Kaikohe rallies against child abuse

SPEAKING OUT: Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis' hikoi against sexual violence making its way through Kaikohe earlier this year. PICTURE/SUPPLIED

A Kaikohe group campaigning against sexual violence will conduct a rally on Thursday next week (September 24) to highlight the long-term harm caused by child sex abuse.

The group is also considering a protest to coincide with Auckland's 'Boobs on Bikes' next month, which it accuses of normalising pornography and potentially leading to more behaviour like that of the infamous Roast Busters.

Organiser Mike Shaw, a Kaikohe pastor, said next week's rally was aimed at raising public awareness of "the death of childhood caused by sexual abuse." Marchers would carry a coffin down Broadway to make their point. Fifty people took part in an earlier march in July, and he expected more this time.

Mr Shaw said a march would not change anything, but would give a voice to the pain of sexual abuse survivors.

"We have plans to get good information and education into our schools for intervention and prevention, and also to have support put in place when survivors get the courage to speak out about what has happened to them," he said.

"Change won't happen overnight, but we have to start somewhere. And if people are talking about it, solutions and actions will be generated," he said.

Already work was underway to provide Kaikohe schools with information about intervention and prevention of abuse, as well as arranging support when survivors had the courage to speak out. People were getting better at speaking out against domestic violence, thanks in part to the It's Not OK campaign, but sexual abuse remained a "no-go zone."

The as yet un-named group grew out of Te Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis' 'Massive' hikoi against sexual violence earlier this year.

Mr Shaw said no studies had been undertaken in New Zealand, but in the UK more than 5500 sex offences at schools had been reported to police in the past three years. About 1500 of the victims were under 13. Some victims, and perpetrators, were as young as five.

He believed children were copying what they saw online, and that watching hardcore pornography was warping the views of some youth as to what was acceptable behaviour. Kaikohe was no worse than any other place in New Zealand for sexual abuse, and was possibly better, but the group was determined to speak out about the hidden crime.

The march will start at the Kaikohe RSA carpark at 10am. Anyone wanting to take part should be there at 9.45am.

A number of serious sex abuse cases have come to light in Northland in the past year, including that of a 63-year-old Moerewa man who admitted nearly 80 violence and sex charges against women and children spanning four decades. He was found dead in his prison cell a week before he was to be sentenced.