Officials in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have reported 572 child abuse cases in the year to September.
About a quarter of them were cases of child sex abuse which represents a figure four times higher than reported in 2000.
According to the Child Protection Services supervisor, Laura Ogumuro, the CNMI is seeing a rising trend.
She says the incidence of child physical abuse in the CNMI has always been high, with many cases going unreported.
Ms Ogumuro says to eliminate child abuse in the Northern Marianas it would require the all-out support from the community.
