Ministry official: More than 4k child abuse cases reported so far
More than 4,000 cases of child abuse have been reported to the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry so far this year.
The ministry also recorded more than 2,000 cases of domestic violence in 2020 - a year that saw many confined to their homes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
During a panel discussion this morning, held in conjunction with International Human Rights Day, ministry official Kolony Gunting said...
More than 4,000 cases of child abuse have been reported to the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry so far this year.
The ministry also recorded more than 2,000 cases of domestic violence in 2020 - a year that saw many confined to their homes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
During a panel discussion this morning, held in conjunction with International Human Rights Day, ministry official Kolony Gunting said these numbers excluded cases reported to the police.
Kolony, who is deputy undersecretary at the Community Development, Senior Citizens and Disabled Department, said the data was derived exclusively from the ministry’s Talian Kasih 15999 hotline and the Welfare Department.
“Until now, we have 4,349 child abuse cases that have been reported to us for both female and male (children).
“Among the highest (numbers) in terms of the type of abuse - we have physical, sexual and emotional abuse (as well as) abandoned children and babies,” he said in response to a question on such data.
Of the total number, Kolony said 1,263 girls under the age of 18 were involved in sexual abuse cases this year.
Calling the number “quite high”, the official, however, did not provide data comparison of case numbers from previous years. Neither did he provide a detailed breakdown of this year's cases.
Malaysiakini has contacted the ministry for more details.
Domestic violence data
Speaking at the “Recover better, build together” panel at the “Recover better - Stand up for human rights” forum, Kolony also shared data on domestic violence cases for this year.
“In terms of domestic violence, what we have here is an increase. We have had 2,287 cases of domestic violence (that were) also reported through Talian Kasih,” he added.
Again, the official did not provide a comparison or detailed breakdown of the domestic violence cases.
Malaysiakini has contacted the ministry for more details.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun previously said that Talian Kasih had received 500 percent more calls than usual this year.
Rina’s deputy Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff told the Dewan Rakyat last month that Talian Kasih received a staggering 159,703 calls between January and November.
She came under fire, however, for not providing a full breakdown of what these calls were about.
Today’s forum was jointly organised by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Law Affairs Department and United Nations Malaysia.
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