Islamabad

Data collected from media reports reveal that a total of 3,508 children were sexually abused in the year 2014 with 10 such cases happening per day. The highest percentage of vulnerable age group among both girls and boys was 11-15 years.

These staggering statistics made part of ‘Cruel Numbers 2014’ launched by Sahil on Wednesday at an award ceremony for Child Friendly Newspaper and Best Volunteer Award, 2014.

The report shows an increase of 17 per cent in the registration of the cases of child sexual abuse.

Among the total, abduction cases increased by 7 per cent, from 1,706 cases in 2013 to 1831 in 2014. On average 5 children were being abducted every day.

There were 898 reported cases of rape and sodomy with children, 256 cases of attempted rape and sodomy, 327 cases of gang rape and gang sodomy. A total of 137 victims.

Sahil has started recording child marriages since 2012 as it is a sexual crime against young girls which is now being reflected in the print media. In 2014, 103 cases of child marriages were reported.

Gender-wise distribution follows trends of the previous years where more girls are victims of sexual abuse. This report shows that 2,141 girls and 1,367 boys have been abused.

A total of 6,531 abusers are on record. The largest groups identified were 1,790 acquaintances and 1,246 strangers. Acquaintances are the persons identified by the family. In addition, the data shows sexual abuse can occur anywhere, at any time, therefore, children are not safe. Statistics show 38 per cent of cases of sexual assault took place within enclosed areas whereas 21 per cent cases took place in open spaces.

The time period of abuse shows that 53 per cent of the children were abused once. In 16 per cent of the cases, children were abused for more than a day. Province-wise division shows that 2,054 cases of abuse were reported from Punjab, followed by 875 cases reported from Sindh, 297 from Balochistan, 152 from

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 90 from Federal Capital Islamabad, 38 from Azad Jammu Kashmir, 1 case from Gilgit-Baltistan and one case was reported from Fata.

The Urban-Rural divide shows that 67 per cent cases were reported from rural areas where as 33 per cent of cases were reported from the urban areas. Of all the cases 74 per cent were registered with police, 7 per cent were unregistered, whereas in 28 cases police refused to register an FIR.

On this occasion, Sahil also launched a research on ‘Early Childhood Sexual Experiences and Male Prostitution in Pakistan’. Sahil Executive Director Dr. Manizeh Bano presented the findings of the research. She shared that the research shows that the respondents that adopted prostitution as a profession had been sexually abused in their childhood.

On sharing the recommendations of the research she said that one important contributor to child sexual abuse prevention may be the private (family) and public endorsement of open communication to deter the secrecy, shame, taboo and general misinformation that perpetuate the problem.

The report found out that there was very little knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases among the prostitutes interviewed for the research. Protection is not used by 97 per cent of the respondents as they had to comply with the wishes of their clients. The respondents, despite suffering sexual abuse as children themselves, 26 per cent were involved in personally abusing children and 75 per cent who were pimps were providing children to the clients.

Socially, the respondents adhered to certain norms and celebrations as set by the prostitute community.

Majority said that sexual abuse influenced their decision to become prostitutes. Their clients are men, often married between 30 to 50 years. The prostitutes identify themselves as Zanana (female) and say it’s their Joban (feminine sexuality) that gives them a right to this work. Therefore, 90 per cent of the respondents identify themselves with the opposite gender, however, a few practiced cross-dressing.

The study highlighted the necessity to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness on body protection and on potentially dangerous situations that can trap a child and ruin their lives.

Sahil awarded Child Friendly Newspaper Award and Best Volunteer Award, 2014 to nominees from all over the country. The award for child friendly newspaper was presented in three categories, including national, regional and local newspaper. The award for the best volunteer award and for special mention awards for volunteers were also presented.

On this occasion, Chairman Sahil Khawar Ansari presented the programmes and achievements of the organisation. He shared that Sahil has reached over 3.34 million children and people from different communities through training, counseling, free legal aid, media campaigns and online counseling services, since 2012.

Ambasador European Union to Pakistan Lars Gunnar Wigemark was chief guest of the award ceremony and anchorperson Nasim Zehra was the guest of honour.

