Twenty five years after Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, laws to protect and shelter children from sexual abuse and violence are still missing.
Pakistani society is perturbed over the recent Kasur tragedy where 400 children have been molested and videos recorded. These videos of brutal molestation have been placed in social media. Unfortunately Pakistani media noticed very late, but at last, government took strong action and all culprits have been arrested.
There is the need for effective and strong legislation to protect the future of the country’s children from sexual abuse and other related violence. Twenty five years after Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, laws to shelter children from violence are still not up to the mark. These laws have been written to favour the abuser rather than the abused. However, some progress was made over the last decade in addressing children’s rights due to active participation of civil society in Pakistan. The establishment of Child Helplines and Child Protection Centres have greatly supported and addressed child rights.
The Pakistan Panel code has included the offence of molestation. Different surveys and studies on child abuse by local non-governmental organisations (NGO) as well as media coverage have also helped to broaden public awareness of the issue. But, despite all these efforts, Pakistani laws about child protection are almost inactive. People are mostly remaining ignorant about these laws. In these child molestation cases, people prefer silence due to family pride and other related social and cultural barriers. Thanks to the active local civil society and media reporting, now the Kasur, Punjab, case is in speedy trial military courts.
Now is the right time to enact all child protection bills and protect future of Pakistan from sexual and other related tragedies.
- The reader is a freelance writer based in Karachi, Pakistan.
