LAHORE: More than eight children are sexually abused daily in the country, reveals an NGO working against child sexual abuse.
In year 2020, according to NGO Sahil, 2,960 children were sexually abused.
According to the Cruel Number data, 1,510 girls and 1,450 boys fell a victim to sexual exploitation.
This year reported cases under major categories are; abduction 673, rape 305, sodomy 459, gang-rape 98, gang sodomy 189 while 37 boys and 27 girls were murdered after sexual abuse.
In more horrible incidents, seven boys and three girls were murdered after gang sodomy and rape.
Around 345 children went missing last year. There were 119 cases of early child marriage and seven of Vani.
The list of abusers had a high percentage of acquaintances and family among them. The statistics shows that of total 2,960 cases, there were 1,579 cases where the abusers had acquaintance with victims or victims’ families. In 289 cases, strangers were involved in abusing children.
A total of 310 children were abused at their own places, 772 at acquaintances’, eight in haveli, 42 in seminaries, 25 at workplaces and 460 children in open places like the fields, streets, graveyards, canals and jungles.
The Punjab had 1,707 cases, Sindh 861, Balochistan 53, KP 215, GB 4, AJK 18 and Federal Capital 102.
In the year 2020, 2,587 incidents were reported to police, 21 cases were not reported to police and on 19 instances police did not register a case whereas 333 cases were reported in newspapers with incomplete information. Of them, 82 incidents were reported in Lahore alone during 2020.
The NGO recommends an effective awareness campaign for the protection of children and new legislation in this regard. It also calls for a comprehensive rehabilitation/support system for victims of abuse, inclusion of protection messages in curriculum and provision of “provincial plan of action against child sexual abuse and exploitation”.