By Hasbin Shaw
The Youth And Child Advocacy Network (YACAN), has on Thursday October 13, 2022, Launched the Out of the Shadows Index (OOSI) and Assessment Report on Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA), at the New Brookfield Hotel in Freetown.
The launching of the OOSI Report in Sierra Leone is to better inform the Government of Sierra Leone on how to address issues surrounding CSEA, in the Country.
The 2022 OOSI global report covers 60 countries across the world; including United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Cameroon Nigeria Kenya etc. It reveals the mechanism and programs through which the countries reviewed, which constitute approximately 85% of the global population of children, prevent and respond to Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. The Report also suggests policies and legal frameworks that are preferably more effective in preventing and responding to complex issues surrounding Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA).
In his remarks during the event, the Executive Director of YACAN, Hassan Fuad Kanu, said that YACAN and its partners were aware of the challenges which Government of Sierra Leone faces in addressing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
“We want our government to understand that we are also aware of the existing challenges on our policies and laws in addressing this issues.
We also understand that even some of the developing nations in the world are struggling to get their strategies right on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse,”he added.
He informed that the launching of the Report aims at increasing awareness amongst officials of the Government of Sierra Leone and its stakeholders, on the ways and manner in which other countries are addressing Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse to influence change in current policies aimed at addressing CSEA globally.
“The launch of this report also showcases the need for the Government to expedite the process of reviewing the Child Rights Act of 2007, and also to consider recommendations from the assessment on the implementation of the 2014 National Child Welfare policy which will foster the reduction of CSEA in Sierra Leone,” Kanu stated.
He urged CSOs to keep collaborating with the Government of Sierra Leone in order to get the policies, strategies and the right legislations which would strengthen preventions and responses that will end Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Country.
Giving the 2022 OOSI Report through virtual means, a Senior Strategic Advisor of OOSI, Rute Caldeira said that CSEAs happen at an alarming rate in every country across the world.
She added that CSEA had been occurring in secrecy, because they are associated with stigmatization which allows such unwanted incidences to continue unchecked.
Caldeira added: “The 2022 OOSI presents a new accountability mechanism to lift up successful policies and identify gaps in existing system.”
She added that the Report assesses the effectiveness of each country’s policy.
“The report also reveals that many governments are failing to create the policies needed to prevent and respond to CSEA,” she said, adding “fewer than half of the countries indexes are considered to have a strategy to end CSEA.”
She informed that since launching of the OOSI’s maiden Report and successive publications of same they have contributed substantially to the progress which has been scored in combating CSEA, suggesting that the Index ultimately informs sustainable law and policy which she said are essential components in tackling CSEA.
“However, we are getting better at how we understand CSEA issues through data. Fifteen years ago, there were little or no data on the prevalence of CSEA. Today, almost three quarters of countries in the world with 73% have collected and published data on the number of recorded and reported cases of CSEA,” she concluded.
The Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Mohamed Haji-Kella, who did the official launching of the report, expressed thanks and appreciation to YACAN and OOSI for informing the Government of Sierra Leone on CSEA, which he called a complex issues.
He said that the Government of Sierra Leone and its development partners need to continue collaborating to bridge the gaps surrounding CSEA in Sierra Leone.
“The key things about CSEA are prevention, protection and responses, but also how we can be able to provide trainings in ensuring that professionals can easily identify perpetrators of CSEA,” Haji-Kella suggested.