KUALA LUMPUR: The government needs to invest more to prevent child abuse which has a negative impact on a country’s economy.
Unicef Malaysia’s senior child protection specialist Phenny Kakama (pic) said that while the negative emotional and physical effects of child abuse are well-documented, the economic costs of child abuse on a country are less documented.
“Until recently, we have never looked at the effects of child abuse on the economics (of a country) as oftentimes, when we are talking about what affects the country (economically), we are looking at what is visible,” said Kakama in an interview.
He was commenting on a study commissioned by Unicef published on Tuesday that child maltreatment cost countries in the East Asia and the Pacific US$209 bil annually.
The study took into account all forms of child maltreatment, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse, parental violence, and neglect, and assessed its effects from an economic viewpoint.
Also included in the list of countries are Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Kakama said Malaysia should channel more resources in agencies that handle child abuse and its prevention, such as the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and the Department of Social Affairs.
“In Malaysia, there are adequate resources that can be deployed for the protection of children,” he said, adding that in most cases, investing in prevention measures of child abuse is less expensive than investing in treatment and response of abuse.
He said that in Malaysia, there are parents who remain unaware that neglect is a form of child abuse.
“Sometimes, neglect is not as obvious as sexual or physical abuse but it is also one of the manifestations (of abuse).
“Being unable to provide for the needs of a child – physically or emotionally – is neglect,” he said.
He added that while Malaysia has come a long way in terms of child protection since the country ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1995, there are still issues regarding child protection that the country needs to address.
“This study gives us the leverage to say if you don’t invest in improving child protection systems and provide adequate infrastructure (to prevent child abuse), it’s going to cost our country,” he said.
He added that the country should aim for a Malaysia where “no child for whatever reason is experiencing abuse, neglect, and exploitation.”-thestar
