The three-day workshop at Marriott hotel is being organised by the Qatar Foundation for Child and Women Protection to provide training for security staff from the Ministry of Interior who are dealing with cases of abuse against women and children. The participants are given tips on how to gather information about such incidents and handle victims of abuse.
Addressing the workshop, Dr Hussain Al Sarhan, an expert from the Foundation said, "Now we are getting more cases of abuse but this does not mean that such incidents are on the rise in Qatar. The fact is that due to an increase in awareness, more people now dare to report cases of violence and abuse against women and children."
He, however, noted that only a small portion of the cases that come to the doctors, teachers and social workers are being referred to the law-enforcing authorities. Many cases still remain unreported due to the close relation between the victim and the abuser.
He said the training programme was aimed at providing basic information to the participants about various kinds of abuse and their physical and psychological impact, especially on children. It also discusses the local laws and international conventions for protection of children’s rights.
There are various forms of abuse- physical, sexual and psychological, Sarhan said. It is difficult to draw the dividing line between abuse and the disciplinary measures adopted by parents and teachers on children. For instance, corporal punishment is accepted as a common form of disciplinary action by many parents and teachers, but it can have a damaging impact on the behaviour of the child when he/she grows up, he added.
In many cases, the abusers themselves are victims of abuse and their fathers might be addicts of drug or alcohol. Young parents tend to abuse their children due to their ignorance and lack of experience in life.
Earlier, inaugurating the workshop, Abdullah bin Nasser Al Khalifa, secretary general of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, said the programme was extremely important since it provides training on how to handle cases of violence and abuse and bring back the victims to normal life.
