Islamabad, Oct 4 (IANS): Pakistan's Human Rights Ministry has engaged the Child Protection Committees of Islamabad to raise awareness about the rights of children and steps aimed at preventing them from abuse.

The Ministry under its Human Rights Awareness Programme, has so far held five sessions by engaging eight of the 15 Child Protection Committees, reports Dawn news.

The committees were formed in 2019 by the Ministry's National Child Protection Centre to identify, prevent and report issues of child abuse in the city in collaboration with the relevant authorities.

In a statement on Saturday, the Ministry said that these sessions helped improve participants' knowledge about the rights provided to children in the Constitution.

The Ministry further said it had plans to further hold these sessions in other communities.

In its 2019 annual report on nationwide child abuse cases, Sahil – an NGO working for the protection of children from violence – revealed that throughout the year, a total of 2,846 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in newspapers, indicating a decrease of 26 per cent as compared to 2018, The Express Tribune reported.

The report further stated that victims as young as a few months old up to the age of five also fall pretty to sexual violence.

A total of 3,722 abusers were identified last year, out of which 2,222 were acquainted with the victims -- including, relatives, cousins, neighbours, family friends, clerics, teachers, and even a parent.