NEED FOR HOLISTIC APPROACH TO TACKLE CHILD ABUSE, NEGLECT - AG       

     PUTRAJAYA, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- Holistic approach is required to adequately
address the problem of child abuse and neglect, Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri
Abdul Gani Patail said Wednesday.
    
    He said child abuse and neglect was multi-faceted and multi-dimensional with
a dose of cultural complexity.
    
    "The solution may not therefore, always be a legal solution," he said at the
closing ceremony of the International Congress of Legal Medicine (ICLM) 2011:
Child Abuse and Neglect here.
    
    His text of speech was read by AG's Chambers Appellate and Trial Division
head Kamaludin Mohd Said.
    
    Abdul Gani hoped the seminars, forums, and talks in the three-day ICLM
would able tap into the various experiences and views of participants and
speakers for strategies to be developed to engage child abuse and neglect more
effectively.
    
        "In doing so, we have to accept the stark reality that child abuse and
neglect are indeed, a serious issue, which have been addressed many times at
various level.
    
    "At the same time, we need to be able to identify the obstacles faced by
those on the frontlines dealing with children who have not only been abused or
neglected, but also negatively impacted," he said.
    
    Abdul Gani said the ICLM had highlighted the importance of forensic, social,
legal and medical expertise in dealing with child abuse and neglect.
    
    -- BERNAMA