ISLAMABAD: A total of 2,846 child abuse cases were reported from all four provinces including Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) in 2019.

This was claimed by Sahil, a non-government organisation, in a statement released on Monday.

Data is based on the news reports on child sexual abuse, abduction, missing children and child marriages cases published in 84 newspapers in 2019.

The major crime categories of the reported cases are 778 abductions, 405 missing children, 348 sodomy cases, 279 rape cases, 210 attempted rapes, 205 gang sodomy cases and 115 gang rapes.

A total of 401 cases of child marriages were recorded by Sahil in 2019.

The data reveals that now, in one day, more than eight children have been abused. The gender divide shows that out of the total 2,846 cases of child abuse, 54pc of victims were girls and 46pc were boys.

Age-wise information shows that children are most vulnerable to abuse in the age group 6-15 years.

The research shows that children as young as 0-5 years were also sexually abused.

A total of 35 incest cases were reported out of which 30 were girls and 5 boys.

A total number of 3,722 abusers are identified, and 2,222 were the acquaintances of the victims.

Out of the total number of 2,846 cases, 64pc (1,816) were reported from rural areas and 36pc (1,030) cases were reported from urban areas.

Sahil Executive Director Manizeh Bano presented new analysis regarding juvenile abusers cases, demographics of pornography cases, and a pilot compilation of two months data on children’s lives at risk of death and severe injury.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2020