Daily Times

Can a law put a stop to child abuse? More than likely not. As we have seen with lifting the moratorium on the death sentence, making laws more comprehensive and penalties more severe can reduce the number of offenses but that will not eliminate them. It is important to support the initiative for law crimes packaged together as the Child Protection Act that will address holes in the current laws on child abuse and child murder. If the laws prevent one child from being abused, one baby from being killed, they are worth the legislative and bureaucratic effort. If anything could be worse than what they have suffered, it is the knowledge that it could have been prevented. Evidence available in the press itemises what was known and ignored, suppressed or dismissed by local administration and provincial government. Apparently, criminal minds or landlord feuds are both notorious for their macho culture, being hostile to women and children, and contemptuous of victims. Despite the entreaties of local voices, police officials have failed to act.
The Kasur child abuse scandal points to the disturbing social pathology of those who sexually abused and filmed children for blackmail and extortion. It used to be that abuse was something that shamed the abused, never the abuser. Witnesses to it often turned away, made excuses and rationalised both the abuser’s actions and their own. The Kasur scandal illustrates how far we as a society have come when it comes to abuse and how far we have yet to go. While it is disturbing to consider that any adult might feel justified in hurting a child, to reportedly do so on such an enlarged scale speaks volumes of the atrocity with which criminal gangs physically and mentally operate. This shocking case, in which more than 200 children have been allegedly abused, has raised questions about how to prevent and deal with such crimes.
But we are afraid the laws will not have much effect. If child abusers could be prevented from committing their crimes by concern over political consequences, the laws now on the books would suffice. Child abusers do not generally plan their crimes and child abuse does not happen in isolation. Most often, it is chronic criminal behaviour engaged in by people who were themselves subject to abuse and have complex psychological problems.
That pendulum is slowly swinging. As with child labour, societal disapproval can be a stronger force than any law in curbing child abuse. A willingness to step in when we see or hear children being mistreated, express disapproval, report to the police or join the protest, creates an atmosphere in which children prone to violence against powerful sex offenders may are made aware of their rights and are not left vulnerable so easily.
Laws can be reflections of popular will, however, and buttress good intentions. In several recent child abuse cases, the shortcomings of the laws on child abuse have been exposed. It makes sense to reform them. To get a conviction on a child sexual abuse, the current law requires that prosecutors prove the suspect is a molester, which is a high bar to clear, especially since most child abuse takes place in the home or in private.
These acts of violence against children happen spontaneously, in moments of opportunity and frustration, with horrifying results that often surprise the person who commits them. They can be prevented. We also know that the problem is deeply embedded in traditional culture. That is one reason the police often turn a blind eye not just to child abuse but to the abuser of significant political and economic status. The sad truth is that people who abuse children almost never grew up in healthy, loving households but were children of absent, neglectful or hurtful parents. Intervention and education — giving adults the parenting they never had growing up and teaching them the patience and restraint they never learned — is the way to stop the cycle of destruction.
The Kasur scandal calls for a zero-tolerance approach since it is clear that society’s tolerance of adult/child relationships is part of the problem and we need to start chopping away at that cultural attitude. The protection of children from predators, sexual and otherwise, has to be a priority and critics make the obvious point about education and sensitisation at every level. These are realities that we must confront if we are ever to stop spouting silly hot air regarding this terrible practice of child abuse.
One suggestion would be for the government to create a nationwide emergency number, similar to the 911 system, to direct calls to local police authorities. Provinces can designate the entity — such as a child services agency or law enforcement — that will receive complaints and report with an effective response. The government should also consider appointing a child protective services ombudsman to monitor reports and address systemic failures.
However, even before that, the first thing that must happen is to put proper, short and long-term psychological support in place for the victims who have been so damaged by childhood traumas from which they could and should have been protected. Financial compensation must be considered and of course there should be determined pursuit of the abusers. If it is now estimated that there were 250 victims in Kasur, it is vital to establish just how extensive the scale of the abuse has been and to find the other children whose lives have been scarred by this criminal hatred. It is easy to say never again and then fail to do enough to make this a reality. This time, it really must be never again.

The writer is a professor of Psychiatry and consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the UK. He can be contacted at fawad_shifa@yahoo.com