Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Mereseini Vuniwaqa says 1,452 cases of child abuse and neglect were reported in Fiji under the Child Welfare Act mandatory reporting system last year.
She says this tells us that we are continuing to fail as parents and caregivers need to be more innovative in the way they deal with child abuse and neglect.
Vuniwaqa says according to the Child Welfare Act National Database, 870 cases have been reported between January to July this year.
She says the most recorded case types for both years are child neglect which includes lack of supervision, medical neglect, and failure to provide food, clothing or shelter, physical abuse, and sexual abuse.
Vuniwaqa says 494 were females while 376 were males.
She says the number of reports under the Act has increased every year for the past 10 years.
