Number of missing children in Pakistan growing, says Plan
2 August 2010: Nearly 3,000 children a year are going missing in Pakistan, a new study by Plan reveals.
Yet the total number may be far higher as many disappearances, including runaways, abductions and trafficking victims, go unreported.
The figures are announced as school children in Europe and the US break up for their summer holidays and may spend some time in Pakistan visiting relatives.
Growing problem
“The exact causes, number and types of missing children who are abducted, kidnapped or killed for ransom are not known,” says Advocacy Co-ordinator for Plan in Pakistan, Safdar Raza.
“But the problem of missing children continues to grow, exacerbating the weaknesses of Pakistan’s child protection system.”
The study reveals that 4,300 children have gone missing from Pakistan’s major cities in the last 18 months alone.
It says kidnappings are on the rise against a backdrop of a country suffering from major security issues and natural disasters.
The research is the first carried out since the high-profile case of British boy Sahil Saeed, kidnapped while visiting family in Punjab in March.
The vast majority of those children reported missing were boys but only because a perceived “loss of honour” often prevents families from reporting missing girls.
Many never found
Missing children range in age from 5 to 16 years-old and while some return home, many are never found.
Reasons for their disappearance also vary – from runaways escaping abuse or poverty; to children snatched to be sold into child labour or the sex trade; or kidnapped for ransom.
Parents whose children are taken for ransom typically suffer acute trauma through fear that their son or daughter will be killed by their abductor.
Most of the recorded kidnap victims are poor or lower middle class – while some have family connections to the UK, Germany or Norway.
Police issue
Families of missing children often experience a lack of cooperation from the police who downplay their claims.
One such troubling case was that of 11-year-old Mohammad Sameer who was snatched from outside his Karachi home in October 2009.
Mohammad’s panicked parents failed to be assigned an investigating detective and were told by police officers to return home and wait for a ransom demand.
In April this year, seven months after he disappeared, Mohammad’s parents were told by police that he had been kidnapped and killed by an Afghan drug smuggler.
The precise number of those still missing and for what reason is impossible to gauge in the absence of a nationwide database.
Child protection training
Plan International has set up child protection training for Pakistan’s police force and is calling for measures including:
- a national database to log cases of missing children
- an awareness campaign to publicise threats
- education of children on how to minimise risks
- wider installation of equipment such as CCTV cameras.
“Every one of these children needs protection guaranteed by law, government services and civil society,” says Mr Raza.
Notes to editors
Plan has been operating in Pakistan since 1997, helping marginalised children to access their rights to health, education, livelihood and protection.
Plan International works in 48 of the poorest countries on the planet across Africa, Asia and South America, promoting child rights to end child poverty.
For more information, interviews and case studies please contact Stuart Coles on +44 (0) 7500 066 891 or stuart.coles@plan-international.org
