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What adults should do to prevent child abuse in Zimbabwe
Defence for Children International - Zimbabwe
June 24, 2012

As I write this letter I have interest in knowing what all Zimbabweans as parents understand about laws and instruments that are used by the Government to protect their children? This question is for every parent whether you are a church leader, politician, teacher, businessman or woman? We are reading of accidents happening to children everyday in the print and electronic media, but do we have anyone taking action to see that more accidents of that nature are prevented in the future? When it is political news we hear of many Analysts waking up very early in the morning taking it to the platform to defend what they know best or let me say to protect their interests , but when it is anything to do with child rights violations, it seems as if those many Analysts are no longer in existence or is it they do not have children of their own, or is it that all of them have children learning at school in the Diaspora, so as long as their children are safe they are not worried. As a parent may I take this opportunity to encourage all communities in Zimbabwe to use any local available space to promote children's rights? May I just ask something here? How many of us parents know of any regional or international Instrument that our Government has accepted and agreed to on the protection of our children and to prevent any form of abuse against children in Zimbabwe, if do not know of any, aren't we worried about the future of our Children? Ok to make it easy, let me come back home, what do we understand on Zimbabwe's Children's Act of 2010? May be nothing again and the same question comes again, aren't we worried about the safety of our children? As parents and as members of this community we need to ask ourselves what we can do to prevent even one more child from being abused. As the political temperature is rising in preparation for the elections, what measures are we putting in place to protect our children, here I am asking all of us politicians and their supporters to include those of us who will be involved in violent actions and the victims of violence? Up to this age I have witnessed violent situations in the many communities I have been to during and soon after elections, and one thing I have noticed is that women and children are at the receiving end. My big Question is what are we doing as parents to stop this?

May we today start by working on the most simple task. Let's protect our children from any form of child abuse.

Our kids need to learn about scary strangers and just focusing on potential abusers only won't keep kids safe. Research shows that we adults know that children are most likely to be abused by someone they know, trust and often love and admire.

But in our own lives it is still hard for most of us to recognize when someone we know could also be sexually inappropriate or abusive towards children. So we ignore that gut feeling we get. After all, we don't have "proof" that someone has harmed a child and we don't want to offend an adult by asking about his or her behavior.

Meanwhile, too many children are harmed by sexual abuse because we - as individuals, organizations, and communities - are afraid to be wrong and don't know what to do. Most of us don't know how to even raise the issue or with whom we'd even talk about it.

As a member of this community, I urge each of us policy makers and parents in general to decide for ourselves what is okay and not okay around children. Then, decide what words you'll say to protect a child's boundaries. Finally, look up who you can call to talk about your concerns. Because when we act early, we can prevent child sexual abuse - before a child is harmed in the first place.

DCI-Zimbabwe will in the coming few weeks launching a platform in form of a Child Rights Forum for policy makers, child rights activist, children and all concerned parents to meet and discuss child protection system in Zimbabwe and other issues affecting children.

Visit the Defence for Children International Zimbabwe fact sheet

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