Women and Children as Victims of Crime

Jameel Yusuf, Pakistan

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has a population of approximately 140 million growing at the rate of 2.7 percent per annum. The ratio of 93 women per 100 Pakistani men is low compared to the global ratio of 106 females per 100 men. Female literacy stands at 23 percent and female labour force participation at 28 percent. There are 12 million children in the labour force and they contribute one-fifth of their family income.

Like many other societies, Pakistan has a strong feudal and patriarchal social structure, which nurtures a small class of the very privileged who control resources, have power and authority. Cultural bias against women, the acceptance of traditional customary laws, even when they are in conflict with Islam, and prejudice based on narrow understanding of religious teachings have created an environment which is not conducive to the aspirations of contemporary women. The segregation of women denies them opportunities for better education or economic status. Gender bias begins at birth, for the society traditionally acknowledges a preference for the male child. Gender bias is clearly visible in seeking medical care for daughters and in educational opportunities that are made available to them; girls miss out on education because they take care of younger siblings and help at home. State legislation at times has also reinforced cultural bias against women. While the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC) defines a child as a person under age 18, there is confusion in Pakistan about the legal definition of the term ‘girl’. According to the Majority Act (1929), males and females below age 18 are minors; but in the Child Marriage Restraint Act (1929), the minimum age for marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys. Another case in point is the criminal law - Hudood Ordinance (1979) - that defines an adult as a female who has attained puberty or age 16. Furthermore, the customary law - which is not always bound by national legislation - prevails in many parts of the country. Women’s rights activists maintain that the existing legal stipulations have the effect of legalizing and institutionalising violence against women. They further say that where legislation favourable to women exists, the State is inadequately equipped to enforce it even when Islam endorses it, such as the right to inherit property or choose a spouse. Women’s rights activists are actively campaigning to see ‘anti-women legislation’ repealed. However, if the laws favourable to women and children were enforced in letter and spirit, these would go a long way in addressing the issue of the rights granted to them by the Constitution.

Nature, Causes and Extent of Crimes against Women and Children

Crimes against women and children are generally attributable to different cultural, sociological, and political factors. In Pakistan, what seem to exacerbate the situation are poverty, ignorance, economic dependence and the force of tradition.

Trafficking of women and children: South Asia is a major and lucrative intra-regional market for trafficked women and children, perhaps more than for arms or drug smuggling. Trafficking of women and children takes different forms, including for prostitution, cheap labour, organ trading, forced marriages, beggary, and child camel jockeys who are trafficked to the UAE, where they sometimes get crushed under the camels. As labour economist Lisa McGowan has said, one of the root causes of trafficking in women and children is the enormous profit this trade holds for the traffickers. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an estimated 40,000 children are kidnapped and sold annually for sexual exploitation or forced labour. These include children under age five. However, while countries like Pakistan and India are at times criticised for not doing enough to discourage children to work in the carpet, sports and surgical instruments manufacturing industry, even when circumstances force them to do so in order to support their families, there is little international outcry against the menace of trans-national trafficking of children for illicit purposes. Is it because international human rights organisations also are blinded by their particular agendas? Trafficking in women is also carried out through well-organised networks and the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) estimate that by 1997 there were one million Bangladeshi and 200,000 Burmese women who had been trafficked into Karachi in connivance with, among others, the border police/security agencies of India and Pakistan. There is also considerable internal trafficking in women that principally targets Afghan women refugees as well as women from rural areas.

Rape: Rape everywhere occurs much more widely than is reported. Fear of reprisals and traditional concepts of shame and honour prevent victims and their families from reporting rape. When rape does get reported, the victim and/or her family often prefer to withdraw the case because of threats from the perpetrators as well as social pressure. In some cases, police refuse to register a rape case, or they collude with the perpetrator in harassing the victim and her family. In 1998, there were 13 reported cases of rape and 28 cases of torture and assault on women while in police custody in the Punjab province. The same year, of the 706 reported victims of rape in Punjab, over half were reportedly minors. In about 25 percent of the known cases, no report was registered with the police. In eight out of every 10 cases, no immediate action was taken against the perpetrators.

Honour killings: The murder of women and girls by husbands, fathers, brothers and in-laws on evidence or suspicion of sexual misconduct is traditionally sanctioned by custom and tribal law. Honour killings also occur when a female’s land, property and inheritance rights become an issue for her male relatives. In 1998, 226 honour killings of women and girls were reported. Unreported honour killings are possibly many more than this number.

Domestic violence: Like elsewhere, domestic violence in Pakistan cuts across all socio-economic lines and is not infrequent. A recent sample survey of 1000 women in 10 communities in rural Punjab showed that 82 percent of women feared violence resulting from the husband’s displeasure over minor matters; in urban areas, 52 percent admitted to being beaten by husbands. A study on domestic violence in Karachi showed that one in three women were physically abused and also suffered sexual abuse, economic deprivation, intimidation, threats, verbal abuse and isolation. Although 90 percent of the women regarded physical abuse as unacceptable, only one in five said they had tried to stop their husbands from abusing them, but none sought any professional help. Forty percent of the males thought it were within their rights to abuse their wives. The survey also found that women in nuclear households were more vulnerable to physical abuse, as were those in paid employment.

Stove burnings: The incidents of wilful burning of married women by husbands and/or in-laws occur quite frequently, though it is still less common than perhaps in India and Bangladesh. The reasons for this include the husband and/or in-laws’ dissatisfaction with the wife’s dowry, or their displeasure with her over domestic issues. In 1998, there were 282 reported cases in and around Lahore - the capital city of Punjab with a population of approximately six million. Reports were registered with the police in only eight percent of the cases, and only three persons were arrested for wilfully causing burns to women. A staggering two-thirds of the victims died from their burn injuries.

Sexual abuse and exploitation: Reported cases of child sexual abuse occur nationally at a rate of roughly two every day. According to information gleaned from 15 newspapers nation-wide, 1256 men had sexually abused 677 children in the first ten months of 1998. Sixty-three victims died after being so abused. Victims’ age ranged from 2 to 18 years; and girls were four times more likely to be abused than boys, though more boys than girls were found to have died as a result of sexual abuse. The crime occurs inside homes, in schools, in religious schools, shops and venues of entertainment, at bus terminals, in hotels, restaurants and in prison.

Sexual harassment: This takes many forms, including attempted rape and public stripping. Working women and females of all ages, from all socio-economic classes and in all fields of employment are routinely harassed through non-verbal or verbal sexual innuendo or intimidation, and physical touching on the street, in public transport, in shopping areas, educational institutions, and at the workplace. The majority of men do not know or comprehend the concept of sexual harassment and even when they do they condone it because of cultural acceptance of the patriarchal nature of society. Most women when asked confirm having experienced some sort of sexual harassment, at times on a daily basis.

The governments’ response to control violence against women and children has been inconsistent and less than adequate. On the one hand, it passed the Women in Distress and Detention Act 1996, but, on the other hand, the state system of criminal justice failed to deter influential parents from threatening, abducting or killing their daughters when the latter exercised their right to choose a marriage partner or to divorce. Also, the criminal justice system has been demonstrably ineffective in dealing with the issue of honour killings claimed to have taken place according to customary/tribal law. The control measures recommended by the 1997 Report of the Commission of Inquiry for Women have also remained officially ignored. When governments have taken constructive measures, it has been under pressure from NGOs and women’s rights activists.

Extent of Implementation of International and Regional Instruments

At the international level, Pakistan has confirmed its commitment to the cause of women and children by becoming a signatory to several international Conventions. It signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1996 with the reservation that its stipulations would be followed in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan. Since then the situation has not changed significantly because of the existence of discriminatory laws on the one hand, and lack of political will to enforce laws that do grant women their due rights, on the other. Pakistan is also a signatory to the Beijing Declaration. A number of NGOs and relevant government agencies worked together on the twelve areas of concern identified at Beijing, and by 1998 developed a National Plan of Action, which was adopted by the Government for implementation. Since then, follow-up action has happened in education and health rights, but limited progress has been made in the area of women’s human rights. Pakistan became a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990. Listing achievements of CRC in signatory countries through its annual publication The Progress of Nations, UNICEF identifies major gaps in Pakistan’s level of achievements in health, nutrition and education indicators.

National Mechanisms to improve the lot of Women and Children Victims of Crime

At the national level, the following preventive actions and early interventions for women and children have been introduced: