Fact Sheets

Child Sexual Abuse in the Katmandu Valley: Children's Perspectives

Level of understanding

• In general, high level of understanding on most issues of child sex abuse.
  
• Schoolchildren lack understanding on some of critical aspects such as such as who could be an abuser, and how and why an abuser abuses a child.
  
• There is no significant difference in the level of understanding between boys and girls
  
• A higher percentage of boys and girls were aware that both boys and girls could be abused

Prevalence

• Use of obscene language on top of the child sex abuse with 45 percent of the children experiencing it.
  
• In most cases, "friends" used obscene language in case of the boys while "strangers" used it in case of girls. 58 percent of respondent boys and 27 percent of the respondent girls were exposed to obscene language.
  
• Street/market (40.4 percent) and school (30.2 percent) are the places where children hear obscene language.
  
• Though the children mentioned seeing obscene materials mostly with 'friends', 30 percent of the respondent girls reported watching obscene materials with family members, while only 7 percent of respondent boys mentioned doing so.
  
• 13.7 percent of respondent children mentioned experiencing one or more contact forms of sexual abuse that included kissing, fondling private parts, oral sex and penetrative sex. It included 13 percent of respondent boys and 14.5 percent of the respondent girls.
  
• Girls are sexually abused in their own homes, schools and marketplaces while boys are abused in the abusers' homes.
  
• Abusers are as young as 16 years, suggesting some kind of peer relationship. Even though sexual activities occurred within peer groups, it seemed that most of these were involuntary.
  
• Children in the 11-14 years age group seemed to be more vulnerable than the other age groups to all types of sexual abuse. Dismal percentage of children below 11 years of age experienced use of obscene language and exposure to obscene materials but 12.3 percent of children below 11 years of age mentioned experiencing a contact form of sexual abuse.
  
• About 12.5 percent of girls reported 'relatives including family members' as the abusers while 7.1 percent of boys mentioned them. This clearly signifies incest, if it was penetrative sex. A wide range of persons identified by children as abusers show that there is an abuser in every kind of person and that children are also vulnerable within the 'safe circle'
  
• Among those who have experienced contact forms of abuse, 14 percent of boys from private schools and 20 percent from public schools identified 'neighbours' as abusers. In the case of girls, 7.7 percent from private schools compared to 23.6 percent from public schools mentioned 'neighbours' as abusers.
  

Prevalence among schoolchildren:

• The students in private schools reported a little bit higher use of obscene language than those in public schools.
  
• 26 percent students from private schools reported seeing obscene materials with others compared to 32 percent from public schools.
  
• Similarly 16.6 percent of students from public schools compared to 11.5 percent of students from private schools reported experiencing contact forms of sexual abuse.

Prevalence among out-of-school children:

• 14 percent reported experiencing the use of obscene language, 16 percent reported watching obscene materials and 15 percent experienced a contact form of abuse
  
• 18 percent boys reported seeing obscene materials while only 11 percent girls reported doing so.
  
• Most of them reported fondling, and kissing from strangers, family members, the house owner's son in the case of domestic workers or those in rented houses, and caretakers.
  
• Almost all street children reported experiencing all types of sexual abuse. Most of them had had sexual relationships with multiple partners of different ages and both genders. Some older street children had been having sexual relationships with younger street children.

Impact of Internet:

• The number of boys seeing obscene materials in Internet was significantly higher.
  
• Almost 40 percent of the private school students watched obscene materials on the Internet while below 10 percent from public schools reported doing so.

3. Prevention

• Both in and out-of-school children were for learning child sex abuse and measures to protect themselves from abuse.
  
• The majority of school children as well as out-of-school children mentioned 'shame for oneself and the family' and 'threat' or 'bribe' by an abuser as the main reasons why they were less likely to talk about sexual abuse.
  
• A majority of children experiencing sexual abuse mentioned talking to their friends and only very small percentage mentioned to family.
  
• As a way of prevention, many children suggested 'not let children wear provocative clothing', reflecting social attitudes.

Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Center
P.O.B. 4374, Ravi Bhawan, Kathmadu, Nepal. Tel: 4282255/4278064 Fax: 4278016
Email: cwin@mos.com.np