In the past year, 63 percent of all reported sexual offences involved children, including 29 infants under the age of five, totaling 755 cases of sexual violence against minors.
This was revealed by Minister for Women, Children, and Social Protection Sashi Kiran while delivering her ministerial statement on the National Safe-Guarding Policy in Parliament.
She says data also shows that 80 percent of children aged 1 to 14 years have experienced violent discipline, highlighting an urgent child protection crisis.
The Minister says violence against children is costing the nation daily, with the Fiji Bureau of Statistics estimating it at 4.23 percent of our GDP, or roughly $460 million each year.
Kiran has revealed this as cabinet passed Fiji’s first National Child Safeguarding Policy, which aims to protect every child from violence and exploitation in homes, schools, communities, institutions, and online spaces.
She says the key guiding principles include zero tolerance for abuse, a child-centred approach that respects children’s voices and rights, shared responsibility across society, and accountability for safeguarding failures.
She highlights that all institutions working with children including schools and community organizations must adapt the policy to their contexts to ensure practical implementation.
She says this policy requires safe environments for children in schools, workplaces, communities, and online spaces, risk assessments to identify dangers and prevent harm before it happens, child-safe recruitment practises to ensure that unsafe individuals do not work with or near children, training for all staff, volunteers, and contractors so that everyone understands their safeguarding duties.
Kiran says it also requires clear reporting systems so that abuse is never ignored or hidden and strong disciplinary action against anyone who fails to uphold safeguarding responsibilities.
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