Growing violence against women & children demands media’s powerful role: Report

Shazia Mehboob

The violence against women and children remains rampant in the country with 52,370 incidents of abuse but only 8,719 were reported in the media, notes the annual report of an Islamabad based Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO), launched on 10th March.

As many as 27,273 cases of violence were against women. Ironically, as the typology of crimes against women and children is expanding, the space in the print and electronic media is seemingly to be shrinking being reduced.

Pakistan ranks at adismal 153 out of a total of 156 countries lacking in women’s education, health and political participation: Global Gender Gap Report 2021

Inevitably, this is not without a dire of omitting this important issue from the national debate, the report states.

The media has been identified as the fourth pillar of the state in Pakistan and thus have an important role in preventing violence against women and children.

But a substantial discrepancy in the reporting of incidents by the media is extremely as a matter of great concern. It seems to suggest that the media either does not care or inadvertently distracted.

As many as 177 cases of kidnapping of women reported in Islamabad, but only 68 reported in the media. Report

The cases reported in the media are only a small percentage of the number of case officially registered. In reference to the violence against women and children, the statistics point to a stark increase in cases from the year 2020 with a continuing upward trend since.

Amongst the provinces, Punjab remains at the crest with 25,751 officially registered cases and accounting for more than half of the cases of violence against women yet the media could only report 3,160 such cases.

The SSDO report shows alarming increase in violence against women in Islamabad also with 128 cases. However, only 40 cases were covered by media. There were also 177 cases of kidnapping of women reported in Islamabad but only 68 reported in the media.

Of the total reported cases, 18,390 were the incidents of kidnapping of women indicating an extremely worrying trend. However, the mainstream media only picked up 2,699 cases of kidnapping of women in the same period.

The report states “It leads to a colossal difference in the treatment of the cases in the media and official numbers.”

National Commission on the Rights of Child Chairperson Afshan Tehseen said that such sensitive cases often go unreported in the media. She went on to suggest that women need to be cognizant of their basic human rights, and a great deal of work is required in this respect to ensure that awareness is spread.

SSDO Executive Director Kausar Abbas said: “Cases of violence against women and children are continuously on the rise. However, the proper resolution of such cases is still lacking, as many of these victims never get justice.”

The proper resolution to control violence against women & children is still lacking, as many of these victims never get justice. SSDO Kausar Abbas

“All relevant stakeholders, such as civil society organizations, activists, the police, lawyers and the government need to work together to ensure speedy justice and eradicate this problem from society,” Kausar Abbas emphasized.

The report stresses that ignoring of the official statistics would not serve the purpose as it requires the attention of all stakeholders including government authorities, politicians, policymakers, media and civil society to develop collaborative mechanisms for curbing the violence against women and children in Pakistan.

The nation of 208 million people

A nation of 208 million , Pakistan has a population making it the fifth most populated  country in the world with the nearly 35 percent of the population under the age of 15, and women making up 48.7 percent of the total population (2017 census), the abuse of women and children should be central to our national policy and action.

On Child Rights Index, Pakistan scores 5.46 on calls advocacy actions at the level of state and society to guarantee child rights.

However, women and children in the Pakistani are continue to experience violence, discrimination and persecution with authorities often failing to provide adequate protection by invoking the legislative and legal safeguards. On Child Rights Index, Pakistan scores 5.46 on calls advocacy actions at the level of state and society to guarantee child rights.

Similarly, Pakistan also frequently ranks as one of the least safe countries in the world pegging at 167 out of 170 least safe countries for Women, according to the Peace and Security Index for  2021/22  by Georgetown University, USA.

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2021, published by the World Economic Forum, Pakistan ranks at adismal 153 out of a total of 156 countries lacking in women’s education, health and political participation.

In 2018, Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) mentioned Pakistan as the sixth most dangerous country in the world for women, with an ever rapid increase of cases of sexual crimes and domestic violence against women.

Pakistan’s SDG Goals

The world community adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Pakistan also pledged its commitment to achieving SDG goals by making these as Pakistan’s Development Goals.

This was recognized as a momentous opportunity to advance the rights of every child and woman in the country. In addition to being a moral imperative, achieving SDG targets on child and women’s rights should be viewed as a more sustainable way towards a more inclusive prosperous country.

Pakistan still ranks at 129th position out of 193 countries on the Global SDG Index.

Although, the SDGs goals focus more on sustainable development, they are inextricably linked to basic human rights in general and the rights of children and women specifically. Contrary to achievements around the SDG targets, often mentioned by successive governments, Pakistan still ranks at 129th position out of 193 countries on the Global SDG Index.

The SSDO rightly places emphasis on Pakistan pursuing and honoring its SDGs commitments to reducing all types of violence in the country. The Sustainable Social Development Sustainable continues to be committed to keep this on the radar of the government and the stakeholders.