Forms of child abuse and exploitation.

According to the  World  Health  Organization,  “child abuse”  or  “maltreatment”  constitutes  ‘all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power’. Our understanding of child abuse and exploitation includes, but is not limited to:

• Physical abuse.

Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child.

• Emotional abuse.

Emotional abuse is defined as the persistent emotional ill-treatment of a child such as to causes severe and persistent effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless and unloved, inadequate, or valued only so far as they meet the needs of another person.  It may involve inappropriate expectations being imposed on children.  It may involve causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of ill-treatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

• Sexual abuse.

It involves forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening.  The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative  (e.g.,  rape)  or non-penetrative acts.  They may include non-contact activities,  such as involving children in looking at,  or in  the production of,  pornographic materials or watching sexual activities,  or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

• Neglect.

It is defined as the persistent failure to meet the child’s basic physical and/  or psychological needs,  likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s physical or cognitive development.

• Bullying

It may be defined as deliberately hurtful behavior, usually repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for those bullied to defend themselves. It can take many forms, but the three main types are physical (e.g. hitting, kicking, theft), verbal (e.g. racist or homophobic remarks, threats, name calling) and emotional (e.g. isolating an individual from the activities and social acceptance of their peer group).

• Sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse of children can also be defined as contacts or interactions between a child and an older or more knowledgeable child or adult (a stranger, sibling or person in a position of authority,  such  as  a  parent  or  caretaker)  when the child is being used  as  an object of gratification for an older child’s or adult’s sexual needs. These contacts or interactions are carried out against the child using force, trickery, bribes, threats or pressure. Sexual abuse can be physical, verbal, or emotional.

• Commercial sexual Exploitation

Commercial exploitation of children comprises sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children and amounts to forced labor and a contemporary form of slavery.

• Child pornography.

It refers to any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes.  This can include photographs, negatives, slides, magazines, books, drawings, movies, videotapes and computer disks or files. Generally speaking, there are two categories of pornography: soft-core which is not sexually explicit but involves naked and seductive images of children, and hard core which relates to images of children engaged in sexual activity and use of children in the production of pornography is sexual exploitation.

• Violence

It  was  defined  by  the  UN  Secretary  General’s  Study  on  Violence  as  ‘physical, psychological  (psychosocial),  and  sexual  violence  to  children  through  abuse,  neglect  or exploitation, as acts of commission or omission in direct or indirect forms, that endanger or harm the child’s dignity, physical, psychological, or social status, or development.’

• Commercial exploitation.

Commercial exploitation means exploiting a child in work or other activities for the benefit of others and to the detriment of the child’s physical or mental health, education, moral or social-emotional development. It includes but is not limited to, child labour. A  child  who  is  being  abused  may  experience  more  than  one  type  of  cruelty.  Discrimination, harassment, and bullying are also abusive and can harm a child, physically and emotionally.