KARACHI:
Statistics shared by Sahil, a local NGO, pertaining to child abuse in August of last year were extremely mind-boggling. The report mentioned that across Pakistan as many as 1,489 children were subjected to sexual abuse in the first half of the year. This equates to eight horrific cases occurring every day. Furthermore, out of these, 785 were girls whereas 704 were boys — something that approximates to 53% of girls and 47% of boys, indicating that gender is not a factor as all children are equally targeted. The report also highlighted that 37% of assailants were close relatives. The severity of this problem is exacerbating with each passing day and people are worried about their children’s safety. In this regard, awareness campaigns will cultivate nothing unless strict precedents are set by the government.
Michael Samuel
Rawalpindi
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2021.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
