Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan: Using Evidence Based Social Ecological Model for Explanation and Policy Formulation

Abstract

Due to recent high profile media reported cases of child sexual abuse in Pakistan a serious public concern is observed with a strong punitive public demand rather than proactive and preventive approach as solution. Instead of reactive approach, it is needed to formulate a policy based on valid causal ground for solution of this problem. Purpose of this cross sectional study is to provide a causal ground based on evidence based social ecological model for holistic policy response for addressing issue of CSA. Using ICAST-R, equal number of male and female 274 university students were asked about experience of CSA, re-victimization, age at the time of CSA, perpetrators, disclosure patterns and social support after disclosure of CSA. On the basis of data, evidence based social ecological model was used for explanation of individual, family, societal and institutional factors related to CSA in Pakistan for formulation of effective prevention strategy. According to findings most frequent age at the time of CSA is between 6th to 18th year of age with 9th year as most frequently reported. Experience of CSA was reported more frequently by boys than girls. Peers were identified as highest reported perpetrators and majority of the perpetrators were known to the child. Instead of reactive and punitive approach towards issue of CSA it is needed to formulate a policy based on social ecological factors of society.

Analyzing the Portrayals of Child Sexual Abuse of Urdu Newspapers in Developing Countries

“…Similarly, revealing the perpetrator's identity is fundamental in exposing the alleged offenders (Betus et al, 2020). Our results revealed that n = 53 or 82.8% of analyzed newspaper reports explicitly involved all relevant identities of the perpetrators, including names and occupations (Abbas & Jabeen, 2021).…”

“…An early common view of sexual molesters of children was that they were "born that way." Many assumed this was because of a psychological disorder, with people believing that the abuse was a matter of choice by the perpetrators (Abbas & Jabeen, 2021;Richards, 2011). However, many people proposed several other factors behind child sex abuse, suggesting that pedophilia is an innate orientation and that much abuse was simply opportunistic (Ali, 2019).…”

“…For example, the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) of Pakistan has claimed that child pornography is a business. There is an endless trail of such crimes, and many perpetrators face court trials (Abbas & Jabeen, 2021;Döring & Walter, 2020).…”

Case Report: A Functional Approach to Deal With Sexual Harassment Within Families

“…In Pakistan, sexual harassment and sexual abuse are the lowest recorded crimes. However, as the media highlighted the cases of 6-year-old Zainab, 10-year-old Farishta, and 2019’s Kasur case of 280 abused cases, the public has started addressing these issues in a new light, and victims have started coming out with their verbatims showing an annual increase in reports of child abuse ( Abbas and Jabeen, 2021 ). Factors, such as gender discrimination and lack of awareness about the rights of children, have reinforced the ideology of keeping girls restricted within the confines of their homes to protect them from strangers.…”

“…However, majority of sexual harassment cases worldwide show the perpetrator to be among close family members ( Gekoski et al, 2016 ). Moreover, in Pakistan, recent research showed the most reported perpetrators to be parents followed by friends and teachers ( Abbas and Jabeen, 2021 ).…”