Call to set up shelters for abused children

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 24: A video, purportedly showing an Arab father torturing his daughter followed by another video apologizing for the act and asking for pardon, has shocked the viewers in Kuwait and sparked widespread reactions with number of psychologists and family counselors urging the need to expedite the establishment of shelters for abused children, and the need to stop such methods of violence, reports Al-Rai daily.

“There are two types of mental disorders, one of which is severe, in which one is not responsible for his or her behavior,” said Dr Muhammad Al-Hillili, who specializes in psychological and educational counseling and social service.

“The video, according to which the father seems to be responsible for his actions but suffers from severe and hysterical deficiencies, may increase and develop into schizophrenia and may have suffered similar actions.” “These cases exist in Kuwait but they are few, but is it conceivable that parents should deal with their children through the use of violence? The educator should be a source of pleasure, not a source of pain,” he said.

Unfortunately, some of the violent parents believe that they own the children, and warned that through such behavior the children tend to lose their identity in such circumstances.

The children who grow up in the midst of violence will carry with them this behavior and impart it on their children. He explained there are child protection laws in Kuwait, but they are incomplete and need more legislation, and called for the establishment of shelters for children who are subjected to physical violence, especially young children.

Dr Amthal Al-Huwaila, a member of the Faculty of Psychology at the Kuwait University, told Al-Rai that children need a sense of affection and care from their parents, psychologically speaking those children who have difficulty in sleeping, bedwetting, which may end up in the child feeling guilty and begin to stutter.

She added that this violence produces people with tendencies of violence on those who are weak, and may also produce anxious moments such as sabotaging the government property stealing from parents and if it is a boy may even end up beating his wife and children when he grows up. She expressed support for the speedy establishment of shelters for abused children, and pointed out these centers must be temporary, and there must be safe places in the case of children subjected to domestic violence if the father is a drug addict, for example, in which case it is the responsibility of the state institutions for care of such children in accordance with the Children’s Rights Act approved by Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the head of the National Society for Child Protection, Dr Siham Al-Freih, told Al-Rai, that “What happened with this child and the severe violence she suffered from her father who was forcing her touched the feelings of everyone who saw this video clip.

This person has been identified and contacted, and it is certain that action will be taken to protect this child.” She stressed that such events occur in all societies, not necessarily that they are confined to Arab or Western societies, pointing out that this is not the first case, there are many cases which indicate such brutality and these atrocities toward a child at young age are abnormal.

For these reasons, the National Society for Child Protection was established with the aim of protecting the child from violence. Since the second year of its establishment, it has started to draft a law for the protection of children with many details and sections covering public, health and social welfare, education, entertainment and culture, as well as traffic, penalties and sanctions.

Regarding the demand of some to establish shelters for the abused child, she said, she is keen in pointing to these centers to be of a high level of care and not in terms of furniture or devices at the center, but the human energy based different specialties, including doctors, psycho-social, social and legal consultants, representatives of the Ministry of Interior and other bodies, otherwise there will be deficiencies if there is a shortage of this human capacity.