Hello my friends,

I would also like to submit my entry for the contest that We have been given to talk about the forms of child abuse prevalent in our societies today. First of all let me define what child abuse means. Child abuse is the act of violating children's rights such as freedom to food, freedom to health care, freedom to education, freedom to proper housing, freedom to water and sanitation and a freedom to be happy.

Some people violate this rights and because of this we call it child abuse. Child abuse can lead to imprisonment for those that break the law and can also have consequences on the victims who in this case are children.

Who is a child? A child is a person that is below 18 years of age.

Name the forms of child abuse known to you that are prevalent in your locality.

Some of the forms of sexual abuse that I know in my society they include defilement. Defilement is defined as sexually engaging a person that is below 18 years and this mostly goes hand in hand with rape. Many girls are rapped by the relatives or even strangers and rape and deferment is mostly a child abuse than to girls. Because of this abuse many girls drop out of school because of getting pregnant at a very young age or sometimes they are forced into early marriage.

Another form of sexual abuse that I know is torture whereby children are beaten up for small reasons such as stealing small money or sugar or even delaying at the well while getting water or even for losing something such as money etc.

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The most common cause of this is stepmothers who do not like taking care of their husband's children. I have seen children on TV when they were burnt with cooking oil or paraffin when they tried to light the stove. One woman poured hot water on a 2-year-old baby and all the skin went off.

Another form of child abuse that I can think of is over working the children and giving them jobs that are beyond their own age. I think they call this child labor and I have seen many children on TV working in stone quarries or even vending food and simple commodities on the street. This is abusing children's rights because children get a lot of problems as they go out to work and they also start learning many bad habits.

Who is at risk the most, the male or female child?

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I think that's the one who is most at risk is the female child because they are very vulnerable and weak. And also many cases at police show that the girl child is the one that is molested at a higher rate.

What effect can they have on the kids?

Child abuse can lead to the following consequences amongst children;

1. Low self-esteem
2. Suicide
3. A sense of abandonment
4. High crime rates
5. Dropping out of school
6. High abortion rates

All these are results of the children being abused by being overworked by their parents or guardians and also being sexually harassed.

How can the kids avoid them?

Kids can avoid being abused by doing the following;

1. By not going with strangers or taking anything from strangers such as eatables, money or gifts.
2. By speaking out and telling other relatives all the concerned authorities if someone is trying to sexually harass them all over work them.
3. Children should also learn to keep indoors in late hours and not to walk alone on the street.
4. Children should learn to listen to their parents advice.
5. Children should also avoid being indecent and using makeup before they are mature enough.

In conclusion I thank steam kids for this contest and I invite other kids to participate because it is one of the contests that can help us to advise each other and not be abused as children in this community for kids. Thank you..