SOCIAL CHALLENGES [CHILD ABUSE]

 Social challenges are issues and problems human beings face. These issues are of concern to
the society and the nation as a whole. They include:

 Child abuse

 Sexual harassment and rape

 Teenage pregnancies

 Gender violence

A. Child Abuse

 According to the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, a child is any person
below the age of 18.

 However, in defilement cases the Zambian Penal Code defines a child as any person below
the age of 16.

Child abuse is any form of ill-treatment of a child. This ill treatment can could be physical,
mental or verbal.
Physical abuse is any action that cause any physical impairment such as battering, slapping,
pinching of a skin, burning, pulling ears and biting the child.
Mental abuse could be lack of love, neglect insults, shouting at the child, name calling or
ridicule.

Different Forms of Child Abuse

Child defilement

 Defilement is the act of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16
years with or without her consent.

 Defilement is a crime and the penalty for defilement is imprisonment. Attempting or trying to
have sex with someone under the age of 16 can earn a person fourteen years imprisonment.
Child sexual abuse and sexual assault. It includes:

 Touching private parts of a child

 Making the child touch or play with sexual organs of an order person.

 Showing children pictures of people naked for the purpose of exciting them sexually. This
act is called Indecent Assault
Child battering

 Child battering is a form of child abuse where someone beats a child often severely or
because it violates the Constitution and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Child neglect

 Child neglect is a situation where children are not taken care of by their parents or guardians.
Sometimes, babies are abandoned.

Child Sexual abuse

 Is any sexual act imposed on a child or young person by a close relative and includes
fondling a child's genitals, making the child fondle the adult's genitals and having sexual
intercourse with a child.

 Child Sexual Assault is any sexual act imposed on a child or young person by a stranger and
includes fondling a child's genitals, making the child fondle the adult's genitals and having
sexual intercourse with a child.

Child labour

 Child labour refers to work that is physically, mentally, socially or morally harmful and
dangerous d to a child. This work normally interferes with the children's opportunity to
attend school and to their overall development and recreation.

Child trafficking

 This is the illegal transportation and selling of children within or outside a country for
prostitution, porhography, forced labour, crime or business involving selling of body organs.

Child prostitution

 Child prostitution can be described as sexual exploitation of children. This can be forced of
Voluntary. Forced child prostitution is a situation where girls are compelled to sell sexual
services, for example, in brothels, hotels lodges or streets.

Voluntary child prostitution is a situation where girls sell sexual services for a living, in

order to pay for their school fees or to meet their daily needs and wants.

Ways of addressing Child Abuse

The following are some of the ways by which child abuse can be addressed:

 Legislation on the child labour meaning that the law should prescribe penalties for practicing
and encouraging all forms of child labour.
 Enacting stiff punishment for child defilers including those who batter or neglect their
children.

 Sensitizing the community about child abuse and its impact on children’s development and
education attainment.

 Reporting cases of child problem to relevant institutions or organisations.

 Speaking about the problem

 Encouraging victims to go to victim support Unit as well as non-governmental organisations

for counseling services.

Institutions that Address Child Abuse

Issues of child abuse can be addressed at family, community and national levels. The

 Children in Distress(CHID)
 Children in Need(CHIN)
 Young Men's Christian Association(YMCA)
 Young Women's Christian Association(YWCA)
 Victim Support Unit (VSU)of the Zambia Police Service
 Zambia Civic Education Association(ZCEA)

B. Sexual Harassment

 Sexual harassment is when someone keeps on saying things or doing things or a sexual kind
such as touching or making sexual remarks even though he or she knows the other person do
not want
 It also includes a promise of a job, promotion, training and any favours in return for sexual
favours.

Protection Against Sexual Harassment

The following are possible ways of preventing sexual harassment:

 Making the home as secure as possible

 Not allowing in the home people of doubtful or suspicious character
 Avoiding situations that may expose one to sexual harassment. For instance, being in the
company of people of suspicious character for a long time
 Try to get help from the Police immediately if one know or suspect that he or she is in danger
 Avoiding to hitch-hike vehicles of people one does not know well especially at awkward
times like at night or in tinted vehicles
 Varying one's behaviour patterns, routes and times of movements
 Learn and practice self defence skills
Rape

 This is an act of forcing a person to have sexual intercourse against his or her
 In Zambia according to the Penal Code, rape is defined as Any person who has unlawful
carnal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent by using force or by means of
threats or intimidation.

Ways of Resisting Rape

One can resist rape in the following ways:

 Attention seeking tactics: shouting, screaming or trying to get someone to help.

 Psychological tactics: for example, reasoning with the rapist, trying to frighten him, disgust
him or gain his sympathy.
 Physical resistance: fighting back or struggling.

Effects and Reactions after Rape

There is no universal way of reacting, when attacked by a rapist. The reaction would depend on
one's judgement of the situation. People react differently after being raped. The likely reactions
include the following:

 Shock
 Loss of control,feelings of powerlessness
 Unnatural calmness
 Acting abnormally
 Problems with sleep. For example, having nightmares
 Fear
 Shame
 Feeling guilty
 Avoiding physical or eye contact
 Depression
 Anger
 Trauma

Victims of rape can: [What to do after Rape]

 Report to the Police

 Get a medical report from the nearest health centre
 Seek advice of trained counsellors or people who can help
 Seek legal advice
C. TEENAGE PREGNANCIES

Factors that contribute to Teenage Pregnancies

Peer pressure

 Sometimes boys and girls engage in sexual activities due to peer pressure from their peers
(friends). They also do it because they do not want to be the odd ones out. This, often results
in teenage pregnancies.

Personal development

 As children grow up, they develop sexual feelings and emotions, which they fail to control.
As a result, they want to fulfill these urges.

Lack of sex education

 Many parents do not discuss sexual issues with their children, as a result they learn about sex
from wrong people.

Influence from society and the media

 The type of socialisation, the breakdown in morals, the influence of other cultures, modern
songs, television and radio programmes influence society.

Cultural issues-In some societies

 Girls are married off at a tender age. The traditional preference for the boy child to go to
school rather than the girl child has disadvantaged the girl child.

Economic issues-

 This entails that High poverty compels some girls to engage in sexual activities for monetary
gains. This often results in pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), for instance
syphilis, HIIV and AIDS.

EFFECTS OF TEENAGE PREGNANCIES

The following are the major ones:

 The health of the mother is affected because she is not yet mature for reproduction
 The mother may not know how to take care of the baby. Consequently, the baby may have
poor health because of malnutrition
 The other may be stigmatised by society and may not bear the shame or may not cope with
the emotions.
 The young couple may not cope with the costs involved in bringing up a child and may shift
the burden to parents.
 Chances of the mother getting married to another person are slim
 May lead to abortion or child dumping
 May lead to disruption in the education of the mother

Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies

Ways of preventing teenage pregnancies include the following:

 Abstinence
 Avoiding bad company
 Setting goals or principles
 Discussing with friends
 Avoiding alcohol and drugs
 Resisting peer pressure
 Upholding good moral values
 Being occupied with activities like joining the youth clubs

THE END

NOTE THAT ON THIS TOPIC YOU ARE EXPECTED TO;

 Explain Social challenges

 Describe a child and child abuse and understand the differences.
 Suggest the ways of addressing different forms of Child abuse.
 Identify institutions that can help to address child abuse with their roles.
 Suggest the ways protecting oneself from sexual assault
 Explain Teenage Pregnancy and reason for teenage pregnancies and how one can
protect herself from teenage pregnancies
 Examine the possible effects of teenage pregnancy