Embu: Close relatives likely to sexually exploit children


Most cases of sexual harassment against children in Embu County are perpetrated by close relatives or people expected to play a parental role to the minors in schools and places of worship.

Embu County Coordinator of Children Services Davelyne Mundi said in many cases, people who defile or sexually harass children escape scot-free as they resolve the cases at homes.

Mundi condemned sexual harassment and exploitation of the children as well as the perpetrators walking away unpunished, pointing out that it leaves the children traumatised and in bitterness.

“Sexual offences perpetrated by close relatives are hard to follow up. Others are never reported as relatives resolve the matters out of court. We urge family members or neighbours who get wind of such unfortunate things to report to us,” said Mundi

Addressing participants during The Day of African Child at Embu stadium, Mundi said child labour was another rampant form of child abuse in the county.

He said in the muguka (khat) growing zones, children are engaged in watering, harvesting and sometimes selling the crop, affecting their school time.

The same is replicated in tea and coffee growing zones where families use children as free labour to tend their cash crop.

“This is not right especially in cases where children eventually drop out of school to engage in miraa farming hence affecting their learning and their lives. We are sensitizing the parents on rights of a child and dangers of child labour,” he added.

Mundi also welcome a recent ruling by the Embu Court that scrapped charges for issuance of P3 forms for the complainants, saying it had facilitated the prosecution of culprits.

On the menace of street children in Embu town, Mundi said the number is on the rise due to street families and negligence and abuses at home.

children officers
He noted Embu is receiving street children and beggars from Tanzania adding that due to East African Community agreements on migration, it is hard to repatriate them back to Tanzania though they have managed to do so with three cases.

He discouraged members of public from giving street children money, which entices them to continue being in the streets.



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