“There is a whole education to be made of little boys and little girls to show that they are equal”

To follow up on the figures presented by the Department of Social Affairs on the numbers of sexual assault in Seychelles in 2021, and the first part of 2022, Seychelles NATION held an interview with the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Port Victoria, Mgr Alain Harel on the current situation. He also made proposals to try to find solutions.

Seychelles NATION: What is your first reaction after hearing the sexual assault figures for the last year?

Bishop Harel: It will be a personal reaction! I will react as a bishop obviously but personally. Indeed, it is worrying and even alarming to see the numbers of minors who are sexually assaulted. But it seems to me, this drama must also be placed in a broader context because otherwise there may also be untruths.

A first question that I ask myself: is the situation deteriorating or are these situations existing but which were under the carpet. I have no answer to that! This problem must be placed at the global level. All studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that this is a tragedy that affects all continents and even traditional societies. where there is a strong religious imprint, it is a drama that exists. Saying too quickly that we live in a decadent society may not help us. We need to go further in our analysis. It is true that in our liberal society it is alarming and worrying and we must denounce this, but we must not be under the illusion either!

In traditional societies, where there is a strong religious imprint, in all continents this drama is experienced by many minors. For example, I read a study that in India, a religious society par excellence, there are chances that one out of two children has been abused. That being said, let’s go back to our local situation. It’s shocking, it’s unacceptable. It is an assault on a minor, and we know that psychological and social studies show that violating the integrity of a child’s sexuality, unfortunately, generates a trauma that lasts a lifetime. So violating the integrity of a minor is a crime! Otherwise we do not provide the means to analyze the situation in depth.

Seychelles NATION : Since this is the reality of the whole world, are we going to sit idly by?

Bishop Harel: Not at all! We can’t cross our arms. Recently we experienced vandalism at the Cathedral and on this occasion I said that it was unacceptable. But, there is even greater vandalism when attacking the human sanctuary. And for me it’s more serious to attack minors than a cathedral! Because from a biblical perspective, the human body is a sanctuary where the presence of the Lord dwells. So attacking the integrity of a minor is sacrilege!

So it will be cowardly of us not to mobilize to do more than back down, so that it never happens again.

Seychelles NATION: The families are blamed that they are the culprits and that it is necessary to return within the family to solve the problem. Where do you think we should start?

Bishop Harel: I am going to quote you a passage from the interview of the former chief judge, Mrs. Mathilda Twomey, in the Echo of the islands of November 1, 2021. She says everything in it. So, I quote, L’Echo des îles : Dr Twomey, you took an active role in the defense of victims of sexual abuse. You also were the first Seychellois to win a Franco-German Human Rights Award. How serious is the sexual abuse situation in Seychelles?

“The award belongs to the committee which worked with me to put together our report and the draft Sexual Offences law and also to all those individuals who for years have worked at the coalface championing the rights of children and other vulnerable persons in Seychelles. Sexual abuse is rife in our country and its high incidence will remain unless we have necessary but uncomfortable conversations. The conversations should be about men being educated to treat women better. It is trite to say women and children should be respected but we need to have a country where women, girls and boys feel safe at all times. It is estimated that worldwide about 36% of women and girls have been abused. I suspect that in Seychelles the figure is higher. When a big case comes to the courts and gets the attention of the media, there is a public outcry and then of course it all dies down. Meanwhile, the abuse continues in family homes, which should be a child’s sanctuary. Our sexual mores need addressing and severe sanctions meted out to abusers. There is also a serious need to educate our boys from a young age about how to behave with girls and about only engaging in consensual sex. There is also a need to teach our girls about self-respect. There is further a need to alleviate poverty and to provide opportunities to lift our girls out of the necessity to engage in sex for money. Finally, we need to educate parents to stop pimping their children to sexual predators so as to satisfy their own financial gains. In summary these are the serious conversations we need to have.”

Seychelles NATION: This is admittedly an uncomfortable conversation. Who will start it?

Bishop Harel: Resuming this interview, I think we must take seriously what this lady, this judge, this Seychellois said. I believe it is important. There is good guilt, and false guilt. It is a global problem that affects all societies. The merits in the Seychelles go all the same to the ‘Child Protection Unit’, and the ministry to bring out the reality which is alarming, scandalous and unacceptable. Following that, you are right, and often we are taken by the emotion, we react. Again yesterday when we learned that a child was in the trash, we reacted but as soon as a next tragedy happens, we will forget this tragedy. This is why we must review the interview of the former chief judge. And I think there are all these elements in it.

Where do we start? It should be noted that 95% of cases of sexual assault take place in families and therefore the priority is to address the families, to see how our families can become this sanctuary where the child is protected, accompanied, and where the child is allowed to grow up in security. Second point, the ideal is in each family there is dad, mom, uncle, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, but I know many single-parent families who live their mission perfectly and the ideal families where there are has assaults. Here too we must not fall into the simplistic. It’s much more complex and if we want to move forward, we have to accept the complexity. For example, when I am told if a family is religious there will be no abuse. No, I unfortunately know religious families where there are abuses. But how are we going to move forward? We need a permanent mobilization, this concern not to let things sleep and to take a multidisciplinary approach where there are several actors who must be involved, including the church. But the church is an actor among other actors.

Personally, I don’t like this term parent school. I have never met a super parent and all parents are learners. I have the testimonies of the parents who tell me that I educated my first child like that but with the experience I learned and I did not educate the third child the same way. However, I find that we need to have spaces where parents can meet to share experiences, successes, failures and trial and error.

We need spaces where we make a positive contribution. I will cite a few benchmarks, for example: the manner of speaking. The word shapes us. There are words that are uplifting or hurtful and we have to be aware of that. There is also modesty, for example there is a way of dressing in front of your child. I also think that today in our society it is also necessary to teach the child the importance of discipline, of good habits.

And then I believe that there is a real education of men to be done because we are too often macho and even worse than that there are certain adults who believe that their daughter is their property and that they can dispose of their good, and which go as far as sexual assault. There is a whole education to do with little boys and girls to show that they are equal, they have rights towards each other and that from an early age.

Seychelles NATION: And the laws?

Mgr Harel :Now to structure a person we need benchmarks, laws. We cannot live without laws, without landmarks. I also think that society must be concerned about this issue, at the broadest of the family, political leaders, institutions. The other day I saw on TV a case of sexual assault was announced and the person paid a bail of 6,000 rupees. Is it normal for a suspected predator to be on the loose like this on 6,000 rupees bail? Aren’t there more stringent measures to take before his judgment is passed? I don’t believe in a religious police; but on the other hand is it normal that child pornography is so easily accessible, apparently ? Is it an emergency in a society like the Seychelles to have ‘sex shops’? That’s the reason the church protested against it. Without living in a puritanical society, which is often hypocritical, but that said there is still a social environment, without falling into a morality police, without falling into these excesses, but there is still no logical if children in front of their parents can see child pornography, ‘sex toys.’ Will all of this help? I don’t want to give solutions. But I think that it is necessary at all costs, that the various partners – legislators, government officials, ‘Child Protection Unit’, the police, etc. – come together so that we can have a large forum,

Now how the church is trying to make a contribution to fight against it. We have several movements that support families – Caritas, Couples for Christ, marriage preparation, and many other forums. And the church being lived itself, the priests and clerics, deacons, bishops who were accused of aggression, a month ago, there was a protocol that I signed, which guides us in the fight against sexual assault if one of the clerks is accused. So there are preservation measures. I do not allow myself to give lessons because we must first convert ourselves, however we can share our experience how we can react to aggressions that have happened even internally. And then we will soon have another protocol also for all those who in the name of the church, have an official service.

Source: Seychelles Nation