A new report has revealed that sexually exploited children are usually failed by the country’s criminal justice system and the slow implementation of policies.
According to a 2022 report on child sexual exploitation and abuse, dubbed “Out of the Shadows Index 2022″ developed by The Economist Impact highlights five barriers to justice for sexually abused children legislation, policies and programmes, national capacity and commitment, justice processes and support service and recovery.
The report researched and developed by Economist Impact to track and develop a global assessment of how countries are preventing and responding to Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) ranks countries on how their laws, programs and policies are effective in safeguarding the welfare of children.
The report shows that many governments are increasingly failing to create policies needed to prevent and respond to CSEA.
South Africa is ranked fifth after the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and Canada, South Korea sixth, followed by Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and Germany in prevention and response to CSEA.
Kenya is ranked 21, Rwanda 27, Tanzania 33, Nigeria 34, Morocco 36 and Uganda 37.
In the first Out of the Shadows Index in 2019, Kenya was recorded as having the worst environment for children despite doing well in the overall ranking.
This came after a survey of about 60 countries globally was done to assess the state of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Kenya was ranked 21st overall and second in Africa for its strides in coming up with policies that avert and respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse.
However, only victims and those that help them get justice feel the missing gap on implementation of policies.
Kenya has also been noted to having the worst environment for children despite doing well in the overall ranking.
The report shows that there is ambiguity in defining some of the content of the law on the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (OPSC) which has been adopted by most countries.
“Over 40 per cent of countries assessed for the index either do not explicitly define ‘child pornography’ or ‘child sexual abuse material’ in national legislation, or their definitions do not meet international standards. The goal is for all countries to adhere to the same clear standards and definitions, thus forming a shared global framework that will aid the prosecution of such crimes,” the report states.