Nearly 2,000 newspaper reports on child sex abuse cases were published in Pakistan during 2003 — a marked increase from last year, revealed a national conference arranged by non-government organisations Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) and SAHIL. The conference titled 'Child Protection: The Citizens' Role and Responsibility' was held at a local hotel on Friday in connection with the International Human Rights Day. Dr Faiza Asgher, the children affairs advisor to the Punjab chief minister, and Ashfa Riaz, the Punjab minister for Human Rights and Women Development, were the chief guests. Asgher said that the Punjab government would urge the federal government to move the Supreme Court against the recent abolition of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2002 by the Lahore High Court. Riaz said that sexual exploitation of children was a social taboo and people needed to overcome their hesitation of admitting or talking about it. She said that the time had come to debate the more horrifying aspects of society. The speakers said that Pakistani children faced the worst forms of abuse and exploitation and were not being protected by the government. "The fates of homeless children are worse; they are abused, tortured, and often killed by both the police and the public," they said. The recorded figures show that five children are sexually abused everyday, and can only hint the severity of the problem. According to the figures released by SPARC and SAHIL, 1,788 child sex abuse cases (526 boys and 1,262 girls) were reported by the media in 2003, a marked increase from the 679 cases reported in 2002. SPARC national coordinator Anees Jillani said that Pakistan's education policy discriminated different groups and talked about corporal punishments. SAHIL executive director Manizeh Bano said that child abuse would continue to rise unless citizens were educated about it. Eight research papers were presented during the conference by NGOs Save the Children-Sweden, Save the Children-UK, International Labour Organisation, Aahung, Pakistan Pediatric Association, Vision, The Researchers and Punjab University Special Education Department.