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CHILD abuse and neglect include both commission of physical, sexual and psychological abuse and omission in failing to provide emotional, educational needs and protection from harm. Too often, incidents of child abuse surface, leading to public outcry and arrests of perpetrators, and then everybody retreats to their corner.
The recently passed Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act (ZARRA) is perhaps the first instance by the state of truly recognising the severity and urgency of this issue. All the same, three nagging questions remain: (i) what are the main causes of such incidents recurring; (ii) can ZARRA adequately prevent such incidents; (iii) what simultaneous steps can state and society take to create a safe, stable and nurturing environment for children?
First, it must be understood that child abuse cases are significantly unreported, especially those of minor girls, owing to the social stigma attached to being a victim. Despite being a flashpoint for child abuse in the news, in Kasur district, for example, only 79 cases of child abuse (including rape and sodomy of minors) involving 94 accused persons were lodged in 2019. Fifty-nine cases of attempted rape and sodomy cases involving 62 accused persons were also lodged.
Second, perpetrators of these heinous crimes are often themselves victims of abuse during childhood. During police investigation, the accused in the Zainab and Chunian rape-murder cases both revealed that they were raped as children. When a child is abused at such an early age, it can leave indelible marks on their psyche.
The Zainab alert law is a positive step, albeit with some flaws.
Third, in almost all these cases, predators find easy targets among poor victims; the more in need, the easier it is to entice them with paltry sums of money or other gifts. Even Zainab was lured away in such a manner.
And fourth, barring the occasional media frenzy, our society is generally apathetic and desensitised towards the issue of child abuse. Perpetrators are viewed simply as psychopathic or monstrous outliers instead of people hidden in plain sight.
The recently passed ZARRA is an encouraging step. The act is a much-needed attempt to chalk out an institutional response. It is holistic and integrated in the sense that it involves more than one department in the recovery of missing and abducted children. On the response level, it constitutes a dedicated agency with an early warning system — helpline 1099 — to report cases. Convicted offenders will now be sentenced to at least 10 years behind bars, up to a maximum of life imprisonment. But still its approach is reactionary and severe. There are few areas that need further improvement.
First, ZARRA altogether fails to address child abuse prevention. Incarceration alone cannot act as an effective deterrent in the absence of an overarching and efficient preventive mechanism, which has been ignored. Second, rehabilitation of victims after their release from hostile custody is an area that also needs attention.
Then, the law envisages an alert system along the lines of the US Amber Alert, which was named after a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and subsequently killed in Texas in 1996. The alert system has yielded a significant number of recoveries of lost children in the US. However, replicating the same model in Pakistan doesn’t necessarily guarantee the same results. In fact, the dynamics of our society are different.
The alert system works well in urban societies with an extensively integrated service structure. If ZARRA is instantaneously circulated to the general public as outlined in Article 5(a) of the act, it will create more panic and insecurity, and in the bargain be of little help, if at all. Information concerning the descriptions of missing children should be shared among concerned quarters only — related government departments, intelligence agencies and the population of a specific area.
In order to forestall incidents of child abuse, state and society should collectively step up efforts. At a societal level, it starts primarily with positive parenting in a family where children are provided care and nurtured at home. They are taught the difference between appropriate and inappropriate exposure and contact. They are closely monitored in the company of non-immediate relatives, family friends and in seminaries.
At a state level, a more aggressive and thoughtful response is needed; local police must devise a surveillance mechanism to check the activities of desperate, unemployed, notorious elements in society, especially those involved in child abuse incidents in the past, as well as places like internet cafés, snooker clubs, mechanic workshops and ill-reputed seminaries.
To protect its citizens from any assault is the fundamental duty of the state. A state cannot afford ignorance, nor can it allow its citizens’ lives to be ruined by predators.
The writer is a police officer.
Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2020
