Daily Times

On December 31 of last year, Chinese authorities alerted the World Health Organization of an outbreak of coronavirus causing severe illness, which was subsequently named SARS-CoV-2. As of April 01, 2020, nearly 874,560 COVID-19 cases have been documented, although many more mild cases have likely gone undiagnosed. The virus has killed over 43,428 people.

Shortly after the epidemic began, Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of SARS-CoV-2 and made the data available to researchers worldwide. The novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that emerged in the city of Wuhan, China, last year and has since caused a large scale COVID-19 epidemic is the product of natural evolution.

The analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered, according to findings published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Since corona has spread almost across the globe, it has been declared a pandemic. While we are waiting for a breakthrough to cure the corona virus, I would like to bring your attention towards another pandemic which has always been here: paedophilia; child sex abuse.

Paedophilia is believed to have occurred in humans throughout history. The International Classification of Diseases defines it as a, sustained, focused, and intense pattern of sexual arousal as manifested by persistent sexual thoughts, fantasies, urges, or behaviours involving pre-pubertal children. Child sexual abuse, also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whether by asking or pressuring, or by other means), indecent exposure of genitals, child grooming, child sexual exploitation or using a child to produce child pornography.

Child sexual abuse occurs in all populations. It happens to children in all socioeconomic and educational levels, across all racial and cultural groups, and in both rural and urban areas; it can occur in a variety of settings, including home, school, or in places where child labour is common. The vast majority of child sexual abusers include someone the child knows such as a relative, teacher, clergy, neighbour, or friend. Approximately 60 percent of boys and 80 percent of girls who were sexually victimized were abused by someone the child knew. The global prevalence of child sexual abuse has been estimated at 19.7% for females and 7.9% for males. Approximately 30% abusers are relatives of the child; around 60% are other acquaintances, such as friends” of the family, babysitters, or neighbours. Most child sexual abuse is committed by men; Child sexual abuse often occurs alongside other possibly confounding variables, such as poor family environment and physical abuse.

Child sexual abuse can result in both short-term and long-term harm, including psychopathology in later life. The effects of child sexual abuse can include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, propensity to further victimization in adulthood, and physical injury to the child, among other problems. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma. Research has shown that traumatic stress, including stress caused by sexual abuse, causes notable changes in brain functioning and development.

The physical signs of child sexual abuse are often hard to detect, as most perpetrators avoid physically harming their victims so they can repeat the activities over time. Because of this dynamic and the fact that children generally disclose long after the last contact, few children will have diagnostic findings. Child sexual abuse can be very different from rape, where force and restraint are used and signs of injury are generally present. Children who received supportive responses following disclosure had less traumatic symptoms and were abused for a shorter period of time than children who did not receive support.

In 2015 authorities in Kasur uncovered a massive paedophilia ring. In a scandal that rocked the Pakistan, at least 280 children were sexually abused by a gang who blackmailed their parents by threatening to leak the video, it involved an organized crime ring that sold child pornography to porn sites Kasur child sexual abuse scandal is a series of child sexual abuses that occurred in Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur District from 2006.

The effects of child sexual abuse can include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, propensity to further victimization in adulthood, and physical injury to the child, among other problems

The man linked to the rape and murder of the four boys in Chunian, spoke out following his arrest about his own history of suffering sexual abuse. He was abused for 12 years at the shop where he worked, he told police, who later arrested his former employer.

In 2017, Pakistan’s penal code was amended to address the endemic problem of child abuse. Laws were tightened concerning child pornography, exposure of a child to seduction and child sexual abuse.

In 2018, over 3,800 cases of child sexual abuse were reported across Pakistan, according to child rights organisation, SAHIL. The most vulnerable groups were identified as boys between the ages of six and 15 years old, and girls who are either infants or between 16 and 18 years old.

In October 2018 six-year-old Zainab Ansari’s body was found in a trash dump in Kasur’s main town. Police said she was raped before she was killed. Imran Ali, a local man, was arrested and convicted for her murder in a high-profile trial following countrywide protests against the crime.

On February 07, 2020 Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution calling for the public hanging of convicted child killers and rapists. The non-binding resolution follows a spate of high profile child sex-abuse cases that have provoked outrage and riots across Pakistan in recent years. The Quran commands us that a murderer should be hanged, child killers and rapists should not only be given the death penalty by hanging, but they should be hanged publicly, said Ali Muhammad Khan, Pakistan’s parliamentary affairs minister, who presented the resolution in the national assembly.

Although sexual abuse and murder of children are among the most horrific crimes, but the death penalty is not a solution. Capital punishment does not deter crime. Executions, whether public or private, do not deliver justice. They are acts of vengeance and there is no evidence that they serve as a uniquely effective deterrent. Pakistan should focus on proper child protection and crime prevention measures instead. Lawmakers in Pakistan need to look at the facts; there is no evidence anywhere in the world that capital punishment deters crime any more than prison.

As a society, we have a collective responsibility to prevent child sexual abuse. I am sure there will be cure for COVID-19 soon, but the child sex abuse. There is no evidence that paedophilia can be cured.

The writer is a traveller and freelance writer based in UK