Belief in supernatural forces, witchcraft and demonic possession has lead to several horrific cases of child abuse and child death as with the death of Victoria Climbie in 2000 and Kristy Bamu in 2010.

In circumstances of faith linked abuse, children thought to be harbouring some kind of evil spirit, or to be under some kind of spell are targeted as the source of problems such as ill health, misfortune or adult infertility.

Once a faith leader has identified the child in question as being a supernatural threat, they can be subjected to significant psychological or physical abuse by way of exorcism, leading in some cases to their death. Victims are often targeted either because they are in someway different, e.g. left handed, epileptic, albino, or because they exhibit some form of abnormal, i.e. undesirable behaviour, which could be something as simple as persistent bed wetting. Abuse can include sexual abuse, semi-strangulation, stabbing, beating, burning and application of highly irritant spices (chilli, etc) to the eyes or genitals.

Many things can lead to CSE: young people may think they are in a healthy relationship, they might be taken to, clubs, hotels or parties, or given drugs and alcohol by people whom they trust. Young people are often led into situations where CSE can take place by friends of their own age or by relatives.

It is quite normal for victims not to realise they are at risk, because the people exploiting them are very well practiced in enticing them into situations where sexual exploitation can take place; often building trust over a long period in order to achieve their eventual goal. Abusers understand how to play upon young peoples’ rebellious nature, sense of adventure and naivety by taking them to places that are normally off limits or by giving presents that are normally beyond the young persons reach.

The United Nations defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation. While high profile cases of trafficking occasionally appear in national news reports, it is believed that these represent only a tiny proportion of occurrences and that human trafficking and slavery are happening just below the surface of our society on a much larger scale. Victims are often so terrified by fear of retribution, or so broken by their experience, that they are unable to escape their enslavers even when opportunities arise. This means that victims frequently appear to enjoy day to day freedoms, which mask their true situation.

From the National Crime Agency website:

There are several broad categories of exploitation linked to human trafficking, including:

• Sexual exploitation
• Forced labour
• Domestic servitude
• Organ harvesting
• Child related crimes such as child sexual exploitation, forced begging, illegal drug cultivation, organised theft, related benefit frauds etc
• Forced marriage and illegal adoption (if other constituent elements are present).

Domestic abuse is any type of controlling, bullying, threatening or violent behaviour between people in a relationship. But it isn’t just physical violence – domestic abuse includes emotional, physical, sexual, financial or psychological abuse.

It can happen in any relationship, and even after the relationship has ended. Any gender can be abused or abusers.

Domestic abuse can seriously harm children and young people. Witnessing domestic abuse is child abuse, and teenagers can suffer domestic abuse in their relationships.

Domestic abuse can have long lasting effects on children who live in a household where it is occurring. Problems can include aggressive or anti-social behaviour, withdrawal, depression, anxiety and underachievement, all of which are damaging to a child’s development.

Female Genital Mutilation – also known as FGM, female circumcision, cutting or sunna – involves the removal of a girl’s external genitalia, particularly the clitoris. 

FGM is practiced within some cultures, as a method of controlling women’s sexuality and is seen as a way of ensuring virginity prior to marriage. Because of the circumstances in which FGM is often carried out, i.e. by unqualified practitioners, with inadequately sterilised equipment and with unsuitable aftercare, it frequently leads to infection and because of this can sometimes lead to death. FGM invariably results in life long suffering from pain, discomfort, menstrual problems and emotional scarring for the victim, while also denying them normally accepted enjoyment of sex.

FGM is usually carried out upon children who are too young to understand the consequences of FGM and are unable to offer any realistic resistance to parents, community or religious leaders who promote the practice. Under UK law FGM is regarded as abuse and is treated as a criminal offence. FGM is usually carried out either in extreme secrecy within the UK, or victims are taken abroad to be cut, meaning that cases of FGM are very difficult to identify.

Honour Based Abuse (often referred to as ‘HBV’ – ‘Honour Based Violence’) is defined as any crime or incident, which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of a family and/or community.

The United Nations estimates that around 5000 women die each year as a result of Honour Based Violence. HBV, along with other forms of honour based abuse, such as domestic incarceration or harassment is carried out against women in order to maintain men’s power and to deny women their basic human rights of making decisions about their identity, sexuality and relationships. HBV is often committed by family members or acquaintances of a victim, under the claim that the victim has brought shame to a family or community, by defying the traditional values and traditions of their culture by, for example:

• Forming a relationship with someone from a different culture, religion or social status
• Wanting to avoid a forced marriage
• Indulging in activities or fashions that aren’t considered acceptable within a given culture.

HBV is frequently connected to forced marriage, however, the terms forced marriage and arranged marriage are often confused. In a forced marriage, at least one party does not give their consent and some element of duress, either physical, emotional or psychological, is involved. In an arranged marriage, both partners take a significant role in the proceedings and either party reserves the right to withdraw at any stage. There is little or no basis in any religion for forced marriage, however, confused or deliberately convoluted notions of religion and culture are often used to justify the practice.

The Prevent duty is the duty in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 on specified authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. Channel is a programme which focuses on providing support at an early stage to people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.

The programme uses a multi-agency approach to protect vulnerable people by:

• identifying individuals at risk.
• assessing the nature and extent of that risk.
• developing the most appropriate support plan for the individuals concerned.

Sadly, many relationships that begin well can quickly become abusive when one partner starts to impose their will on the other. This can result in actions such as physical violence, verbal abuse, online abuse, attempting to impose control over the other partner’s life, or pressure to have sex. Unfortunately, many young people, particularly those who are starting out in relationships for the first time, aren’t sure what to expect from a healthy relationship. Others may have grown up in a home where an abusive relationship exists between parents, which is then accepted as normal.