Report shows 36% rise in child sexual abuse

Highest number of cases catalogued in Punjab, followed by Sindh.

ISLAMABAD: 

Child sexual abuse cases rose in the country by 36 per cent this year as compared to similar crimes reported during the previous year, according to figures released by a local advocacy group.

Citing data from January to June 2016, non-governmental organisation Sahil said a total of 2,127 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in 86 local and national English and Urdu dailies of the country. Some 1,565 cases were reported during the same period last year – indicating an increase of 562 cases.

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Punjab catalogued 63% cases, followed by Sindh where 24% of the incidents were reported. The reported cases from Sindh increased to 77% and the cases from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) increased to 66% as compared to the data from Jan-Jun 2015.

Ninety-seven cases of child marriages were also reported from Jan-June 2016, compared to 34 cases in Jan-June 2015.

In a majority of instances, the actual offence (946 to be exact) was committed by acquaintances. However, more than half of those offences (413) were committed by strangers.

The data indicates that in most cases (1,079 instances), the place of abuse was not mentioned; while 318 assaults were carried out at the victims’ place and 276 at the attackers’ place. Some 164 abuse cases were carried out in the fields, 115 in the streets, 38 in forests or jungles, 30 in havelis, 22 in madrassas, 18 in shops, 16 in schools and 51 at miscellaneous places like the workplace, marriage halls, hotels or shrines.

“These are just the number of reported cases, however, it is estimated that the number of unreported cases must be two to three times more than these numbers,” Sahil’s programme officer media, Mumtaz Gohar, told The Express Tribune.

“The most shocking and unusual thing which has been witnessed this year is that more boys aged 0-5 and 11-15 years became victim of sexual abuse than girls. However, more girls aged between 16-18 years became victim of sexual abuse,” he said.

However, Gohar said, the good thing is that after the unfortunate Kasur child abuse scandal, now talking about child sexual abuse in Pakistan is no more a taboo.

“Now we see parents and the relatives of sexual abuse victims taking to the streets, protesting and registering FIRs. Meanwhile we have also seen open debates on this issue on TV channels,” said Gohar.

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According to the six-month data, the cases of gang sodomy increased by 71%, attempted rape by 61%, sodomy by 46% and cases of rape increased by 20% as compared to the data of Jan-Jun 2015. “It is a wrong belief that only street children become victim of sexual abuse. Any child at any place, belonging to any social class, background, sect or religion is vulnerable to sexual abuse,” said Gohar.

Out of total cases that were reported from January to June 2016, 1,584 cases have been registered with police; whereas status of 450 reported cases was not mentioned in the newspapers.  However police refused to register 82 cases. Most (80%) cases were reported in rural areas while 20% cases of the assaults took place in urban areas. “It is unfortunate to see that majority of the FIRs registered with the police were not properly addressed or investigated,” Gohar said.

He laid stress on having a dedicated ministry for children to deal with their issues. “All the pending bills of child protection should be passed by parliament and effectively implemented,” he added.

Source : Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2016.

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Psychopath attacks a children

An Executive Magistrate in Gilgit has ordered imprisonment of a man on charges of attacking a child, biting him on the neck, and trying to “drink his blood”.Giving details of the chilling incident, Executive Magistrate Asghar Khan told the media that he received a written complaint about a person who had reportedly attacked a child and tried to bite him, apparently to drink his blood. 

The 12 year old child was going to school when the accused attacked him and forced him onto the ground, and fixing his teeth on the child’s neck, apparently to drink his blood. Some locals who saw the incident sprang into action and stopped the person. They locked him in a room and reported the incident to the police.

The magistrate has said that the detained man is almost 25 years old, and cannot tell his name and other details. He has been arrested by the police and shifted to a separate barrack in the District Jail Gilgit, while medical practitioners have been contacted to examine him for any mental problems.Ilyas Siddiqui, a former local body Chairman, has said that the accused, who is not a local, has also allegedly killed kittens and puppies to drink their blood.Other locals also said that the person has been living in the area for some time, but nobody knows anything about him. The Magistrate in an interview said that he does not appear to be a native of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Source : http://pamirtimes.net/2016/11/25/gilgit-man-sent-behind-the-bar-for-attacking-a-child-and-trying-to-drink-his-blood/

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Children’s abduction

 Two traffic wardens in Lahore helped rescue an abducted child on Monday, a press statement said.

“They signalled the motorcyclist to stop. However, he pulled out a handgun. The child jumped off and ran towards them. The gunman fled,” it said. The child later said he was a resident of Dallu Kalan on Rohi drain.

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Cases of child abduction in Punjab have seen an increased frequency in recent months with an estimated number of 767 kidnapping cases reported mostly from Lahore, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, and Bahawalnagar.

The number of unreported cases, however, is believed to be much higher as families of the victims tend to avoid taking help from law enforcement agencies.

Earlier this month, police claimed to have recovered as many as 26 children who had gone missing from their homes in the provincial capital. The children were recovered during a city-wide search operation involving raids at different city hotels, seminaries, factories and workshops.

The alarming upsurge in the cases of child kidnappings have resulted in the increased frustration of the people who have, in several instances, resorted to taking law into their hands by severely beating the suspected kidnappers.

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Last week, a suspected kidnapper was caught and thrashed by a mob in the Ghaziabad neighbourhood of the city. The angry people claimed that the suspect, who was accompanied by a woman, was trying to kidnap a child from Dhobi Ghaat Daroghawala.

However, this was not the first incident of vigilante justice, in which people took law into their hands on suspicion of kidnapping. On the night of July 30, traffic wardens and Dolphin officials tortured a driver of Edhi ambulance on suspicion of kidnapping. The driver was transporting 12 children recovered during search operation of the police to Edhi Home Gulberg.

Source :http://tribune.com.pk/story/1158355/heroic-wardens-save-abducted-child/

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Listed below are some of the Laws and Acts prevalent in Pakistan with regards to Children Rights

Source:  http://ombudsmanpunjab.gov.pk/children-complaint-office/child-right-acts-laws/

1.	Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act, 2004
2.	The Punjab Compulsory Primary Education Act, 1994
3.	The Child Nutrition Act, 2002
4.	Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000
5.	West Pakistan Juvenile Smoking Ordinance 1959
6.	Child Marriages Restrained Act, 1929
7.	The Child Marriage Restraint (Punjab Amendment) Ordinance, 1971
8.	Abolition of Whipping Act, 1996
9.	Guardian and Wards Act 1890
10.	Restriction of Child Labor Act 1890
11.	The Factories Act, 1934
12.	The Factories (Punjab Amendment) Act 1940
13.	Employment of Children Act, 1991
14.	Employement of Children Rules, 1995
15.	Workers’ Children Education Ordinance 1976
16.	West Pakistan Control of Orphanage Rules, 1958
17.	The Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870
18.	The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1886
19.	National Database Registration Authority Ordinance 2000
20.	Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non Smokers Health Ordinance 2002
21.	Mental Health Ordinance for Pakistan 2001
22.	The Punjab Supervision and Control of Children Homes Act 1976
23.	Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992
24.	Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 1995
25.	Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, 2002
26.	Preventation and Control of Human Trafficking Rules, 2004

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Tobacco and the rights of the child

This report was released by WHO to encourage countries to abide by the terms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by taking necessary legislative and regulatory measures to protect children from tobacco, and ensure that the interests of children take precedence over those of the tobacco industry.

In addition to the harmful effects caused by direct use of tobacco, children are also exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke. Nearly 700 million, or almost half of the world’s children, breathe air polluted by second-hand smoke, according to the report. In almost all cases, they have no choice in the matter, as they are unable to protest or protect themselves. The report also deals with the issues of child labour. Tobacco companies have been implicated in child labour in the major tobacco producing countries such as Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malawi, the USA and Zimbabwe.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence for the harmful impact of tobacco use and second-hand smoke on child health, as well as wide documentation on the targeting of children by tobacco companies. Comprehensive tobacco control is not only a valid concern falling within the legislative competence of governments, but also an obligation under the Convention, according to the report.

Source : http://www.who.int/tobacco/resources/publications/rights_child/en/

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Trends in reported cases of CSA (Sahil)

Sexual abuse has for long been neglected by various segments of our society where social norms and cultural anecdotes have played an active role in suppressing these issues. These practices have affected the response of law enforcing agencies towards these issues of violence. There are many victimized segments in the society. However one segment that stands helpless due to its dependence on elders, and has less or no access to resources, is children. Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is prevalent worldwide and is one of the menaces that are persistent in all classes. In Pakistan, children less than 18 years of age are falling prey to CSA at the ratio of 6 children per day. Sexual abuse is perceived as shameful and not to be discussed and hence hundreds of innocent lives live with the shadow, memories and trauma of the assault. Several children surrender their lives in the name of honor or absorb the pain for fear of losing a loving one, if the secret is revealed. In the past, cases related to child sexual abuse were published in newspapers using humiliating words that could create more harm than good to the victim. However, in recent years various advancements in media and the steps taken by Social Organizations, National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, and Press Council of Pakistan have succeeded in sensitizing the reporters on following a code of ethics set for reporting a sexual abuse case. Sahil working on child protection with a special focus on sexual abuse, has been publishing Cruel Number reports for the last 15 years, which is based on data collected through monitoring online and printed newspapers, direct calls received at Sahil for free counseling services, free legal aid and cases shared by other organizations working on CSA. The report has been helpful in identifying the target groups for awareness raising. Moreover it has also been of a great help for other organizations to steer advocacy campaigns. The current publication is a five year trend analysis of the reported CSA cases from 2007 to 2011. We hope this report will benefit our stakeholders in particular and society in general.

Source : http://sahil.org/five-year-analysis/

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SPARC Gets New Executive Director

Ms. Sadia Hussain joined SPARC as Executive Director in November 2015. She has been working in Pakistan on diverse areas of education, monitoring and research for the past fifteen years. She has worked on several DFID and ADB funded projects as a self employed educational research consultant, running her own company successfully for more than five years. Currently, her focus is on research and advocacy for alternate methods of teaching and learning through technology integration.

Ms. Sadia Hussain holds a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Management from the University of New England, USA, and a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering. She has also completed several continuous professional development courses from Harvard School of Education and University of Missouri, USA.

Source : http://www.sparcpk.org/

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