‘Pandemic has left more women, children vulnerable to sexual abuse’

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Sep. 24 (EMN): The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has left more women and children vulnerable to sexual abuse and other forms of violence, said Commissioner and Secretary, department of Social Welfare, Sarah R Ritse on Friday.

She was speaking at the virtual training on board game Jaano Khelo Aur Jeeto (JKJ) or Learn Play Win for awareness on child sexual violence, organised by State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW), Nagaland, in collaboration with the Child Protection Services, department of Social Welfare under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP).

Child sexual abuse, Ritse said, can take a heavy toll on families, communities and societies at large and many children, who face abuse, experience other kinds of violence as well. She said that she would look forward to learning how ‘this board game can be used as a tool to help prevent and curb this menace in our society’.

“JKJ or Learn Play Win was already launched in Nagaland in July this year and published in the local papers as well as on the social media handles of the SRCW. It is encouraging to know that other states are also replicating this initiative of Anyay Rahit Zindagi (ARZ) Goa,” said Ritse.

The JKJ board game aims at building awareness and knowledge on issues such as child sexual abuse, child labour, child rights, human trafficking and migration, all of which are very serious issues that need to be addressed.

Anyay Rahit Zindagi (ARZ), an NGO based in Goa, has been having a long-term association with SRCW Nagaland and had collaborated in conducting training and capacity building programmes on human trafficking and child sexual abuse in Nagaland.

Giving further details about ARZ she said that it is a social work organisation committed to combating trafficking of persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Goa. The organisation works with both the victims of commercial sexual exploitation and also against the perpetrators of the crime.

Ritse urged all the district teams from the child protection services, district level centres for women (DLCWs), One Stop Centres, and the 181-Women Helpline Nagaland to take such training as an opportunity to learn and impart the knowledge to children.

BBBP state team leader, Juliana Medom, who moderated the training programme, stated that they were unable to reach out to the target groups due to the pandemic and all the trainings were done virtually. She added that “the main aim is to see that through this game we can have practical sessions in children’s home and the community at large”.

She opined that people are attentive and focused when learning things through games, and so decided to use it to reach out to all the silent victims and also make create awareness among the parents and the community on sexual violence, human trafficking, etc.

According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, Nagaland recorded 39 crimes against women under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL) in 2020, against 43 in 2019 and 75 in 2018.

The NCRB data also showed that four rape cases were reported in the state in 2020.