Child abuse cases a thorny issue

Days before the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child arrives, some children's advocates are shining the spotlight on vio-lence against children. In fact, it was revealed just on Wednesday that five children in four households were abused so much that one died.

After it was revealed a mother beat her child to death in Taipei, Taiwan Province, a public outcry erupted and many questioned the social welfare assistance provided to children, and some called for new reforms.

The abuse cases surfaced in published reports just days before tomorrow's anniversary that highlights the welfare of children around the world.

Guangzhou Daily reported on Wednesday that a father in Zhejiang Province was finally detained for allegedly abusing his two children over the last three years.

Yang Quansheng, a paint worker in a village in Cichen township in Ningbo, was exposed November 7 by a volunteer worker named Zhang Shu, for repeatedly beating his two kids.

Photos taken by the volunteer show a 5-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl locked naked inside a shabby hut, with bloodstains on the floor.

The boy had a bloody wound on his face, knife scars on his back, a two-inch wound in the head, and needle-pricked feet that bled. He looked hopeless.

The girl, also wounded in the face and back, told the volunteer that she and her little brother starved for three days, and his father stabbed the boy "in the back and feet with a knife" and pricked the boy with "a needle."

Yang admitted to beating his two children "nearly everyday" for a total of three years because the children "are so stupid that they cannot even remember their ages," the report said.

Asked whether he hated his children, Yang said that it was love that made him beat them. The children''s mother left two years ago due to her husband''s violence.

Police rescued the two children and sent them to Boli hospital of Ningbo.
The children were then adopted by local Cicheng Welfare Home, and they will be sent to a local kindergarten for schooling, according to the report.
The father was sent to a hospital for mental treatment and psychological assessment.

Results showed that he suffered from a mental disorder and has difficulty controlling his behavior, Shanghai Morning Post reported.

Chen Tao, a lawyer of the Beijing Bar Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the case might be tougher to resolve if the father is diagnosed with a mental disease.

Source:Global Times

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