The Senate Special Committee on the issue of increasing child abuse cases in Pakistan informed the upper house that Punjab was the province with the most number of incidents of child abuse.
The committee told Senate that 3,832 such cases were reported across the country in 2018, 60% of which were reported in the province of Punjab. Senator Nuzhat Sadiq led 14-member committee presented a report to Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and gave recommendations to counter the situation.
According to the report shared by the committee, a total of 2,403 cases of child abuse were reported in Punjab, a little over 60% of the total reported cases in the country. A total of 1,016 cases were reported in Sindh, 145 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 98 in the province of Balochistan, 34 in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and 6 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Most of the cases included physical punishments in seminaries and schools and violence against child domestic workers. The committee said that 10 million children are studying in madrassas across the country and the government must take necessary steps to save them from abuse.
The report contends that despite the presence of child protection laws in every province, lack of coordination between institutions meant that offenders often escaped punishment. The committee also directed the Ministry of Human Rights to make policies to prevent abuse of children and protect them from such events.
It also called for the formation of a proper institute to address the issue of child abuse effectively and develop an interconnected system between federal and provincial units to curb the growing menace.
The committee told Senate that 3,832 such cases were reported across the country in 2018, 60% of which were reported in the province of Punjab. Senator Nuzhat Sadiq led 14-member committee presented a report to Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and gave recommendations to counter the situation.
According to the report shared by the committee, a total of 2,403 cases of child abuse were reported in Punjab, a little over 60% of the total reported cases in the country. A total of 1,016 cases were reported in Sindh, 145 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 98 in the province of Balochistan, 34 in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and 6 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Most of the cases included physical punishments in seminaries and schools and violence against child domestic workers. The committee said that 10 million children are studying in madrassas across the country and the government must take necessary steps to save them from abuse.
The report contends that despite the presence of child protection laws in every province, lack of coordination between institutions meant that offenders often escaped punishment. The committee also directed the Ministry of Human Rights to make policies to prevent abuse of children and protect them from such events.
It also called for the formation of a proper institute to address the issue of child abuse effectively and develop an interconnected system between federal and provincial units to curb the growing menace.