On November 11, 2010 Save the Children, KAFA (enough) Violence and Exploitation and the Ministry of Social Affairs said NO to child sexual abuse in Lebanon.

The launch of a specially designed tool-kit and the documentary movie “WALAW” about child sexual abuse, took place in Beirut.

Addressing child sexual abuse

“Child abuse is an under-recognized problem in Lebanon. Although child sexual abuse represents a violation against children and has major social, ethical and medical implications, the issue is considerably neglected because of its delicate and sensitive nature”, Ruba Khoury, Country Director for Save the Children Sweden, Lebanon, pointed out in her speech at the launch.

The minister of social affairs, Selim El Sayegh, who also attended the launch, agreed to this by addressing how difficult is has been for him to engage people and organisations in the child sexual abuse issue. Sayegh underlined the importance of an effort towards fighting child sexual abuse in Lebanon, and said that there is simply too much shyness concerning the issue – we have to be responsible now.

The tool kit

During the launch, KAFA and Save the Children introduced the Child Sexual Abuse tool kit “Ila el Aman Sir” which has been developed throughout the last two years.

During the launch, diplomas were handed out to all the social workers, who have been trained on the “Ila el Aman Sir” prevention tool kit.

The tool kit will not only be used in order to fight child sexual abuse in Lebanon, but will also be a key component in the upcoming project “Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights”, funded by the European Commission, which will be implemented in both Lebanon, Yemen and oPt.

This project will launched on 1. December 2010.

WALAW!

The documentary movie WALAW, produced by Christine Chamoun with support and funds from Save the Children and KAFA was also shown and highly praised by the audience. It showed that children from all backgrounds are vulnerable to sexual abuse which often takes place in the child’s family, and how the abuse in many cases is hidden and unknown. The movie invites caregivers to listen to what children have to say and focus on the signs that they give. Save the Children and KAFA are hoping that WALAW will help break the culture of silence and protect children from sexual abuse.

The documentary will be used in the future as audiovisual material to raise the awareness on child sexual abuse.