At least 4,139 children were sexually abused in 2016 in Pakistan and this number is 10 per cent higher than the number of cases reported in 2015, according to a report released by Sahil—a non-governmental organisation working for child rights in Pakistan. The highest number of cases was reported from the Punjab province where the total number of abused children was 2676.
According to the report, the registered cases on child abuse includes abduction, rape, sodomy, gang rape, gang sodomy, missing children, child marriage, murder, and attempt of murder in 2016.
As was the case in the year 2015, the data shows that both genders were vulnerable to sexual abuse.
According to the data, the total number of girls that were sexually abused in the year was 2410, while the number of boys in this category was 1729. In this way 58 per cent of the children who were abused were female, while 42 per cent were boys.
Report says that in 27 different categories of child sexual abuse cases, the abduction of children topped the list with 1455 cases, whereas the attempt of rape reportedly came at lower rank.
“Cases of abduction were recorded because it was observed that sexual abuse is implicit in these cases and it is also seen in different categories of sexual abuse, such as abduction and rape, abduction and sodomy, abduction and gang rape, abduction and gang sodomy and abduction and gang rape murder”, report said.
Among 4139 reported cases, the number of cases for abduction was 1455, rape was 502, sodomy was 453, gang rape was 271, gang sodomy was 268, and in 362 cases children merely suffered from an unsuccessful attempt to abuse.
The data shows that 76 per cent cases were reported in rural areas while 24 per cent of the cases were reported in urban areas. Among all these cases just 78 cases were registered with the police, whereas 32 cases went unregistered and in 142 cases the police refused to file any cases at all.
There was a 15 per cent increase in the reported gang rape cases in 2016 with the number going to 271 cases, whereas there was a 45 per cent decrease in the cases filed for gang sodomy as compared to the year 2015.
According to the report, at least 100 cases were reported where children were murdered after they were abused sexually.
In 6759 cases, at least 4139 abusers were involved in sexually abusing the 2810 children.
According to the report, out of a total of 4139 cases, 65 per cent were reported in Punjab, 24 per cent were reported in Sindh, 4 per cent were reported in Balochistan and Islamabad, and 3 per cent were reported in KP.
The children between the ages 11 to 15 years old were more likely to become victims of child abuse.
A 57 per cent increase was reported in child marriage cases that stood at 176 marriages in 2016 compared to 112 in 2015.
