3,445 children abused last year

Islamabad : Findings of the annual report on child sexual abuse titled ‘Cruel Numbers 2017’ shows that in the year 2017, total 3,445 child abuse cases (CSA) were reported with an average of nine cases per day.

The statistics shared in the report reflects that out of the total reported cases, (2077) 60 per cent victims were girls and (1,368) 40 per cent were boys. The report is compiled on the basis of child abuse cases reported in 91 newspapers from all four provinces including Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The alarming numbers were shared at an event organised by Sahil to launch ‘Cruel Numbers 2017’ besides presenting Child Friendly Newspaper and Best Volunteer Awards. The purpose of the research is to provide fact and figures about child sexual abuse and its dynamics and to contribute to existing information on CSA in Pakistan.

Sharing the findings of Cruel Numbers 2017 report, Senior Programme Officer Media Sahil Mamtaz Gohar said that the major crime categories of the reported cases are, abduction 1039, missing children 517, rape 467, sodomy 366, attempt of rape 206, gang sodomy 180, gang rape 158 and 109 cases of child marriages.

He said that this year 109 cases were reported of murder after sexual abuse. “It shows that 9 per cent cases have increased as compared to 100 cases reported in 2016. A gender analysis shows that 58 per cent girls and 42 per cent boys have been murdered after sexual abuse in 2017.

The data collected by Sahil shows that that among the reported cases, 640 children were in the age bracket 6-10 years and 961 children were between the age brackets of 11-15 years. Around 29 per cent of the reported incident occurred in closed places, 15 per cent cases occurred in open places, whereas in 1,790 cases, the place of abuse was not mentioned in newspapers.

Provincial divide shows that, 63 per cent of CSA cases were reported from Punjab, 27 per cent cases from Sindh, 4 per cent cases from Balochistan, 3 per cent cases from Islamabad, 2 per cent cases from KP, 12 cases from AJK and 3 cases from GB. Out of the total reported cases, 76 per cent were from rural areas and 24 per cent cases were reported from urban areas. Among them, 72 per cent cases were registered with the police.

Among 1229 cases of reported cases of abduction in 2017, 81 per cent victims were girls and 19 per cent were boys. The cases of murder after abduction and sexual abuse have increased as compared to 2016 from 7 cases in 2016 to 15 cases in 2017. Besides that, total 143 cases of child marriages have been reported in 2017 with 89 per cent girls and 11 per cent boys. Majority of cases were reported from Sindh (63 per cent), followed by Punjab (32 per cent).

On the occasion Executive Director Sahil Manizeh Bano said that in previous years the cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children have been reported from Kasur, Swat and Jaranwala. “Hundreds of cases have been reported but only few victim families came forward for seeking justice. The abusers kidnap children, use drugs, made videos, sexually abuse and even murdered them,” she said adding that commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking is now a million dollar business globally.