ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers at a Senate committee meeting on Tuesday regretted that even after over 70 years there was no mechanism in the country to collect and store data on child abuse cases.

The meeting of Senate Special Committee on the Issue of Increasing Incidents of Child Abuse was chaired by Senator Nuzhat Sadiq.

Briefing the meeting, Hassan Mangi, an official from the Ministry of Human Rights, acknowledged the issue and said the federal government depended on provinces for the data but the latter lacked any facility to collect and store the information.

“Punjab has started compiling data and some improvement has also been made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We mostly depend on the data of a non-governmental organisation, Sahil, but it (NGO) also collects the data from newspapers,” he said.

Punjab has started compiling data, some improvement has been made in KP, official tells Senate body

“According to Sahil, 3,445 cases of child abuse were reported in the country in 2017, involving 2,077 girls and 1,368 boys. Around 63pc of the cases were reported from Punjab, 27pc from Sindh, 4pc from Balochistan, 3pc from Islamabad, 2pc from KP, 12 cases from AJK and three from Gilgit-Baltistan,” Mr Mangi said.

The official said over the years punishments in child abuse cases had been increased and now even death penalty can be handed down on anyone convicted of child rape.

“The commission under the National Commission on the Rights of the Child Act 2017 could not be made functional as its head is yet to be appointed. A toll-free helpline - 1099 - and women crisis centres have been established and the federal ombudsman has appointed child commissioners in the federal and provincial capitals. The Child Protection Bureau of Punjab is very good.”

Mr Mangi suggested that there was a need to ensure speedy disposal of cases. Parent-teacher associations should be established in schools and there should also be more child protection centres. He said CCTV cameras should be installed in cities and all crimes against children need to be made cognizable, non-compoundable and non-bailable.

The committee chairperson, who belongs to the PML-N, said the issue of child abuse cannot be tackled without having credible data.

She said it was a fact that cases of child sexual abuse were continuously increasing in the country.

Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed said child sexual abuse took place across the country but most of the cases in rural areas remained unreported.

“Children cannot raise voice for their rights so it is our duty to raise a voice for them. According to estimates, every day 11 children are sexually abused in Pakistan. We should have credible data on such cases but unfortunately the federal and provincial governments are not ready for it,” he said.

He alleged that children in the juvenile prison in Peshawar were sent to the jail of adults and sexually abused there.

Awami National Party Senator Sitara Ayaz said Pakistan had signed a number of international conventions on the rights of children but no government bothered to address the issue. She wondered why cases of child abuse were continuously being reported from Kasur.

“Unfortunately, we only establish commissions and do nothing. Children are brought to the Pirwadhai bus stand from different areas and abused,” she said.

Senator Sherry Rehman of the PPP criticised the absence of the minister for human rights from the meeting.

She said the father of Zainab, a six-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Kasur, has demanded public hanging of the culprit.

“But it is against our party policy and should not be allowed because Pakistan’s GSP-Plus status would be revoked. Moreover, if once public hanging is started, families of all victims would demand the same,” she said.

However, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Senator Mohammad Ali Saif claimed that the demand for public hanging had come from PPP leader Rehman Malik.

“I opposed the demand on the floor of parliament and hope that it would be rejected by all forums. Children are also abused by parents who use them for begging and this issue also needs to be addressed,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2018