The recovery of 36 children’s bodies in the first eight months of this year is a horrifying statistic that warrants public outrage.
The truth is simple: Behind every number is a child whose life has been brutally, and unfairly, cut short, and a family left to live with an unimaginable loss.
This is a barbaric scenario, and there is no way to sugarcoat this.
Thousands of children reported missing this year, with many still unaccounted for, is a matter that must be treated as a national emergency. A missing child cannot become another news headline that slowly disappears from public attention.
Investigations must begin immediately, with stronger police capacity, better information sharing, modern databases, trained investigators, and proper coordination between agencies.
Institutions entrusted with protecting children must also be held accountable when they fail. Police stations cannot dismiss complaints, delay investigations, or treat desperate families as an inconvenience.
Every reported disappearance should trigger a clear, documented response, with senior officials responsible for monitoring cases and explaining failures.
Where negligence, deliberate inaction, or procedural violations contribute to a tragedy, the responsible officials must face disciplinary and legal consequences.
Accountability cannot end with the perpetrator; institutions must answer for their failures too.
Those who abduct, rape, torture or murder children must face the full force of the law. Investigations need to be thorough, prosecutions need to move without unnecessary delay, and convictions must carry punishments proportionate to the seriousness of these crimes.
But the problem is also cultural. Too often, abuse is hidden because families fear shame or social judgment.
This silence protects perpetrators, and we must build a society where reporting abuse is an act of protection, not something to conceal.
Our children deserve institutions that protect them before it is too late. Every failure to deal with these disappearances must have consequences, and every danger to a child must be confronted with utmost urgency.