Fatima was only ten when she lost her virginity. Yet, she did not know that what was coming would be more agonizing. Her step father, who molested her day after day during her childhood period, made her feel powerless by threatening to kill her should she report him to the authorities. What makes it worse, was that after it was discovered that her virginity was robbed from her, she was blamed for it!
The price she for being offended, was to be thrown out of the house, only to become an easy prey for other child sex offenders. The 15 year-old teenager is living a new life with 17 other girls, detained on various charges, including theft, prostitution, homelessness.
It has been seven years into the Third Millennium, and Syria still does not have shelters to protect the basic rights of these femalesβ even though the number of sexual abuse of children in Damascus has tripled during the past three years. IT is worth noting that this is taking place even though a two-year-old resolution was set up by the government to establish such centers.
The only differences might be that some abused children were fortunate enough to reach the court of law, while others remained and still remain behind closed doors. Testimonies versus figures According to the head of the department of Forensic Medicine in Damascus, Dr. Issam Khoury, child molestation, in reality, is not consistent with official statistics. Accordingly, the number of sexually abused children increased from 25 in the year , to 99 in the year , and to in from 99 in During the three-year period, the rate of girls and boys who have been molested were relatively close And according to medical reports and supporting statistics, touching and fondling was the highest When tracking the percentage of sexual abuse based on geographic location, Al Tadamon had the greatest stake a relatively poor, densely populated and diverse neighborhood, which, in point of fact, is a copy of most Syrian provinces.
In , sexual abuse in that area reached Following it, was the conservative and traditional neighborhood of Al Midan, which reported 7. Meanwhile, a professor of social sciences at the University of Damascus, Dr. Most of the new comers have settled on the outskirts, creating a mixed environment, which has become a hub for different forms of transgressions, mainly physical abuses and theft, which is usually instigated by poverty and need.
