Research by the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) and the Center for Research, Development, and Communication (CRDC) has revealed that cases of kidnapping, violence, abuse and trafficking of women and children are increasing alarmingly rapidly.
As per data received by Sindh police, the highest numbers of cases are registered from January to October 2022.
According to the police SSDO report, 1865 women were kidnapped, 142 cases of sexual violence against women, and 114 women were murdered while 179 cases of child labour and 71 cases of child sexual abuse across Sindh in the first 10 Months of 2022.
With a total of 1865 incidents recorded across the province, kidnapping and abduction had the highest rate of all measures of violence against women.
Almost 58.4% of those cases got registered in Karachi.
Similarly, the numbers of registered sexual abuse cases are 142 which is disturbingly high, police said.
Of the cases of sexual abuse 93.7% involved rape, 4.9% involved gang rape, and 1.4% involved incest.
The report revealed 139 cases of Physical domestic abuse registered while 114 of murder as a result of beating.
In Sindh, Hyderabad registered the highest number of domestic abuse cases.
The SSDO report further stated reported 109 cases of human trafficking, with 50% of cases from Karachi.
Regarding honour-based violence, 80 cases of honour killings were reported, with a disproportionately high number of them taking place in Larkana (57.5%).
The report also revealed 434 cases of violence against children.
With 179 total cases, child labour violations under the 2018 Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act were the largest portion of these in which boys made up 85.5% of the victims, while girls made up 14.5%.
Furthermore, Karachi accounted for 98.9% of all cases, which is worrisome.
Similarly, there were 121 reports of kidnapping instances across the province, with 71.9% coming exclusively from Karachi, which is a staggeringly high number.
Concerning human trafficking reports said that it is entirely conceivable that many of these kidnapping incidents involve the transportation of kids between provinces or even over international borders.
As per the report, Punjab police reported 3088 cases of sexual abuse and 4503 cases of child abuse in the last ten months which is ten times higher than Sindh.
Executive Director SSDO Syed Kausar Abbas stated that the purpose of collecting this data is to identify the hotspots of crimes against women and children, so that it can be used as a reference point for policymakers and relevant stakeholders to take strict action, in the exact areas that need the intervention.
