Child Abuse beyond Family Privacy: A Comparative Analysis of Pakistan and China

Abstract

The child abuse concealed with family privacy remains a critical challenge for today’s child protection systems, particularly where family privacy limits effective state intervention. The study explores the conflict between family autonomy and state responsibility imposed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and principles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The research examines Pakistan and China's child protection system, with an analysis of the mechanisms for prevention, detection and response to intra-family child abuse, based on a doctrinal and comparative socio-legal approach. The results indicate that underreporting and low enforcement in Pakistan are due to the lack of uniformity in the legal and institutional framework, and social norms on family privacy and stigma. By contrast, China possesses more centralized system, reporting systems and administrative intervention. This study concludes that child protection will not achieve its full potential unless the state is able to ensure that child protection is visible within the institutions, coordinated, and effective in responding to instances of abuse within the private family sphere, where it is often hidden.