A Review of Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan Based on Data from “Sahil” Organization

Abstract

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is an unrevealed but an alarming issue in every civilized society. This paper examines the reported incidents of child sexual abuse in Pakistan. Its primary goal is to assess the currently available data on incidents of CSA in Pakistan from 2010 to 2016, while the specific objective is to understand the magnitude, as well as nature and context of the problem. Data on CSA from 2010 to 2016 were collected from the "annual cruel numbers" of the "Sahil" organization, which revealed that incidents of CSA have increased in Pakistan since 2010. The data show that 2,252 incidents of CSA (Boys 606 and Girls 1,646) occurred in 2010 and a larger number, 4,139 incidents (Boys 1,729 and Girls 2,410), occurred in 2016. Most of the survivors belonged to the Punjab province of Pakistan (1,723 out of 2,252 in 2010 and 2,676 out of 4,139 in 2016). Most abusers were acquaintances of their victims (3,964 in 2010 and 1,829 in 2016). The majority of incest cases were observed in 2012 (144 cases). The victim's home was a place of abuse in most incidents (306 incidents in 2010 and 594 in 2016). Government, as well as non-governmental organizations, should raise awareness of CSA. Furthermore, religious leaders must play their role to curb occurrence of CSA by preaching about its religious implications.

Analyzing the Portrayals of Child Sexual Abuse of Urdu Newspapers in Developing Countries

“…More than 1,304 children have faced sexual molestation in Pakistan during the past six months, including 729 girls and 575 boys (IANS, 2019). In 2011, for example, around 50 Pakistani police officials were perpetrators of child sexual abuse in Pakistan, as reported by Avais et al (Avais et al, 2020). In 2019, 2,846 cases of child sexual abuse in Pakistan were reported by Sahill (2020), and 3,832 cases were reported in 2020 (Tahir, 2021).…”

“…Although child abuse exists in Pakistan, it is still a taboo subject. For example, Pakistani society accepts talking about sex in general, but talking about child sexual abuse is immoral (Avais et al, 2020). According to Khan et al (2014), child sexual abuse is a matter of explicit infringement on children and is rooted in society.…”

“…However, cases of acquaintance rape are also rapidly increasing in number. Child sexual abuse reports from 2017 revealed that 1,787 cases of child sexual abuse in Pakistan were of acquaintance rape (Avais et al, 2020;Imdad, 2019). Several newspapers in Pakistan have disclosed the names of the victims of sex crimes, although it is illegal to do so (Tahir, 2021).…”

Exploring the Causes of Child Abuse in Punjab: Reflections from the Narratives of Child Molesters

“…(Fayaz, 2019). Child sexual abuse is an alarming issue for all societies (Avais et al, 2020). There are many reasons behind it, such as exploitation, poverty, poor health problems, homelessness, unemployment, and the age of parents, lack of confidence, and experience of sexual abuse in childhood.…”

“…The frequency of such offenses is rapidly increasing. In many South Asian countries, like India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, child abuse, child exploitation, child prostitution, and child sexual abuse are common (Avais et al, 2020). Child sexual abuse is the least reported crime in Pakistan.…”