- Laws exist, but need implementation
By: Abdul Rasool Syed
Kasur, that garnered international attention for recurring child abuse incidents in recent years, has again hit the headlines lately. This time, three minor boys have been criminally assaulted and killed in cold blood. This very incident has again saddened the whole milieu of our country and raised many questions over the performance of law enforcing institutions and the concerted efforts of our society as a whole. It is undoubtedly a matter of great shame for us that we as a nation, have miserably failed to protect our children from these wild beasts who prey on our loved ones with impunity.
What is more shocking is the report released by child rights organization Sahil which depicts a very alarming picture of the state of child sex abuse in our country. According to the report released at the Lahore Press Club recently, the data from January to June in 2019 reveals that 729 girls and 575 boys became victims of sexual exploitation. The cases under major categories included 378 of abduction, 139 of rape, 153 of sodomy, 46 of gang rape, 88 of gang sodomy whereas 12 boys and four girls have been murdered after sexual abuse.
Special legislation is also required as the situation demands. Like the case of Zainab, all cases of child sex violence should be tried in anti-terrorism courts
According to Sahil, in 2018, there were 3,307 such incidents reported to police, 39 cases were not reported and 56 cases were not registered. Around 430 cases were reported by newspapers with incomplete information.
In Lahore only, there were 50 incidents reported last year while nine children had been abducted and 12 reported missing from January to June 2019. January to June data gave grim numbers as it included five incidents of rape, seven of sodomy, three of gang rape and five of gang sodomy.
The most horrifying disclosure made by Sahil is that the most common perpetrator of the child sex abuse was an acquaintance with the victim and the victim’s family. Out of a total of 1,304 cases, 614 cases were such where the abusers had acquaintance with victims or victim’s family. In all, 142 cases were reported in which strangers were involved in abusing children.
Most victims (414) were between 11 and 15 years old, followed by 5 to 10 years old (171 cases), and 16 to 18 years old (117 cases). The youngest age group one to five years old had the least number of cases (75). In 401 cases, the age of victims was not mentioned in newspapers.
Additionally, in total, 203 children have been abused at their own places, 300 at an acquaintance’s place, four in a haveli, 12 in a madrassa, three at their workplace and 162 in open places, including fields, streets and forests. Punjab had the most cases of sexual abuse (652), followed by Sindh (458), Federal (90), KP (51), Balochistan (32), AJK (18) and GB (3).
This grim and grave situation suggests that pedophilia is increasing at an exponential rate in our society. It is quite disgusting and the moment of a great shame for our society as a whole. This alarming surge of child sex abuse in our society reflects that our children are extremely vulnerable.
Pedophiles easily victimize our loved ones without any fear of penalization. Such beasts need absolute cleansing from our society. I am afraid that if they continue to thrive, they would keep jeopardizing the life and honour of our innocent children. Therefore, all the stakeholders, parents, children and the society as a whole, should make common cause against these wild animals in the guise of human beings so that we may transform our society into a safe haven for our kiddies.
We should, first of all, understand the gravity of the issue and then devise a strategy to cope with it. WHO defines pedophilia as “the involvement of a child in a sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent or that violates the laws or social taboos of the society”.
Certain myths attached to pedophilia need to be debunked. One is that the pedophiles are mostly strangers to children. It is altogether a misguided opinion; according to research, 47 percent are relatives, 43 percent acquaintances and merely seven percent strangers. Hence, it is wrong to admonish kids only to be wary of strangers. They should also be equally careful with familiar ones. The abusers can be anyone; siblings, steparents, grandparents, teachers, neighbours, servants, cousins, uncles, aunts and religious leaders– in short, all with whom a child interacts in his or her social domain. That’s why the parents are supposed to keep an eagle eye on all those people who share proximity with their children. The parents should trust nobody in this matter.
Moreover, it is also a myth that only the girls are victims, boys are also vulnerable. Therefore, the homogenous protective measures are required for the protection of both sexes.
Also, it is also a wrong perception that mostly economically disadvantaged children become easy victims. Sexual abuse crosses all socio-economic barriers. Comparatively, privileged children are more at risk than the less privileged, as they are surrounded by servants even in the absence of their parents. Numerous cases testify that children belonging to well-to-do families were molested by their own servants.
How we can put an end to this rampant social evil? A multipronged strategy is required.
On the social front, we should reduce the parent-children communication gap as much as possible to enable our children to express their issues with us with confidence. We should ask our kids to keep us informed and updated about their routine activities; who are their friends; what they do; what are their hobbies etc. For this, we parents should take time out to make our children feel we are with them. We should also provide our children with our exclusive attention, solicitude and counseling. In this way, they would feel a sense of protection and solace and with the passage of time; the parent-children trust deficit would wither away and they would resume confiding in us with no fear of admonition or bullying.
Besides, children should also be sensitized about sex education, if not in detail to the extent that they may distinguish what is a good touch and vice versa, to say the least. For this, both teachers and parents should play their respective roles.
On legal front, we find a lot of legislation but absence of enforcement. The majority of child assaults are registered under the Zina Ordinance 1979. Apart from that, the Sindh Children Act 1955 and the Punjab Children Ordinance 1983 also cover some aspects of child sex abuse…
Interestingly, after the revelation of the child pornography racket, 20 people were arrested pertaining to this biggest ever criminal scam. By the time, child pornography was not criminalized; only sodomy and rape were punishable under the law. Consequently, several other provisions were added to our legislature to further strengthen our child protection framework.
The first amendment made to the Pakistan Penal Code in 2016 with regard to child sex abuse criminalized sexual assault against minors, child pornography and trafficking. Sexual assault is now punishable up to seven years in prison (previously only rape was the crime) and child pornography (previously not included in law) is punishable by seven years.
Special legislation is also required as the situation demands. Like the case of Zainab, all cases of child sex violence should be tried in anti-terrorism courts so that they are prosecuted with same vigilance and expedition as that of the cases of terrorism. Additionally, DNA profile of all the citizens should be included in the NADRA database; it will help us detect the culprits easily as it did in case of Zainab.
All the stakeholders should leave no stone unturned to arrest the growth of child abuse in our society. Above all, it is a matter of our beloved children. It is, therefore, incumbent on Prime Minister Imran Khan to deal with this grave issue on priority basis. We can tolerate anything in Naya Pakistan but the existence of this social pestilence that has jeopardized the honor and life of our innocent children.
