SHIKARPUR: Child sexual abuse statistics reveal that in Pakistan 9 children per day experience sexual assault at the hands of the adults. In 2017, 3445 cases were reported in the category of rape and abduction.
However, it is anticipated that these figures do not represent the actual number of incidents that took place in Pakistan as many incidents are not reported to the police.
The provincial coordinator of Sahil, an NGO, Barkat Ali Ansari shared the statistics during a media briefing entitled as ‘Cruel Numbers of 2017’.
The data includes cases reported by 91 national, regional and local dailies.
The data also includes cases that were reported to Sahil and other organisations as well, who offers free legal and psychological aid to the victims.
A gender split analysis shows that female cases are higher in number. From total 3445 children, 2077 were girls. In this time period, major crimes reported were abduction, rape/sodomy and gang rape/sodomy.
1039 girls and boys were kidnapped while 366 boys and 467 girls were reportedly abducted for rape and sodomy.
Cases of gang rape/sodomy include 158 girls and 180 boys.
According to the statistics, in 1421 cases, the abusers were acquaintances. Second category is ‘Strangers ally with acquaintance’, which has 595 cases. Other categories include relatives, neighbours, female abettor, police, religious clerics, doctors and others.
The age group that is most vulnerable to child sexual abuse differs for male and female, however for boys the most vulnerable age stands between 11 to 15 years. The age group includes 474 boys and 487 girls who were assaulted.
Between 6 to 10 years, 377 boys and 303 girls were abducted for abuse.
Between 16 to 18 years, 94 boys and 257 girls were assaulted.
Between 1 to 5 years, 99 female children and 70 male children were sexually assaulted.
Ages of 399 boys and 931 girls were not mentioned by the newspapers.
Geographical distribution of the cases illustrates that being the highest, 2168 cases were reported from Punjab. Sindh had 933 cases while 112 cases were reported from Islamabad. 78 cases were reported from the KPK and 139 cases from Balochistan. 12 cases were reported from Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Urban and rural areas have a lot of divergence. This is related to the fact that 70% of the population lives in rural areas. 24% (835) cases were reported from urban areas and 76% (2610) cases were reported from rural areas.
2505 cases of child sexual abuse were registered at police stations while status of 797 cases is unmentioned. 32 cases were not registered.
According to cruel number 2017, mostly incidents took place at the homes of children.
Published in Daily Times, April 19th 2018.
