Statistics: Child Abduction

Following details are about the child abduction by strangers or relatives with wrong intention/s (also known as non-family abduction). There is another type of abduction called parental or family child abduction that takes place at the transnational level, in which a child is removed or taken away by a parent to another country without the knowledge or consent of the other parent.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in 2010, 17,000 cases of kidnapping and abduction were recorded in Pakistan [1] but the total figure is not bifurcated into children and adults. However, we have some figures from other non-governmental organizations such as Madagar Helpline which estimates that about 2582 children went missing in 2010. It further reports that from January 2000 to July 2010, 10,511 children were reported missing in Pakistan. [2] However, the report does not offer how many of them were abducted and kidnapped.

In 2009, Sahil (an NGO), recorded 2,012 cases of child sexual abuse. Of the total cases, 41 percentage (825) of the cases were related to abduction. [3] In 2010, Sahil also collected details of 2595 children which were sexually abused. From the total, 1092 children were abducted[4] which shows increase in the number of children being abducted in comparison to 2009.

References

[1] Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2010), The State of Human Rights; Lahore; page 87. [2] The Nation (2010), 10,511 kids went missing in 10 years; August 12, 2010, Karachi. [3] Sahil (2009), The Cruel Numbers; Islamabad. Page 5 [4] Sahil (2010), The Cruel Numbers; Islamabad. Page 9.

Statistics: Children abused by policemen in Pakistan

Statistics: Reported cases of child sexual abuse in Pakistan

In 2008, 1838 cases including 1,298 (70 per cent) girls and 540 (30 per cent) boys (of child sexual abuse were reported.[1]

In 2009, 2012 cases of child sexual abuse were reported. Of the total 68 percent victims were girls.[2]

In 2010, a total of 2595 cases of sexual abuse were recorded. Of the total, 73% girls and 27% were boys.[3]

Realizing the fact, unreported cases are very high than the reported cases.[4]

Footnotes:

[1] Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2009), State of Human Rights in 2009; Lahore- page 216

[2] Save the Children; Child Rights Situational Analysis of Pakistan; last accessed on March 20, 2012 at http://sca.savethechildren.se/sca/Countries/Pakistan/Child-Rights-Situational-Analysis-of-Pakistan/

[3] Sahil (2010), Cruel Numbers 2010; Islamabad- An Annual Report on the Status of Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan

[4] Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2009), State of Human Rights in 2009; Lahore- page 216

Statistics: Abortion and abandoned new born infants in Pakistan

890,000 abortions were performed in Pakistan in 2002, a rate of 29 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15–49) annually.[1 ] It is mostly obtained in clandestine clinics. [ 2] In the absence of monitoring mechanism and lack of seriousness on the part of government, it is impossible to ascertain how many abortions have been conducted from 2003 till 2011. It has been reported that most of the abortion cases done with young girls.[3 ]

According to Edhi Foundation every day a score of children left in cradles outside Edhi Homes implicates that people are willingly abandoning children. Just 20 abandoned babies are found only in Karachi every day; majority of them dead. Majority of children are found in garbage dumps, sewers, in drains, dustbins, bushes, barren houses.[4 ] There is no formal system to monitor and record children being abandoned alive or found dead.[ 5]

In 2010, 1,200 newborns were killed and dumped.[6 ] In 2011, Edhi Foundation collected 485 bodies of newborn babies in Pakistan excluding 171 alive babies put into Edhi cradles.[7 ] From January till March 2012, Edhi Foundation had gathered 180 newborn bodies and 78 babies were found in Edhi’s cradles.[ 8]

Footnotes

[1]Abella, F (2009), Clandestine and Unsafe Abortions are common in Pakistan and Threaten Women's Health And Lives; News Release by Media Center, Guttmacher Institute, New York.

[2] The National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health (NCMNH) and the Guttmacher Institute

[3] Abella, F (2009), Clandestine and Unsafe Abortions are common in Pakistan and Threaten Women's Health And Lives; News Release by Media Center, Guttmacher Institute, New York

[4] Hussain, J. S. (2011), 15 abandoned babies found; The Nation, January 1, 2011

[5] Mumtaz, H. (2012), Left to die; Dawn Newspaper, March 19, 2012

[6] Sayah, R. (2011), CNN: Killing of infants on the rise in Pakistan; Aired on CNC, July 20, 2011

[7] The News International (2012), Newborn boy found strangled; March 15, 2012

[8] Mumtaz, H. (2012), Left to die; Dawn Newspaper, March 19, 2012

Statistics: Child Marriage, Child Sexual Abuse, Human Trafficking, Honour Killing and Acid Suvivors

In 2010, in Sindh province alone, 50 cases of child marriage were reported.[1]

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, in 2008-2009 of the total children from the age group 10-14 (20.19 million) and 15-19 (19.88 million), 0.12 (in numbers 24228) and 5.18 (in numbers 1029784) percent were reported married. It does not include details of the children below 10 years of age.[2]

According to Sahil, the number of child sexual abuse cases (male and female) has increased yearly, from 1,839 cases in 2008 to 2,012 in 2009 and 2,595 in 2010. On average, six children are sexually assaulted every day, but reported cases are likely only a fraction of all cases. In addition, child victims and their families are dragged through the criminal justice system; there are no programmes, policies and systems in place to facilitate victims of abuse children and their families seeking justice. [3]

According to the reports of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), in 2008, 472 women and girls were killed in the name of honour; and, in 2009 and 2010, 647 and 791 females respectively were murdered in the name of honour.[4]

The representative of the Acid Survivors Foundation shared that 53 acid attack cases were notified in 2009, 65 in 2010 and 150 in 2011. At least 200 attacks occur a year, out of which 20 percent are children.

According to Madadgar in 2011 there had been a total of 105 men, 90 women and 93 children that had been smuggled. From January to March 2012, 112 men, 33 women and 45 children had become victims of human trafficking in Pakistan.[5]

Footnotes

[1] Saleem, S (2010), Child marriages: 10-year-old girls for Rs100,000; The Express Tribune, December 21, 2010, Karachi.

[2]Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan; Accessed on January 2011 at www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/.../lfs2008_09/t04.pdf.

[3] Sahil (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2010)Cruel Numbers; Islamabad, Pakistan. [4] Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2008, 2009, 2010), State of Human Rights; Lahore, Pakistan.

[5] The News International (2012), 190 cases of trafficking already reported in 2012; March 21, 2012, Karachi.

Senate and NA committees

HERE are 42 standing committees in the National Assembly and 24 standing and functional committees in the Senate of Pakistan. There are also special and select committees in each house of parliament. Each committee is headed by a chairperson having a number of members. In Senate committees only senators and in National Assembly committees only members of the National Assembly can be members. Among a list of committees, there are two committees in the Senate and one in the National Assembly on the subject of human rights. There are also other committees which can address human rights-related issues and violations such as health, water, education and narcotics. According to their rules of business, these committees are empowered to invite or summon before them any member or any other person having a special interest in relation to any matter under its consideration and may hear expert evidence and hold public hearing. The government has not yet highlighted the importance of committees which could be very helpful in resolving issues and problems. These committees might have been a useful source of remedy and relief for thousands of people if these would have performed accordingly. Interestingly, when civil society organisations have not been able to meet these committees and their members to share their concerns, how is it possible for the common man to access these committees? The government may initiate a public awareness campaign about the committees’ roles and functions to help resolve matters that other institutions are not able to do. There is a need to allocate office address to each committee having fax and phone numbers so that the public can access these easily. I believe the committees are forums of elected representatives and may be of great help. ABDULLAH KHOSO Islamabad From the Newspaper | Letters | 19th February, 2012 http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/19/senate-and-na-committees.html

Dear sir, madam, I hope this email finds you well. I have sent you an e-mail with a request to nominate a child for the Children’s Peace Prize 2012. This prize is awarded annually to a child, whose courageous or otherwise extraordinary efforts have made an impact on behalf of the Rights of the Child. With this e-mail we would like to inform that after several requests we have decided to extend the deadline with 2 weeks, to send in nominations until March 15th 2012. We would be very appreciative, if you could send us your nominations before this date. May I also request you to please send the information to your contacts/network so that they also have the opportunity to nominate a child. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank those who have already sent their nomination form. Attached to this e-mail you will find the nominating form for 2012 and information about the previous winners of the International Children’s Peace Prize. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know. We will be glad to assist you in any way we can. Also visit our website www.childrenspeaceprize.org Warm regards, Ellen Vroonhof cid:77F67E6A-82BE-4710-B28F-8ABF2D60C8EB Ellen Vroonhof Programme Manager KidsRights Foundation P.O. Box 283 - AC 6011 1000 EA Amsterdam, The Netherlands E: ellen@kidsrights.org T: +31 (0)20 343 99 89 F: +31 (0)20 629 9860 www.kidsrights.org www.childrenspeaceprize.org / www.kindervredesprijs.nl