CHILD ABUSE

CHILD ABUSE;

Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation

OR

An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm

WHAT IS CHILD ABUSE;

Child abuse includes any threatening or violent interaction of physical, psychological or sexual nature that may cause physical or psychological harm to the child. This includes neglect and withholding essential aid, medical care and education. Sexual and physical abuse are forms of physical violence; in addition, forms of mental abuse also exist. Forced marriage at a very young age and ritual circumcision of girls are also forms of child abuse. Children have the right to protection from all forms of maltreatment, abuse, neglect and violence.

WHERE DOES CHILD ABUSE OCCUR;

Sadly enough, child abuse is common in many countries. In 2013, Terre des Hommes supported 32 projects to counter abuse in countries such as Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, India, Bolivia, Indonesia and Cambodia.

ABUSE IN CHILD PAKISTAN;

Above 1,300 child sexual abuse cases reported in Pakistan within six months

The report by NGO specifically took into consideration the incidents of sexual violence against children between January and June this year and concluded that the almost a shocking 1,304 cases had been reported during the mentioned period.

It went on to add that as many as 729 girls and 575 boys suffered sexual abuse of some kind between Jan-Jun 2019.

The report revealed that there had been 652 report cases in Punjab, 458 in Sindh, 32 in Balochistan, whereas, 51 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Meanwhile, reports of sexual abuse pertaining to underage children amounted to 90 in Islamabad, 18 in Azad Kashmir and 3 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The report further mentioned that as many as 50 children became victims of sexual abuse in Lahore alone.

It was also revealed that as many as 12 minor girls and boys suffered sexual abuse in Madrassahs. 

TYPES OF CHILD ABUSE;

·       Physical abuse

·       Sexual abuse

·       Emotional abuse/psychological abuse

·       Neglect abuse

PHYSICAL ABUSE;

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Child Physical Abuse as any act that causes physical harm to the child. This may take the form of actual interaction or lack of interaction by a person in charge of the child to protect him/her from actual or potential harm. The type of injuries includes severe beating, shaking, burns, fractures, attempted suffocation or strangulation or abusive use of drugs to a child or adolescent.

SEXUAL ABUSE;

CSA is the involvement of children in sexual activity which they cannot fully comprehend as they are developmentally immature and unprepared for it. The consent of the child has no moral or legal implications . In CSA the exposure of children to sexual act is inappropriate for child’s age and psychosocial development. Sexual abuse can occur with or without physical contact.

Without Physical Contact: includes passing of sexual comments or verbal sexual abuse, exhibitionism, masturbation, pornography and voyeurism.

With Physical Contact: Includes kissing, hugging or touching in a sexual way, fondling, oral sex, anal or vaginal penetration, molestation (attempted rape or sodomy).

EMOTIONAL ABUSE;

Emotional abuse happens when people consistently say things and behave in a way that conveys to the child that they are inadequate, unloved, worthless, or only valued as far as the other person's needs are concerned.

This can have a profound, long-term impact on the child.Some examples are

• not allowing children to express their views and opinions
• ridiculing what they say
• silencing them
• frequently shouting at or threatening them
• mocking the way they are or how they try to communicate
• giving a child the "silent treatment" as a punishment
• limiting physical contact
• telling them they are "no good" or "a mistake"
• preventing normal social interaction with peers and others
• ill-treating another person in front of the child for example, through domestic violence
• bullying, including online bullying
• "emotional blackmail"

NEGLECT ABUSE;

Child neglect is when a parent or caregiver persistently fails to meet the basic physical and psychological needs of a child, resulting in impairment of the child's health or development.

Some overlap exists between the definitions of emotional abuse and emotional neglect. There are three basic types of neglect; physical neglect, educational neglect, and emotional neglect.

Physical Neglect	Failure to provide food, clothing appropriate for the weather, supervision, a home that is hygienic and safe, and/or medical care, as needed.
Educational Neglect	Failure to enroll a school-age child in school or to provide necessary special education. This includes allowing excessive absences from school.
Emotional Neglect	Failure to provide emotional support, love, and affection. This includes neglect of the child's emotional needs and failure to provide psychological care, as needed.

CHILD PROTECTION;

Child protection is a concept that aims to safeguard children from Economic exploitation, physical and sexual abuse, and effects of war, neglect, abandonment, maltreatment and Discrimination. It also includes provision of proper care and /or rehabilitation for vulnerable children. Child Protection is about “protecting every right of every child”. Pakistan is both nationally and internationally committed to fully protect the rights of its children. It has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 which is the most comprehensive document enshrining all fundamental rights of children. The Constitution of Pakistan lays out a range of rights in regard to children. The first goal of National Vision 2025 is “Putting People First, Development of Human and Social Capital”. This can be best achieved by ensuring empowerment and human resource development processes starting at birth and carried through childhood and adolescence. The State bears the primary responsibility to create a preventive and protective environment for children through legislation, policymaking and institutional reform. It is now over a quarter of century that Pakistan signed the CRC [19]. According to CRC the state has to develop a child protection system to ensure optimum child development and protection. Conventions required legislation to make the CRC law of the land. Till date, Pakistan has no comprehensive children acts or enabling law with regard to the CRC, as a result the Convention cannot be directly applied in the courts. Relevant legislation on child protection like, Child Protection (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2009The Child Marriages Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2009, Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000 etc. are in its various stages of implementation.

CHILD ABUSE IN KASUR;

The Kasur child sexual abuse scandal is a series of child sexual abuses that occurred in Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur District, Punjab, Pakistan from 2006 to 2014, culminating in a major political scandal in 2015. After the discovery of hundreds of video clips showing children performing forced sex acts, various Pakistani media organizations estimated that 280 to 300 children, most of them male, were victims of sexual abuse.^[1] The scandal involved an organized crime ring that sold child pornography to porn sites, and blackmailed and extorted relatives of the victims.

The scandal caused nationwide outrage,^[  among allegations that the Punjab police and Malik Ahmad Saeed Khan, Kasur's Member of the Provincial Assembly from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), were involved in an attempted cover-up of the abuse.^[3]

It is cited by both news agencies and government departments as the largest child abuse scandal in Pakistan's history.^[4] Besides large-scale public condemnation, 50 Pakistani clergy and religious scholars issued a fatwa (religious decree) for capital punishment of the culprits, and demanded that the government console the victims and their parents

CONCLUSION:

Pakistan still lacks a legal definition of child abuse, neglect or violence (CAN & violence). In most of the instances a definition put forward by the World Health Organization is being followed. There exist no official source of data on CAN& violence. Mandatory reporting does not exist [25]. Although, a number of action plan, bill and act are in their various stages of approval and implementation, still Pakistan has far to go in child protection. Being signatory to CRC the prime responsibility lies with the state, but the parents and society need to show their commitments and responsibility too. "There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace.

SUBMITTED BY: HAMNA HASSAN

ROLL# 17

MSC 3^RD SEMESTER

SUBMITTED TO;  Mrs. NAJMA BANO

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC; CHILD ABUSE IN                       PAKISTAN