GUWAHATI, June 27 - Easy access to internet has resulted in the increase of child sexual abuse cases in the State, where most of the accused happened to be known to the victims.
This was observed by Dr Anangadev Singh, campaign officer of �End Violence Against Children� campaign, which has been under way in four districts of Assam under the World Vision India, a humanitarian organisation working for child protection.
Under the campaign, various activities have been organised in the districts of Kamrup Metro, Udalguri, Karimganj and Jorhat.
�In Assam, there is much more to do in creating mass awareness about child sexual abuses as most of the cases still remain unreported. Here, both girls and boys are victims of sexual abuse, but only the cases related to girl victims are reported,� Singh told The Assam Tribune here today.
According to him, to mitigate the social evil there is an urgent need for including sex education in school. Moreover, the government should take some stern steps to track the surfing of pornography through internet.
�In Assam, people are reluctant to talk about sexual abuse, so most of the cases remain unreported. There is a need to eliminate the stigma,� he added.
Today, the World Vision India has organised a State-level capacity building programme on �It takes Assam to End Child Sexual Abuse� campaign here where more than 250 children, teachers, interfaith leaders, Anganwadi workers, civil society members, media personnel, etc., took part.
The chief guest of the programme was Dr Sunita Changkakoti, chairperson of the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR).
The capacity building programme included a panel discussion on �Ending Children Sexual Abuse and Exploitation in India� and raised concerns over the issues of child protection.
The �End Violence Against Children� campaign is aimed at strengthening existing child protection programmes through multi-stakeholder engagement efforts that include working with the Integrated Child Protection Scheme and child protection units to strengthen the reporting, referral mechanisms and support programmes for child protection incidents, organising inter-agency child protection review to ensure cooperation and accountability, sensitise and train police, teachers, doctors, midwife, lawyers, etc.
