Government Officials admit statistics show 128 children were sexually abused in Dominica in 2015

​Dominican Officials admit statistics show 128 children were sexually abused in Dominica in 2015. Coordinator of the Child Abuse Prevention Unit, Jemma Azille-Lewis made that acknowledgement. She was speaking at the launch of a book on child abuse at the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) building on Wednesday, noting that child abuse continues to be a growing problem in Dominica and is a cause for grave concern.
 
She said the statistics for 2015, show that our children continue to be abused in different forms. “In 2015, we had a total of 189 cases reported of child abuse and out of that 189, 128 of these were sexual related matters. 73 cases out of the 189, were children from the age of 0 to 10.”
 
Azille-Lewis said based on these statistics, children as young as babies are being abused. Some are neglected, some are abandoned, some are physically abused, sexually abused, emotionally abused and some children suffer from more than one form of abuse. We should be concerned about that,” she noted. She stated that statistics from 2010 to 2015 show a total of 1,095 reported cases of child abuse in Dominica.
 
She said “For a country like ours with our population, this is too much. Sadly, when our children are abused, it is by the persons whom they know, the persons whom they love, the person who they trust. The very same persons who are supposed to protect them, these are the ones who are their abusers.” She further noted that the effects of child abuse on children are long-lasting. “Sometimes the children don’t say anything, nothing is done, parents condone it, hide it,” she noted. We all have to take a stand to stop the abuse of our children.”