

Today in Government Officials Say The Stupidest Things: the deputy mayor of Ruichang, Jiangxi province has said that she ‘wouldn’t sue’ if her daughter were raped by a teacher, and rape victims should ‘endure in silence’.

Following the rape and sexual abuse of six children by a teacher, the Ruichang City Board of Education paid for the children’s medical expenses. Parents are now seeking compensation for the psychological harm suffered by the victims, as well as for the parents’ lost wages.

Proving yet again that Chinese officials really don’t understand public relations, deputy mayor in charge of education Jiang Xianzhi told reporters: “The teacher has been arrested, the principal suspended, what more can we do?”

Jiujiang City hospital found that several of the girls were infected with genital warts by their abuser, a fact disputed by doctors at Ruichang People’s Hospital, where the director of gynaecology just happens to be Jiang’s cousin. Parents argue that genital warts are likely to recur later in life and increase the girls’ risk of cervical cancer, and the compensation awarded should reflect this.

Jiang criticised parents for attempting to sue the government, saying: “If it was my child [who was raped], I would take her for treatment somewhere discreet that no one knows, and not ask for a penny from the government.”

In May, China’s supreme court ordered that harsher punishments should be handed down to those convicted of sexually or physically abusing children. Commentators have also called for younger children to receive basic sexual education, so that they are fully aware of what constitutes inappropriate touching.

[Image via Wikipedia // h/t: @kmcgeary]





