Arousing Public Awareness of Child Abuse

A Letter to the Pubic
There is no denying in the fact that thousands of children are abused all over the world each year. In march of 2014, addition of child abusing sin suggested by the NPC deputies at the ongoing NPC&CPPCC has aroused heated discussion among the Chinese. Actually, not only China, but also many other countries, for instance, Japan, South Korea and America have put an increasing effort in addressing child abuse. As far as I am concerned, the lack of awareness of child abuse is one of the main reasons, therefore, to awake public’s consciousness is of great importance.
To begin with, what is child abuse? Child abuse is a kind of hurt toward children, both physically and mentally, which is a world-wide phenomenon that can have bad influences on children under 18. An ongoing child abuse can take place in families, schools and institutions by abusive adult, especially who is familiar to those children.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, there are four principal categories, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse and neglect. A child may suffer a combination of different types. The usual physical abuse scenario involves an adult who turn out to harbor deep-rooted negative feelings toward children loses control and gives children physical torture, such as lashes out at a child for any reason. Violence may lead to serious injury to children, for example, bruises, bone factures and sometimes death. Psychological maltreatment include loud yelling, coarse and rude attitude, inattention, harsh criticism, and denigration of the child's personality which may end up in the loss of children’s self-esteem, and self-closing. Sexual abuse refers to the participation of a child in a sexual act aimed toward the physical gratification or the financial profit of the person committing the act. Asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities, indecent exposure of the genitals to a child, viewing of the child's genitalia, displaying pornography to a child, selling the sexual services of children are regarded as sexual abuse. Injuries of sexual abuse include self-blame, nightmares, sexual dysfunction, suicide, etc. Neglect is the failure of a parent or other person with responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, care, which may causes delays in physical and psychosocial development, psychology damage, and lack of social skills.
Having known what child abuse is, the next is how to solve this problem. Child abuse is such a serious issue in home and abroad, however, Chinese government hasn’t dealt with it well, for a well-established law system hasn’t been published. So how to prevent child abuse is one of the greatest challenge China now faced. In terms of the solutions toward child abuse, we can learn a lot from other countries. First, to create a database helps our analysis. Some countries, like America and Japan, have detailed record statistics on child abuse,yet China didn’t put child abuse into research. Seconde, to perfect the laws on child abuse is conductive to punish those abuser. As an old Chinese saying goes, nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards. Third, encouraging the citizens to participate in the protection of children is the most effective way. America, whose assertion is that everyone is responsible for reporting child abuse, is the world’s most successful model. I believed that, after years of trying, we will have a happy family, a harmony society, a better country in the coming future.。