The seminar was held to mark International Day for Prevention of Child Abuse.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Mr Adnan said, while outlining how, in his experience in giving legal aid to the families of victims, parents tend to become discouraged as the process drags on.
“What happens is parents are told to let it go, and enter in to compromises as police become reluctant to do their job,” he said.
A child sex abuse cell should be headed by an officer ranking at least superintendent of police or above, who was more directly responsible for what happened beneath him, he said, adding that police had special cells to investigate car theft but not sexual abuse.
He added that certain obstacles prevented children from getting free legal aid from bar councils and NGOs, such as the failure of police to write the victim’s age and address on FIRs. Furthermore, he said, investigations at present tended to favour the perpetrators who were allowed to roam freely while lengthy investigations were underway. Instead, said Mr Adnan, a statement of a victim, witness, or a medico-legal report should suffice as evidence at the preliminary stage to make a presumption of apparent guilt and allow the police to hold an alleged perpetrator.
Manizeh Bano, Sahil executive director, reported the results an extensive media survey carried out by the NGO which found that most child victims of sexual abuse knew their attackers, most victims were girls, and most incidences took place at home.
On the definition of child sexual abuse, Ms Bano included lewd comments directed at children, voyeurism, exhibitionism, pornography, molestation, abduction, rape and sodomy.
She said for the five years Sahil had been monitoring child sex abuse cases, incidents had continued to increase, though acknowledged this may be a function of more extensive monitoring, better reporting by journalists, and a greater awareness on the part of parents to report cases. Between 2002 and 2007, 8,209 cases of child abuse were reported, equating 3.2 children a day, she said – though the number of reported cases may only be the tip of the iceberg.
She added that in 2007, up to 13 cases of rape then murder were reported – most of them as part of tribal revenge customs.
On the subject of why girls were more abused than boys, she surmised that girls were more readily viewed as sexual objects in society, that girls were easier to access because they remained at home more than boys, and that boys may be less willing to report abuse incidents out of misplaced pride or else put incidents down to “experimentation”.
Part of the solution, she said, was to sensitise children themselves over what child abuse was and educate them to report it. She said Sahil had also prepared cartoons to educate children.
Families of victims continued to pretend there had been no problem, according to Dr Javaria Mannan, child department head at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
A great share of the blame lied with the police themselves for failing to act, according to
M Tahseen, director of the NGO.
He noted a case of child abuse he had come across in Multan where police said they only helped boy victims and not girls. He said when the government could promote MNA Bijarani (who ordered that five minor girls be given as compensation for a murder) and Senator Zehri (who condoned it) to cabinet posts, there was little hope for ordinary people.
The media should play a more responsible role in sensitising the public, said Dr Anjum Zia, chairperson of Mass Communication at Lahore College for Women’s University.
Instead of simply reporting news items, more features were needed to humanise the plight of victims, along with investigative journalism to break open cases. The media also has an important role in ensuring victims and their families are accorded appropriate respect rather than being painted villains, she said. She said that crime reporters were timid in their reporting of sexual abuse cases for fear of upsetting their readership with overly descriptive passages – though such work was needed to make the public fully aware of the extent of the problems faced, she said.
CHILD PROTECTION & WELFARE: The Punjab government has taken strides in ensuring child protection in the province, claimed Dr Faiza Asghar, Child Protection and Welfare Bureau chairperson.
She said that, as a signatory to the UN Convention of the Rights of Child, International Labour Ordinance, the government was upholding its duty through child protection institutions.
She said these institutions set up in Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, and had one planned in Rahim Yar Khan, and had “saved” 10,000 children from the streets, of which 689 had been returned to their family and the rest were living with the bureau.
The public could help the bureau do its work by calling 1121 and alerting authorities if children under the age of 15 were found begging or engaging in child labour on the streets, she said.
Earlier, the bureau held a children’s mela at its headquarters on Shalimar Link Road to celebrate World Children Day with underprivileged children.