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.