Child abuse: Past, present and future (Review)

Abstract

From ancient years, both the abuse and murder of children have almost been common practices due to the barbarity of the times, which have become a habit and appear in a number of different forms. Infanticide, as one of these forms, legally became a crime in 318 AD. Sacrifices were often made in the name of a god to infants or even older children, with families often feeling proud that their own child was to be sacrificed for the common good. At around the time of the Renaissance and thereafter, public opinion began to slowly react to the idea of abusing vulnerable children, with the Church taking a more proactive stance, creating shelters in monasteries for abandoned children who were usually unwanted by their families. Later, the first institutions for poor children whose families could not raise them or for orphaned children, appeared in Europe and the USA. However, as the years passed on and there was no care for these institutions, the conditions became unsuitable and the children very often eventually died of hunger, diseases or even abuse. All of this was to take its official place in history with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and has now been signed by 191 countries. The Convention on the Rights of the Child now formally defines child abuse, violence and neglect.