In the month of July, 133 women were kidnapped, 133 physically assaulted, 85 were raped while 108 cases of sexual abuse of children were reported in the media, according to research by Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) and Centre for Research, Development and Communication (CRDC).
According to the SSDO and CRDC, kidnapping of women, physical assault of women and sexual abuse of children were the most reported cases in the month of July 2022 in the mainstream media.
For the third month in a row, kidnapping of women was the most heavily reported in the media, with a total of 133 of cases. A total of 93 of these cases were reported only from the province of Punjab. On the other hand, Sindh reported 20 cases, followed by 15 from Islamabad, while three and two cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan respectively.
Likewise, 133 cases of physical assault of women were reported, which was an increase from last month. Majority of these cases were from the province of Punjab, which had 77 cases, followed by Sindh with 34 cases, 16 from KP, six from Islamabad and none from Balochistan.
A total of 58 cases of domestic violence were reported in the province of Punjab which is highest among all provinces. Moreover, 17 and 15 cases were reported in the province of KP and Sindh respectively, while Islamabad reported four cases and Balochistan reported zero cases of domestic violence. This makes a combined 94 cases, slightly lower than last month.
Rape of women was also reported at a slightly lower number than last month, as a total of 85 cases came forth. The province of Punjab once again reported the highest number of cases of rape – 47 – followed by Sindh with 16 cases, 11 from KP, 10 from Islamabad and only one from Balochistan.
A total of seven women lost their lives to ‘honour killings’, with four in Sindh and three in Punjab. Similarly, seven cases of workplace harassment were reported in the country, with five from Punjab followed by two from Sindh.
Amongst all indicators of violence against children, the highest prevalence was of sexual abuse against children, where a total of 108 cases were reported across the country, with Punjab leading with 42 cases reported, followed by 32 in KP and 21 in Sindh. The lowest frequencies were reported in Islamabad (10) and Balochistan (3).
Just as with women, kidnapping of children saw a significant number of cases reported in the media, with 82 children kidnapped across Pakistan, 30 of them from Punjab, 27 from KP, 13 from Sindh, eight from Islamabad and four from Balochistan. A total of 37 children were also physically abused across Pakistan according to media reports; 14 in Sindh, 11 in KP, 10 in Punjab, 2 in Islamabad and zero in Balochistan. Continuing on the tangent of physical violence, 22 children were also murdered, almost half of them in Punjab (10), with five in Sindh, three in KP, and two in Balochistan and Islamabad each.
Moreover, nine cases of child labour and six cases of child marriage were seen in the media. Almost all cases of child labour were reported from Punjab (8), with one case in KP, whereas child marriage cases were evenly split between Sindh and Punjab. On the other hand, no cases of child trafficking or psychological assault against children were reported in July 2022 in mainstream newspapers.
SSDO Executive Director Syed Kausar Abbas stated, “The aim of regularly publishing this data is to bring attention to the rapid increase in violence against women and children. It is disheartening to see that there has been an increase in violence against some of these indicators. We hope that this data can be a resource for relevant authorities to take action.”
SSDO and CRDC conducted daily tracking of thirteen mainstream newspapers against 14 indicators of violence against women and children. The selection criteria of the newspapers was based on being the most famous, accessible and most-read newspapers in Pakistan. This data is published every month on their official websites, while both organisations also publish a consolidated report annually.
