By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Mar 24 2004 (IPS)

A rising tide of child abuse cases is forcing the Japanese government to boost efforts to prevent adults from inflicting gross physical and emotional harm on children, a trend that experts link to increasing isolation in an affluent, modern society.

Almost 24,000 cases of serious child abuse, including rape, burning and starvation, have been reported in the current fiscal year, up from 11,000 two years ago.

In response, officials are strengthening provisions for police and social workers under the Child Abuse Prevention Law.

Childcare workers welcomed the new measures, saying they are long overdue. ”Stronger laws are vital, as often we cannot do anything when parents refuse to allow us to meet the victims,” said Tetsuro Tsuzaki, the head of the Chuo Child Consultation Centre.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party also has proposed allowing police to intervene in aid of battered children without parental permission, and giving counsellors the power to enter homes in reported cases of abuse.

Officials also are seeking to triple the current budget of 16 million U.S. dollars per year dedicated to anti-child abuse programmes. The measures, widely expected to be adopted in coming weeks, follow public outcry over high-profile abuse cases in recent months.

Earlier in March, authorities arrested a woman and the mother of a 12-year-old boy who was forcibly locked in his room for more than a year and starved to death in 2002.

In January, they arrested the father and stepmother of a 15-year-old boy who was whipped and burned with cigarettes, and starved until he fell into a coma.

But social experts say the problem is not just a criminal one solved by legal action, but by more profound changes needed to root out the problem.

”The root cause of abuse against children is the breakdown of the extended family in Japan,” said Hiroko Katsura, who runs the Osaka-based Child Abuse Prevention Hotline. ”Western urbanisation has resulted in vast social changes that we cannot cope with.”

Katsura started the private counselling service for abusers and victims in 1990.

She and her team of social workers field hundreds of calls each day, 90 percent from mothers in their thirties. Mothers report they cannot stop themselves from beating their children and complain of exhaustion from child rearing, anxiety and loneliness.

Katsura said the focus of their work is getting mothers and their children to reach out to the community for help.

”These calls we get point to the more fortunate cases. When mothers seek our help, it is a sign they are acknowledging the problem. But there are thousands more who continue abusing their children until it is too late,” she said.

Among new measures in the pipeline, projects also are being launched to encourage abusive mothers to seek help and discuss their problems with experts.

Also part of social change in affluent, modern Japan is fact that the extended family has broken down, but cultural norms had yet to catch up with this profound change.

”In Japan, children and their future belong to the elders. This worked okay when Japan consisted of extended families and more people were involved in their (children’s) care, not like today,” she said.

Lawmakers working on the issue agree that child abuse must be seen within a broader context.

”In contemporary society, everything is calculated in terms of money and there is no warmth between people. This has led to selfishness among young people who see their children as demanding and depriving them of fun. These core problems need to be solved to eradicate abuse at the core,” said parliamentarian Yuriko Takeyama.

Others have urged a sharper focus on child abuse as a human rights violation.

”Parents make excuses for their violent behaviour, saying they had to discipline the child. Also family members tend to cover up abuse to protect the family socially. This has to change to a rights issue,” said Yoko Tatsuno, a counsellor.

Service providers have begun to weigh a programme to raise awareness of children’s rights.

Health, Welfare and Labour Ministry research indicates that child abuse is most common in broken families or against handicapped or small children. ”Children in broken families, single households, or with very young mothers are at high risk,” said ministry official Toshihisa Okamoto.

Police investigations have shown that parents who abuse their children do so for long periods and conceal this from outsiders.

The mother of the 12-year-old boy who was starved to death, for example, told his concerned teacher that her son suffered from a mental illness and could not attend school.

In another case involving the death in February of a three-year-old starved to death by her mother, neighbours said they did not detect anything amiss until it was too late.

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