Shades of grey as the nation fights scourge of child abuse

abuse , as , child , fights , grey , nation , of , scourge , shades , the

Shades of grey as the nation fights scourge of child abuse

Aisha was busy that
day, and she looked
away for just a
moment, and so failed
to see the car that was
bearing down on her
child. She lost her 5-
year-old son in that car
accident, which
happened right in front
of her eyes.
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That story is just an
element of Aisha
descends to the
Underworld, a novel by
the Kuwaiti writer
Buthaina Al Issa. The
entire series of essays
written by Aisha
reflects on her child and
on her life in general.
As a young woman
living in the GCC, Aisha
followed a long-
standing tradition:
arranged marriage. Even
though she was not
convinced that this was
the best way to find a
life partner, she decided
to be "realistic" and
agreed to an arranged
marriage. He came from
a decent family, was
well-educated and had a
good reputation.
Two months later, she
found herself married
to this man whom she
barely knew, and she
found that she had
difficulty
communicating with
him. She became
depressed. After one
year, she decided to
have a child, not
because she was ready
and wanted to, but
because it seemed the
only way to move on
with her life. But after
her son's death, she
rejected any attempt
by her husband to
convince her to have
another child. She
thought that having one
had been a mistake
that she did not want
to repeat.
Aisha descends to the
Underworld might be a
work of fiction, but Al
Issa relied on the real-
life stories that are
common in Gulf
societies, where so
many people decide to
get married and have
children without
realising the huge
amount of responsibility
that comes with that
decision.
One consequence -
neglect - might be
considered to be the
most common form of
child abuse. A study at
the University of
Sharjah found that 40
per cent of children
surveyed in middle
schools said they felt
neglected in some
sense. According to the
Dubai Foundation for
Women and Children,
neglect is "the failure to
provide for a child's
basic needs - physical,
emotional or
educational". It ranges
from a lack of
supervision to outright
abandonment.
Simple neglect, of
course, does not
always rise to the level
of actual abuse,
although in the case of
abandonment or serious
harm it certainly does.
But we all know of
stories about children in
the UAE, just as in
every other country in
the world, who have
been subjected to other
forms of child abuse:
physical, emotional and
sexual. A 2007 study
focused on 581 Grade
10 students in Al Ain
found that 62 per cent
of them reported some
form of abuse. In 53 per
cent of the cases, the
reported abuse was
emotional; 27 per cent
of cases involved
physical abuse; and the
remainder involved
sexual abuse or other
factors.
Most cases of
emotional and physical
abuses tend to be
committed by family
members, and they are
often ignored or
perhaps even tolerated
as a form of discipline.
Half of those who
reported physical abuse
said their fathers were
the perpetrators, 41 per
cent identified their
brothers and 33 per
cent named their
mothers. In many
societies, it is the line
between "discipline" and
abuse that needs to be
better defined.
In the past year, a
more extreme example
of abuse has shocked
the nation: the tragic
case of an 8-year-old
girl, Wadeema, and her
7-year-old sister, who
were both subjected to
torture for months. The
case came to light after
Wadeema's body was
found buried in the
desert and her sister
was rescued. The case
is now in the courts,
but many abusers
remain free and the
victims untreated.

very touchy story and real
thats what happen in all countries
we must do someting about it and
take a good step for it aginest
those people
God be with our shildrens every places
thank u brother