Video PlayerClose

by Misbah Saba Malik

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari called for a greater international cooperation to curb the crime related to child sexual abuse as black market of child sexual abuse has become a serious issue in Pakistan.

In an interview with Xinhua on Friday, the minister said that the child sexual abuse has become a serious issue here, and it was found that their convoluted strings went as far as Europe after some groups involved in child pornography were recently busted.

"It is a universal problem across the world, and while every country tries to deal with it, perhaps greater international cooperation will help get rid of this crime much quicker."

She said that previously this issue was neglected in Pakistan, but now the country is set to play its part in curbing the menace of child sexual abuse by enacting more laws and rigidly implementing the existing laws relevant to child abuse.

Currently, the maximum punishment of child abuser in Pakistan is life imprisonment, but lacunae in criminal justice system and tediously long court proceeding end up in low conviction rate. The same factors account for out-of-court settlements between families of victim and the abuser.

Mazari said that the country's judiciary departments are in the process of forming criminal judicial reforms and once they are finalized, proceedings of criminal cases will no longer be stretched year after year.

The minister said that an awareness campaign will be launched across the country from this month in schools to educate children how to protect themselves from falling prey to sexual abuse.

She said that parents and teachers will be a part of the awareness campaign as they should learn about relevant laws which can help them take sexual abuse culprits to task.

Many people do not seek remedy for the injustice done to them due to lack of awareness. The failure also lead to a continuation of the crime as the culprits feel emboldened and commit more such crimes with impunity.

The minister said it is not possible to stop such incidents from happening overnight, but the number can be reduced by enforcing punishments on the offenders.

She said that they are planning to add human rights as a subject in schools' curriculum to educate kids to take care of each other and protect their rights from an early age.

Mazari concluded that her ministry will also launch an extensive media campaign and run short programs on TV channels to educate the overall society that child abuse is a cognizable offense.