lagged in the judicial system. The Department of Social Services, under the Ministry of Social Welfare, operated “Child Helpline – 1098,” a free telephone service designed to help children facing violence, abuse, and exploitation. The hotline received approximately 80,000 calls a year on average and was accessible from anywhere in the country. The hotline center provided services such as rescue, referral, and counseling. ASK reported 1,088 incidents of violence against children occurred, with an additional 516 children killed. During the year former students detailed multiple allegations of sex abuse at the hands of teachers and older pupils in Islamic madrassas. In April the 55-year-old director of a madrassa was arrested for allegedly raping a seven-year-old female student on several occasions. In January a special tribunal sentenced a madrassa teacher to eight years in prison for raping a five-year-old child inside a mosque. The child’s grandmother initially filed the case after the victim returned home bleeding. Despite advances, including establishing a monitoring agency in the Ministry of Home Affairs, trafficking of children and inadequate care and protection for survivors of trafficking continued to be problems. Child labor and abuse at the workplace remained problems in certain industries, mostly in the informal sector, and child domestic workers were vulnerable to all forms of abuse at their informal workplaces. Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The legal age of marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men. The law includes a provision for marriages of women and men at any age in “special circumstances.” To reduce early and forced marriages, the government offered stipends for girls’ school expenses beyond the compulsory level. The government and NGOs conducted workshops and public events to teach parents the importance of their daughters waiting until age 18 before marrying. According to the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, two mobile services were available to report cases of child marriage and other services; the Joya App and a “109 Hotline.” According to the ministry, more than 1,000 girls used the Page 44