Dr. Syed Ali Wasif reviews violence against children and child labor in various forms prevalent in Pakistan.

When we look back into the ugly history of human development, child abuse is nothing new. It is not specific to any particular time or society or region, it is just that its social awareness and concern is new. There have always been parents who have deliberately injured their own children for one reason or the other, thinking that they have the authority and all the right to control. For hundreds of years, parents have thrashed, whipped, starved and locked up their babies and children. Beating, mutilations and even killing have been recorded from very early times; there are legends about the infanticide of female children in ancient Arab tribal history, which sadly appears to be a primitive form of population control. All these nightmares of the social evolution of our society have a common theme of abandonment, rejection and physical cruelty to children. Child abuse is not a new social phenomenon; it has occurred throughout history for a variety of reasons.

Today's society idealizes the parent child relationship and emphasizes the ‘naturalness’ of parenthood, but this is a very recent development. The high infant mortality rate, which is 8.5% in our country, sadly represents the consequence of the parents' detachment and neglect towards their offspring. The quality of mothering is closely linked to infant well-being as maternal care affects the quality of nutrition and hygiene.

It is said that all parents love their offspring in there own way, but it is not surprising that in certain cultures, children are considered as useful possessions or commodities. In families with a wealthy background, children are important tools in negotiations for a marriage, which could bring greater wealth and prestige into the family, while poor parents see their children as useful bargaining counters to bring money to the family, or as another pair of hands to help earn the family's living. The issue of child labor is also worth consideration as it is taken for granted that very young workers (appren¬ticeships begin as early as seven) are better in learning skills and require less compensation in terms of the economics of the industry. There are 3.3 million child-laborers working under the scorching sun in Pakistan, according to one of the survey reports of the Federal Bureau of Statistics, done in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO) published in NEWS TIMES: HYDERABAD: 3 JAN. 2000. These children range from ages five to fourteen and are subjected to every form of exploitation.

Is it our indifference or callousness in allowing children to suffer and be subjected to exploitation or do we have a responsibility as social beings to eliminate such unfairness?

According to the recent reports of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), at least 3,480 children were languishing in prisons in 1998, including many under 12 years of age. The majority were under trial or awaiting trial for over a year.

Despite the fact that the issue of child sexual-abuse is shrouded in secrecy, it has been constantly reported in the print media, though mostly in an insignificant manner. Such incidents have only occupied the limelight when they have taken a heinous turn, for instance when a hundred children were murdered after being sexually assaulted, or similar incidents. Unfortunately, most of it goes undocumented, the perpetrators remain at large and all of us are silent bystanders. In order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the issue of child sexual abuse, an NGO in Islamabad monitored the print media and collected these incidents over a period of three years (1997-99) from across the country. During this period, the print media reported a total of 2309 children who were sexually assaulted. Six forms of sexual crimes were identified i.e. murder after sexual assault, gang rape and gang sodomy, rape, sodomy, abduction for sexual purposes and molestation.

These unfortunate, frightened and abused children, who can no longer play outside their homes as their neighborhood is filled with violence, are the silent sufferers of violence. Violence and trauma affect children drastically, even when they are mere witnesses to the violence. These effects include fear, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, confusion, trouble concentrating, anger, excessive hand-washing and cleanliness, digestive problems, frequent urinary tract infections, bed-wetting, change in behavior, lying, school refusal, running away from home, avoiding people, avoiding activities, disinhibited behavior inappropriate for a child of that age, excessive social withdrawal, haunting memories, nightmares and personality changes.

Child sexual abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation of children, is a complex problem .The challenge is to seriously review and address societal values and moral standards, which allow, perpetuate and even promote such social crimes.

This results in serious consequences for the physical, psychological, spiritual, moral and social development of children including injury, retarded development and sexually transmitted diseases. Unfortunately, the sex abusers/ exploiters always escape unaccounted and therefore there is a need for stringent laws on child sexual abuse and their strict implementation at all levels.

Along with the greater need for education to address the issues of children, changing the behavior of people is a long and evolving process. Extensive work at the grass root level is necessary to change ideas about what is acceptable and what is not. The role of the community, religious leaders and schoolteachers is vital in countering the exploitation of children, but, unfortunately, there is often ambivalence among people regarding such issues.

There is a need to sensitize parents and teachers on the crucial issues around child abuse and mobilize them to form networks to protect children. Intervention should be based on the actual needs perceived by children and they should be involved in all stages. There should be school and community-based training programs to promote protective behavior amongst children. This process of empowerment is essential to prevent abuse and exploitation of children. For centuries, our culture has conditioned children to be silent, to be subservient and to accept abuse as their fate. It is high time for them to speak out, speak up and act on the premise of their rights.
Dr Syed Ali Wasif lives in Karachi and works with children and child abuse in Pakistan. He can be contacted at wasif_ali@hotmail.com

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