“the philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it”-Karl Marx
Above is a true depiction of our societal think tanks in all aspects of life. For instance, we come across vibrant discussions on child abuse everywhere in the newspapers, electronic and social media and government rhetoric but very little has been done practically to alleviate these grisly crimes. Many laws have been promulgated against child abuse especially after the rape, abduction and brutal murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari in 2018. But, when it comes to implementation, the results are quite unsatisfactory. Only, after a large hue and cry, powerful criminals are pursued and investigated, and even then, most of them manage to get released later using their powerful influences.
As a norm with this society of ours, blames go simply to the implementation authorities. As a misconception implementation machinery is often thought as limited to sleuths and judiciary.
Whereas, in reality, all of us could be important contributors to this process in one or other ways, if we wish to do so. If you are a parent it is your duty to educate and take care of your child, if you are a news reporter; reporting these abuses in a sensible manner lies with you, if someone is a witness, it is his/her duty to provide evidence to courts to administer justice, general public ought to speak against and report these crimes and try to prevent them from happening and hence, everyone can make an important contribution. And only then there could be hopes of improvements. Remember, nowhere in the world, police or judiciary alone can play a positive role in administering justice or curtailing crimes.
SAHIL, a not-for profit organization working for socio-economic development in Pakistan particularly child protection, has released a report “Cruel Numbers 2019” showing the reported cases of Child abuse during 2019. The data has been compiled based on incidents reported in daily newspapers from all over Pakistan. The report shows that a total of 2,846 cases of sexual abuse with children have been reported during the year 2019, let alone unreported cases which are expected to be even on the higher side. On an average, 8 children are abused per day. These are very harrowing eye opener statistics and deserve utmost priorities and resources to be allocated to vanquish these offences by implementing strict measures.
Lack of education is a contributing factor in the development of these crimes. According to a report issued by UNICEF, Pakistan has World’s second highest number of out-of-school children. Out of destitute, these helpless creatures are then forced into child labor, where they are at the mercy of employers and /or others and fell easy prey to the sex predators rampant everywhere. Despite pre-election promises to eradicate poverty, nothing has been done to uplift people from poverty. Instead the situation has deteriorated further. Even for school goers, there is no sex education in school curriculums, neither they are trained properly how to behave with others especially strangers. Religious activities that were once considered as important deterrents against crimes are now quite questionable in the face of a huge number of reported cases of ‘maulvis’ molesting children in madrassas to satiate their carnal pleasures.
Introduction of sexual education in schools is important as it enables the children to know about their private body parts and basic rights. Through this education, they can be guided and encouraged to report any actual or potential maltreatment inflicted to them directly to teachers and parents without any fear of reprisal or sense of stigma and shame. Physical activities and workshops can be conducted to demonstrate essential safety tips including but not limited to screaming, fleeing towards a safer place or person and using self-defense tactics i.e. kicking, hitting or biting the potential intruders in the need of hour. Further, in the face of such excruciating cases of child abuse witnessed every day, special teachers should be appointed in schools whose jobs revolve around combating molestations and harassments. Unfortunately, when we hear about an incident of child abuse, we scratch our heads for some time, get worried momentarily and then forget it, taking for granted that this curse will not reach us. These perceptions must be altered as all children are ours; any suffering to one, affect all others in one way or the other. The environment of constant fear and uncertainty brings severe long-term psychological effects to all. Further, an abused child today will be a perpetrator of tomorrow, it is a simple psychology. Parents regarded as ‘first teachers” need to make their children aware of their rights and obligations. The common dictum that we have been imparting them from times immemorial i.e. “to respect and obey the elders’ should now be altered accordingly. Little brains clouded by this ‘respect and obeyance’ thing do whatever perpetrators want them to do. Parents should always be keen to listen to their children’s concerns and appreciate and invoke openness and boldness in dealing with their problems especially those revolving around such tabooed areas.
And once these perpetrators are stuffed into jails, the situation gets even worse. Instead of improving their personality disorders through proper rehabilitation programs, this ‘derangement syndrome’ is exacerbated further. Once released, these criminals pose even more serious threats to humanity. To cope with this, special training and rehabilitation centers should be established within prisons and jails equipped with well qualified psychiatrists to heal their mental disorders.
Moreover, there is a dire need to completely revamp the police culture as currently people avoid police and judiciary as their first choice. The reason is that the investigation and adjudication process is seen as unjust, hectic, immoral and instigates a sense of stigma.
Social revolutions throughout history have always been the fruits of collective efforts forwarded by the people steering towards a positive cause. But, social and cultural tendency to put an end to social evils like these has been extremely low especially in our society. Though we indulge and interfere happily in others’ festivities obliterating all privacy taglines, but when it comes to a case of suffering or molestation of someone, we shut our eyes labelling it as a matter of privacy to the family and /or victims and perpetrators, on purpose not to spoil our terms with someone.
This attitude of ours is not paving a way for evolution of humanity towards a peaceful future. We must raise our voice in favor of depressed ones if we want to make this world a piece of heaven for our generations to come, otherwise it is feared that we will be on a track to further devolution.