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.