Aintoura case highlights sexual harassment issue

Statistical studies have shown that one child out of 7 in Lebanon is exposed to sexual harassment in the safest of places. The studies also showed that the home is the number one place where  a child is  exposed, followed usually by the school.        

Tania Tabet, executive director of the “Protection” Association (Himaya) told LBCI that 50% of children do not speak about their abuse, noting that 65% of  sexually harassed children are between the age of 8 and 13.         

In turn, psychiatrist Doctor Shawki Azouri stressed that believing the child is one of the  first means to help him /her forget about their ordeal, pointing that otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.           

Azouri noted that in the case when a child refuses to speak about his/her experience, it is the parents’ duty to detect a change in behavior, such as isolation and food restrictions.               

Azouri explained that the issue of sexual harassment of minors goes hand with hand  with the impossibility of the abuser's recovery from this felonious disease.

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