SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

sexual abuse is reported to be prevalent. 38 Available evidence does not reveal whether boys or
girls face more severe abuse in school settings in South Asia.
At the same time, teachers are in an optimal position to identify sexual abuse among their
students, whether the source is the home, community or school. They meet the students
regularly over long periods of time and may note psychological behaviours that could indicate
abuse, such as depression, sexualized behaviours, deteriorating self-care or lack of
concentration. As well, teachers often have the children’s trust and are independent from the
authority of the household and community power structures. However, the majority of
teachers lack training on sexual abuse, children’s rights and sexuality. 39 While they may
recognize that a child is ‘disturbed’, they usually do not have the skills to identify the links to
violence or abuse or the mechanisms to refer the child to help. 40
1.4.4 Institutional settings
Institutional settings for children include shelters, orphanages, prisons, juvenile detention
facilities, boarding facilities and homes for children with disabilities, among others. As
numerous studies have shown, the challenges of institutional settings can foster sexual abuse,
both by staff and by other children. 41 In most institutional settings, individual children have
no personal caregiver, and children are treated as a group rather than individually, by staff
who are often poorly trained and poorly paid. Corporal punishment to ‘discipline’ children is
routine in many institutions. 42 Often, institutional staff wield nearly absolute power over the
children, which can be transformed into sexual abuse.
Many institutional settings are inadequately staffed, making it difficult to control child-onchild
violence. Children sleep in dormitories, often unsupervised, which provides
opportunities for unwanted sexual interaction among peers. In children’s institutions as in
adult prisons, hierarchies emerge, and weaker or younger children may be forced to become
sexual partners of dominant children in exchange for their ‘protection’. In twelve institutions
investigated in South Asia, including those for boys and girls, caregivers reported routine
sexual relationships between dominant and weaker/passive children. 43 While both caregivers
and institutional directors recognize the need for ombudspersons, counsellors or other
mechanisms allowing a child to seek help or report abuse, few institutions in South Asia
provide them. There are no data indicating the relative frequency of sexual abuse of boys
38 For example, see Sahil, 1998, ‘Child sexual abuse and exploitation in Pakistan’; Breaking the Silence Group,
Bangladesh, 1997, ‘Non-commercial sexual abuse of children in Bangladesh: A case study based report’; Child
Workers in Nepal and UNICEF, 2005, ‘Violence against children in Nepal: Child sexual abuse in Nepal:
Children’s perspectives’.
39 Save the Children Alliance, 2005, ‘10 essential learning points: Listen and speak out against sexual abuse of
girls and boys’.
40 Save the Children Sweden-Denmark (Slugget, C.), 2003, ‘Mapping of psychosocial support for girls and boys
affected by child sexual abuse in four countries in South and Central Asia’.
41 Tolfree, D., 1995, ‘Roofs and roots: The care of separated children in the developing world’; International
Save the Children Alliance, 2003, ‘A last resort: The growing concern about children in residential care’.
42 For example, see Oxfam Great Britain and Pearson, E., 2004, ‘Gaps analysis on intervention strategies against
trafficking in women in Nepal’.
43 Frederick, J., 2008, ‘Independent observation of government and NGO shelters during consultancies for
UNICEF and Terre des hommes (Lausanne)’.
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