Daily Times

Child-on-child sexual abuse is a form of child sexual abuse (CSA) in which a child is sexually abused by one or more other children and in which no adult is directly involved in sexually abusing the child. It also includes a child using physical force, threats, trickery or emotional manipulation to elicit cooperation, and non-coercive situations where a child proposes or starts a sexual act that the victimised child does not understand the nature of and simply goes along with, not comprehending its implications or what the consequences might be.

Children who are sexually victimised by other minors show largely the same problems as children victimised by adults, including anxiety disorders, depression, drug abuse, suicide, eating disorders, post- traumatic stress disorder, sleep disorders, and difficulty trusting peers in the context of relationships.

Under the international law, there is no uniform definition of child sexual abuse. The International Rescue Committee and UNICEF define CSA by compiling various definitions of CSA as “Child sexual abuse is any form of sexual activity with a child by an adult or by another child who has power over the child.”

It is possible for a child to be sexually abused by another child. CSA often involves body contact. This could include sexual kissing, touching, and oral, anal or vaginal sex. But all kinds of sexual abuse do not involve body contact. Forcing a child to witness rape and/or other acts of sexual violence, forcing children to watch pornography, or show their private parts, showing a child private parts (flashing), verbally pressuring a child for sex, and exploiting children as prostitutes or for pornography are also acts of sexual abuse.

In Pakistan’s criminal justice system, CSA and child pornography are defined and penalised under the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (PPC), Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and various provincial laws of land. The PPC prescribes punishments for offences committed in Pakistan, define CSA in its section 377A as “whoever employs, uses, forces, persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any person to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in fondling, stroking, caressing, exhibitionism, voyeurism or any obscene or sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct either independently or in conjunction with other acts, with or without consent where age of person is less than eighteen years, is said to commit the offence of sexual abuse.”

Although the different forms of sexual abuse like fondling, stroking, caressing, exhibitionism or voyeurism or any obscene or sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct have been incorporated in the PPC, but these terms are not defined in detail in the PPC, which create complications for prosecution during the trial stage.

The definition of CSA under domestic laws of Pakistan is not fully compatible with the definition of CSA under international laws. The international law clearly says that child can be sexually abused by another child, who by age or physical or mental development is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power over a child who is being sexually abused. The definition of CSA, therefore, under domestic laws need to be modified according to the definition under international benchmarks. Moreover, there are no special legislation and procedures described in the Criminal Procedure Code of Pakistan as to how a criminal responsibility of a child would be evaluated for commission of his/her sexual abuse offence with another child, and what kind of punishment under the PPC can be awarded to a juvenile sex abuser. Section 83 of the PPC provides relaxation in criminal responsibility up to the age of 14 years if a child has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his conduct at the time of the commission of offence. But it is not mentioned in the Pakistani law how the criminal responsibility or awareness about sexual abuse of a juvenile abuser would be determined by a court.

Under the PPC and provincial laws of Pakistan, the punishments for CSA offences are prescribed for abusers who commit these traumatic offences. The minimum punishment prescribed under these laws is one-year imprisonment or fine of one hundred thousand rupees or both in case of “exposure to seduction.” The maximum punishment is death sentence or life imprisonment along with fine in case of a rape offence.

There is an ongoing debate in the country for imposition of a harsher punishment in the form of public hanging of convicts of CSA in order to create deterrence against such offences in our society. The present punishments prescribed for CSA offences under the PPC are already harsh; the maximum punishment is death sentence in case of rape of a female child who is below sixteen years of age. So, instead of focusing on a harsher punishment in the form of public hanging, which is in strict violation of human dignity and international laws and standards, we need to focus on adoption of preventive measures to curb this menace.

The foremost step to achieve this goal is to sensitise parents, guardians, teachers, and the general public on preventive measures that can be adopted for protection of children from sexual abuse. Some preventive measures: never leave your child alone either at home or outside home; keep an eye on child’s activities especially outside home; have knowledge of your child’s friends; and monitor the interaction of child with other people such as teachers, servants, relatives, acquaintances.

Sahil statistics reveal that cases of child-on-child sexual abuse offences have also been reported during the second half of 2019

In 2019, the World Health Organization published the global statistics on violence against children. It was estimated that over half of all children in the world, up to one billion children aged 2-17 years, experience physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect in a year’s time. In Pakistan, CSA is a rampant crime. NGO Sahil recently published statistics about CSA cases in Pakistan during the year 2019. The statistics reveal that a total number of 2,846 cases from all provinces/administrative territories were reported in newspapers during the year 2019, which indicates that eight children are abused per day in Pakistan.

Sahil statistics reveal that cases of child-on-child sexual abuse offences have also been reported during the second half of 2019. From July to December 2019, a total of 11 CSA cases were reported in which the abuser’s age was under 18 years. A minimum of five-year difference in age of abuser and victim has been used as a benchmark for labelling the act as child-on-child sexual abuse. Another category of CSA is pornography (illegal filming of CSA for personal or distribution purposes). Sahil’s statistics reveal that during the year 2019, out of the total reported cases, 70 cases of CSA in conjunction with pornography were recorded from all over Pakistan.

In 2019, the reported statistics about CSA cases in Pakistan are just the tip of the iceberg. Due to the taboo nature of this subject, the number of unreported cases might be much higher. It was the first time in 2019 that cases of child-on-child sexual abuse were reported. More juveniles were reported as abusers in CSA cases. This emerging problem of child-on-child sexual abuse needs to be investigated, and measures should be taken for its prevention.

The writer is an Islamabad-based human rights lawyer. He can be reached at adv.wajahat.ali@gmail.com and on Twitter @Adv_WajahatAli