Child Abuse in Pakistan

Child Abuse is one of the most heinous crimes, the reason lies in its nature and implications. Whenever a child became a victim of abuse it leaves long-lasting effects on children such as psychological disorders to social and behavioral problems. Child Abuse has various forms like maltreatment of a child, physical injury, harassment, Sexual abuse, Exploitation, and Emotional abuse. but in recent years most dominant form is the sexual abuse of children in our society due to some well-known and some unknown reasons which are never fully recognized and put on priority lists for their timely correction and that non-seriousness causes serious damages to the future of the country. the mentioned negligence of institutions has many reasons and their resolvement was never sought due to the criminal attitude of some people in the corridors of power.

 

Recent incidents of child abuse in Pakistan are disturbing because despite many laws about the prevention of child abuse and awards of strict punishments to the offenders. So here the question arises why do these steps not prove helpful to prevent such cases? There is a fault in our dealing with it, We were outraged when the Kasur scandal occurred then we demanded harsh punishments for the offenders, and that demand was fulfilled, and in turn, nothing improved. Even it leads us toward another scandal emergence in Khairpur district Sindh where a former teacher abused children and filmed these vicious acts.

 

Formerly, We assumed that the centers of child maltreatment and abuse were the religious seminaries but the record suggests otherwise. We need to check things through different glasses otherwise cases will continue to emerge and we would continue to award harsh punishments without improving the situation a bit. and millions of children will suffer from it and would lose their ability to integrate with society, which is a big loss for a nation.

 

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM: There are many problems when it comes to dealing with child abuse but here are some most prominent factors,

 

1. Implementations of Laws 
2. lack of knowledge regarding child abuse in parents and especially in children which is why most of the children could not tell their parents about their sufferings.
3. Punishment must be based on deterrence.

How To Handle It: It is very simple to handle and just needs sincere and accurate plans and strategies. But due to traditional snail's pace response leads us to the point where escalated seriously. If some already mentioned lags are removed or overcome efficiently then some below points of action would effectively eradicate the menace from our society.

1. Mass Awareness and Bring The Child Abuse in a discussion of the public domain so the psychological barrier of silence due to the consideration of child abuse as the culturally shameful act of which no one wants to talk publically, this publicization would lead people to report such heinous act of crimes without feeling any fear of shame.
2. Enforce The Law; the enforcement of law and order situation by the law enforcement agencies would put a significant impact on the incidents of child abuse because it would create deterrence in society. The certainty law is very important it deters criminals from indulging in criminal behavior.
3. Professional training; professional training to the teachers and staff of educational institutions about child abuse and also children should be informed through training about bad and good touches by suspects, so they could identify and properly respond to such acts.
4.  setup of an empowered Commission which will guide institutions and monitor the overall situation of the country and that accountability would ensure the strict adherence to law and rules. Through this setup of a high-powered commission, the follow-up of cases and legal assistance to the victims, and other facilitation will lead to the improvement.