Nice to meet you: Nancy greeting Anjung Kasih residents during the sponsorship presentation ceremony at Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching. — Bernama
KUCHING: The child protection advocacy programme will continue to be mobilised nationwide in rallying communities to fight sexual offences against minors, says Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
The Women, Family and Community Developmement Minister said her ministry and the Education Ministry have held the Child Protection Advocacy Programme: KASIH Kanak-kanak in 327 schools this year.
“We targeted 300 schools and have reached 109%. We will not stop implementing this programme because there are more than 10,000 schools in Malaysia.
“As long as there are reported cases of sexual harassment of children, we will not stop ... with the current situation, especially the advancement of technology, there are many ways for sexual harassment to occur,” she said, Bernama reported.
The minister said this after a sponsorship presentation ceremony by the National Welfare Foundation strategic partners for Anjung Kasih (a temporary boarding for families of sick treated in hospitals) and Bilik Kasih Wanita (a special room for female nurses to take rest) at the Sarawak General Hospital here yesterday.
She was commenting on the Child Statistics Report 2024, which stated that sexual offences committed against children reported to police increased by 26.5% to 1,567 cases in 2023 compared with 1,239 in the previous year.
Nancy also called on children and families of victims to continue reporting to authorities or community-based organisations in the event of sexual offences, even if the perpetrators were their own flesh and blood.
According to the Statistics Department, physical sexual offences in 2023 saw a significant increase of 21.1% to 1,389 cases compared with 1,147 cases in 2022.
