirty-eight percent of children said they had been beaten by their parents, while 6 percent said they had been sexually abused by a family member.

"Parents often beat their children in order to get them to study harder," Zhang said.

The study showed that 80 percent of parents who had inflicted the abuse believed their children deserved it, she said.