Do Pakistanis know the United Nations (UN) just said children should not be exposed to animal abuse? Probably not, because there have been no local media reports about it. While several developed countries have long established the undeniable cyclical link between animal abuse, human abuse, crimes and domestic violence and how it affects children, Pakistanis sneer that animal welfare and rights are not worthy of recognition.

The fact that Pakistan has laws for animals but no lawyers who specialise in animal rights (except for Hira Jaleel, who now resides in the US) also speaks volumes about the matter.

The modern world rejoiced on August 30 when the UN Committee on the ‘Rights of the Child’ made the historic announcement that children must be protected from all forms of violence and exposure to it, including violence against animals. Its guide, ‘General Comment No 26’, states, “Children must be protected from all forms of physical and psychological violence and from exposure to violence, such as domestic violence or violence inflicted on animals.”

Pakistan is a country where people take pride in flaunting brute aggression, and almost every other household has experienced some form of domestic violence. Here, the average man has little to no regard for the law or law-enforcement agencies, and vice versa. So, violence and abuse against both animals and humans are unrestrained and rampant.

Ironically, but not surprisingly, according to the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) ‘Domestic Violence Policy Brief 2023’, “there are limited statistics available on domestic violence in Pakistan”. However, the available figures are “likely much higher due to under-reporting”.

It is interesting that the brief mentions that domestic violence has a significant impact on children in Pakistan and around the world. It explains that “children who grow up in affected households are more likely to become perpetrators of violence themselves in the future”.

This is precisely what the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child meant when it specified that minors must be kept away from violence against animals.

The Franz Weber Foundation (FFW), which fights against animal abuse, highlighted, “the committee’s call is an important wake-up call to all countries, especially those with specific practices of animal abuse normalised as a cultural, social or traditional heritage”.

It would not be wrong to say that Pakistan falls in this category. A very recent example is of Pakistani children in Karachi torturing a donkey and a dog with banned vuvuzelas. Clearly, an adult filmed both instances and did not bother to intervene, and that speaks for itself.

FBI agent Robert K. Ressler, who developed profiles of serial killers, affirmed that “murderers... very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids”. This connection between animal abuse and violence against humans is referred to as “The Link”.

There is also overwhelming global evidence that abusive individuals and partners often have a strong history of animal abuse and often harm family pets to terrorise their family members.

Anyone with a functional brain would understand “The Link” and why it is critically essential for animal abuse to be taken seriously — not only for the sake of animals but also for the safety of observers and children who are also at risk of being abused and can, in turn, potentially become abusers of humans and animals themselves. But when will Pakistanis join the dots?

There is no shortage of local news reports of Pakistanis gleefully participating in, observing, cheering on, and recording instances of unprovoked animal abuse both in private and in public. It really begs the question of why live animal abuse continues to be an “entertainment” in Pakistan and why no research has been performed on “The Link” here.

Recognising animal cruelty as a serious and violent offence is still a distant dream for Pakistan, and now that the UN has made “The Link” obvious and important, at least for children, it is hoped that it will open the eyes of our slumbering countrymen (and women) and will push lawmakers to incorporate the announcement into child protection laws so that the younger generations will have lesser animal abuse statistics to boast of.

It is also high time the provinces woke up and included a course on animal rights and welfare in all schools’ curricula, just like Islamabad did last year. The world does not just belong to adults but to children and animals, too. — The writer is an animal rights activist

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2023