Cayman’s Red Cross is seeking to take steps to prevent child sexual abuse before it happens by creating a special hotline for would-be offenders to get help before they act on any sexual thoughts.
Shreya Nauhria, Red Cross child protection manager, said the charity is moving to create a platform for at-risk individuals to get the necessary help and resources to keep them from committing any crime or any offence.
“Child sexual abuse up till now is just [dealt with by] law enforcement or social welfare. But it is a public health issue so to tackle that we need to have a secondary prevention that targets the people who are at risk of offending. We do not have anything for them at present in the Cayman Islands,” she said.
Aim to end abuse
This is where the helpline comes in, she said, and it is going to be similar to the Stop It Now! line in the United Kingdom.
Nauhria announced the helpline as part of the charity’s future plans as it marked the 20th anniversary of its partnership with the Ministry of Health on Friday afternoon.
The Stop It Now self-help line and platform offers confidential support to anyone struggling with inappropriate thoughts towards children and a confidential reporting option for those who may be suspicious of a person’s behaviour.
Victims can also use the multifaceted platform to report crimes.
Resources to help victims and offenders are also available on the platform.
The charity is already in talks with the UK organisation to establish the platform.
Similar platforms and helplines have been established in countries like the Netherlands, the US and Australia, she added.
“We believe that people can change,” Nauhria said.
She said people who may be having inappropriate feelings don’t know where to go to get the help to deal with those emotions and often that circumstance may end with an offence.
“But if we have help and we have some interventions that we can do to prevent [this] then definitely we can prevent [the offence]. We don’t want any victims. That is what Stop It Now is about because we don’t want any victims. We want to prevent child sexual abuse before it happens,” she said.
Public health issue
She said the community has to look at sexual abuse as a “public health issue” and begin to address it as such with interventions from a mental health perspective and not just as from law enforcement.
To do this, she said, will take work and partnership with local government and non-government organisations.
Former programme manager Carolina Ferreira outlined the Red Cross’ many initiatives through the years, which covered everything from HIV/AIDS education to child safeguarding, and said though the work has been impactful, there is still more left to do.
Nauhria, reflecting on the Red Cross’ history and its beginnings, said there were not many news reports about child sexual abuse, but in recent years the number of cases being reported has increased and “that shows that people are talking about it, and it’s no longer a stigma or a taboo”.
In 2023, RCIPS crime statistics showed that there were 1,799 child safeguarding referrals, an increase of 26% compared to 1,431 in 2022, a continuation of the recent year-on-year increases for these referrals.
There were 89 sexual crimes in 2023, nine more than in 2022.
While there was a decrease in attempted rape, and defilement of a girl under 12/16 in 2023, 17 of the 89 sexual crimes were domestic violence-related, while 35 of the 89 offences involved youth.
The youth-involved marker includes a young person as both the victim and/or offender, according to the RCIPS statistics.
Nauhria said the Red Cross has been involved in child sexual abuse prevention since 2010, and when statistics like these are released or cases of abuse head to court, she believes it is a credit to those who have worked hard to give survivors the courage to come forward.
“The work that the [Red Cross] has done in so many years that people are coming [forward], they’re talking about it, and they’re reporting it. So I’m extremely proud about it,” she said.
Health Minister Sabrina Turner lauded the work of the Red Cross and pledged to continue to support the efforts of the local charity as it embarks on the new chapter of their partnership.
Civil society has a very important role when it comes to helping nations progress, she said, and “as an independent organization that is an auxiliary to government, the Red Cross is able to take risks, push boundaries, and essentially help to lay the groundwork for change”.
The Red Cross, she said, is able to cut through the noise and focus on the issues at hand, and that is essentially what they have done for decades.
“The Red Cross has started to evaluate conversations on sex education, HIV and violence prevention, the safeguarding of our nation’s children, and even access to health services among many other things, and our nation is much better for it,” Turner said.
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