The documentary has a run-time of eighteen minutes with direction by Tehmina Shahid and screenplay by Rana Adan Abid. It is remarkable in its incorporation of scientific insight and legal information on the topic.
The piece also provides whatever factual data exists in Pakistan regarding child sexual abuse despite the “dark figure of crime” which makes calculating the incidence of the event very difficult. Alarming findings are mentioned, however, such as some studies report one child in every six as likely to being sexually abused before turning eighteen.
PHOTO: PUBLICITY
The video features psychotherapist Ayesha Iftikhar, victimologist Humaira Masihuddin, linguist Nabiha Meher Shaikh and religious scholar Khalid Zaheer.
In this manner, the documentary provides the legal, theological, linguistic as well as psychological aspect to this horrifying perversion. Most importantly, it involves the experiences of a survivor – narrated by the survivor himself. If none else, this narration – coming directly from someone who has lived through the abuse – will compel the audience to realise the horror of this very pervasive evil and contribute to its eradication.
The video delineates Pakistan’s “rishta culture”, a part of the problem with the country’s social structure that makes victims reluctant to speak up and even more hesitant to go to court.
Child sexual abuse is incredibly unmentionable in Pakistan, the ordeal being associated with honor and shame. The video highlights how many families want to discredit that any abuse happened at all and the rejection victims face.The documentary is informative and poignant, emphasizing the role of language, providing the Islamic perspective as well as featuring the survivor’s personal narration. In addition to intelligently creating awareness, this short piece presents a solution to the malady, highlighting CEAP’s work and including commentary by founder Tehmina Shahid.
Miss Shahid mentions how her organisation and team are introducing and implementing various activities and programs to better equip children and their caregivers to prevent child sexual abuse before it happens and improve security for the children of our country.
In Plain Sight is eighteen minutes of heart-wrenching exposure to an unbelievable horror that lives within our nation. With its haunting images of vulnerable children, narration of the tragedy and the provision of scientific evidence, it succeeds in being one of the very few pieces of Pakistani visual media that throws aside taboo and unabashedly puts forth a blight that we desperately need to counter.
Out of the sexual abuse victims, 41 per cent were boys. As many as 2,410 girls and 1,729 boys were sexually abused last year.
The report, ‘Cruel numbers 2016’ revealed that 4,139 children were sexually abused last year out of which 76 per cent cases were reported from rural areas whereas 24 per cent were reported from urban areas.
The report has been compiled after monitoring and gathering data from 86 national, regional and local newspapers.
Punjab reported the highest number of cases (2,676) in 2016 which were followed by 987 cases reported from Sindh, 166 from Balochistan, 156 from Islamabad, 141 from Khyber-Pakhtunkwa, nine from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and four cases from Gilgit-Baltistan.
Of the total around 78 per cent of cases were registered with the police, 32 per cent were unregistered, whereas police refused to register an FIR for 142 cases.
The study reveals that among major crime categories, 1,445 cases of abduction were reported, followed by 502 rape cases, 453 cases of sodomy, 217 gang rape cases, 268 gang sodomy and 362 cases of attempt of child sexual abuse
A 19 per cent increase has been reported in abduction cases which have increased from 1,386 cases in 2015 to 1,654 cases in 2016 bringing the number of abducted children to five per day.
The highest percentage of vulnerable age group among both boys and girls was reported between the ages of 11 and 15 years and the second vulnerable group between the ages of 6 and 10 years.
Around 97 per cent of the children were abused once and in three per cent of the cases children were abused for more than a day, says the report.
A majority of the abusers were found to be acquaintances of the victims (1,765), 798 were strangers.
The report also highlights the 176 cases of child marriage reported in 2016.
“Child sexual abuse is a global issue and challenging for every country to address,” First Secretary Development to Royal Norwegian Embassy Tom Jorgen said.
He said that there is a need to address the entire child protection to bring some significant and meaningful change in society.
National Commissioner for Children Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi stated that there are around 100 million children in Pakistan to be looked after.During the first six months of 2016, 2,127 incidents of child sexual abuse were reported from across the country, according to data collected from newspapers by the non-governmental organisation Sahil.
According to a report released on Friday, such incidents have increased by 36pc from the same time last year, when 1,565 cases of child sex abuse were reported.
Sahil Programme Officer Media Mumtaz Gohar told Dawn that 86 newspapers from three categories – national, regional and local – and in three languages – English, Urdu and Sindhi – were monitored in order to collect data on violence against children.
According to new report, most cases were reported from Punjab, followed by Sindh
“According to the data collected, most of the cases were reported from Punjab, followed by Sindh. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan remained third and fourth on the list,” he said.
He said that this could also be because many cases were not reported from KP and Balochistan, either because of the tribal system or because journalists in these provinces were reluctant to report on such incidents due to security concerns.
Mr Gohar added that the actual number of child sexual abuse is estimated to be double that reported in the media, as a large number of people do not want them reported.
According to the report, more boys than girls in the age groups 0-5 years and 11-15 years were sexually abused between January and June this year, compared to the same time last year.
However, more girls were abused than boys in the 16-18 year age group, and in 38pc of the cases reported in newspapers the victims’ ages were not mentioned.
Compared to this time last year, cases of gang rape have increased by 71pc, attempted rape by 61pc, ‘sodomy’ by 46pc and rape by 20pc. During the first six months of this year, 97 cases of child marriages have been reported when there were 34 such cases between January and June 2015. Of the cases reported, 946 assault cases were committed by acquaintances and 413 by strangers.
The location of the abuse was not mentioned in 1,079 cases while 318 cases happened at the victim’s home, 276 at an acquaintances’ home, 164 in the fields, 115 in the street, 38 in wooded areas, 30 in havelis, 22 in seminaries, 18 in shops, 16 in schools and 51 in other places including workplaces, marriage halls, hotels and shrines.
The report says that in the first six months of this year, 1,584 cases were registered with the police, and the status of 450 was not mentioned in the newspapers. The police refused to register cases in 82 incidents. Most of the cases were reported from the rural areas, with just 20pc cases being reported in urban parts of the country.
