Children in Pakistan remain among the most vulnerable segments of the population. Child sexual abuse has been recognised as a serious violation of human well-being and the law yet no effective mechanism has been developed in the country to prevent it. It is, sadly, a problem of great magnitude that can affect children of any age, sex, ethnicity, and socio-economic class.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), sexual abuse includes all forms of sexual violence including incest, early and forced marriage, rape, involvement in pornography and sexual slavery. Child sexual abuse may also include indecent touching or exposure, use of sexually explicit language towards a child, showing children pornographic material as well as sexual harassment.

Sexual abuse of children has become a widespread problem in Pakistan. The annual report published by Sahil, a non-government organization working on child rights, indicates an alarming increase in child abuse cases. Statistics in the report, titled Cruel Numbers, indicate that documented child sexual abuse cases increased from 9 per day in 2017 to 12 per day in 2018.

According to the report, 3,445 cases were reported in 2017 while during January-June 2018, 2,232 cases were reported. The data shows that 56 per cent of the victims were girls and 44 per cent were boys.

The major crime categories of the reported cases are abduction (542), sodomy (381), rape (360), missing children (236), attempt to rape (224), gang sodomy (167), attempted sodomy (112), gang rape (92) and child marriage (53).

Additionally, the report indicates that the Punjab has the highest percentage - 65 per cent - of such cases and Sindh the second highest (25 per cent). Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 3 per cent and Balochistan 2 per cent of the cases.

In February 2018, the Punjab government decided to introduce a child protection curriculum in every educational institute of the province, including material based on injunctions of the Holy Quran. It launched a 24-point booklet titled Mehfooz Bachay Mazboot Pakistan (Safe Children for a Strong Pakistan), regarding safety of children to be distributed among teachers and parents. Another booklet titled ‘Keep Your Children Safe: Advice for Parents and Teachers’ has also been published by the School Education Department.

All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, President Kashif Mirza tells The News on Sunday (TNS) that they often seek guidance from these booklets to generate awareness among children on the subject of safety and protection. The challenge, he says, is to be mindful of the age of the children and accordingly addressing specific issues relating to abuse.

The Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme (PESRP) Annual Report 2017-18 shows that there are 60,502 private and 52,394 schools across the province and the total number of students is 12.2 million.

According to Mirza the number of private schools across the country is more than 200,000. He says more than 20 million children are now enrolled in these schools.

"We have made it compulsory for our faculty to give awareness to kids with the help of available material. Moreover, through parent-teacher meetings (PTM), parents are also being alerted to the types of threats children face at home, in social gatherings and public places."

The Sahil report highlights that 74 per cent of the sexual abuse cases are being reported from rural areas and 26 per cent from urban. Therefore, the question arises here whether the same approach is being applied to schools situated in marginalised areas.

Mirza says the bitter truth is that such areas have been ignored, whether intentionally or unintentionally. "Especially in marginalised and under-developed areas, the communication gap between the children facing abuse and their parents or other relatives makes things worse. Children are either shy of talking on this topic or they are not taken seriously when they try to bring an instance of abuse on record."

It is imperative to bridge this communication gap and encourage discussion between parents and children on subjects considered taboo like sexual abuse, says Mirza. He adds that civil society, non-governmental organisations, school associations and the concerned public institutions must invest their best available resources in such areas to combat this social evil.

Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC). An estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16, representing 44 per cent of the population in this age group, are not attending school. UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) report highlights that in Sindh 52 per cent of the poorest children (58 per cent girls) are out of school while in Balochistan, 78 per cent of girls are out of school. Fifteen million children are out-of-school in the Punjab and 1.8 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Child rights activists express serious concerns on the vulnerable situation of these children. Child Advocacy Network (CAN) director Rashida Qureshi says welfare and protection of children are mostly ignored in the country.

"Child abuse is routine in Pakistan. Nothing serious is being done at the state level. Our negligence towards protecting our children results in hundreds of helpless children going through hell. The recent Chunian incident is only the latest example of this. Unfortunately, welfare and protection of children are not amongst our priorities."

Qureshi adds, "Women Welfare Department and Child Protection and Welfare Department must work as one as is done everywhere in the world. Our provincial governments do not consider Child Welfare Department worthy of a minister; these departments have no place in most provincial cabinets."

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Broadly speaking, child protection aims at safeguarding children from economic, physical and sexual abuse, neglect, being abandoned, maltreatment and discrimination. Besides, it includes provision of proper care and rehabilitation for vulnerable children. Child protection is about protecting every right of every child.

Pakistan is committed to protecting the rights of its children. It ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990. The CRC is considered the most comprehensive document enshrining all fundamental rights of children. According to the CRC, through legislation the state has to develop a child protection system to ensure optimum child development and protection.

Also read: What your children need to know about preventing sexual abuse

Pakistan, however, has been unsuccessful in legislating comprehensive child protection enabling laws with regards to the CRC. Relevant legislation on child protection like Child Protection (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2009, The Child Marriages Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2009, Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 and various others are still in the process of implementation in various provinces. So far, Sindh has implemented the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011, Child Marriage Act, and Child Corporal Punishment Act.

Qureshi believes that the alarming rate of child sexual abuse clearly calls for an extensive and powerful child protection policy and practical efforts across the country.