Child Abuse in Fiji: Incidence, Reasons, and Strategies to Reduce it

This essay describes the incidence of child abuse in Fiji, the probable reasons behind the abuse, and strategies to reduce it. The arguments have been supported by the deontological theories of Kant.

Running head: CHILD ABUSE IN FIJI
CHILD ABUSE IN FIJI
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Child abuse in Fiji
According to Children Young Person's and their families act, child abuse can be stated
as inducing harm to child by ill treatment, neglect, abuse and deprivation of basic rights from the
child. WHO have identified four major types of child abuse found worldwide, Physical abuse,
Sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse and neglect (Sparks 2013). Among which the
physical abuse and the sexual abuse are the most concerning parts. Child abuse can occur in any
ethnic, cultural or any income group. Physical abuse refers to the non accidental harming of the
child for example beating, burning or sexual assault. Verbal abuse involves abusing a child by
using offensive languages or belittling them to get involved in threatening or sexual acts (Sparks
2013).
This essay aims to describe about the incidence of child abuse in Fiji, the probable
reasons behind the abuse. The arguments have been supported by the deontological theories of
Kant. Finally the essay focuses on the strategies that can be used by the governance to reduce the
incidence of child abuse.

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Source: (Stoltenborgh et al. 2012)
Child abuse covers a wide range of abusive behaviors from the physical attack by the
parents and or the caregivers or by other family members. Traditionally the guardians have been
entrusted to take care of their children, but various studies have shown that the parents differ in
their capacity to provide care. Hence it is hard to gauge the extent of child abuse. Stalker and
McArthur (2012) have stated that people who are involved in child abuse often suffer from
cognitive disorders. Norman et al.(2012) have argued that may abusive parents or the caretakers
have quite normal cognitive functioning. It was astonishing to find out that globally 1 billion of
children within the age, 2-17 years experience physical, sexual and emotional and other multiple
types of violence. A quarter of all he adults have reported to have been physically abused as
children. About one in 13 men and one in five women have reported to have been sexually
abused as a child (Van Dam 2013).

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There had been a misconception that child abuse in found exclusively in the western
industrialized country. Child abuse in Fiji is a hidden health care problem. In the year 2017,
about 1077 reports of child abuse have been received by the ministry of women, children and
Poverty (Fijitimes.com, 2018). Vuniwaqa, Fiji's minister for children, women and poverty, have
admitted that although Fiji government is continuously striving to recognize the child protection,
there lack resources and a proper legal framework for looking after the matter (Fijitimes.com,
2018). Although it is easy to identify the four categories of abuse yet, there is almost no
operational agreement within each of the categories. There lies a cross cultural variation between
child bearing beliefs hence it is not possible to conclude at a single universal standard (Naz
2014). It has been found that religious culture often leads to justification of the clear instances of
abuse and maltreatment. A survey involving the Fijians it has been found that there had been a
high incidence of the nutritional neglect where multiple caregivers are involved. In Fiji any kind
of sexual involvement under the age of 16 years is considered as defilement, where the sexual;
act involved family members (Naz 2014). Fiji had been struggling long to tackle with the
apparent hike in the child sexual abuse and physical abuse rates. Figures show that there were
more than 2500 cases of sexual assaults in the year 2015 (SCHULTZ and MED 2013). It has
been found that most of the victims come from broken families and are being looked after by
other family members. Van Dam (2013) has stated that many parents are still unsure about the
incidence of sexual abuse to their child as they in many cases they simply ignore what a child
convey, rendering them to be unimportant. There is a big gap in Fiji related to child abuse and
the government has to direct their efforts in the correct way.

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Arguments
The deontological theories can be taxonomically divided into victim centered and agent
centered theories. As per the agent centered theories, both the doers and the victims have
permissions or obligations for any actions (Taylor et al. 2008). Arguing on the position of the
parents in child abuse, it can be said that, each parent is thought to have particular compulsions
for their child which is not shared by anyone else. Likewise the agent relative permission
provides some agents to do some acts that are not permissible to others. Hence some parents
might think that being parents provides them with inherent rights to do whatever with their child.
Norman et al. (2012) have argued that it is difficult to say abuse is abuse regardless of the
contexts.
As per the deontological theory of Kant, one should act always for a reason and there
should always be a reason to justify the actions. Adinkrah (2003) have argued that the "good
enough parents " often verbally abuse their children because they think that scolding, hitting or
providing them with corporal punishment would direct their children to right directions., but
there lies a line between discipline and abuse (Taylor et al. 2008). A child cans receive a beating
within a loving family context. Again a child can be beaten by the drunken father out of rage.
There is a difference between the two. The former is deliberate and calculated. A parent might
justify that they are big in authority and hence physical violence can be excused. The latter can
be excused on the grounds that it was the alcohol that made him to do this. None of the scenarios
represented good models, for the child to follow (Feng et al. 2012). Discipline Vs abuse is a
widely debated topic, but the national laws have started to adopt modern outlook at the
disciplines, while some people still remains stuck to their cultures perception. The laws against
physical punishments are getting more stringent (Stalker and McArthur 2012). Previously in the

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18th century people were only fined for abusing their child physically. In the year 1962, the
article “battered child syndrome" was published for educating people regarding the incident of
child abuse and shocked many "normal " families with the idea that they can also be abusing to
the child (Kempe et al. 2013). As stated by Kant, the reason for any action should be justifiable.
Were the actions kind enough? Or shall it really bring about any fruitful solution? Adinkrah
(2003) have argued that child abuse can be due to certain external factors such as substance
abuse, alcohol addiction, parental stress or mental health problems, difficulty in meeting the
parental needs. The parents become abusive as they reach a breaking point. One of the main
factors is that the abusers were once abused as children. When the disturbed parents lack the
coping skills, it is their anger that makes best use of the crisis (Norman et al. 2012).
Ways to reduce the number of child abuse
Some of the useful ways to prevent child abuse is to support the prevention programs.
Greater investments are required to increase the programs that have been proven to stop the
incident before its occurrence. There should be effective reporting of any incidence of child
abuse. As per Norman et al. (2012), about one fourth of the incidence of child abuse gets
unnoticed and unreported, those involving domestic violence.
Another ways is to teach the children regarding their basic rights. when children knows
about their rights to be safe they are less likely to feel that abuse is their fault and report the
incidence to any responsible elders. It is necessary to understand the signs and the symptoms of
child abuse. Special guidelines should be provided to the health care workers and the teachers to
identify the probable signs of child abuse. Depression, fear of certain persons, difficulty in
trusting other persons, sudden changes in the behavior, unusual sexual behavior, secrecy, poor

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hygiene may indicate that a child is being neglected. Physical marks can indicate the type of
harassment.
Governance approaches
There should be proper child protection guidelines regarding for the caregivers, child
educators and the governesses. The 3R's- recognize, record and respond are the key ideas to
reduce child abuse. The child welfare Decree (CWD) was meant for ensuring a mandatory
reporting of the child abuse cases. The legislation regarding child abuse should be made stringent
and the reporting of the cases should be made on a fast track basis to prevent delay in legal
proceedings. Confidentiality should be maintained in all cases (Stalker and McArthur 2012).
School based prevention programs, community visits and workshops in Fiji can help to
inform the child about the incidence of child abuse, to understand the difference between
“friendly touch” and “bad touch”. Intervention programs for the child abuse would inform the
parents regarding the credibility of the situations and would educate the parents about
recognizing the signs and symptoms (Stalker and McArthur 2012). The interventions would also
inform the parents regarding the various support groups that can be approached for reporting
child abuse.
It can be said that child abuse is a major problem of the world. It has to be remembered
that there lays a line between abuse and discipline. Child abuse may lead to negative impact on
their brains forever which can contribute to the emergence of many psychosocial issues, when
these children grow up in to adults. Hence the government should reestablish the policies and the
regulations.

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REFERENCES
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Fiji. Child abuse & neglect, 27(5), pp.557-568.
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Seeking Justice in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. ANU Press.
Feng, J.Y., Chen, Y.W., Fetzer, S., Feng, M.C. and Lin, C.L., 2012. Ethical and legal challenges
of mandated child abuse reporters. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(1), pp.276-280.
Fijitimes.com. (2018). 1077 child abuse cases - Fiji Times Online. [online] Available at:
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