Safeguarding Children from Child Sexual Exploitation in the UK and Nepal

SAFEGUARDING
NU4220
CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION- UK AND NEPAL
INTRODUCTION
I am an international student from Nepal. I have selected the topic as child sexual
exploitation(CSE)where child is regarded as vulnerable victim in my field. CSE is a quite
common topic and I am very curious about knowing more on this. It interests me when I
hear about any cases related to it. The purpose behind selecting this topic is to know
about the rate of abuses in this country and the law enacted to safeguard the children
from sexual exploitation (Nepal and UK). Neglecting parentingstyle in which there is lack
of caring and rearing towards their children that make children isolated from parents. It
is a hidden and obscuredcrime where young people often trust their abuser and
theydon’t even know that they were abused or sometimes they become too scaredto
reveal what is happening with them.
As a nurse my role in safeguarding in CSE is to be able to recognize abuse and identify
the children who are at risk in the hope of intervening to prevent the abuse taking place
and must also be aware of the chances and signs of child abuse. I have to use my
knowledge and professional skills to recognize these symptoms of abuse and be
supporter for the child and listen to their concerns. Along with this, I should be
conscious about my own roles and responsibilities along with the responsibilities of my
colleagues and should be able to safeguard child’s welfare by identifying their interest
and need, which maintain their promotion and dignity. Therefore, Nurses as well as
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other health professionals need to ensure that they are aware about local referral
arrangement which would usually refer to children’s social care (EI-Radhi, 2015).
According to Department for Education, CSE is referredto as''child sexual exploitation'',
a form of sexual abuse wherea group of peopleor an individual takes advantage of
young people, who are under the age of 18 and compel them to involve in the sexual
activity by making themvictim or engage the children in sexual activities to serve their
needs (Department for Education, 2017). Child sexual exploitation not only happen
physically, it can also take place through the use of technology, for example: being
convinced to post sensual pictures on the internet (Beckett, Holmes, &Walker, 2017). In
all such situations, the power is in the hand of those peoplewho force them to do so
because of their age, gender, physical strength, economic and many more.It is
estimated that One or two children die every week because of child abuse and
negligence. In 2012, around 38 per 10000 children subjected to child protection plan in
England where 42% was accounted for negligence. However, children who is under the
age of 0-4 were assessed to be most in need for protection(GOV.UK, 2019).
HISTORICAL, LEGAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCES OF CHILD SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION ON POLICY DEVELOPMENTIN SAFEGUARDING PROTECTION
The action that is taken against it is Safeguarding children in order to promote the
welfare of childrenso that they could be protected from being victim that includes wide
range of issues relating to pupil's welfare health and safety (England & Wales,2015).
One of the ways that they may be victim is CSE, which involves the youths who are
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under the age of 18 and are in the situation when they need something like food gift or
money and are engaging in sexual activity to fulfill their needs(Beckett, Holmes &
Walker, 2017).
Influence of historical aspects on policy development in regards to safeguarding
protection:
Child sexual abuse is the globally recognized public health concern that have been
affecting one out of eight children that results on causing huge cost like depression, HIV
and unwanted pregnancy (Smeaton & Franklin, 2018). In regards it is noticed neglecting
by family members and not concerns about the child needs is the main theme for child
abuse. Before devolution, in across the UK the child protection legislation was first
made by Westminster and since 1999 the process of devolution has seen power and
responsibilitytransferred to National government of North Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The concept of child neglect was originally developed from variety of conditions that
could bring a family to attention of child neglect which were confined mostly to the
female domain of home and child care.
In the UK, among there were four cases reported as child abuse where the victims were
found to be abused from their own family members. In2000, a8 years old girl died
named Victoria Climbie who came under the child abuse by her own family
members(Roycroft, 2019). In addition to that the policy was launched in 2003 called ECM
(Every Child Matters) to help prevent such abuse from happening again(Meehan, 2016).
Furthermore, this policy was applied for the well-being of children and young people
from birth until they reached the age of 18. Recently, through safeguarding
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organizations are under an obligation to make sure that the way they work with
children's makes them safe and not place them towards unacceptable risk of harm
(ECM, 2018).However, the government believe about the five principles which should
support the children still for their protection and welfare( Appendix 1).Similarly, the
cases of Baby Peter died on the age of 17 months was being abused from his family
members. During the post -mortem broken back, ribs and his missing tooth which
hadswallowed was found. It was shocked cases because this was happened after the
cases of Victoria. Furthermore, in 2011 a nationwide review of child protection services
was published and focused on some principles. Government guidelines and legislation
now place emphasis on:
• preventing abuse and neglect
• improving multi-agency working
• encouraging early intervention when problems are identified
• supporting all children, whatever their background or circumstances, to achieve
five key outcomes: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a
positive contribution, economic well-being.
However, with all those cases the policies still need review and focused on
implementation in each area. Therefore, all the health care professionals must keep up
to date information with changes in regards to child protection policies plans, and
procedures so that all the lessons learned from the past cases benefit the future
generation by making sure that it will not happen again and again.
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The law of UK offers legal protection which providing an overview of the key legal
provisions related to the sexual activities and police disruption powers in England.
According to the law of England, the age of permission for sexual activity is 16 years for
male and female whereas it is considered to be illegal if the people who is under 18
years engage in any sort of sexual activity (Thomas,2015). Home Office guidance
suggests that when the young people who are under the age of 16 engage in the sexual
activity it is meant to be illegal and they will be prosecuted(Cps.gov.uk, 2019).Children
under the age of 18 legally cannot be involved in the sexual activity (Cps.gov.uk,
2019).The laws of jurisdictions in the UK states that the age of consent in any kind of
sexual activity is 16 years for both men and women. It is also shown in the study that
young people below 16 years of are not physically as well as cognitively and
emotionally mature enough to engage in sexual activity (Graham, 2018).The Sexual
Offences Act (2003) gives specific protection to young male and female who are
between the age group of 16-17, by establishing that no-one under 18 can legally
consent to sexual activity where exploitation is involved (Bradshaw, 2016). Although,
the young male and female aged over 16 are legally able to be in sexual activity, the law
still offers them this protection against sexual exploitation.
Political perspectives
In April 2015, ‘New Directions in Child Protection and Well‐being 'presented at
BASPCAN Congressfocused on the review changes in the child protection policies in
the UK as it argues that the challenges for child protection have become high politicised
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which reflect on more social problems(Parton,2016). However, recent legal frameworks
can be achieved for safeguarding the children to promote their promotion and welfare.
Influence of legal aspects on policy development in regards to safeguarding
protection
There are various legislative frameworks and interventions came into practice to
motivate, empower and safeguard the children rights and welfare with the assessment
of risk factors by different national and international organizations, Acts (Child Right Act,
Sexual offences Act, Serious Crime Act), legal policies, Convention of Rights of child,
Local Safeguarding Board and various school programmes.
It was found that the children being victim of CSE have already been getting support
and assistance from a wide range of service providers for other related problems which
indicates that there is probably a scope for better early identity and prevention of CSE
(Coy, Sharp-Jeffs& Kelly, 2017).For this, the international and national policy and legal
frameworks discusses the protective mechanisms that are offered to children and young
people and people working with them. The Convention on the Rights of Children is a
human rights treaty that recognizes and sets out political, civil, economic, social and
culturing rights of the children.The convention acknowledges the fact that children have
basic rights to give their opinion and express their views. Article 37 of the Convention on
the Rights of the child (CRC United Nations, 1989) states that no child should be
subjected to any kind of torture or any other inhuman or cruel treatment. No children
should be deprived of their liberty arbitrarily or illegitimately. Every child should be given
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