Identify potential abusers, offer treatment: Expert

Dr Beier, who started Prevention Project Dunkelfeld in 2005, said they had reached out to more than 7,000 individuals, who had voluntarily sought help.  

“According to statistics, 1% of male population in Germany showed tendency towards child sexual abuse. In numerical terms, this is around 2,50,000 people. Through advertisements and TV spots, we reached out to 7,000 people who had come on their own to seek help to deal with their fantasies.” 

He added that the goal was prevention of behaviour disorder, and  reach out with primary prevention methods. Dr Beier pointed out that sexual deviations start from puberty. 

“During puberty, the sexual preference starts to manifest. They don’t know enough about this process of manifestation. Paedophilia is a sexual preference, diagnosed according to fantasies. These juveniles open up about this to those they are close to, who need to ensure they get help,” he said, at a talk organised by Tulir – Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse. Dr Beier said the what we can do to prevent child sexual abuse is create more awareness. 

“We should spread knowledge and there should be no moral judgement, if a person voluntarily seeks help. Patients grateful for guidance and accept advice,” he said. In India, where there is poor reporting of child sexual abuse, what could be done to remedy this, queried Balakrishnan Veliah. The law enforcement professional added, “We have placed complaint boxes in schools and spoke to students saying their complaints will be confidential. 

We received around four complaints from 50 boxes.” Dr Beier said apart from confidentiality, which can encourage more people to report child sexual abuse cases, there should be a supply system to offer treatment to potential abusers.