Male: Pakistan’s rapid digitisation and widespread smartphone adoption have quietly transformed living rooms and study desks into unmonitored hunting grounds, leaving children increasingly vulnerable to online exploitation, a report has stated.
Investigations by Pakistani law enforcement agencies, including the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), have exposed organised online networks exploiting gaming platforms, dark web channels and encrypted messaging apps to groom, manipulate and blackmail children, according to a report in Maldivian media outlet ‘Etruth MV’.
“For millions of children navigating the web, the greatest threat no longer lurks on street corners — it waits silently on the devices resting in the palms of their hands,” it noted.
In its recent study, UNICEF identified gaps in Pakistan’s legal and institutional response, including the absence of a systematic requirement for child forensic interviews to be conducted by specially trained professionals. It warned that inappropriate questioning could expose children to secondary victimisation while reporting abuse, the ETruth MV report mentioned.
The study also highlighted the continued use of the term “child pornography” in Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) to refer to child sexual abuse material.
The terminology has been widely criticised in child-protection circles for downplaying the coercion and exploitation involved and potentially portraying such material as a legitimate form of pornography rather than evidence of abuse, the report detailed.
“These shortcomings matter because a criminal prohibition is only one part of an effective response. Children must be able to report offences, have evidence handled sensitively, obtain support and see allegations investigated. Where those steps are difficult to access, the distance between legal protection and practical safety remains substantial,” it noted.
Last month, a study revealed that nearly 1.5 million internet-using children aged 12–17 across Pakistan experienced at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse in a single year — equivalent to roughly one in every 16 children.
The findings were from the report titled ‘Disrupting Harm in Pakistan: Evidence on Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse’, jointly conducted by the UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence — Innocenti, ECPAT International and INTERPOL, with funding from Safe Online.
According to UNICEF, the study was based on a nationally representative household survey of children aged 12-17 and their parents and caregivers, along with interviews with frontline and justice professionals. It also analysed relevant laws and policies to examine the scale and nature of technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse in Pakistan.
The study underscored the extent to which technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse remains hidden in Pakistan. It noted that more than half of children subjected to technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse did not tell anyone, while none of the children surveyed reported to formal avenues, including helplines, social workers, and police.
The findings identified community stigma, victim-blaming, and a lack of trust in the police as key barriers that often prevent children and their families from speaking out.
–IANS–
