Our lost children

Report states more than 12 children are abused every day

That our children are unsafe in the country is not surprising. With the beginning of 2018 we witnessed the country unite to show its concern over the Zainab rape and murder case. But while the rapist and murderer was arrested and awarded capital punishment we still saw a rise in the cases of child abuse with our national dailies reporting at least one case almost every day. It has now been found in a report compiled by the NGO Sahil that 300 cases of child sexual abuse were registered in Islamabad alone over the last five years. It is pertinent to note here that owing to the stigma attached to child abuse, many cases go unregistered. The report itself notes that around 260 cases went unregistered. It is safe to assume that actual numbers must be much higher. But perhaps that is what our children have been reduced to — mere statistics.

Just last week, a 12-year-old boy was found murdered in a village of Mandi Bahauddin. While investigations are underway to determine if the child was abused before being murdered, we cannot rule out abuse as such has been the norm in the country. According to the above report, more than 12 children are abused every day. What deterrent measures are being taken to reduce such instances of abuse and save our children is yet to be known.

Awarding death penalty to abusers has not bought about the change that was hoped. Nor has much been done to introduce sex education at the primary school level as was promised after the Zainab case. The absence of the human rights minister from the Senate committee mentioning the report also goes on to show the lack of seriousness to tackle this issue. How many more children will the country sacrifice before we raise our boys to be better humans?

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2019.

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