Muscat – The Ministry of Social Development has stated that 1,148 cases of child abuse were reported through its hotline (1100) in the first nine months of 2021, compared to 1,040 in the whole of 2020.
Khalid Ahmed Ali Tabook, head of the Ministry of Social Development’s Family Counselling and Guidance Department in Dhofar, attributed the spike in cases to long periods of home isolation and closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘The Child Protection Hotline (1100) operates around the clock and provides services to children exposed to violence or abuse by registering their complaints,’ the Ministry of Social Development stated.
According to the ministry’s data, the number of complaints of child abuse received via the Child Protection Hotline in the first nine months of 2021 included 603 for boys and 545 for girls.
Among the various categories of abuse, negligence ranked highest, followed by physical abuse.
The highest number of child abuse cases were registered in Muscat (465), followed by North Batinah (349), South Batinah (114), Dakhliyah (57), Buraimi (47) and North Sharqiyah (42), the ministry stated.
Forty complaints were received in Dhahirah, 15 in Dhofar, ten in South Sharqiyah, and nine in Musandam.
Describing the spike as “significant”, Tabook said, “The Ministry of Social Development has child protection committees in all governorates of the sultanate to deal with cases of abuse in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, Royal Oman Police and the Public Prosecution.
“Abuse against children has long lasting effects. We offer many programmes through family counselling centres to overcome these effects. The Department of Family Protection is responsible for developing family protection plans and enhancing efforts to serve the family better.”
The Ministry of Social Development has launched several awareness programmes to raise society’s awareness of raising children with love and care, not exposing them to any kind of violence.
“The ministry also recently issued the Child Law, which aims to protect children from any kind of abuse,” Tabook informed.
