islamabad - As many as 11 incidents of sexual abuse involving children are reported daily in Pakistan, warranting urgent legislation to improve child protection system, the speakers said on Thursday.
The speakers were addressing at a press conference held by Child Rights Movement, a network of civil society organisations and activists working for promotion and protection of child rights.
The speakers stressed the need of improving and strengthening child protection system in the country as well as enhancing forensic investigation process to ensure conviction of the perpetrators.
The speakers also called for accelerated measures for curbing child sexual abuse in Pakistan. They also called for developing a comprehensive database of the abusers, saying that such abusers must never be offered employment with the institutions working for children.
The speakers emphasised on properly securing the crime scene and collecting DNA evidences.
They further called for addressing the child trafficking issue in the country, as child sexual abuse and trafficking were a closely linked, they said.
A representative for the Child Rights Movement (CRM) stressed approval of the Child Protection and Welfare Bill from Senate, and prompt action to make National Commission on the Rights of the Child functional.
In addition, the CRM suggested amendment in criminal law to make the offences related to child abuse non-compoundable.
“Enactment of Trafficking in Persons Bill, which aims to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children, can be a first step in holistically addressing internal trafficking and setting up a mechanism for victims of trafficking”, the CRM representative said.
The CRM member organisation, Rozan, called for inclusion of life skills curriculum in schools in order to train children regarding protection from the potential perpetrators.
Through this, teachers can be trained also for imparting the life skills education to the children.
There should also be campaigns and activities at the community level in order to create awareness regarding child protection, a representative for Rozan said.
Representatives of the CRM member organisations pointed out that despite relevant laws enacted by the provinces; their implementation was less than adequate.
They called for establishment of child protection units in every district and called for allocating funds for child protection institutes.
According to Sahil, another child rights’ organisation, there were 4,139 reported cases of child sexual abuse in 2016, whereas the first six months of 2017 witnessed as many as 1,764 reported cases. Date reveals that daily, 11 incidents of children sexual abuse were being reported in local media, a representative of the organisation said.
The CRM also called for harmonising child protection mechanism in the country by creating a system of child protection across Pakistan, with close coordination between provinces. Furthermore, the need for establishing a database for reported cases of child sexual abuse was also demanded.