How Has the Presence of Zimbabwe’s Victim-Friendly Court and Relevant Child Protection Policy and Legal Frameworks Affected the Management of Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse in Zimbabwe? The Case of Marondera District

Abstract

The study intended to assess, based on the perceptions of Victim-Friendly Court (VFC) professionals in Marondera District in Zimbabwe, how the presence of the VFC and relevant child protection policy and legal frameworks has affected the management of Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse (ICSA) in Zimbabwe. Sem-istructured questionnaires were administered to 25 professionals from 13 VFC agencies in Marondera, while one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 key informants who included five ICSA survivors and their respective five caregivers as well as five key community child protection committee members. All 40 participants were selected using purposive sampling. Data were analyzed manually using thematic analysis, descriptive analysis, and document analysis. The study showed that the VFC manages ICSA through prevention, protection, treatment, and support interventions, and that its mandate is guided by key child protection policy and legal frameworks, particularly the National Action Plan for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children and the Children’s Act (Chapter 5:06). The presence of these mechanisms is perceived to have resulted in increased awareness of ICSA, realization of effective results, increased reporting of ICSA, and enhanced coordination among VFC agencies. However, the same frameworks are perceived to be fraught with gaps and inconsistencies, too prescriptive, incoherent with some key aspects of the National Constitution and international child rights standards, and poorly resourced for effective implementation. All this has negatively affected the management of ICSA. Therefore, the Government of Zimbabwe should consistently review these systems to make them responsive to the ever-evolving factors associated with ICSA. Also, alignment with the National Constitution, full domestication of global child rights instruments, and routine collection of better statistics for evidence-based policy- and decision-making, and for better monitoring of progress and evaluation of outcomes, are necessary for positive results. Non-governmental stakeholders too should chip in with human, technical, and financial resources to enhance effective management of the social problem.

Keywords

sexual abuse child abuse prevention of child abuse treatment/intervention Zimbabwe

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2005). Personal safety survey Australia (Catalogue No. 4906.0). Canberra, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4906.0/

Babbie

E. R.

Mouton

(2011). The practice of social research. Cape Town, South Africa: Oxford University Press.

Barr

Corvari

(2005). Child sexual abuse in Sub-Saharan Africa: A literature review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 28, 439-460.

Blanchfield

(2013). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: CRS report for Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.

Boyce

Neale

(2006). Conducting in-depth interviews: A guide for designing and conducting in-depth interviews for evaluation input. Dublin, Ireland: Pathfinder International.

Brakarsh

(2003). The Victim-Friendly Court system in Zimbabwe: A holistic approach to child sexual abuse & HIV prevention. Harare, Zimbabwe: Department for International Development, Resource Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Brakarsh

(2010). Helping sexually abused children. Harare, Zimbabwe: Family Support Trust.

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101. Retrieved from http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/11735

Children’s Bureau (Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Child maltreatment 2012. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/child-maltreatment

10.

Chiyangarara

Dube

Dete

Kembo

Moyo

Nkomo

(2006). Indicators for children’s rights: Zimbabwe case study. Harare, Zimbabwe: Childwatch.

11.

Cresswell

J. W.

Plano-Clark

V. L.

(2011). Designing and conducting mixed method research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

12.

Dale

Davies

Morrison

Walter

(2002). Dangerous families: Assessment and the treatment of child abuse. London, England: Tavistock.

13.

Dzirikure

(2011). Towards a management approach for sustainable social development programmes for orphans in Southern Africa: Application of systems theory (Doctoral thesis). University of KwaZulu–Natal, Durban, South Africa.

14.

Faller

K. C.

(2005). Child sexual abuse: An interdisciplinary manual for diagnosis, case management and treatment in society. Columbia, SC: Columbia University Press.

15.

Finkelhor

(1985). Sexual abuse and physical abuse: Some critical differences. In Neuberger

L. H.

Bourne

(Eds.), Unhappy families (pp. 21-30). Littleton, CO: Pretty Special Genesis.

16.

Finkelhor

(1994). The international epidemiology of child sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18, 409-417.

17.

Fraser

B. G.

(1981). Sexual child abuse: The legislation and the law in the United States. In Mrazek

P. B.

Kempe

C. H.

(Eds.), Sexually abused children and their families (pp. 55-74). Oxford, UK: Pergamon.

18.

Furniss

(1991). The multisectoral handbook of child sexual abuse. London, England: Routledge.

19.

Goldman

(1988). Show me yours.London, UK: Penguin.

20.

Government of Zimbabwe. (2000). Zimbabwe national orphan care policy. Harare, Zimbabwe: Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

21.

Government of Zimbabwe. (2006). National gender policy. Harare, Zimbabwe: Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development.

22.

Government of Zimbabwe. (2010). National child survival strategy for Zimbabwe (2010–2015). Harare, Zimbabwe: Ministry of Health and Child Care.

23.

Government of Zimbabwe. (2013). Zimbabwe Constitution of 2013. Harare, Zimbabwe: Government Publishers.

24.

Government of Zimbabwe. (2015). Extended Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan (ZNASP) (2015–2020): Commitment towards fast-tracking 90-90-90 targets by 2020 and ending AIDS by 2030. Harare, Zimbabwe: National AIDS Council & Ministry of Health and Child Care.

25.

Kempe

R. S.

Kempe

C. S.

(1984). Child abuse. London, England: Fontana.

26.

Khan

Nyanungo

(1998). Issues in management of child sexual abuse victims in Zimbabwe: A preliminary study. Harare, Zimbabwe: First Mental Health Conference.

27.

Lachman

Poblete

Ebigbo

P. O.

Nyandiya-Bundy

Bundy

R. P.

Killian

Doek

(2002). Challenges facing child protection: Lessons learnt from the South. Child Abuse & Neglect, 26, 587-617.

28.

Mbigi

(1995). Ubuntu: A Rainbow of Celebration of Cultural Diversity. Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy.

29.

Mrazek

P. B.

Lynch

M. A.

Bentovim

(1983). Sexual Abuse of Children in the United Kingdom. Child Abuse and Neglect, 7(2), 147-153.

30.

Muridzo

N. G.

Malianga

(2015). Child sexual abuse in Zimbabwe: Prevention strategies for social workers. African Journal of Social Work, 52(2), 41-64.

31.

Mushunje

M. T.

(2006). Child protection in Zimbabwe: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Journal of Social Development in Africa: Special Issue on Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children, 21(1), 12-34.

32.

National Victim-Friendly Court Committee. (2012). Protocol for the multisectoral management of sexual abuse and violence in Zimbabwe (3rd ed.). Harare, Zimbabwe: Judicial Services Commission.

33.

Ndaradzi

(2001). Community responses to child sexual abuse: The case of Chikomba District (Master’s thesis). University of Zimbabwe, Harare.

34.

Neuman

(2000). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

35.

Perreault

(2013). Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2012 (Juristat Catalogue No. 85-002-X). Ottawa, Ontario: Statistics Canada.

36.

Porter

(1984). Child sexual abuse within the family. London, England: Routledge.

37.

Reza

Breiding

M. J.

Gulaid

Mercy

J. A.

Blanton

Mthethwa

Anderson

(2009). Sexual violence and its health consequences for female children in Swaziland: A cluster survey study. The Lancet, 373, 1966-1972. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60247-6

38.

Slonim-Nevo

L. K.

Mukuka

(2007). Violence and abuse among HIV-infected women and their children in Zambia: A qualitative study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194, 610-615.

39.

Southern African Development Community. (2011). Minimum package of services for orphans and other vulnerable children and youth. Pretoria, South Africa: Author.

40.

UNICEF. (2003). The state of the world’s children 2001: Early childhood. Washington, DC: Author.

41.

UNICEF. (2014). Ending child marriage: Progress and prospects. New York, NY: Author.

42.

UNICEF & U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Violence against children in Tanzania: Findings from a National Survey 2009. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences.

43.

World Health Organization. (2004). Child sexual abuse: A silent health emergency: Report of the regional director. Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo: WHO Regional Committee for Africa.

44.

Yin

R. K.

(2003). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.).Thousand Oaks: SAGE.

45.

Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency. (2012a). National baseline survey on the life experiences of adolescents: Preliminary report, 2011. Harare, Zimbabwe: Population Census Office.

46.

Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency. (2012b). 2012 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey. Harare, Zimbabwe: Government Publishers.