Islamabad, October 28, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has raised concerns over the growing crisis of online child sexual exploitation in the country, citing a comparative study that recorded approximately 41.3 cases of exposure to child sexual abuse material per 10,000 people in Pakistan.
In its latest report, the rights body said Pakistan was not only a site of victimisation but also a node in global networks involved in the demand, production and circulation of such material, enabled by largely unregulated digital infrastructure.
Referring to media reports, the HRCP said Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) dismantled an alleged child sexual exploitation network in May 2025 in Muzaffargarh district of Punjab province.
The operation reportedly uncovered an international group allegedly led by a German national, which had established a so-called “fight club” to lure, groom and exploit children aged between six and 10.
According to the HRCP, the facility was equipped with digital cameras and high-speed internet and was used to secretly record and livestream abuse on the dark web for international buyers.
“The club, equipped with digital cameras and high-speed internet, provided what officials called ‘state-of-the-art facilities’ while secretly recording and live-streaming abuse on the dark web to international buyers. Investigators confirmed the footage was sold for thousands of dollars and that at least 50 children were victimised,” the report stated.
Highlighting the broader scale of child abuse, the HRCP cited Cruel Numbers 2024, an annual report by Islamabad-based organisation Sahil. The report documented 3,364 reported cases of child abuse nationwide, including sexual abuse, abduction and child marriage.
However, the HRCP cautioned that the figures reflected only reported incidents. It said under-reporting, social stigma and a lack of transparency within the bureaucracy meant that many cases, particularly those involving online abuse, remained unreported.
The rights body also cited concerns raised by digital rights experts that children in Pakistan were increasingly exposed to inappropriate online content as access to technology expanded.
“Widespread connectivity, weak regulatory oversight, and limited digital literacy have made Pakistani children particularly vulnerable to grooming, blackmail, sexual coercion, and trafficking through online channels,” the report said.
The HRCP argued that the failure to protect children in digital spaces was not merely a technological shortcoming but a wider crisis involving governance and human rights.
It said online child sexual exploitation in Pakistan lay at the intersection of state accountability, technological regulation and social silence, with cases often condemned when exposed but subsequently allowed to fade from public attention.
The commission also criticised the use of the term “child pornography” in media coverage, public discourse and legal contexts to describe cases such as the alleged Muzaffargarh network.
According to the HRCP, the term was inappropriate because it could imply consent or performance, concepts that do not apply to children subjected to sexual exploitation. The commission said such terminology shifted attention towards the material itself rather than the coercion and violence inflicted on victims.
It also warned that this framing could obscure the grooming, manipulation, threats and economic exploitation that often precede the recording and circulation of abusive material.
Emphasising that online child sexual exploitation should not be treated merely as content to be removed or a cybercrime to be investigated, the HRCP said it represented a violation of children’s rights, dignity, bodily integrity, privacy and childhood.
“Until Pakistan’s laws, institutions, data systems, and public discourse reflect this reality, children will remain unprotected in digital spaces,” the report added.
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