An Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse in Nairobi Slums: a Case Study of Korogocho Slum

Abstract

Sexual abuse is a crime that is of concern to society. It is particularly more serious when committed against children, many of whom suffer in silence. The study was designed to analyze the extent of child sexual abuse in Nairobi slums, with a case study of Korogocho. Specifically, the researcher sort to: find out the level of awareness among caregivers on the key provisions of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006; identify the challenges that care givers face in the process of protecting their children against sexual abuse; establish why sexual offences against children remain high in the slums; and identify measures that the community is taking to protect children from sexual abuse. This is a descriptive study. The research used both qualitative and quantitative methods of collecting data. The questionnaire was the main tool of collecting quantitative data. An interview guide was used for collecting qualitative data. A total of 80 care givers were interviewed using a questionnaire and 18 key informants were interviewed using an interview guide. There were various reasons that the respondents gave as being the contributing factors to continued rise of child abuse in Nairobi slums. They included: poverty, illiteracy on Sexual Offences Act of 2006, lack of punishment of offenders, parental negligence, overcrowding, and lack of effective community interventions. he study found out that 60% of the children in the area had never been sexually abused. Some of the sexual offences that are prominent in the area of study were defilement and rape according to 74% of the respondents. They also pointed out some other sexual offences such as child prostitution and incest; it was established that most of the caregivers got to know about their children through school. Most of the respondents stated that after reporting child sexual offences to relevant authorities, offenders were not arrested and many other respondents asserted that they were not aware of any convictions related to child sexual abuse in the area. Other factors that made children more vulnerable to sexual abuse were poor housing conditions such as poor lighting, shared facilities and the proximity of bars and brothels to the household dwellings. Some interventions implemented according to the study include: use of barazas/public meetings, religion, schools, the government, NGOs and media for awareness, education, publicity, protection etc; some of the cultures in the society have defined this topic as taboo such as discussing the matter with children.