Sexual abuse of children and adolescents in South …

1 The authorsIn alphabetical order: Lillian Artz, Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit, Uni versity of Cape Town; Patrick Burton, and Lezanne Leoschut, the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention; Catherine L. Ward, Department of Psychology at the Univer sity of Cape Town, Sam Lloyd, Centre for Justice and Crime analysis Reshma Kassanjee (Department of Statis tical Sciences, the University of Cape Town); Ruanne Fensham and Sam Lloyd (Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention). Sexual abuse of children and adolescents in South Africa Forms, extent and circumstancesSexual abuse of children and adolescents in South AfricaForms, extent and circumstancesDruckerei:Buchr ckenbreite muss noch von Druckerei richtig definiert werdenThe authorsIn alphabetical order: Lillian Artz, Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit, Uni versity of Cape Town; Patrick Burton, and Lezanne Leoschut, the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention; Catherine L.

2 Ward, Department of Psychology at the Univer sity of Cape Town, Sam Lloyd, Centre for Justice and Crime analysis Reshma Kassanjee (Department of Statis tical Sciences, the University of Cape Town); Ruanne Fensham and Sam Lloyd (Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention). Sexual abuse of children and adolescents in South AfricaForms, extent and circumstances2 Publication details Optimus Study South Africa May 2016 Published byUBS Optimus FoundationAugustinerhof Box / optimusProject Lead and EditorPatricia LannenProject ManagementSpring Gombe-G tzPhotosMarcel Grubenmann, ErlenbachPhotos of teenagers show models from Agentur Special in Zurich and were posed for in a / LayoutIsler Tomasi, ZurichLanguageEnglishProofreadingSpring Gombe-G tzLithography / PrintingUBS AG, Publications Management & Creative Solutions.

3 Zurich1st Edition1000 copies in EnglishPrinted copies can be ordered at or a pdf version can be dowmloaded at rights Study South Africa May 2016 Acknowledgements 3 AcknowledgementsThe UBS Optimus Foundation would like to thank the UBS clients who, through their generous investments, have made the project and the production of this publication possible. We would also like to thank UBS AG for financing the admin-istrative support and coverning the over-head costs for the project. We extend our deep thanks to the au-thors of the Optimus Study in South Afri-ca: Lillian Artz, Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit, University of Cape Town; Patrick Burton, and Lezanne Leoschut, the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention; Catherine L.

4 Ward, Department of Psy-chology at the University of Cape Town, Sam Lloyd (Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention). In addition, we d like to thank the data analysis team: Reshma Kassanjee (Department of Statistical Sci-ences, University of Cape Town), with Ru-anne Fensham and Sam Lloyd (Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention). The input of the members of the reference group was invaluable for the insights it provided of the context of abuse : Patrizia Benve-nuti, UNICEF South Africa, Prof. Ann Skel-ton, Centre for Child Law; University of Pretoria; Prof. Shanaaz Mathews, Chil-dren s Institute, University of Cape Town; Heidi Loening-Voysey, UNICEF South Af-rica / Innocenti Office of Research; Paula Proudlock, children s Institute, University of Cape Town; Joan Van Niekerk Childline South Africa; Jackie Loffell, Child Wel-fare, Johannesburg; Jenny Williams, for-merly from the Women s Legal Centre; Dr Shermain Mannah, Department of Ba-sic Education; Dr Charles Wilson, Depart-ment of Basic Education; Musa Mbere, Department of Social would also like to thank Dr.

5 Ariane Neethling for the sampling frame for the household sample, and Professors Landon Myers and Sebastien Van As, both from the University of Cape Town, for their valuable insights at the outset of the proj-ect. The tireless work of the field supervi-sors and the field enumerators, as well as the data capture team, of the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention is also grate-fully acknowledged. We like to recognise Joanne Phyfer and Cara Le Mottee at the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention for implementing the Agency component of this study, Finally, we extend a huge thank you to all those children , educators and principals, and parents, who gave of their time to participate in the , UBS Optimus Table of contents Optimus Study South Africa May 2016 Acknowledgements 3 Foreword 6 Summary 8 Introduction Why are studies on Sexual abuse needed?

6 12 Child Sexual victimisation: the legal framework 17 Objectives and approach 21 Details on data collection 23 Table of contentsOptimus Study South Africa May 2016 Table of contents 5 Results Result 1: Sexual abuse 33 Expert discussion 47 Result 2: What about other forms of violence? 49 Result 3: Who are the victims? 53 Result 4: Who are the perpetrators? 57 Result 5: Characteristics of the incidents 65 Result 6: What are the consequences? 71 Result 7: In whom did the victims confide? 75 Outlook A foundation stone is laid 82 Further information and contact 83 Bibliography 86 UBS Optimus Foundation 876 Foreword Optimus Study South Africa May 2016 The Optimus Study: A valuable contribution for our childrenAll children have the right to live free from emotional, physical and Sexual violence.

7 But as the UNICEF global report Hidden in Plain Sight details, violence against chil-dren continues to affects every country, culture and community across the world with devastating impact. Childhood expo-sure to violence victimizes children and plays a role in transmitting violence from one generation to the next. children who grow up in a violent household or com-munity can internalize violent behaviour as a way of resolving disputes, repeating the pattern against their own spouses and children . Beyond the tragic effects on individuals and families, violence against children can also obstruct economic growth because of lost potential and re-duced productivity, disability and de-creased quality of life all of which can hold a nation back from fully the pervasive nature and the devastating impact of violence against children , the South African Government adopted forward-looking policies and leg-islation to protect children .

8 This has, how-ever, not curbed the alarming rates of Sexual violence against children in South Africa. According to the South African Po-lice Service, 18,524 cases of Sexual abuse were reported to the police in 2013 / 2014, on average, of 51 cases every day. Much violence against children , though, is unre-ported and unrecorded. It remains hidden for many reasons. Young children lack the capacity to report violence, and older chil-dren often fear retaliation by perpetra-tors. In addition, parents may be the per-petrators of violence against their own children or parents may remain silent No violence against children is justifiableand all violence against children is preventable.

9 Dr. Yulia Privalova KriegerDeputy Representative, UNICEF South AfricaOptimus Study South Africa May 2016 Foreword 7when violence is committed by other fam-ily members or by powerful members of the community or of data about different forms of vio-lence against children and in particular Sexual violence, is a key challenge to ef-fective response to violence against chil-dren. Without reliable data to inform planning and monitoring of national ac-tion plans, it is not possible for Govern-ment to systematically assess success or failure of their efforts. The Optimus Study South Africa is an im-portant contribution to narrowing this gap.

10 The study provides national data on the extent or impact of child Sexual abuse and other forms of maltreatment in South Africa. The findings show that Sexual abuse of children and adolescents is wide-spread and possibly worse than previously estimated. The study finds that one in three children have had some experience of some form of Sexual abuse , which is persistent over the course of children s lifetimes, and regrettably present in their everyday lives. The data also shows that boys and girls are equally vulnerable to Sexual abuse , although the forms might vary. This is a departure from much of the literature, which usually focuses on the particular vulnerability of girls.