‘Cruel Numbers 2013’: Two cases of child sex abuse reported from Gilgit-Baltistan
Islamabad, March 20: (PR) Sahil, a national NGO, has launched its research report on Child Sex Abuse (CSA) cases reported in the national newspapers last year in the form of a report known as “Cruel Numbers Report 2013.” This report has been compiled from 80 national, regional and local newspapers.
Province–wise division shows that 2,003 cases of abuse were reported from Punjab, followed by 583 cases reported from Sindh, then 139 by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 134 from Federal Capital Islamabad and 106 Balochistan. 35 cases were reported from Azad Jammu Kashmir and only 2 cases were reported from Gilgit Baltistan.
According to this report the cases of child sexual abuse is showing an increase in registration. The total number of sexual abuse cases in 2013, stand at a staggering 3,002 and it brings the number of abused children to 8 per day. This figure also shows an increase of 7.67% from the previous year.
Abduction cases have shown an increase of 6% from 1,600 to 1,706 cases. On average 5 children are being abducted everyday. Sahil has started recording child marriages since 2012 as it a sexual crime against young girls which is now being reflected in the print media. In 2013, child marriages have shown an increase of 21% bringing the total to 91 cases compared to 75 cases last year. These cases were reported from 36 districts of the country. The results from the report show that 41.76% victims of early child marriages belonged to the age group of 11-15 years and 34.07% were from the age group of 6-10 years. Out of 91 cases 21 cases of early child marriages were reported from Swat district only.
The major crime category of rape/sodomy including gang rape and gang sodomy show that there were 1225 cases and 202 cases of attempted rape/sodomy, gang rape and gang sodomy. An even more serious crime is committed when the victim is murdered. A total of 148 victims were murdered after sexual assaults.
Gender-wise distribution follows trends of the previous years where more girls are victims of sexual abuse. This report shows that 2017 girls and 985 boys have been abused. However, there is a phenomenal increase of 23% of abuse of boys in comparison to last year.
A total of 6,130 abusers are on record. The largest groups identified were 1,474 acquaintances and 1,067 strangers. Like previous years, the highest percentage of vulnerable age group among both girls and boys was 11-15 years.
The data shows sexual abuse can occur anywhere, at any time, therefore children are not safe. Statistics show 77.69% of cases of sexual assault took place within enclosed areas whereas 22.31% case took place in open spaces.
The time period of abuse shows that 53.76% of the children were abused once. In 17.96% of the cases, children were abused for more than a day.
The Urban–Rural divide shows that 57.46% cases were reported from rural areas where as 42.54% of cases were reported from the urban areas.
Of all the cases 79.21% were registered with police, 7.89% were unregistered and status of 12.89% cases remained unknown.
Sahil has demanded from the government that laws, policies and child protection bill must be passed to protect every child from sexual abuse along with it, effective strategies and support systems should be established for intervention and rehabilitation.
