ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded 1,914 reported cases of child abuse during the first six months of 2026, including more than 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse, according to a new report released by child protection NGO Sahil.
The report also documented hundreds of abductions, missing children, child marriages and cases involving child pornography.
The report, compiled from incidents published in national and regional newspapers across all four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), also revealed that 49 infants were found abandoned by roadsides during the January-June period.
According to Sahil, the reported cases included 1,015 incidents of child sexual abuse, 558 abductions, 101 cases of missing children, 35 child marriages, and 98 cases involving pornography following sexual abuse.
Girls accounted for 58% of the reported victims, while children aged 11 to 15 years emerged as the most vulnerable age group.
The report showed that 598 victims were between the ages of 11 and 15, followed by 356 children aged 16 to 18.
Another 329 victims were between six and 10 years old, while 95 children were aged up to five years. In 487 cases, the victims’ ages were not specified.
Sahil’s findings also highlighted that children were frequently abused by people known to them.
Acquaintances accounted for 43% of the alleged perpetrators, while 34% of the suspects were identified as strangers.
The report further revealed that 45% of the reported abuse incidents took place inside the victims’ own homes, while 18% occurred at the alleged perpetrators’ residences.
Around 3% of the cases occurred in open fields, whereas the location of the abuse was not specified in 21% of the reported incidents.
Urban areas accounted for the majority of reported cases, with 57% occurring in cities compared with 43% in rural areas.
Punjab recorded the overwhelming majority of reported cases, accounting for 80% of the national total. Sindh followed with 15%, while the remaining 5% were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, ICT, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan combined.
The report also found that 89% of the reported cases were registered with police.
It noted that seven cases were not registered with law enforcement, while in one case police allegedly refused to register an FIR.
For the remaining cases, the registration status was not specified.
News Published in Express Tribune on Aug 7th, 2026.
