Story by Tapiwa Machemedze
STAKEHOLDERS are lobbying for increased protection of the boy child as their abuse is often underreported and downplayed.
The rights of the boy child came under the spotlight this Friday when various organisations, government officials and school officials converged in Shamva to commemorate blue umbrella day which was set aside to raise awareness on the protection of boys.
The event builds on a 2021 study which shows significant underreporting of cases regarding abuse of boys.
“We are creating awareness in the community regards the prevention of abuse against boys especially sexually after a study to understand the issues.
“We are used to hearing of sexual abuse against girls and women but the same is happening to boys so we sought to understand why there is under-reportage and we are now using the results we got to do campaigns to say boys do get sexually abused and need to be protected,” said the director of Farm Orphan Support Trust, Mr Blessing Mutama.
Child parliamentarians and stakeholders pledged to increase communication that will reduce abuse of the boy child.
Blue Umbrella Day is commemorated on 16 April each year was marked belatedly this Friday.
Apart from the significant underreporting of cases of violence and abuse against boys, studies showed a lack of institutional preparedness to handle such cases and little support for sexually abused boys.
