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Article 19: States must take measures to “protect the child from all forms of physical and mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse,” while in the care of parents and others responsible for the care of the child.
Article 37: “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Introduction
Children in Pakistan experience many forms of violence and exploitation by society and the State. Street children face abuse, torture and even death at the hands of the police and society. Boys are recruited to fight adult wars by groups opposing the government or involved in sectarian and ethnic strife. Young boys in conflict with the law spend more time under trial than after conviction, and are handcuffed when taken to court and tortured and sexually abused in jail. Little girls as young as six and seven years old work as domestic child workers in homes and care for children not much younger then themselves. Children are sexually abused and exploited, the targets of adult depravity.. Orphaned and abandoned children in the care of State and private institutions and orphanages suffer neglect and cruelty and live in deplorable conditions. Corporal punishment in both the school and the home is one of the most accepted forms of violence against children and is culturally and legally condoned in Pakistan.
Girls and boys under 18 years of age are kidnapped and trafficked, across national borders to work as camel jockeys and domestically into many forms of child labor, including domestic servitude and prostitution, sold and bought like cattle. Little girls are sold as child brides and also sexually exploited. The rights of children are violated through cultural and customary practices, robbing them of their childhood and right to a life of freedom and choices.
Gender discrimination and societal norms also play an important part in the violence perpetrated against children. Girls are often victims of incest, child marriages, vani and honor killing. As victims of rape or sexual exploitation they are stigmatized and excluded from society. Girls born in brothels have no option but to become a part of the prostitution cycle. Boys too are sometimes discriminated against by legislation or social values that tolerate their subjection to forms of discipline that are banned for girls, or more brutal forms of discipline within the family. They are also more often inadequately protected from violence by adult men, older boys, police, parents and women.
Child Sexual Abuse
Child sexual abuse includes a wide range of behavior from fondling a child’s private parts, intercourse, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism and commercial exploitation through prostitution and exposure to pornographic materials. Both boys and girls are targets of child sexual abuse.
Sexual violence is exploitative when a second or third party benefits from sexual activity involving a child. Child trafficking is a classic example of exploitation whereby children are recruited by traffickers and engaged in prostitution or sex work for monetary advantage.
According to one study, almost 70%, of abusers are known to the child, trusted by the parents and expected to protect the child, including family members, relatives, family friends, teachers and other acquaintances.
One study of reported cases of child sexual abuse suggests that at least four children every day are sexually abused in Pakistan. However, it is impossible to know the true number, as most abuse is never reported. Children are often powerless to expose sexual abuse, especially when it involves family members or trusted acquaintances. Thus, it remains hidden from the community or even the family and the child suffers in silence.
Child Marriages
Child marriage pushes children into adult responsibilities and activities at a very young age. It takes away their right to education, puts their health at risk, robs them of their childhood and exposes them to various kinds of sexually transmitted diseases. It also takes away their right to make choices in life. The child wife suffers beating and torture and in many cases is sold, trafficked or used for prostitution and sexually abused both by her older husband, other members of his family and even his friends.
Child marriage varies from region to region. Low on resources and facing high expenses, the family tries to marry their young daughters to lessen their burden and earn bride money in areas of NWFP where the bride is sold to the highest bidder. Child marriages are also contracted in exchange marriages (watta satta), where the age and consent of the couple are immaterial. Child marriages also help to guarantee the virginity of the bride and to keep the girl within the family. In some areas of Pakistan girls are married to the Holy Quran to prevent her share of property leaving the family while also saving the family the humiliation of her remaining unwed.
The results of child marriage are tragic: child wives often remain unhappy and sickly throughout their marital lives and many even die during early pregnancy and childbirth, and the babies born to these young mothers also suffer from poor health and undernourishment.
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