Child labour and Sexual harassment in Pakistan

Children are the assets of our society and how we bring them up determines the future of our country. It is the shared responsibility of the entire society to raise healthy children and in this respect, I believe we as a nation are failing dismally. Our children today face multiple problems such as child labour, physical, sexual and verbal abuse. Perhaps the most serious of these issues is sexual abuse.It is an impermissible crime which does not receive its due share of attention from social or legal circles in Pakistan. Cultural and religious sensitivities create a hushed aura about this topic, and this article aims to break that and to raise voices against it.Our silence and general inaction amplifies the psychological, physical and social consequences that sexual abuse has for victims. Every time I watch or read a news report on child sexual abuse, my mind grappled with why and how anybody could commit such a heinous act. We need to examine the issue of sexual abuse, how to prevent it and how to help heal those who have suffered it.

1.Child labour in Pakistan

Child labor in Pakistan is the employment of children for work in Pakistan, which causes mental, physical, moral and social harm to children.Pakistan is regularly near the top of the list of the countries where child labor is common. You need to take drastic measures to end the problem. On 14 July, Punjab government enacted an ordinance prohibiting employment of children and defined strict rules for the use of teenagers between 15 to 18 years. The implementation of the Restriction of the Use of Children Ordinance 2016 is a daunting task and so on Friday, the government of Punjab plans to provide subsidies for workers children to work in factories and workshops to be registered with them in schools announced. Child workers will be offered enrollment in school or skills training to the Punjab Vocational Training Council (VBAC), which has already trained 69,000 children from 14 to 18 years to develop.

In an effort to eliminate the children in brick kilns, the provincial government is Rs1000 per child available; While the three sectors identified – auto repair shops, fuel pumps, hotels and restaurants – the amount expected to double. Is a good step to give incentives for parents and employers to take children to school. Selected employers of young workers because they can pay them less for the same work and can be exploited more easily. Meanwhile, many children are forced to enter the labor market early because of poverty. Employers and minors, therefore, gaps because the choice is going to school who cannot or medical facilities. For many children, this is not the choice of education and work, between sitting useless in poor schools or some work experience or cash. In addition, a successful market for labor and child trafficking in Pakistan and more likely than adults to become involved in your network.

Technical education is employment opportunities might be available, but much of the country’s industry, especially SMEs, under controlled conditions and for work comply with labor laws. Machines and information. Laws cannot change much, at least some of the side of the children. The solution is quite simple, which can produce bright students so that the opportunity cost of time spent in class small compared to the economic results after the education establishment. However, this is something that does not make for good political mandates, or for shocking headlines in the media. This question is left on the edge, like children picking up trash on the streets, exposed to malnutrition, abuse and trafficking.

2.Children Harassment and sexual abusing in Pakistan

At least 11 children became victims of sexual abuse everyday while almost 100 were murdered after sexual assault in 2016, a 10 per cent increase in such cases compared to the previous year.Out of the sexual abuse victims, 41 per cent were boys. As many as 2,410 girls and 1,729 boys were sexually abused last year. (A report launched in 2017)

The report, ‘Cruel numbers 2016’ revealed that 4,139 children were sexually abused last year out of which 76 per cent cases were reported from rural areas whereas 24 per cent were reported from urban areas.Besides sexual violence and abuse, children are being subjected to physical torture and even murdered in their own homes.

The report has been compiled after monitoring and gathering data from 86 national, regional and local newspapers.

Punjab reported the highest number of cases (2,676) in 2016 which were followed by 987 cases reported from Sindh, 166 from Balochistan, 156 from Islamabad, 141 from Khyber-Pakhtunkwa, nine from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and four cases from Gilgit-Baltistan.

Of the total around 78 per cent of cases were registered with the police, 32 per cent were unregistered, whereas police refused to register an FIR for 142 cases.

The study reveals that among major crime categories, 1,445 cases of abduction were reported, followed by 502 rape cases, 453 cases of sodomy, 217 gang rape cases, 268 gang sodomy and 362 cases of attempt of child sexual abuse.

A 19 per cent increase has been reported in abduction cases which have increased from 1,386 cases in 2015 to 1,654 cases in 2016 bringing the number of abducted children to five per day.

The highest percentage of vulnerable age group among both boys and girls was reported between the ages of 11 and 15 years and the second vulnerable group between the ages of 6 and 10 years.

Around 97 per cent of the children were abused once and in three per cent of the cases children were abused for more than a day, says the report.

A majority of the abusers were found to be acquaintances of the victims (1,765), 798 were strangers.

The report also highlights the 176 cases of child marriage reported in 2016.Child sexual abuse is a global issue and challenging for every country.

A very special case regarding children sexual harassment 
"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. 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 Ahmed Saeed, Kasur's Member of the Provincial Assembly from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), were involved in an attempted cover-up of the abuse.

It is cited by both news agencies and government departments as the largest child abuse scandal in Pakistan's history. 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."