Child rape cases surge 40 percent across Myanmar in 2016: State media

Thursday, 01 December 2016 2:36 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 01 December 2016 3:26 PM ]

In this photo taken on September 20, 2016, San Kay Khine, a 17-year-old Myanmar child slave, shows her scarred arms and twisted fingers whilst recovering in her family’s village in Baw Lone Kwin, Kawhmu township located outside Yangon. (Photo by AFP)

The number of child rape cases across Myanmar has dramatically increased this year, signaling a growing problem for the country still grappling with a dark past of rights violations.

According to state media, at least 380 child molestation cases were reported across the country at the end of October 2016.

The figure is 150 more than the number in the same period in 2015.

Experts fear the numbers could be much higher as a culture of silence in the Southeast Asian country means abuse often goes undocumented.

Meanwhile, police officer Khin Maung Thin from Mandalay, where cases have doubled, said rapes are committed by predators known to the victims.

"Most of the time it is carried out by family members, neighbors, relatives or someone close to the victims' families," the police official said.

Rights activists say many more are at risk of exploitation across Myanmar either as domestic helpers for wealthy families or within their own communities.

Weak laws and poverty mean Myanmar's children are highly vulnerable to abuse, with many of them sold into labor or forcibly recruited to fight in the country's borderlands.

A child worker stacks bricks at a brick manufacturing site in Than Lyin, an outskirt township of Yangon region, southern Myanmar. (Photo by EPA)

The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said sexual violence is the second most widespread form of child abuse in Myanmar.

"Sometimes families are reluctant to report (cases) because of the taboo surrounding the issue," said UNICEF's Myanmar representative, Bertrand Bainvel, adding, "They think they are protecting victims by not reporting."

A UNICEF study released last month found that physical and emotional abuse is a common problem in many countries in Asia Pacific.

Lawmaker Khin Saw Wai has urged the government to take serious action against child rapists.

"The public cannot bear such abuse and they are urging the government to take action against the perpetrators by giving the death sentence," Wai said, adding, "I am a member of parliament, a woman and a mother. I cannot accept such abuse of children."

Child protection is a challenging issue for Myanmar's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is expected to reform the country after half a century of brutal military rule.

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