Daily Times

Whether the people named in the Kasur child sex abuse scandal are guilty or not I do not know, but this case has caused me to question why anyone would not want sexual and physical abuse exposed. I have turned this question over in my mind every way but loose. There is nothing new about this. The only conclusion that I can draw is that such a person may not want to be exposed for their own misconduct or they lack the ability to care and step into the child’s shoes. Sometimes the abuser offers just enough ‘carrots’ to keep the victim’s mouth shut. A threat and political power influence might have been just enough to keep them silent.

There was a time, and not that long ago, when a child’s eye and a child’s mind were protected from witnessing such situations where crime was decided and punishment determined. A child was, by common definition, innocent. Even when a crime was committed against the child, every effort was made to preserve their innocence and the prosecutor would need another witness, a grown-up to prove the case. Unless the abuser confessed or was caught, unless the abuser committed the crime in front of adult witnesses, there was rarely a case where the child was paraded in front of the cameras. The Kasur child abuse scandal and so many more in recent years have unfortunately changed our culture and robbed our children of their innocence. Why did this happen? Sadly, the police did not listen to the children and the adults did not allow them to be listened to.

Today, we are more likely to pay attention. Today, the law has been cleared of statutes that required only adult witnesses. Today, the courts can weigh the testimony of a child accuser against an adult defendant with the help of videos and press releases that are admissible in a court of law. But that has opened up new problems that come with these cases. If children are automatically trustworthy and are not infallible witnesses, that does mean they are emotionally fit to testify as unassailable victims. The questions before the court are: how do you protect a child who may already have been brutalised and what are the best ways of arriving at the truth? Common sense says that the truth will come out through confrontation. But common sense now also asks whether that rule should force a seven to fourteen-year-old to face an alleged abuser, and a seven-year-old to be cross-examined in court by lawyers or through the strategies that also protect children and ensure their testimony?

Over the years, we have learned that children who go to court cannot be and should not be treated the same way as adults. Solicitors have struggled to find ways to protect them from the second trauma of a courtroom confrontation. Without that assurance, it is understandable that parents will not pursue ‘justice’. What is accomplished by placing the defendant within striking distance of the child, except the physical intimidation of the child? Those who agree with this will suggest a series of strategies to keep children one step removed and one step protected. Courts should allow them to testify by closed-circuit television or behind a protective screen. They should permit the admission of hearsay evidence. It is necessary that courtrooms and prosecutors’ offices are made more child-friendly. The purpose of our justice system should not be to keep out people who have something to say. The interest is in having it all come out and letting justice weigh it. These are not simple distinctions to be made; we have to finally learn to listen to children and we have to make sure they feel free to speak.

Break the silence now because it is on the brink of something big, something worth talking about. We may have to shout about an issue now that is typically awkward, depressing and taboo for people to talk about, and we have to turn it into a cause that is hopeful for people who have been victims of child sexual abuse. There are plenty of feel-good causes out there. Child sexual abuse is simply not one of them — that is, not until now.

There is often a great deal of reluctance to raise these sorts of issues, and unless they are discussed we will never resolve the problems in their hearts. We have to make it possible for people from all backgrounds to get behind this cause by doing things that will matter to put a stop to child sex abuse. Individuals who have been affected by sexual abuse should be given a solid chance to heal and future child sex abuse instances should be effectively prevented. The stigma that looms over the entire issue like a dark cloud must first be conquered. What is needed is the ability for people to support the cause, to speak out about it and to be activists, but in a way that is helpful to children and not a cause for applause only.

The writer is a professor of Psychiatry and consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the UK. He can be contacted at fawad_shifa@yahoo.com