Child sexual abuse in Tanzania: much noise,little justice

Every day in Tanzania, newspapers report horrible stories of the sexual abuse of children. This serious situation has aroused calls for stricter punishment of perpetrators, but little is being done to help the abused children. A 1997 analysis of these reports by the Tanzania Legal Human Rights Center has revealed that the majority of the perpetrators are adult males who are close to their victims and who hold positions of respect in society. The sexual abuse of children is fundamentally an expression of power over a child's life, and Tanzanian children have little control over their lives and are usually disciplined with corporeal punishment. Tanzanian children are accustomed to seeing men hurt weaker people without censure, and the children do not have the status to defend themselves against physical, psychological, or sexual abuse. Thus, child sexual abuse is an inevitable consequence in a society where children have no voice. It is impossible to condone physical and verbal abuse while condemning sexual abuse, and punishing the abusers will not solve the problem. Instead, perpetrators must be held accountable and made to understand the seriousness of their actions. In order to make amends to their victims, they should be required to pay for the child's health care and education and to perform mandatory community service to make children safer. Children must be given the opportunity to learn that they can say no to adults and refuse to accept abuse.