Justice For Every Child Telethon: Talking About Child Sexual Abuse Is Very Important, Says Actor Kalki Koechlin

Communication Is The Key: I think it's very important to talk about child sexual abuse, just because, the more we talk about it, the greater the number. And the greater the number means the less stigma, less taboo around it. And then the easier it gets to find ways to heal from it and also to protect people from it.

We Can Prevent Child Sexual Abuse By Talking About It: If we know how it's happening and why it's happening, we can prevent it from happening easier, as well as deterring those abuses. So I think it's extremely important to be able to speak up about it, in whichever way that we can, in order to spread the word and let people know - because it's actually so rampant, and so common that it's quite shocking.

Educate Not Just The Child But Adults About Child Sexual Abuse: First of all, the adults need educating. We are expecting a lot from children by asking them to come to us, and tell us about it. What we really need to do is educate the adults, especially the parents on how to recognise abuse. And we need to give the adults support. So, the first step is for educators, for schools to always have some kind of psychiatric advisor or support in their system, so that they can recognise when there are signs that a child might be abused. And then for that person also to extend the help to the adults involved - the parents - to give them training on how to help the child communicate.”

Need To Get Rid Of The Taboo Of Sex: The other thing that is really important is that we need to get rid of the taboo of sex in our society, and start teaching sex education in a very early stage of life.

Opening Up For Sexual Abuse Can Be Difficult For Both Parent And Child: What often happens is that the child is taught by the abuser that what they have done is bad, or that what they have done is secret, and that they will get into trouble if they tell anybody. Often the abuser is somebody that they love very much, or they fear very much, or both. So it becomes very, very difficult for the child to open up. Even when the child does open up, and it's not direct, it's an indirect way, many times the adults, the parents are not prepared, don't know how to recognize it.

Child Sexual Abuse Is Mostly Done By The Victims Family Or The Child Knows: 96% of the time, it is somebody that the victim knows. So, it becomes very, very uncomfortable and many, many people don't want to confront that person. They just want to brush it aside, even families don't want to talk about them and think of them as an abuser.

Training For Sexual Abuse Should Be Everywhere In The Society: The training for sexual abuse should not be restricted only to schools, it should be at all places where children are there - neighbourhood, gated communities, parks, everywhere. All the places should have some kind of trained adults to recognise the signs of child abuse. As a society, I think, that's how we can tackle child sexual abuse.