Islamabad - More than 10 children were abused a day in 2015 and out of them the number of girls exceeds boys, says a nongovernmental organisation Sahil that is working against child sexual abuse.
A research “Cruel Numbers 2015” on child sexual abuse cases reported in newspapers during 2015 was launched yesterday. The research puts the total number of sexual abuse cases at 3,768 showing an increase of 7 percent as compared to 3,508 cases recorded in 2014.
This year Cruel Numbers 2015 has been compiled from 84 national, regional and local newspapers, including 7 cases which were directly reported to Sahil.
The report shows that out of the total number of cases, some 52 percent (1974) were girls and 48 percent (1794) were boys.
The study shows that out of the total number of cases, in 52 percent the perpetrators were acquainted with the victims. And, in 3 percent of the total cases the perpetrators were within the family with the trend more frequent in rural areas.
The major crime category of rape/sodomy including gang rape and gang sodomy shows that there were 1723 cases and 290 cases of attempted rape/sodomy, gang rape and gang sodomy.
A total of 97 victims were murdered after sexual assaults. About 112 cases of child marriages were reported in 2015 that is also considered as a sexual crime against young girls.
Like previous years, the highest percentage of vulnerable age group among both girls and boys was 11-15 years. The research shows that children between the age of 0-5 years, and up to 10 years are abused. This year the data also shows that victims in the age bracket of 0-5 years, 6-10 years and 11-15 years are more boys than girls.
Sexual abuse can occur anywhere and at any time; therefore children are not safe, the study says, as about 44 percent of cases of sexual assault took place within enclosed areas whereas 21 percent cases took place in open spaces.
The time period of abuse shows that 73 percent of the children were abused once. In 13 percent of the cases, children were abused for more than a day.
The study says children in Kasur, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Pakpattan, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Quetta, Okara, Vehari and Sialkot are most vulnerable to crime. It shows that out of the total 3,768 reported cases, 52 percent cases were reported from the given top 10 districts.
Last year in August The Nation had also unveiled the largest-ever child sexual abuse scandal of Pakistan’s history wherein 400 video recording of more than 280 children were discovered in district Kasur who were forced to have sex and then coerced to pay money to the blackmailers for years.
Punjab reported highest, 2616 number of cases of abuse, followed by 638 cases reported from Sindh, 207 from Balochistan, 167 from Federal Capital Islamabad, 113 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 21 from Azad Jammu Kashmir, 3 cases from Gilgit-Baltistan and 3 cases were reported from FATA.
Moreover, reporting of cases from Islamabad has increased by 85 percent recorded as 90 cases in 2014 and 167 cases in 2015.