Why child abuse in Oman concerns all?!

Child Abuse is a very critical social issue due to the remarkable increase in number of cases reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Sultanate of Oman. This needs highlighting the importance of having a national communication campaign to combat child abuse. An urgency should be accorded to change public attitude towards this issue and familiarise society on different social, health, and psychological impacts of abuse on children, family and society in general.

Another convincing reason to recommend such a campaign is lack of public awareness on child-related rights and legislations. This was proved by the statistics and findings of an online public survey that was conducted by me in August 2022. It indicated that around 31.2 per cent (out of over 550 respondents) were unaware of the child abuse issue in Oman, while 64.1 per cent were ignorant of the 24/7 hotline (1100) dedicated to report child abuse cases.

Based on the need for an intensive awareness campaign, it is significant to involve all concerned stakeholders. Therefore, in CIPR Diploma studies, I identified different stakeholders’ engagement models, which enticed me to cluster the child-abuse related stakeholders in the country. I worked on stakeholders’ engagement matrix and interrelated the relations between them and identified the opportunities that serve in joining their hands to combat the rise in child abuse cases. Another model touched on developing communication messages to be addressed to target audiences, children, public and decision-makers.

Although child abuse is a social issue concerning the whole nation, it marks a responsibility of particular segments of society and a number of government bodies concerned. Conducting researches and studies on this issue requires approaching and liaising with relevant parties and target audiences too. This serves the research purpose, striving to solve the issue or lessen certain concerns by revealing real facts and figures about it, while bringing different recommendations or solutions to combat the rise in child abuse cases in the Sultanate of Oman.

In view of that, I had to mind map the key aspects of child abuse issue at the local front, and investigate the relevance and significance of conducting a national media and communication campaign. Such campaign shall come from the united hands of all stakeholders related to this issue to make a fruitful social impact and attitude change.

An effective media campaign needs to spotlight a list of concerns including, what are the roles and initiatives of stakeholders accorded towards child rights and protection? How child abuse issue could be communicated to public highlighting its impacts and consequences? How parents and children could be enlightened about child rights and proper parenting principles? How families and individuals can contribute in combating the increase in child abuse cases in Oman?

With many other concerns and questions that I had in mind, I listed the relevant stakeholders with their roles and contributions to solve the issue. Thus, proposing a national media campaign will undoubtedly serve this noble cause and save both, the society and children.

On the other hand, I reflected on the analysis of my online public survey on child abuse, which I conducted in August 2022 and the viewpoints of individuals, families and public respondents to the survey. Moreover, group discussions and one-on-one conversations and interviews that I conducted with individuals and officials from different public and corporate stakeholders enriched my knowledge, as well as triggered my brainstorming and planning process prior to conducting the research.

Moreover, approaching various resources, most of which are online, thrived my familiarity with the child abuse issue. The different articles, studies, reviews and data enlightened me with many related aspects of the issue from social, health, economic, legal fronts. This made me to explore more areas and seek knowledge and support from specialists, officials and experts representing different stakeholders and parties concerned.

(The article is part of a social research conducted by the writer)