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.