SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

7.0 COUNTRY PROFILE: PAKISTAN
7.1 Research Findings
7.1.1 Country background
In Pakistan as in many countries of South Asia, the combination of poverty, inadequate
education and extensive child labour and child mobility creates a situation that is highly
conducive to child sexual abuse and exploitation. Pakistan is diverse in linguistic and cultural
identities and in rule of law. The country is composed of four provinces, the Islamabad
Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and two federally administered tribal areas. The
tribal areas are essentially autonomous, governed largely by tribal councils and village
headmen.
Nearly one-third of the population lives below the poverty line, and almost half of the
population are children under 18. The educational system does not address the needs of the
great number of children, and Pakistan has a very low literacy rate. 303 . School dropout rates
are high; in rural areas more than one-third of children do not complete primary school. 304
Instead of attending school many children work, particularly boys – 40 per cent of boys aged
15 to 17 and 17 per cent of boys between 10 and 14 are engaged in labour. 305 The necessity to
work takes many of these boys away from their homes, often to cities where they have little,
if any, protection. Pakistan hosts more refugees than any country in the world, almost all from
Afghanistan, and the vast number of refugees adds to the many thousands of boys living
without family protection. 306
Coupled with these indicators of boys’ vulnerability to abuse and exploitation are powerful
cultural norms that on one hand deny sexual abuse and exploitation and on the other hand
promote it. Particularly in the tribal areas, a high premium is placed on family honour and
pride (izzat). Socially unacceptable behaviour, including sexual activities outside marriage, is
strongly censured and carefully hidden. An unacceptable social act is considered wrong less
because of its impact upon the individual than because it is haram –it brings shame or
dishonour on the family or community. This leads to denial of sexual abuse, and because the
integrity of family and community often take priority over the needs and rights of individuals,
victims are blamed as well as perpetrators. At the same time, Pakistan’s traditional culture
puts the highest importance on the purity and protection of women. Male relationships with
women outside marriage are strongly discouraged, while social and physical affection
303 Among the persons aged 15 years and above, the number is around 54 per cent. This, according to data from
the United Nations Development Fund’s Human Development Index, available at:
, accessed on 16 March 2010.
304 Working Group Against Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, and Save the Children Sweden, 2005,
‘Commercial sexual exploitation of children: A situation analysis of Pakistan’.
305 Population Council, Pakistan, 2004, ‘Population and poverty: A briefing’.
306 Working Group Against Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, and Save the Children Sweden, 2005, op.cit.
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