Report on Parliamentary Inquiry on 15 Years of Child Sexual Abuse Casesn prepared by the Parliament Committee on Human Rights and Gender has revealed that over 3,000 cases of child abuse have been reported to the Police over the course of 15 years and that over 2,000 of them are still pending.

The report by the Committee noted that they had received many reports of not receiving justice in such cases. It also noted that the main purpose of the report itself is to analyze and determine how victims have received justice over the years.

As per the report, 3,135 cases of child abuse have been reported over the 15 years. Out of these, only 1,058 cases have been sent for prosecution while only 36.41 per cent of them have been persecuted for the crime. 45.35 per cent of the accused walked free from the 1,058 prosecuted cases of child abuse.

The report also stressed that the investigative period of those cases reported to the Police were rather long. Over 70.46 per cent of reported cases took over a year to be investigated. Such a prolonged period of investigation puts victims into further danger and acts as an obstruction to justice as detailed in the report.

The Committee report had raised concerns over the amount of reported cases of child sexual abuse per day. As such, in 2017 416 cases of sexual abuse were reported while in 2018 the number stood at 361 and in 2019 it was 416. The report also highlighted that statistical data confirmed 1,305 reported cases of child physical abuse. These are cases that were reported to the Gender Ministry.

The report also noted the rape case from Gaafu Alif Atoll Kanduhulhudhoo, where a two year old girl was raped by her grand-father and great-grandfather. The report noted that there was a noticeable increase in the number of people who were talking about their lived realities as well.