Child abuse numbers rising
Karachi: “Disabled children are four to 10 times more abused than ordinary children,” prophesised Dr Aisha Mehnaz, Professor of Paediatrics at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS).
Child sexual abuse includes an adult making comments of a sexual nature to a child; inappropriate touching and exposing a child to things of a sexual nature.
The magnitude of child abuse in Sindh can be gauged from the fact that 15 to 25 per cent of the children in the province suffer from such abuse, says to Dr Mehnaz.
The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) corroborates with Dr Mehnaz’s statement. According to Sparc, 216 cases of child abuse were reported in Sindh in 2007. Citing news reports, it said that about 163 female children were sexually abused, while 47 male children became victims during the current year in the province.
In October 2007, a six-year-old mentally handicapped child was abducted by a young man who, after abusing him, left him in the wilderness. A similar incident took place in Moro where a nine-year-old handicapped boy was sexually abused in the month of August.
“Rape and even gang rape of a girl child is on the rise in Sindh,” says Akhter Baloch, regional manager, Sparc. In Surjani Town, Karachi, two minor girls aged five and seven respectively were killed after a gang rape in May 2007, says the report.
Besides sexual abuse, children also face the brunt of child labour. This was despite the fact that the Constitution of Pakistan categorically says that “no child below the age of 14 years shall be engaged in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment.”
The situation on this front can be gauged from the fact that more than 3.5 million children are employed in Pakistan, according to official figures and 10 million according to unofficial sources, says the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
“Economic and social deprivations, coupled with the rising physical and sexual abuse, constituted the most serious threats to children. The absence of policies to alleviate these problems meant a majority of children remained unable to access basic rights, including the right to sufficient food, shelter, education, safe water or medical care,” says the HRCP report.
Similarly, child marriages are quite common in Pakistan despite the fact that in 1990, Pakistan ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibited child marriages. In addition, under the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, a girl must have attained the age of 16, and the boy, 18, and both need to consent before the marriage can take place.
“A marriage below 16 years is an illegal marriage and I consider it to be rape,” says Justice (retired) Majida Rizvi, former chairperson, National Commission on Status of Women. “There are 12 definitions of adulthood in Pakistan. We have asked the government to evolve a single definition of adulthood which should be 18 years,” says Justice (retd) Rizvi.
Source: The News
Date:11/23/2007
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