KUALA LUMPUR – Sexual abuse of minors was the highest of all 5,216 cases of child abuse as of August this year, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry said.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, told the Dewan Rakyat today that topping the list were 1,603 incidents of sexual abuse, followed by 1,530 cases of neglect and 1,240 cases of physical abuse.
Other types of cases were emotional abuse (73 cases), abandonment or no parents (156 cases) and 614 cases due to other factors, Bernama reported her saying to the lower House.
All cases were handled by the ministry’s Social Welfare Department.
“Some of these rescued children are still placed in the Social Welfare Department’s institutions, under the care of foster parents or eligible and suitable persons and some have returned to their families after assessments deemed that the family environment no longer poses a risk to the children,” she said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
She was responding to a supplementary question from William Leong Jee Keen (Selayang-PH) regarding the statistics of abused children requiring protection. – November 29, 2023