Stop abuse of women and children
2006-11-23
AS the festive season draws nearer, social workers claim that it is especially this time of the year that violence against women and children is rife.
Already they are inundated by cases of children who are either abandoned or abused.
During the past week alone, the Paarl police in conjunction with social services removed three young children who were living in appalling circumstances on the street with their parents, while two children were also abandoned by their mother on the doorstep of the
Department of Home Affairs in the Berg River Boulevard.
In the first instance two young boys aged two and four were taken to a place of safety after they had been found to be living in squalor behind a factory in Huguenot.
One of the boys had to be taken to the Paarl hospital for treatment of an asthmatic chest.
Last Thursday the help of the police was called in by staff of the Department of Home Affairs.
According to them their mother from Mbekweni had been demanding a house from the department and then suddenly left her children on their doorstep.
The nine-month-old baby girl is suffering from a severe hernia and has apparently been cared for most of the time by her five year old brother.
These two children have now been placed in a place of safety in Khayelitsha.
Next week the annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and children kicks off, focusing on such issues.
16 Days of Activism is a United Nations campaign which takes place annually from 25 November (International Day of No Violence against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day.
This year the events surrounding it will be extended until 12 January 2006, due to the festive season when these problems multiply.
The campaign focuses on generating an increased awareness of the severe negative impact which violence on women and children has on the entire community.
An employee of the local social services office said that during this time of the year alcohol abuse is at its highest and in many cases this contributes directly to violence and abuse.
He also said that due to the fact that children are constantly at home for the lengthy school holidays, they fall prey to this behaviour, or they become involved in drugs or crime.
On the matter of abandonment, he said that it was often abused women who out of desperation and destitution felt that their children would be better off if abandoned. Many times they have also become victims of alcoholism due to abuse and socio-economic circumstances, and they then cannot care for their children.
Various events and programmes are planned to promote awareness of this campaign as well as to inform women and children of their rights.
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