Activist pushes physical limits to be voice for voiceless children

SINGAPORE — In her crusade against child abuse, Singaporean activist Eirliani Abdul Rahman, 40, has pushed the limits of her physical abilities.

She is preparing for a 1,100 km South Pole expedition next year to raise awareness of child rights and protection.

Last month, she joined Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Indian child rights’ activist Kailash Satyarthi in the last leg of his march through 22 states in India to raise awareness of child sexual abuse.

She is unfazed by the physical challenges, but the same cannot be said of her reaction to horrific accounts of child sexual abuse she gathered for her new book, Survivors: Breaking The Silence On Child Sexual Abuse.

On one occasion, she had difficulty transcribing her notes on the multiple abuses a survivor went through.

The book, co-authored by child psychiatrist and chairman of the Institute of Mental Health’s medical board Daniel Fung, will be launched here next Wednesday (Nov 15). It will be available for S$18.68 (before GST) at Kinokuniya and Times bookstores from November 29.

The book chronicles the experiences of 12 individuals, including a Singaporean, who were sexually abused as children. The others are from countries such as Myanmar, India, Germany, Canada, South Africa and the United States. Some were raped or sexually abused by their own kin, including their fathers, grandmothers and, for one of them, by his mother.

Ms Eirliani had made a call in Dec 2014 to friends, who then spread the word that she was looking to interview survivors of child sexual abuse.

When gathering the accounts, Ms Eirliani was deeply moved by their courage in sharing the dark periods in their lives in order to reach out to others.

Currently based in Colorado in the United States, she told TODAY in a phone interview: “I was struck by how strong they were. Their strength comes through in different ways and they all dealt with their trauma in different ways. Their sharing will help other survivors and their families on their recovery journey.”

A former political counsellor, Ms Eirliani gave up her 10-year career with the Singapore Foreign Service in 2015 to fulfil her childhood dream of ending violence against children.

A documentary she watched at age 16 on dowry burning - where brides are burned to death for not bringing in adequate dowry payments - left a profound impact, and she vowed she would be “a voice for the voiceless”.

She decided to focus on child sexual abuse as such cases, particularly where incest is involved, are under-reported.

“It’s such a taboo issue that no one talks about it. We need to break the silence so that we can prevent it. If we don’t talk about it, then how on earth do we create an environment that is safe for children? Once a child has been abused, there’s no going back,” she said.

In 2015, she led a campaign on behalf of Mr Satyarthi - called #FullStop to #childsexualabuse – which reached 16 million people over six weeks. She subsequently won the 2015 BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Award for her work on child sexual abuse in India.

With Dr Fung, she also started a Singapore-based non-profit called YAKIN (Youths, Adult survivors and Kin In Need) to support and protect victims of child abuse. There are plans to introduce rock climbing programmes for abused children here as a form of therapy, she said.

Since embarking on her mission, which has been mostly based in India, Ms Eirliani has come face-to-face with some of the most horrific crimes against children, including child labour and child sex trafficking.

“We saw a teenage girl who was bought as a child bride, and then raped by a much older man. She managed to escape eventually,” she said.

Not all of them escape their abusers. “Some street children are raped and killed. A lot of these cases are opportunistic.”

Ms Eirliani, who has written articles on child online safety, said parents and caregivers need to be aware that child sexual abuse is evolving as societies become more tech-savvy.

“Many parents post photos of their kids online and don’t realise that there are various groups that collect these images. For example, if the photo shows the child holding or sucking something, they’ll digitally-manipulate the photo and sell it online,” she said.

Ms Eirliani, who dreams of a day where every child will be free from abuse and violence, said her work is far from over. “Every child has a right to have a safe childhood,” she said.