Daily Times

Another day, another child and another callous, insensitive, inhumane case!

Why every other day, a case of child abuse flashes across our screens? Why innocent children have become victims of this appalling crime? Have we ever thought what’s actually wrong, with us collectively as a society? What are the loopholes in our existent laws? What steps need to be taken to put an end to this cycle of abuse, traumatization, deprivation of fundamental rights, that leaves our children scarred for lives?

A report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit “Out of the Shadows”- Pakistan lies at the bottom of the index, which means it is the “least safe” place for children, and the threat of sexual abuse and exploitation against children is one of the highest. While the U.K tops the chart as being the safest one for children. According to estimates, more than 10 children suffered some form of abuse every day in Pakistan in 2018, Sahil NGO.

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a subsequent surge in abuse cases, as well. The past week we have been bombarded with tragic, absolutely heart wrenching news. An 8-year-old Zahra succumbed to injuries inflicted by her employers ?— who tortured her for accidentally setting their so-called expensive parrots free. In another case, a 14-year-old disabled girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by six people in Chakwal. Before this, a 10-year-old minor boy was found strangled after alleged sexual assault.

There are reports of a surge in suspected child abuse cases in Texas. Moreover, the Child-Line, part of the Pennsylvania child protective services program, has shown a 30% to 50% spike in child abuse reports just three weeks after the lockdown.

So what are the reasons behind this consistent pattern?

First, if we have a bare look at the cases the most common targets include the children belonging to poor socio-economic backgrounds, whose parents often give them up as domestic workers, make them take up odd jobs to work as laborers, who are then forced to work in exploitative, degrading conditions. These children, separated from their parents are at the mercy of their ‘masters’ who treat them like ‘slaves’. Our collective societal culture, exuding the mind-set that shapes their attitude towards vulnerable children is, to treat them as a commodity that has been purchased in exchange for a meager amount of money.

Second, familial relations, lack of parental-child understanding and cohesion, communication gap, poor parenting practices, the inability of parents to explain and educate their children regarding abuse, good and bad touch all converge to make children more vulnerable to be exploited at the hands of near relatives or outsiders.

Third, with the emergence of COVID-19, the financial woes of the public have multiplied. The mounting stress associated with financial strain, out of school children, have been stuck with their abusers at home- are an easy target for parents to vent out their frustrations over them and treat them harshly, even physically hurt them.

Fourth, the neglect of children who are left unattended by the caregivers often due to work commitments, are particularly at risk of being exposed to pedophiles, criminals.

These issues have been haunting the society for quite a long time now, but the resurfacing of these incidents emphasizes the fact that we are definitely lacking somewhere in being unable to protect our future generations.

Let’s discuss what are the currently available safeguards for children in Pakistan and what more needs to be done.

Although our constitution secures certain fundamental rights for children- Article 11, 25 (3), 25 (A), 26 (3). There are a good number of other legal provisions which include; Child Protection Bill, 2009, National Commission on the Rights of Children Bill, 2009. The passage of Zainab Alert Act 2019 was indeed a stride towards bringing the perpetrators to account as well as it also established a full-fledged system for tracking down abducted children.

Still, the lack of political will to implement and ensure these provisions is a major impediment in our struggle to get rid of the menace of child abuse.

The need of the time is to take up some urgent measures with a multidimensional holistic approach for tackling child abuse: Given the rampant nature of this particular crime one of the best strategies would be to implement a “community based policing system”. This would allow the police and the community to work together in a mutual collaborative manner based on trust, to ensure child safety with the community being more vigilant towards any wrong against children in society, taking an active part in identifying threats to children that could be immediately reported.

The fragile and sensitive nature of this particular issue also makes it necessary to set up specific units to tackle child violence and protection issues at the community level. For example, in the U.K, every police force has Child Abuse Investigation Units for cases of physical or sexual violence against minors and Sapphire Units for sexual offenses. Police officers need to be specifically trained for handling these cases with empathy and sensitivity. Moreover, these units should be located in buildings (separate from police facilities) to help the victims feel safe.

There is a dire need to establish confidence based linkages between community police, child rights organizations that could provide services to the victims like joint training, patrolling, coordinated referral services.

Apart from these, our educational system should incorporate, PHSE (personal, social, health education) in curricula, raise awareness about good and bad touch, to make the children aware of what is right and wrong. A set of authoritative reports into abuse in Oxford and Rotherham have concluded that good-quality PSHE (personal, social, health education) keeps children safe against abuse and violence.

Lastly, it is pertinent to mention that it is high time for the promulgation of stringent child protection laws, not only with a deterrent punishment for the perpetrators to put an end to this cycle of violence and abuse, but also enhancing child protection and security services.

These children are the future of our country, and while the rest of the world is looking forward to shaping the post-COVID world in the best possible way based on mutual collaboration, trust; why can’t we also take a step forward to make the post-COVID era a safer one for our children?

Writers worked with private hospitals in Lahore and are interested in politics, human rights, women empowerment