Over 1,900 cases of child abuse reported in first half of the year: report

Why This Matters

Key context: <p>ISLAMABAD: In the first six months of the year, 1,914 cases of <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773214">child abuse</a> were reported across the country, child protection NGO Sahil said in its latest report.</p> <p>Among the reported cases, 49 involved infants who were found abandoned by the roadside.</p> <p>From January to June 2026, as many as 1,015 cases of child sexual abuse, 558 cases of abduction, 101 cases of missing children and 35 cases of child marriages were reported.</p> <p>Furthermore, 98 cases of pornography following sexual abuse were also recorded.</p> <p>The Sahil report was compiled on the basis of data collected from different national and regional newspapers of all four provinces, including Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).</p> <p>Of the total reported cases, 58 per cent of victims were girls. The data also showed that children aged 11-15 years were the most vulnerable to abuse.</p> <p>Among the victims, 598 children were aged between 11 and 15, 356 were aged 16-18, 329 belonged to the 6-10 years age bracket, while 95 victims were between zero and five years old. In 487 cases, the ages of the victims were not mentioned.</p> <p>The report also sheds light on the risks children can face in the presence of known people. The abusers involved in 43pc of the reported cases were acquaintances, while in 34pc of cases, the perpetrators were identified as strangers.</p> <p>Almost half of the reported incidents of abuse — 45pc — took place at the victims’ own residences, while 18pc occurred at the abusers’ houses.</p> <p>A smaller proportion, 3pc, took place in open fields, while in 21pc of cases, the place of abuse was not specified.</p> <p>More cases were reported in urban areas than in rural areas, with the split standing at 57pc and 43pc, respectively.</p> <p>An overwhelming majority — 80pc — of the cases took place in the most-populated province of <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1957137">Punjab</a>, followed by Sindh where 15pc of the reported cases took place. The rest of the country made up the remaining 5pc of the reported cases.</p> <p>According to the data, 89pc cases were registered with the police, while the status of case registration was not mentioned for the rest of the cases.</p> <p>The report reveals that seven cases were “unregistered with police” and in one case, police refused to register the case.</p> This development from dawn.com highlights ongoing changes in the sector.