By Emmanuel Omona PaOkech

The Gulu Police Officer in charge for child and family protection unit, Shelly Ngamitha has said that Child neglect cases ranked highest among crimes reported at the Gulu central police station in December 2012.

Ngamitha explained that over  20 cases of child neglect were reported to her office followed by 14 cases of assault committed as a result of domestic violence in December last year.

Ngamitha noted that there were also 11 cases of child in conflict with the law, 2 cases of child labor, 6 cases of child desertion, 8 cases of threatening violence, also 2 cases of child abuse and torture and 2 cases of incest.

She says that child neglect is more common among young parents suspected to be victims of defilement.

Ngamitha also attributes the increasing cases of child neglect to the harsh economic times which make parents less committed to their obligations.

Johnson Kilama the spokesperson for the Acwa sub region attributes the increasing cases to the over 20 years of LRA Insurgency saying that most of the children grew from the internally displaced camps.