ASSESSMENT 2 - LEGAL RESEARCH

TITLE: CHILD EXPLOITATION - CHILD ABUSE

​PREPARED BY :

AINA AALIYAH BINTI KAMARULZAMAN (2020824592)

MUHAMMAD SHAH IRMAN BIN MOHD SAHIT (2020610548)

DANIEL BIN ROZLAN (2020454782)

WAN IZZATI BINTI WAN ROSLI (2020843434)

NURAFIKA BINTI CHARLIE (2020475736)

NUR ‘AIN ATHIRAH BINTI MOHD SHABRI (2020860392)

PI007K17

PREPARED FOR :
MADAM NAJWA BINTI AZIZUN

​DATE OF SUBMISSION :
20 SEPTEMBER 2020
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 3

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION 5

1.4 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 5

1.5 CONCLUSION 6

REFERENCES 8
1.1 INTRODUCTION

Child exploitation refers to the use of children for someone else’s advantage resulting in
unjust, cruel and harmful treatment of the child. Child Abuse can be categorized as one of the act
of child exploitation. Child Abuse are global concern and have long been unresolved issues. ​It
can be categorized in 4 and it includes physical and mental harm, neglect, and sexual abuse of a
minor1. Children have been subject to abuse by their parents or other adults since presumably the
beginning of time. ​Even though many steps have been taken by the government to prevent them,
statistics show that child abuse cases keep increasing. ​For many centuries laws failed to protect
children from abuse. Children under English common law were considered the property of their
fathers, as women were considered property of their husbands, until the late 1800s.

There are still questions on why does sexual abuse still happens in this current world.
According to a website from the Queensland Government, there are many things that can result
to child abuse but the reasons are often complex, and there is no simple explanation. Firstly, one
of the reasons is isolation and lack of support2. This can be the cause because the parents do not
have the support from the family members, friends, partners and community to help them
regarding the demands of parenting, thus, make them feel isolated from others. Moving on to the
second point, lack of parenting skills3. ​Parents may not know how to care for their child or may
believe it is acceptable to use excessive physical force to discipline or punish a child. Thirdly,
one of the many things is unrealistic expectations. The parents might lack understanding about a
child’s developmental stages and behaviour, resulting them to act such a behaviour towards the
child. Last but not least, It can be from past childhood experiences4. Parents may have
experienced abuse as a child in their own families, which could have caused them to develop an
insecure attachment style.

What was the first case to bring up this issue ? In 1874, child abuse captured the nation's
attention with news of 8 years old, Mary Ellen Wilson who was suffering daily whippings and
beatings at her foster home. With no organization in existence to protect abused children, the
orphan's plight fell to attorneys for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. These attorneys argued that laws protecting animals from abuse should not be greater
than laws protecting children. Mary Ellen Wilson's case went before a judge, who convicted the
foster mother of assault and battery and gave her a 1 year sentence. More significantly, the New
York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed by the citizens.

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 Child Abuse is happening around the globe and Malaysia do not exclude from it. In
January 2018, Nine-year-old Nur Aina Nabihah Mohamad Abdullah died from alleged abuse by
her father and stepmother last January in Lukut, Port Dickson. It was reported by the New Straits
Times that the girl’s father had the nine-year-old doing push-ups, sit-ups, rollovers and squats
aside from being beaten, slapped, kicked and even stomped on. It is understood that the
punishment was because Nur Aina did not recite prayers before bedtime.

After the tragic incident, what is currently happening in society of Malaysia regarding
child abuse? ​Law is one of the instruments to ensure that all the approach and arranging of the
government run easily. For case, it may be an arrangement of the government of Malaysia that
no child is manhandled or ignored. In this manner, the government of Malaysia has passed
legislation to protect the child from being mishandled conjointly to guarantee the culprit is
rebuffed. The Domestic Violence Act 1994 and the Child Act 2001 are the main.

The fact of the matter is that child abuse in Malaysia occurs for a multitude of reasons.
Many experts have given their own opinions on what some of these reasons are and what can be
done to address the issue. What is most important is that Malaysia continues acting against
crimes committed against children with a special focus on prevention so the country can save the
next Aina Nabihah, Naufal Amsyar, Dizhwar Dzaky, baby Balasundram before their names are
added to a growing list of victims in Malaysia’s dark history of child abuse. ​Child abuse is well
established as an important societal concern with significant consequences for the affected
children, their families, and society at large. ​This issue needs to be addressed because people
need to acknowledge this issue more thoroughly because it will affect our future generation’s
lives and also to save today’s generation before it is too late.

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1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.To learn the various definition of child abuse
Child sexual abuse has a broad sense where it sums any conduct that is harmful to a
child’s mental, emotional and physical welfare. Child abuse can be categorized as :

Exhibitionism :
This is an act of individual who expose oneself to a minor

Fondling :
The term ‘sexual fondling’ means the touching of private body parts of another person for the
purpose of sexual gratification.
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Masturbation :
Doing masturbation in the presence of a minor or forcing a minor to masturbate.

Obscene phone calls or text messages :

Sending sexual context or posting something that is considered indecent through personal calls
or chats on social media platforms.

Sex trafficking :
the action or practise of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another for the
purpose of sexual exploitation.

Demonstrate or showing inappropriate context :

Producing or sharing any pornographic images or movies of children.

2. To understand how the rule of law can protect children from abuse.
The law enacted by the state is to ensure the perpetrator to get their punishment and to
safeguard the child’s safety. The law also made to increase awareness among the society to have
the initiative to support service and policies that enhance children’s development health and
safety.

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3. To acknowledge which group has the potential to become the perpetrator :
Majority of perpetrators are someone that the child knows, they can have any relationship
to the child and those who are acquaintances to the child are said to have a higher possibility. For
example, playmates, teachers, siblings or family members. The perpetrators also do not have to
be an adult to sexually harass the child, the abuser may be age 18 and below. 80-90% of the
perpetrators are male whilst 10-20% are female.

4. To see the sufficiency of existing laws

RAINN (​Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network​) is the nation's largest anti-sexual
violence organization. RAINN is established to facilitate the prosecution of perpetrators and to
ensure the punishment fits the severity of the crimes. RAINN has also led campaigns to pass and
renew key federal laws to protect children and other survivors from perpetrators.

The Kilah Davenport Act 2013 ​requires the Department of Justice to report on child abuse
prevention laws in each state and increases allowable federal penalties against those who have
been previously convicted on child abuse charges and re-offend.

Adam Walsh Child Safety And Protection Act ​enhances penalties for child sexual abuse and
tightens the registration requirements for sex offenders.

Rape Survivor Child Custody Act is an amendment to the Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act of 2015 that incentivizes states to enact laws that block some parental
rights, such as custody and visitation, for perpetrators of sexual assault

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1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION
1. ​What does child abuse mean?

2. Why does a specific law for child abuse needed in the country, especially in the world?

3. What group and category of persons does usually engaged in the act of child abuse?

4. Does the existing law are really suitable and adequacy for the child being abused and for
the perpetrators of sexual assault?

1.4 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

As a way to curb the ongoing mishaps of child abuse, legal provisions in several nations have
been passed in order to safeguard these underage victims of violence. For instance, Singapore’s
Young Person’s Act 2001, Japan’s Child Welfare Law, and United Kingdom’s Children Act
1989. With respect to Malaysia, various laws have been passed to provide security and rights for
abused child victims.

One of the primal laws in this case would be the Child Act 2001, which has brought significant
changes regarding the safety of a child whereby the privileges were perceived transparently by
the country’s government. The introduction of this act recognises children as a significant part of
the general public and due to the fact that they are not adults, security and exclusive safekeeping
ought to be given to them. The Child Act 2001 supplies an ample amount of provisions to secure
any mishandled children or children lacking of protection, namely Section 18 Clause One, which
states that,

18. Any Protector or police officer who is satisfied on reasonable grounds that a child is in need
of care and protection may take the child into temporary custody, unless the Protector or police
officer is satisfied that—
(a) the taking of proceedings in relation to the child is undesirable in the best interests of the
child; or
(b) the proceedings are about to be taken by some other person.
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It is an obligation for a police officer or defender to bring a child into temporary custody as well
as placing them in a more secured location farther from their sources of abuse. A defender on the
other hand, implies to the Director General, the Deputy Director General, Department of Social
Welfare of each state, or any concerning officer to be appointed under the Child Act 2001. In the
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event that these said positions are fulfilled on sensible grounds that a child is in need of proper
protection, they are allowed to bring the child into a brief custody.

On the contrary, since the casualty of the maltreatment may then be needed to lay out proof in an
official courtroom, being children, it is anticipated that a typical proceeding cannot be applied in
the same manner. There ought to be a distinct method of permitting them to do so. Regarding
Section 118 of the Evidence Act 1950, on the condition that the child can comprehend the main
point of any inquiries given to him and can offer a rational response to the inquiry, he or she is
capable of providing evidence. For the purpose of creating a stress-free environment of the child
during these court sessions, the Evidence of the Child Witness Act was passed in the year 2007.
This act accommodates young witnesses to provide evidence in the courtroom while protected by
a screen between the witness and the accused of the offense by utilising either video recordings
or live sessions.

1.5 CONCLUSION
Child sexual abuse is one of the global problems that happened in the society and among
the family members or any kind of relationship. The community must play major attention
regarding this matter because it can happen either in the child’s surroundings or in their daily
lives. The society must acknowledge this current issue to prevent it from happening in order to
decrease the risk of children being sexually abused by the perpetrators. There are many books
regarding this issue and one of them is Understanding Child sexual Abuse by Edward L. Rowan.
The author had explored about the dynamics, effects, and treatment options available to both the
children and the adults involved the child sexual abuse.

As a general meaning of child sexual abuse is refers to sex forced on a child by an older7
person but still on the same topic which is sex. This book also provides the pathways for victims
to seek renewed, healthy, and productive lives, the personality traits common to abusers,
appropriate treatments for victims and offenders and the options available for rehabilitating
abusers. The author state the power and humiliation are the main objectives of rape and sexual
assaults common in prisons. This had shown that how the impacts of this issue lead to bad health
conditions especially on the victims that had been sexually abused and might have trauma or
their mental state deteriorates.

The society, especially the parents out there must be sensitive regarding this issue and try
their best to protect their children from being one of the victims in this case. Regarding law enact
in Laws of Malaysia, Act 611, Child Act 2001, children in need of care and protection (17), a
child is in need of care and protection if the child has been or there is a substantial risk that the

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child will be physically injured or emotionally injured or sexually abused by his parent or
guardian or a member of his extended family. For the purpose of this part, the child is sexually
abused which is as a victim in any activity that leads to sexual in nature for the purposes of
sexual exploitation to satisfy the lust of another person’s sexual gratification. Therefore, this
issue must be solved in order to build a generation that free from child sexual abuse where the
society must learn about the child sexual abuse and try to prevent it from happening such as do
protect the children from being the victims of this case.

Therefore the parents that own children under age or toddlers must choose a good
caregiver that has been taking care of their children under their consent. This issue must be
exposed to society and more prevention on the child sexual abuse must be worked on to control
the issues.

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REFERENCES

1. "Types of child abuse | Community support | Queensland ...." 20 Mar. 2018,

https://www.qld.gov.au/community/getting-support-health-social-issue/support-victims-a
buse/child-abuse/what-is-child-abuse/child-abuse-types​. Accessed 20 Sep. 2020.

2. "What Causes Child Abuse | Community support | Queensland Government."

https://www.qld.gov.au/community/getting-support-health-social-issue/support-victims-a
buse/child-abuse​. Accessed 20 Sep. 2020.

3. "Child abuse | Community support | Queensland Government."

https://www.qld.gov.au/community/getting-support-health-social-issue/support-victims-a
buse/child-abuse​. Accessed 20 Sep. 2020.

4. "Child abuse | Community support | Queensland Government."

https://www.qld.gov.au/community/getting-support-health-social-issue/support-victims-a
buse/child-abuse​. Accessed 20 Sep. 2020.

5. "Sexual Fondling Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc.."

https://definitions.uslegal.com/s/sexual-fondling/​. Accessed 20 Sep. 2020.

6. "Understanding Child Sexual Abuse by Edward L ... - Questia."

https://www.questia.com/library/119741182/understanding-child-sexual-abuse​. Accessed
20 Sep. 2020

7. "Child Act 2001 - AGC."

http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/LOM/EN/Act%20611.pdf​.
Accessed 20 Sep. 2020.

8. “Evidence of Child Witness Act 2007 - AGC”

http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/LOM/EN/Act%20676%20-
%20Evidence%20Of%20Child%20Witness%20Act%202007.pdf Accessed 20 Sep.
2020.

9. “Evidence Act 1950 - ACG”

http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/LOM/EN/Act%2056%20-%
20Reprint%202017.pdf​ Accessed 20 Sep. 2020.

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