Child abuse and domestic violence are contributing significantly to the rise in cases of delinquency and street-begging in the country, Magistrate Esmie Tembenu of the Blantyre Child Justice Court has said.
Tembenu made the revelation Tuesday at the launch of toll free line, which Centre for Human Rights, Education, Assistance and Advice (CHREAA) has donated to police and the courts.
The magistrate stated that besides facing abuse from own parents, many children hate to witness their parents engaging in domestic violence and so they choose to leave their home for other unknown destinations.
“Many children don’t want to see their parents fighting. When such a situation happens, children would usually choose to go onto the street where they also commit various forms of crime besides begging,” she explained.
Tembenu said even when domestic violence does not result in direct physical injury to the child, it can interfere with both the mother's and the father's parenting to such a degree that the children may be neglected or abused. A perpetrator is clearly not providing good parenting when he physically attacks the child's mother or father. Renowned psychologists say school-age children who witness violence exhibit a range of problem behaviors including depression, anxiety, and violence towards peers.
“They are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution and other delinquent behavior, and commit sexual assault crimes,” says Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi of the Centre for Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS Malawi).
Tembenu said there was need for families to create a healthy home environment for their children if such cases are to decrease.
CHREAA executive director Victor Mhango said exposure to multiple forms of violence, including domestic violence, child abuse, and general family climate of hostility, doubles the risk of children engaging in violent acts in their adulthood.
He recommended that there should be a strong attachment between childn and their parents, saying children who are strongly attached to their parents know that deviance will be a source of embarrassment and inconvenience to their parents.
“They do care about the opinions of their parents and try to avoid deviance. Attachments, therefore, would act as a primary deterrent to engaging in delinquency. The strength in such a deterrent largely depends on the depth and quality of the parent-child relationship,” he explained.
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