Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) is to set up a child-abuse center next month, local media reported Monday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted Ip Peng Kin, president of the government-run Social Welfare Institute (SWI) as saying that the center aims to educate the public on child abuse prevention and to provide professional counseling on cases of child abuse.

The center will not function as "a refuge" for the abused children, the official told the newspaper.

The number of registered child-abuse cases stood at six in the region with a population of nearly 500,000, according to statistics released by the SWI.

Some local parents failed to admit child-abuse cases to the authorities due to "the feelings of shame," Ip, the SWI chief, was cited.

The recent imprisonment of a man who repeatedly raped his 11-year-old daughter flamed the public concerns over the child abuse issue.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2006)