Unpublished data from the Ministry of Health obtained through the Law on Access to Information show that, out of ten children and adolescents who are treated at the health service after suffering sexual violence, four had already suffered this type of aggression before. The data comes from 2018.
This proportion changes little when compared to previous years, which, according to scholars, reveals the permanent nature of child abuse.
The information in the report comes from Sinan (Notification Disease Information System).
Whenever a child or adolescent (up to 19 years old) receives care for having suffered aggression (physical, sexual or psychological, among others), the health establishment is obliged to notify the case to the health departments. The same is true of any victim of sexual violence, regardless of age.
The database shows that one in three people who are victims of sexual violence is a girl aged 12 to 17 years.
These aggressions occur more at home (68%) and have the child's father (12%), stepfather (12%) or other known person (26%) as an abuser.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon