Islamabad : According to research conducted by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO) and the Centre for Research, Development and Communication (CRDC), kidnapping of women, physical assault of women and sexual abuse of children were the most reported cases in the month of July 2022 in the mainstream media.
For the third month in a row, kidnapping of women was the most heavily reported in the media, with a total of 133 of cases, 93 of these cases were reported only from the province of Punjab.
Looking at other provinces, Sindh reported 20 cases, followed by 15 from Islamabad, while 3 and 2 cases were reported in KP and Baloshistan respectively. Likewise, 133 cases of physical assault of women were reported, which was an increase from last month.
Majority of these cases were from the province of Punjab, which had 77 cases, followed by Sindh with 34 cases, 16 from KP, 6 from Islamabad and none from Balochistan. 58 cases of domestic violence were reported in the province of Punjab which is highest among all provinces. 17 and 15 cases were reported in the province of KP and Sindh respectively, while Islamabad reported 4 cases and Balochistan again reported zero cases of domestic violence. This led to a combined 94 cases, slightly lower than last month.
Rape of women also reported slightly lower numbers than last month, as a total of 85 cases were written about. The province of Punjab once again reported the highest number of cases of rape: 47, followed by Sindh with 16 cases, 11 from KP, 10 from Islamabad and only 1 from Balochistan. A total of 7 women lost their lives in honour killing, split pretty closely between Sindh (4) and Punjab (3). Similarly, 7 cases of workplace harassment were reported in the country, most from Punjab 5, followed by 2 from Sindh.
Amongst all indicators of violence against children, the highest prevalence was of sexual abuse against children, where a total of 108 cases were reported across the country, with Punjab leading with 42 cases reported, followed by 32 in KP and 21 in Sindh. The lowest frequencies were reported in Islamabad (10) and Balochistan (3).
Just as with women, kidnapping of children saw a significant number cases reported in the media, with 82 children kidnapped across Pakistan, 30 of them from Punjab, 27 from KP, 13 from Sindh, 8 from Islamabad and 4 from Balochistan. 37 children were also physically abused across Pakistan according to media reports, 14 in Sindh, 11 in KP, 10 in Punjab, 2 in Islamabad and zero in Balochistan.
Continuing on the tangent of physical violence, 22 children were also murdered, almost half of them in Punjab (10), with 5 in Sindh, 3 in KP, and 2 in Balochistan and Islamabad each. Moreover, 9 cases of child labour and 6 cases of child marriage were seen in the media. Almost all cases of child labour were reported from Punjab (8), with one case in KP, whereas child marriage cases were evenly split between Sindh and Punjab. On the other hand, no cases of child trafficking or psychological assault against children were reported in July 2022 in mainstream newspapers.
Syed Kausar Abbas, executive director, SSDO stated, “The aim of regularly publishing this data is to bring attention to the rapid increase in violence against women and children. It is disheartening to see that there has been an increase in violence against some of these indicators. We hope that this data can be a resource for relevant authorities to take action.” SSDO and CRDC conducted daily tracking of thirteen mainstream newspapers against 14 indicators of violence against women and children.
The selection criteria of the newspapers was based on being the most famous, accessible and most-read newspapers in Pakistan. This data is published every month on their official websites, while both organisations also publish a consolidated report annually.