Sexual abuses against children surging in Pakistan: Report

Incidents of sexual abuse against children are surging in Pakistan with the child protection organisation Sahil stating that the abuse has increased by two children per day in comparison with last year's January-June report, local media said.

The fresh report titled "Six Months Cruel Numbers 2021" by Sahil said that more than 10 children were subjected to sexual abuse on average every day between January and June, according to Geo News.

"This year, 81 daily national and regional newspapers were monitored during January-June 2021 to collect data on child sexual abuse, abduction, missing children, and the cases of early forced marriages," the report said.

The report has data from all four provinces of Pakistan and it revealed that a total of 1,896 cases of child abuse were reported in the period. Out of these, 1,084 cases were of sexual abuse against children, 523 were cases of abduction, 238 cases of missing children, and 51 cases of child marriages, reported Geo News.Nearly 53% (1,013) of the victims were girls and (883) 47% were boys.

Nearly 60% of the total cases were reported from Punjab and 6% from the Islamabad Capital Territory. Since 1996, the child protection agency Sahil has been working on child protection, especially against child sexual abuse (CSA), according to Geo News.

Live TV