Child abuse (Photo: sthefasofia.blogspot.com)
Child abuse conceptually arises from a social and health problem that should be regarded in a priority order. It is an ancient practice, being originated with the appearance of humanity, and has been present since man was known for the first time.
History tells us about myths and legends referring to the attitude of extermination and abuse of minors. Herodes, the Great, King of Judea, is described in the gospel, Saint Matthew 2,16 as the responsible of the decapitation of the Innocent Saints, event in which all male children from Bethlehem were sacrificed in an attempt to annihilate the child Jesus.
Eskimos -to secure the male prevalence within the inhabitants- used to eliminate their first child, if this was a girl; in such a way, they controlled the development of their infantile population with a view to assure the male labor force for the survival of the villages.
In Sparta, military discipline was so important that those who were born with malformation -after a previous examination -were thrown from the top of the Taigeto Mountain. The ancient Indian tribes in Latin America used the children sacrifice with religious aims. They shared the wrong belief that the ill- formed children were God’s punishment; therefore, they had to be exterminated.
Punishments in all sorts of varieties are also very old; they depended on the age and sex of the child. In the case of the female, physical punishments were not frequently used so as not affect their beauty. Aztecs, for example, used to apply their punishment by pricking the infant a with a maguey needle, and forcing the child to aspire celli vapors.
During many centuries, child abuse has been justified with various forms: as sacrifice to Gods, or for pleasing them, in order to better the species, or as a way to impose discipline.
In the present world, family violence, of state, and child abuse have become important and discussed problems of health, taking into account the evidence of its expansion.
The Convention of the Child’s Rights gathers -within its articles for the protection of infantile population- the following elements:
It establishes that child is considered all human beings under 18 years of age, except those who have reached full age, as established by his legal regime. It is taken for granted that if any legal regime sets a different age from that established in the Convention, will be exposed to what that local law orders, as what is expressed by the Convention is a general rule.
-The right to survival includes the rights to life, to a name, and to a nationality; to live within family relations, and to have covered the most important needs for his existence.
-The right to development: the conditions to enjoy the full potential; such as, education, games, enjoyment, cultural activities, and the access to information.
-The right to protection: the safeguard of all abuses, abandonment and exploitation: such as, the situation of refugees, the torture, criminal actions, arm conflicts, children work, drug addiction and sexual exploitation.
-The rights to participation: disposition of the conditions for his active implication in society; such as, liberty of expression and opinion, of association and peaceful meetings, of thought, consciousness and religion, and to a responsible adult life.
-Rights to his development in a family environment: rights to then parents’ care, and not be separated from them, as well as the adoption.
Even though most of the countries have accepted these aspects as valid, however not many really do any kind of related labor.
In Cuba, since the year 1959, with the creation and development of social justice programs led to the protection of man and nature, advancement in the long way to justice and protection of the infantile population was taken into consideration.
Infantile attention is widely guaranteed by a group of programs which ensure the adequate development of children, either from the social or health point of view. Likewise, the government puts special endeavor in the fulfillment of the children’s rights, according to the declaration of the minor’s rights.
However, we are not exempt of the particular forms of this phenomenon, which are widely related to the family and the social environment, where schools and community are developed. Different studies have been reported, which demonstrates that in the consulting of urgencies, a meaningful part of the patients who attend, is related to the theme, predominating secondary intoxication to negligence, and a small number of lesions produced intentionally by the mother, in most cases, and a high frequency of emotional disorders in the family were detected, generally secondary to violence, alcohol and alcoholism.
Bibliographical Reference
– Peña Aristizabal, Sara Lucía. A characterization of the causes of Child Abuse in Colombia, March, 1995.
– Previnfad Work group AEPap/PAPPS semFYC. Prevention and Detection of Child abuse. 2005.h
– Flor Goldman, Juan López, Esther Sánchez, Laura Villaseñor. Infirmary Attention before Child Abuse. Ciber revista. Spanish Society of Urgency and Emergency Infirmary. 2004 Nr. 26.
– Acting Guidelines in the approach of child abuse from the point of view of the sanitary environment, López Montesinos, Ma. José 2003 Global infirmary Nr.3
Written by: Giselle Ramírez Duran
Translator: Reinaldo Fernández
