June 8, 2022
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD
A recent research report on crimes against women by the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) and the Centre for Research, Development and Communication (CRDC) reveals a worrying number of incidents in the month of May regarding the kidnapping of, rape and violence against women. SSDO and CRDC conducted a daily tracking of several mainstream newspapers against nine indicators of violence against women and children.
The research is a monthly initiative and is based on those reports that appear in the mainstream media. Most of the cases in May were of women being kidnapped with a total of 131 cases being reported. Out of these 96 cases were reported only from Punjab, followed by 23 cases from Sindh. KP recorded 11 cases and only one case of a woman being kidnapped was reported from Islamabad. No cases of kidnapping were reported from Balochistan.
According to the report, rape was recognized as the second most reported crime in the mainstream media, with a total of 57 cases from which Punjab again led with the highest number of cases – 38. Sindh had 13 cases, KP had three cases two from Islamabad and one from Balochistan.
Overall Violence against Women (VAW) statistics saw significant reporting in the media with a total of 49 cases. The highest (38) were reported in Punjab, 9 in Sindh, two in KPK, and none were reported from Balochistan and Islamabad.
Out of a total of 23 cases in the country, 15 cases of domestic violence were reported from Punjab, again the highest among all provinces. Six cases were reported from Sindh, one from KP and ICT and none from Balochistan.
A total of 22 women lost their lives in cases of honour killing. The provincial breakdown is as follows: Punjab (14), KP (5) and Sindh (3), whereas Balochistan and Islamabad both, reported zero cases in the media.
The lowest prevalence in media reporting was of workplace harassment, where only two cases were reported in the country, both from Punjab.
CHILD ABUSE
Amongst all indicators of violence against children, the highest prevalence was of child abuse, where a total of 43 cases were reported across the country, with Punjab leading with 22 cases reported, followed by 11 in KP and 7 in Sindh. The lowest were reported in Islamabad (3). For the other two indicators, child labour and child marriage, zero cases were reported in the mainstream media all over Pakistan, although this does not mean no case took place.
Syed Kausar Abbas, Executive Director, SSDO speaking about the report said that the aim of regularly publishing the data was to bring to attention the rapid increase in violence against women and children.
“In only May over 300 different cases of such crimes have occurred,” he pointed out. “We hope that with increased media attention and reporting, the government, police and judiciary dedicate their attention to speedy processing, resolution and punishment.”
JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2021
The report found that across all the indicators concerning women and children’s social wellbeing, a record (52,370) cases were reported. Only
8,719 cases were reported in the media. The report also found that violence against women was rampant in the country and a record (27,273) cases were reported. Amongst the provinces, Punjab remained at the top with 25,751 officially registered cases that constitute more than half of the
cases of violence against women reported. The media could only report 3,160 cases. During the same period, there were 128 cases of violence against women in Islamabad registered whereas 40 cases out of these were covered by media.
Of those total cases of crimes reported, the kidnapping of women (18,390) also saw an increase. Nevertheless, the mainstream media tracked only 2,699 cases of the kidnapping of women in the same period. This shows a huge difference in the treatment of the cases in the media and in official
numbers.
The highest number of cases of kidnapping of women (177) registered in Islamabad were contrary to only a small number of (68) cases reported in the media.
During the same period, 4,643 women became the victims of rape according to official statistics, however only 1,341 cases received attention in the media.
In Islamabad, cases registered of rape incidents were 63 in number while only 36 cases out of these were highlighted in the media.
Meanwhile, statistics revealed that 1,047 cases of domestic violence were registered in the year 2021, yet only 704 have been reported by the media. In Islamabad, a total of 24 cases of domestic
violence were registered but only 17 cases were reported in the media.
VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN (2021)
As per the official record, 2,678 cases were registered in the country for child abuse, while 1,543 such cases were also highlighted in the media. In
Islamabad, 70 cases of child abuse were officially registered and 28 of
them got media attention. Despite the fact age that the age of marriage
is 16, the cases registered against child marriage were 46 and media
reported cases to stand at 18, close to 40% less in reporting.
