There's a new Pakistani superhero in town and she's fighting child sexual abuse

SAMAAJ is set to release Super Sohni, an animated series about a superhero fighting against abuse, on December 17.

16 Dec, 2021

Lahore based non-profit organisation SAMAAJ is set to release a "first of its kind" 2D animated series called Super Sohni which introduces a new superhero fighting valiantly against crimes of sexual abuse of young girls.

The series, due to launch on December 17, will stretch over 10 episodes, with each episode to be released online every Friday. The ambassador of Germany to Pakistan, Bernhard Schlagheck, recently launched Super Sohni’s teaser on social media. "A very engaging project that can hopefully equip many children with the knowledge, skills & confidence they need to stay safe from harm," he tweeted.

Super Sohni aims to create wider awareness around the issue of child sexual abuse in the country, focusing mainly on minor girls.

SAMAAJ — led by creative writer and journalist Sehyr Mirza, and filmmaker and poet Ammar Aziz — uses different art forms to advocate gender equality and freedom of expression in Pakistan. Super Sohni falls under the umbrella of the Girls Sexual Abuse Prevention Programme, initiated by SAMAAJ in partnership with the Embassy of Germany in Pakistan.

The issue of child sexual abuse is still considered a taboo in Pakistan, despite there being a drastic increase in the number of child abuse cases reported in the country these last few years.

According to research conducted by Sahil, a total of 2,690 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in 2020. indicating a 4% increase over the previous year. Their reports also show that the number of child sexual abuse cases reported everyday shot up in first half of 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“As harrowing as these numbers may seem, they still don’t even remotely represent the extent of this problem because most of these cases still go unreported," said Mirza. "This is because of the element of shame and dishonour which is attached to it. Awareness is the first step towards prevention and eradication.

"It is therefore imperative to subtly educate our children on this issue and to teach them to maintain boundaries with everyone they know,” she added.

Comments

Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Dec 16, 2021 03:54pm

Great move and wonderful news.

Recommend

M. Saeed Dec 16, 2021 04:01pm

Wonderful initiative of German Ambassador in Pakistan. Wish them all the success on this very important and essential topic.

Hasan Malik Dec 16, 2021 04:35pm

This superhero character is created to get another award from film festivals in Europe and America.

Hanna Dec 16, 2021 10:04pm

If only we had actual heros fighting it,the lawsmakers, enforcers and clergy have clearly failed despite giving false hopes

Meh Dec 17, 2021 03:03am

The trailer itself is quite unimpressive and cringeworthy. They should have done a better job.

Asif A Shah Dec 17, 2021 03:16am

Congratulations! A truly noble effort!

A Khan Dec 17, 2021 05:30am

Can we have normal superheroes for once. Give a semblance of a normal childhood to our children. Instead of being bombarded with these 'issues' based shows by foreign funded NGOs, designed to win some silly social awareness awards.

Shaby Dec 17, 2021 09:23am

Instead it should had an honest policeman who saves children from sexual to make sure the authorities know their job. Now children will wait for a super sohni to save them from troubles.

apakmuslim Dec 17, 2021 09:23am

Much needed stuff.

Shaby Dec 17, 2021 09:24am

@Hasan Malik Indeed it is a publicity move instead of a social one.

D’Souza Dec 17, 2021 10:49am

Why only sexual abuse of young girls? In Pakistan young boys are also abused as badly by mullahs.

Zain Maken Dec 18, 2021 01:11pm

@Hasan Malik Zulmat e shab se kayi behtar tha apne hissay ki shama jalaaye jaate Its one thing to debate the impact of this intervention versus other interventions on tackling the huge problem of sexual abuse that exists around us, but criticizing or downplaying this initiative just for the sake of it does not do/achieve anything - at least it’s an effort to find a contextual way to speak to children about how they need to be careful and who they need to be careful from and gives them hope and power to communicate so sexual abuse can be pre-emptly prevented

Laila Dec 19, 2021 02:09am

I support any initiative to keep our children safe and alive. But it is disappointing to see our own governments, past and present, being complicit in the child abuse taking place systematically and across Pakistan. The cover ups, the scapegoating, the censorship, the lack of punishment or deterrent, the corruption, briberis are all part of this. Child molestors don't all belong to the lower classes. It goes all the way to the top. Dawn has covered child abuse well. I urge readers to look into Dawn's news archives and read about Kasur, Shahrag, etc. It's rampant and there are organized criminals behind it. We must as a society fight this tooth and nail.