‘Over 5,000 children abused and violated in 2010’

Madadgar Helpline Report says 202 children committed suicide in the year 2010.

As many as 5,120 cases of abuse and violence against children were reported in the print media during 2010, according to Madadgaar Helpline database.

To keep a check on this trend, state-run child protection mechanisms need to be in place across Pakistan, said Madadgaar Helpline project coordinator Zia Ahmed Awan on Thursday.

Awan, who is also the president of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, said that out of these 5,120 cases of violence and abuse against children, 2,209 cases were reported from the Punjab, 1,529 from Sindh, 929 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 453 from Balochistan. According to the data, a total of 1,062 children were murdered in Pakistan last year and 916 others were injured. Furthermore, 288 children were raped, 149 sodomised and 211 faced sexual assaults. Similarly, 648 children were molested, 572 tortured, 200 trafficked and 364 went missing.

Meanwhile, 202 children committed suicide in the year 2010. One hundred and twenty one were killed on the pretext of karo-kari, 799 were kidnapped, 167 were forced to marry and 70 were traded among disputing families as part of the ‘Vani’ tradition.

The Sindh Cabinet recently decided to pass a draft bill on the Child Protection Authority, which, Awan said, will greatly help safeguard the rights of children and protect them from violence. “We need a child-friendly society in which children enjoy their rights without being discriminated.” Awan pointed out that children in the flood-affected areas are vulnerable to not only diseases and malnutrition but also to threats of abuse, violence, kidnapping, trafficking and forced marriages. Referring to the recent data on malnutrition released by the Sindh Health Department, he said that it should be an eye opener for the administration and the civil society. Corporal punishment of children in both formal and informal educational institutions in rural areas is still rampant.

“We need serious efforts to prevent child abuse, eradicate child beggary, rehabilitate street children and ensure adequate facilities for education and healthcare,” he said. “Poverty is the main reason of growing child abuse and the government needs to allocate more funds to overcome it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2011.