Statistics compiled by the Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MPSV) show that the number of child abuse cases is now five times higher than it was 10 years ago, with 6,642 cases now on the books, a local child protection NGO said Wednesday.
“We consider that number to be only the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, most cases remain unreported,” Zuzana Baudyšová, director of the Our Child Foundation (Nadace Naše dítě), told a news conference.
According to the NGO, the number of known battered and psychologically abused children in the Czech Republic increased last year by 855; since 2000, a total of 31,653 cases have been registered.
Baudyšová said about two-fifths of the cases occur in intact families where the mother and father live together and the rest mainly when the biological father is absent. In half of the cases the victims were aged six to 15, and in about one-third they were under six. Of the 6,642 cases last year, 848 (or nearly 13 percent) included children who suffered sexual abuse.
