345 children abused, missing in Islamabad, Pindi
ISLAMABAD: During the last three months, as many as 345 reported cases related to child abuse, kidnapping and disappearances depict a dismal and alarming situation of child protection issue in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and the surrounding areas as per data released by the Centre for Missing Children (CMC) on Saturday.
The CMC, a project of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) supported by Save the Children UK in Islamabad, has been providing technical, moral, legal and counseling support to scores of families going through the trauma of lost or abused children.
Based on data monitoring and research, it has been observed that male children are more vulnerable than female children as the number of boys abused far exceeds the number of girls abused. A close look at the data available shows that during the period, 39 boys got missing contrary to only 11 girls reported missing in the same span of time.
Out of these 39 boys missing, 21 were reported to be actually the case of runaways. Similarly, as many as 121 boys were subjected to physical and sexual abuse, while the number of female child abused came to be a total of 107 girls.
A completely reverse trend is observed in cases of kidnapped and trafficked children. During the period, four boys and one girl were trafficked, while 27 boys and 33 girls were reported kidnapped. So far, total 42 children have been recovered, and it makes a 39 per cent of the total kidnapped and missing children.
In fact, the present scenario of ever-increasing number of missing and abused children shocks any conscientious reader and stresses the need of tackling the child protection issue by all stakeholders more seriously by taking concrete steps to safeguard the future of the nation.
Source: The News
Date:6/25/2007
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