Child rights agenda

Universal Children’s Day (UCD) was observed on November 20 with great show by the government and civil society across Pakistan. The Prime Minister declared 2013 as the year of child rights and made announcements about establishment of the National Commission on the Rights of Children and budgetary allocation for the Parliamentary Forum on Child Rights. These are good steps however; 2013 being declared as the year of child rights, I would like to put a few concrete recommendations for the current government to pursue in the last few months of its tenure and to be able to bring some positive changes in the arena of child rights in Pakistan.

On October 30, 2012 Pakistan’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was held at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. It’ll be great if the present government immediately accept all recommendation and particularly those related to child rights and chalk out a plan for the implementation of the UPR recommendations. Furthermore, Pakistan’s Periodic report being party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was due in 2012 however, it could not be submitted timely, neither were the recommendations on the last periodic report implemented properly. The government should prepare and submit the periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and implement recommendations both by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and Human Rights Council including the recommendations related to legislation by passing all pending bills i.e. the Criminal Law Amendment (Child Protection) Bill 2009, the National Commission on the Rights of Children Bill 2009, the Charter of Child Rights Bill 2009, the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill and the Child Marriages Restraint Amendment Bill.

To respond to the issue of child domestic labour the government should immediately ban child domestic labour by notifying it under the schedule of banned occupations of the Employment of Children Act 1991. Furthermore, the government should notify rules of the recently enacted the ICT Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2012 and make budgetary allocation of ensuring its implementation in the Federal Capital. Similarly, the President should notify the Federally Administered Areas Right to Free and Compulsory Education Regulation and all the four provinces should enact the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bills on the pattern of national legislature.

The federal government and particularly the Parliamentary Forum for Child Right should help as well as push the provincial governments for investing in children and introducing laws in the remaining few months of the present Provincial Assemblies. It is regrettable that there was no child rights related legislation in some provinces in the tenure of current assemblies.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa introduced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Borstal Institutions Act 2012 however; implementation of these laws and budgetary allocation for their proper implementation is still to be made. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Commission is doing an excellent job since its establishment following the enactment of the law in 2010 however; the provincial government should make sufficient budgetary allocation for the Commission to be able to establish Child Protection Units (currently CPUs have been established in 8 out of 25 districts) across all districts of the Province and work more effectively.

Punjab enacted the Punjab Employment of Children Amendment Act 2011, without any amendments in the federal Employment of Children Act 1991 though except changing the word Pakistan with Punjab and the word Federal with the word Provincial. The government of Punjab should ban Child Domestic Labour by notifying it under the schedule of banned occupations of the Employment of Children Amendment Act 2011. The Provincial Assembly should also enact the Punjab Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill. The government of Punjab should also establish an independent Provincial Commission on the Rights of Children through an Act of the Provincial Assembly to work for the promotion and protection of child rights in the province in light of our national and international obligations and make budgetary allocation for the implementation of all children related laws in the province.

Sindh introduced the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011 however; implementation of the law and budgetary allocation is still awaited. The government of Sindh should immediately notify rules of the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011; notify the Sindh Child Protection Authority and establish Child Protection Units at the local level in accordance with Section 16 of the law and this will not be possible without proper budgetary allocation for the implementation of the law.

Furthermore, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh should introduce the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Acts in light of Article 25 A of the Constitution whereby education has been made a fundamental right for every child of 5 to 16 years of age and make budgetary allocation for the effective implementation of this very important constitutional provision. Recently in a forum on Right to Education in Islamabad most of the provincial government representatives were presenting lack of financial resources particularly budget for building new school buildings as a major hurdle in the implementation of this constitutional provision. It is recommended that the provincial governments should think of various options including using the existing facilities i.e. school buildings, teachers efficiently to respond to the situation such as evening shifts. 

Unfortunately, Balochistan is the only province which has failed to introduce any child rights specific legislation since independence. It’s high time that the Provincial Assembly responds to its constitutional obligations and passes all pending bills related to child rights particularly the Balochistan Child Protection and Welfare Bill, the Balochistan Borstal Institutions Bill, the Balochistan Employment of Children Amendment Bill and the Balochistan Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill. The government of Balochistan should also make budgetary allocation for the implementation of these laws particularly in the areas of health, education and child protection.

The federal and provincial government with the support of the civil society, UN Agencies and donors should immediately begin planning for 2013; the year of child rights, and come up with plans and strategies for making 2013 truly a year of the rights the children of Pakistan. As recommended above, the federal and provincial legislature should pass all pending bills related to child rights and the respective governments should make budgetary allocations for the implementation of those laws. Furthermore, the federal government should ratify Optional Protocols to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Communications Procedure. Similarly, the civil society, the UN and donors Agencies can support the federal and provincial governments not only in the initial implementation of children related plans and projects but also in creating widespread awareness about child rights and extending technical assistance in having in place the right laws, policies and strategies.

The writer is a child rights activist and tweets @amahmood72

 

Publised in Daily Dawn on December 10, 2012 http://dawn.com/2012/12/10/child-rights-agenda/

Universal Children’s Day and the UPR recommendations

By Arshad Mahmood

Universal Children’s Day (UCD) is observed every year since 1956 following a UN General Assembly recommendation. On November 20, 1989 the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) also know as Magna Carta of child rights. This UCD is special as recently Pakistan’s UPR was held at the Human Rights Council in Geneva where the state of child rights in the country was highlighted and a number of countries gave child rights related recommendations. Even if the government accept all child rights related recommendations from the UPR on the occasion of the UCD and take steps for the implementation of these recommendations, the from the state of child rights in the country could be improved considerably.

Pakistan’s review was held in the 14^th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group in Human Rights Council (HRC), Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday October 30, 2012. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar lead Pakistan’s high level delegation that also included Mr. Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, Prime Minister’s Advisor on Human Rights, Mr. Paul Bhatti, Advisor to Prime Minister on National Harmony, Mr. Riaz Fatyana, Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights, Mr. Araish Kumar MNA to name a few.

Ms. Khar informed the HRC that the recommendations that were accepted by Pakistan in 2008 were widely circulated and that the report shared was prepared through a broader consultative process. She said that there is a robust civil society, independent judiciary, free and active media in Pakistan which is playing a key role in the protection of human rights. She further stated that the reporting period was challenging for Pakistan.

Highlighting some positive developments with regard to human rights in Pakistan, the foreign minister informed the HRC that the UPR has been a catalyst for Pakistan to bring positive changes in legislation, policy and practice. She also informed the HRC that consistent with its long standing commitment to promote and protect human rights, Pakistan ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Convention Against Torture (CAT) in June 2010. In August 2011, Pakistan ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. She mentioned a number of legislative and administrative steps taken by the government in the past four years.

The Foreign Minister’s statement was followed by recommendations by the States. States recommendations mainly focused on five key areas including minorities’ rights, ratification of the UN Human Rights instruments, women and children’s rights, education particularly with a focus on girls’ education and appreciation for the establishment of the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR).

Some the key recommendations included strengthening and resource allocation for the National Commission on Human Rights (Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Spain, Qatar, USA), ratification of Convention against Involuntary and Enforced Disappearances and the Optional Protocol to UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico), Extension of standing invitation to HRC’s Special Procedures Mandate Holders (Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Hungary, Iraq, Latvia, Norway), a number of countries shared their concerns related to the situation of minorities and the blasphemy laws (Austria, Belgium, France, Spain, Thailand, UK).  

There were a number of child rights related recommendations including Universal free primary education to all children (Thailand); Develop a comprehensive strategy to prevent sexual exploitation of children and their cruel treatment and increase criminal liability for these crimes (Belarus); Continue to develop and enhance programmes to provide education and support to children who have been recovered from militants or extremists, and to help them reintegrate into society (Singapore); Ratify the Optional Protocols to CRC, on involvement of children in armed conflict (Iraq); Ratify the third OP to CRC on a communication procedure (Slovakia); Expedite the adoption of the Charter of Child Rights Bill (Bhutan); Enact efficient legislation to prohibit and prevent the employment of children as domestic workers (Slovakia); Ensure adequate resources in implementing MDGs with priority focus on vulnerable groups such as women and children (Viet Nam); Develop a clear implementation and monitoring plan for the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 1995 and the National Policy and Plan of Action for the Abolition of Bonded Labour, 2001 (Ireland).

Similarly, there were a number of recommendations related to human rights education and training for judicial and law enforcement officials (Uganda, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Malaysia). Canada and Austria recommended to take steps to implement laws and policies with a view to eliminating early and forced marriage in particular with a view to ending rape, sexual exploitation and forced conversions of scheduled caste girls. Uruguay recommended adopting all possible measures to prevent and explicitly prohibit in its legal order the recruitment of children and their participation in armed actions and terrorist activities. France recommended prohibiting child labour of minors under the age of 14 while Islamic Republic or Iran recommended developing the Child Protection Management Information System (CPMIS) and advancement in child immunization.

It’s time for the government Pakistan to respond to the recommendations positively and not only accept all children specific recommendations but also immediately take measures to implement the recommendations that will ultimately result in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The National Assembly of Pakistan should pass all the pending bills related to child rights including the Charter of Child Rights Bill, the Criminal Laws Amendment (Child Protection) Bill, the National Commission on the Rights of Children Bill, the Child Marriages Restraint Amendment Bill and the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill. Besides, passing the pending bills the federal and provincial governments should increase budgetary allocations in health, education and children specific scheme, programs and projects.

The federal government should help as well as push the provincial governments for investing in children and introducing laws in the remaining few months of all assemblies. It is regrettable that there was no child rights related legislation in some provinces in the tenure of current assemblies. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh introduced laws however; implementation of these laws and budgetary allocation is still awaited particularly in the case of Sindh. Balochistan is the only province which has failed to introduce any child rights specific legislation since independence. It’s high time that the provincial assembly pass all pending bills related to child rights particularly the Balochistan Child Protection and Welfare Bill and the Balochistan Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill.

The writer is a child rights activist and tweets @amahmood72

Creating a frontline

Two important world reports were released in the past month, with direct links to newborn and maternal survival. The first, release by the World Health Organisation on May 3rd, ranked Pakistan fourth in the world for preterm births, at 748,100 per year. The report, Born too Soon, argued that shortages in qualified health workers and inadequate capacity for the care of premature babies are a major reason for the lack of progress in reducing neonatal deaths. It went on to explain how investment in health workers can considerably reduce maternal and child mortality ratio.The lack of health workers directly impacts the quality of life for mothers. This was reflected in the second report, released by Save the Children on May 8th, where Pakistan was ranked 78 out of 80 countries under the less developed countries category on the annual Mothers’ Index. The State of the World’s Mothers, released for the thirteenth year, ranked 165 countries for being the worst and best places to be a mother. It echoed the views of Born too Soon – that health workers are the key to success. Frontline health workers have a vital role to play in promoting good nutrition in the first 1,000 days in impoverished communities in the developing world where malnutrition is too common, doctors and hospitals are often unavailable, too far away, or too expensive.Indeed, we need more frontline health workers who are skilled and confident in newborn care. We need health clinics equipped with life-saving commodities. We need community health workers and midwives to screen children for malnutrition, treat diarrhoea, promote breastfeeding, distribute vitamins and other micronutrients, and counsel mothers on good nutrition, hygiene and sanitation. The “lifesaving six” interventions highlighted in the State of the World’s Mothers report can be delivered in many remote and impoverished places through well-trained and well-equipped community health workers. In a number of countries – including Cambodia, Malawi and Nepal – these health workers have contributed to broad-scale success in fighting malnutrition and saving lives.Save the Children says nearly 1.3 million children’s lives could be saved each year if six interventions are fully implemented at scale in the 12 countries, including 100,000 in Pakistan, most heavily burdened by child malnutrition and under-5 mortality. With the help of frontline health workers, all six of these interventions can be delivered fairly rapidly using health systems that are already in place.What is lacking is the political will – the will to invest in inexpensive yet proven solutions that are essential to the women and children who need them most. Three of the six solutions – iron, vitamin A and zinc – are typically packaged as capsules costing pennies per dose, or about $1 to $2 per person per year. The other three solutions – breastfeeding, complementary feeding and good hygiene – are behavioural change solutions, which can be implemented through outreach, education and community support.In Pakistan, about 100,000 Lady Health Workers (LHWs) and 4,000 Community Midwives (CMWs) exist at community level. While the government’s LHW Program is present in all districts, in reality only 60% to 65% of the whole population is covered, with many of the poorest and hardest to reach without any access at all. The Prime Minister announced an increase in the number of LHWs to 120,000 and CMWs to 16,000, although about 12,000 more CMWs need to be deployed in order to meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria.The Government of Pakistan should live up to its commitment to increase the number of LHWs and extends its commitment to increase the number of CMWs. These increases would help close the gap in health promotion and provision of services. Both the federal and provincial governments and donors should work together to fill this frontline health workers gap by recruiting, training and supporting new and existing health workers, and deploying them where they are needed most.The provincial governments and donors are now playing a larger role in the post 18th constitutional amendment scenario as the LHW program has devolved to provinces. The appointment and training of CMWs have become provincial subjects as well and should now be prioritized by the provincial leaders.The provincial governments now need their own frontline health workers policies and strategies in light of their respective Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. This needs to be done with great urgency, given high maternal mortality ratios like that of Balochistan, at 785 per 100,000 live births. All provincial governments and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) secretariat will need to come up with policies and strategies about increasing frontline LHWs and CMWs quickly in order to put provinces and FATA on the right track towards achieving MDGs 4 and 5. Donor agencies are also required to align their support in the post 18th constitutional amendment scenario and extend technical assistance to provinces to respond to the demands in an effective manner.The writer is an advocacy manager for Save the Children and tweets at @amahmood72.

Published by The News on Sunday on June 17, 2012 http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2012-weekly/nos-17-06-2012/dia.htm#4

Published as a blog on Save the Children Asia's website http://save-the-children-asia.mynewsdesk.com/blog_post/view/in-pakistan-health-workers-are-crucial-in-delivering-life-saving-support-to-newborns-and-mothers-13075

Published as a blog on Every One Campaign's website http://everyone.org/saving-newborns-in-pakistan/

Pakistan’s human rights scrutiny

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group’s 14^th session is scheduled to take place from October 22 to November 5, 2012 in Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland. Pakistan’s review is scheduled from 09:00 to 12:30 hours on Tuesday October 30, 2012 while the report on Pakistan will be adopted on Friday November 02, 2012. The UPR is a United Nations review mechanism of the overall human rights situation of all UN Member States, by all UN Member States. This includes child rights issues.

The review is based on three reports: 1) the State’s national report, 2) a compilation of UN information on the State prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) and 3) a summary of other relevant stakeholders’ information, including NGOs’, prepared by the OHCHR. From Pakistan a number of stakeholders’ reports have been submitted by different civil society organizations focusing on different areas such as human rights, women’s rights, minorities’ situation, labour rights, right to information and child rights. I’ll briefly discuss the concerns and recommendations raised by the Child Rights Movement (CRM), a coalition of 108 national and international organizations working for child rights in Pakistan in its report.

The CRM report highlights the fact that there is no an independent body at the federal level with a statutory status for reporting, coordination and monitoring for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and its Optional Protocols and have recommended that the Government of Pakistan should establish an independent National Commission on the Rights of Children (NCRC) by passing the long pending NCRC bill.

While highlighting the issue of malnutrition, the civil society report states that malnutrition is contributing to 35 percent of all under-5 deaths in Pakistan. According to UNICEF, 32 percent of infants have low birth-weight (recorded in 2006 and 2010). In 2010, the infant mortality rate was 70/1000 and under-5 mortality rate was 87/1000. As a result, Pakistan is at risk of failing to reach its MDGs targets on maternal and child health. Pakistan should take all legislative, administrative and other appropriate measures to develop and implement comprehensive food security and malnutrition prevention and response programmes recommended the CRM.

The report further states that Pakistan has ratified three conventions related to children: UNCRC and ILO’s Conventions 138 (the Minimum Age Convention) and 182 (Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour) however, little progress has been made in amending existing or introducing new legislation to comply with the provisions of these conventions. The report also highlights cases of severe torture and abuse of child domestic workers. The civil society report recommends that Pakistan should introduce new laws and where required amend existing laws to implement the provisions of these conventions and to ban child domestic labour under the Employment of Children Act (ECA) 1991.

The report also highlights child protection issues like corporal punishment and child marriages and recommended to immediately enact the long awaited Prohibition of Corporal Punishment and the Child Marriages Restraint (Amendment) Bills to prohibit corporal punishment in all its forms and raise the minimum marriageable age for girls from 16 to 18 years, along with strict penalties for violations.

The CRM report highlighted stark statistics related to the number of child sexual abuse cases (1,839 in 2008, 2,012 in 2009, 2,595 in 2010): On average, six children are sexually assaulted every day, but reported cases are only a fraction of all cases due to social taboo. CRM recommends that Pakistan should ensure that professionals working on the front line with children, such as teachers, medical professionals, school counselors, and police personnel, are sensitized and trained to appropriately respond to child sexual abuse, including prevention, detection and management.

There are an estimated 1.2 million children living and or working on the streets in major cities of Pakistan. Following the floods in 2010 and 2011, and ongoing conflict in the tribal areas, there has been a surge of street children. The federal and provincial governments in Pakistan should support mechanisms for rehabilitation and reunification of children living and or working on the streets recommended the CRM.

The civil society report further states that the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO), 2000, is little recognized or known among law enforcement agencies, and officials are generally not sensitized or qualified to deal with children’s issues. Furthermore, the law does not override, but is in addition to, several laws such as  the Army Act, Frontier Crimes Regulation, Action (in Aid Civil Power) Regulation, Anti-terrorism Act, Control of Narcotics Substance Act, Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying Ordinance and the Railways Act to name a few. Under these laws, harsh punishments including death sentence and life imprisonment can be imposed upon children. The Government of Pakistan should take measures to ensure that the JJSO overrides other laws in cases involving children and take solid steps for the implementation of the JJSO including the establishment of exclusive juvenile courts, appointment of probation officers and budgetary allocation.

Similarly, the minimum age for criminal responsibility that currently stands at 7 years under Section 82 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) should be increased immediately to an internationally accepted level i.e. 12 years. A Child Protection Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill has been pending since 2009 in which the minimum age of criminal responsibility was proposed to increase from 7 to 10 years under Section 82  and from 12 to 14 years under Section 83 of the PPPC.

National birth registration average is at a dismal 29.5 percent as Pakistan has not taken sufficient measures to remove structural obstacles to birth registration and harmonize birth registration systems across the country. The CRM recommended that Pakistan should take legal and administrative measures to remove obstacles to birth registration (particularly for marginalized segments of society, e.g. single parents children, children out of wedlock, street children and orphans) and harmonize laws related to birth registration across the country by 2015.

While highlighting the state of education in the country, the report stated that about 7 million children are not attending primary school in Pakistan; approximately 60 percent of these are girls. Accordingly, more than 50 million Pakistanis above 10 years of age are illiterate. Through a positive constitutional amendment Article 25A was inserted in the Constitution of Pakistan in 2010, where education has been made a fundamental right of every child from 5 to 16 years of age however; neither the federal nor provincial governments have introduced laws to implement the Article. Both the federal and provincial legislature should enact laws Pakistan that should comply with Article 25-A (the Right to Education).

Pakistan ratified the Optional Protocol to the UNCRC on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography in October 2011; however, the Child Protection (Criminal Law) Amendment Bill 2009, which would provide for preventive and protective measures against sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography is still pending to be placed before the National Assembly of Pakistan for enactment. Pakistan should translate ratification of the Optional Protocol on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography into national laws.

Pakistan has introduced the Action in Aid for Civil Power Regulations (AACPRs) for the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas and Provincially Administrated Tribal Areas. These regulations allow for the confinement of an individual for 120 days without the authority of the magistrate. Furthermore, the Regulations state that for 120 days, there will be no legal representation or trial, and a single statement by an official from the Law Enforcement Agencies is sufficient to prove a suspect guilty of an offence and set a death sentence, which cannot be challenged at any other legal forum. Pakistan should immediately abolish the AACPRs and proper administrative and judicial procedures should be applied in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan in FATA and PATA.

The issues raised and recommendations made in the civil society report clearly highlight the state of affairs in the country as for as child rights are concerned. Pakistan’s periodic report being party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is also due later this year. Therefore, its high time for the both the federal and provincial legislature to respond to the state of child rights in the country and immediately enact all pending bills related to child rights. Similarly, budgetary allocation should also be made to ensure that the laws are not limited to law books only and a visible change is witnessed in the child rights situation in the country.

The writer is a member of the Child Rights Movement and tweets @amahmood72

 

Published in The News on Sunday http://jang.com.pk/thenews/Oct2012-weekly/nos-27-10-2012/pol1.htm#6 and http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/asia-views/pakistans-human-rights-scrutiny

 

Malnutrition: A hidden crisis in Pakistan

Malnutrition is the underlying cause of 35 per cent of under-5 deaths in Pakistan. It is considered one of the hidden crises. The stunning results from the recent National Nutrition Survey (NNS, 2011) show an alarming nutrition situation in Pakistan. Under-nutrition is one of the main causes of death among infants and young children. Those who survive have less learning capacity that reduces their productivity as adults, which impact negatively on the economy. At least 2% of GDP is lost every year on account of current levels of malnutrition in Pakistan. Addressing the problem would only cost a small fraction of that amount. Reversing adverse trends in nutrition needs appropriate policy direction, political commitment and a concerted effort from all sectors.

The main indicators of malnutrition include stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies. Stunting is when a child is too short relative to her/his age. It is a form of “chronic” malnutrition, which is accumulated over long period of time. Stunting generally occurs before the age of two and is largely irreversible. According to Save the Children’s State of the World’s Mothers 2012 report, the period from the beginning of pregnancy to 24 months of age – the first 1000 days – are critical for nutrition – and the window to prevent malnutrition. The main causes of malnutrition include poor nutrition for mothers during pregnancy, too few calories, poor quality of food (e.g. micronutrients), repeated infections (e.g. diarrhoea, malaria), and poor feeding practices (e.g. not feeding colostrum). According to the findings of NNS 2011 43.7% of children under five are stunted in Pakistan.

Wasting is when a child’s weight is too low for her/his height. Wasting is usually the result of acute significant food shortage and/or severe disease. Children suffering from wasting, particularly in severe cases of wasting, are more likely to die. According to the findings of the NNS 2011, 15% of children under-five years in Pakistan are wasted. As per World Health Organization’s standards, a national average of 15% or above is labelled as an “EMERGENCY”.

The survey results also highlight micro-nutrient deficiencies including vitamin A, iron, zinc, iodine and vitamin D. It is clear now that malnutrition is not just a food problem or the result of displacements, floods or other emergencies. Malnutrition is a national calamity. It is indicative of the underlying issues the country is facing including poor infant feeding practices, poor sanitation and hygiene habits, increasing food insecurity and lack of awareness about child and maternal nutrition.

Traditionally nutrition has been viewed as a problem to be looked after only by the health sector - planning commission or Ministry of Health at the federal level and Department of Health at the provincial level. This narrow approach then excludes those remedies  which would cater to the wider economic and social contexts which predispose a community to poor nutrition. Major findings of the NNS 2011 clearly indicate the urgent need to address malnutrition through an integrated approach, which addresses immediate, underlying and basic causes of malnutrition. This is a challenge to mainstream nutrition and to ensure that all relevant departments and stakeholders are cognizant of their roles and have effective coordination.

There is now real evidence that most of our children are under-nourished in many ways … ways which affect the development of their brains in the first two years of life, with negative impact on their performance in or out of school and subsequently in their work productivity.

Devolution is an opportunity to scale up investment in health and nutrition after a long period of stagnation. It is high time that the provincial governments make specific budgetary allocations for nutrition programs. Social protection schemes (like Benazir Income Support Program and Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal ) allocate increased resources and have increased focus on nutrition outcomes.

According to Save the Children’s State of the World’s Mothers 2012 report, “In developing countries, breastfed children are at least 6 times more likely to survive in the early months of life than non-breastfed children”. It further states that “Breastfeeding is the single most effective nutrition intervention for saving lives”.

In Pakistan, we need to work hard both at the grassroots level for behavior change where health workers can play a crucial role. The provincial governments should adopt and take practical steps for the implementation of the Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Ordinance 2002 and it’s 2010 rules to help prevent illegal promotion of formula milk and promote the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child.

Keeping in view, Pakistan’s nutrition situation, it is time for Pakistan to join the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement like other regional countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal. This will help bring in technical and financial assistance for improving the nutrition situation in the country on a sustainable basis.

One does not need to be an expert to understand how important political commitment is to improve the nutrition situation in the country. With political commitment we can ensure not only strong leadership and the much desired coordination at the high level but also sustainable funding. High level coordination, strong leadership and funding can then result in comprehensive programs and cost effective interventions.

(The writer is a development practitioner and tweets @amahmood72)

Children at bay

Recently there was a debate in the National Assembly, according to a section of the
press, about failure of the provinces to legislate in order to safeguard child
rights following the 18th Constitutional Amendment whereby child
rights have become a provincial subject. A parliamentary caucus has been
established to look into the situation and make recommendations. Members of the
federal legislature while showing their concern about failure of the provinces
to legislate about child rights have failed however; to recognize the fact that
the federal legislature has failed as well to legislate for areas and subjects
under its jurisdiction such as the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and
amendments in the criminal law i.e. the Child Protection (Criminal Law
Amendment) Bill 2009.

Following the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the Concurrent Legislative List
has been deleted, leading to confusion within the relevant ministries,
departments as well as among other stakeholders on the legislative competency
of the federal legislature and existence of coordination mechanism at the
national level on the subject of children. The civil society wholeheartedly,
welcomed the 18th Amendment and has started actively coordinating
with concerned provincial government departments for related legislative and
other initiatives however, we cannot ignore the reality that the devolution
does not absolve the federal government and federal legislature of its
responsibilities towards children in light of the Constitution and Pakistan’s
international obligations being Party to the CRC and other UN and ILO
Conventions.

Article 25(3) of the constitution recognizes the special right of protection for
children due to their vulnerability and states “nothing in this article shall
prevent the state from making special provision for the protection of women and
children”. Similarly, according to the amended Article 142(b), the federal
legislature has the power to make laws with respect to criminal law, criminal
procedure and evidence. On the authority of these articles it can be argued
that, notwithstanding promulgation of the 18th Amendment and the consequent
legislative devolution to provincial assemblies with regard to child welfare
matters, the federal legislature cannot be prevented from making special
provisions for children and from enacting legislation relating to children`s
rights.

Another concern raised by the civil society was about the role of federal government in
maintaining a minimum standard. Who will ensure that children living in all the
seven provinces and regions have the same rights? A child protection and
welfare legislation has been introduced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but there is none
in Balochistan, FATA or even the Islamabad Capital Territory. There is no body
at the federal level with a statutory status to work for the promotion and
protection of child rights and raise such issues and concerns with the
provinces and regions. A National Commission on the Rights of Children (NCRC)
Bill is in the pipeline for the last three years without any progress though.

Having a look at the state of child rights in Pakistan in light of indicators like Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) or the benchmarks set under the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) or even the targets set under the National Plan of
Action for Children 2006, the results are depressing and we still lag far
behind in fulfilling our promises to our children. Flood emergencies in the
recent years added to the already complex challenges of conflict, terrorism, the
appalling state of the health and education sectors, and lack of legislative
initiatives combined with poor or no implementation of existing laws.


This is surprising that there is some evidence of a decreasing trend in child labour
globally. Unfortunately however, in Pakistan there has been an increase in
child labour. One of less acknowledged but potentially worst form of child
labour that is rampant in the country is child domestic labour. During the last
two and a half year we got more evidence of the way child domestic workers are
treated in the privacy of homes and the abuses they suffer. More than 20 cases
of torture to death and lifelong injuries of child domestic workers were
reported by the media from January 2010 to date starting from the famous Shazia
Masih case in Lahore. Punjab, being the province from where the highest number
deaths and disabilities through torture of the child domestic workers have been
reported, must respond to the situation immediately. Similarly, the federal
government should also realize its responsibility and check the menace of child
domestic labour in federal capital, if not in the whole country.

Another important strategy to eliminate child labour can be the implementation of Article
25-A of the Constitution whereby education has been made a fundamental right
for all children from five to sixteen years of age. There is need to enact the
Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bills at the provincial and ICT levels.
Similarly, a Right to Free and Compulsory Education Regulation needs to be
introduced for FATA. The progress on this front is very slow again and only the
Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill has been passed by the Senate of
Pakistan for the ICT which needs to be passed by the National Assembly of
Pakistan while at the provincial level the progress is slow despite the fact
the incumbent assemblies are close to completing their tenure. The Right to
Free and Compulsory Education Bills should be introduced for all provinces and
regions immediately with proper budgeting of these laws and immediate budgetary
allocation.

Violence against children is widespread; at homes, in the streets and institutions and
in the criminal justice system. The unfortunate and terrible incidents like the
recent wave of suicides among children from Khyber to Karachi following
corporal punishment in schools, at homes or in madrassas are some of the
horrible examples of increasing trends of violence against children.

The growing incidence of violence against children reminds us of the importance of
legislation and mechanisms for the protection of children`s rights. Can the
state and civil society protect children? Is it all about resources or poverty
of will that has resulted in growing incidents of violence? The Prohibition of
Corporal Punishment Bills both at the federal and provincial level are
highlights how much importance is given to this important issue by the
legislature.

Similarly, at the policy level no concrete steps were taken for the implementation of the
Concluding Observations and Recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights
of the Child on Pakistan’s last Periodic Report which had called for, among
other steps, approval of a national child protection policy and related laws,
increase in resource allocation for health, education and child protection,
establishment of a national commission on the rights of children and inclusion
of child rights in the training curricula of all professional training colleges
and academies.

To conclude, the need to protect children has never been greater. We all need to
work together to ensure that the rights of children enshrined in the
Constitution, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Islamic
injunctions are honored. The government and the parliament need to prioritize
child rights and immediately pass all the pending legislation. There should be
proper budgetary allocation for all children related initiatives, a national
commission should be established to work for the promotion and protection of
the rights of the child and ensure implementation of Pakistan’s national and
international obligations. A plan of action should be adopted for the
implementation of the CO&R of the UN Committee. The plight of children in
Pakistan can be improved on a sustainable basis by taking these initiatives. The
key, however, is political will.

The writer is a development practitioner and tweets @amahmood72
The artile was also published in The News on Sunday http://jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2012-weekly/nos-26-08-2012/dia.htm#5

Creating a frontline

By Arshad Mahmood
Two important world reports were released in the past month, with direct links to newborn and maternal survival. The first, release by the World Health Organisation on May 3rd, ranked Pakistan fourth in the world for preterm births, at 748,100 per year. The report, Born too Soon, argued that shortages in qualified health workers and inadequate capacity for the care of premature babies are a major reason for the lack of progress in reducing neonatal deaths. It went on to explain how investment in health workers can considerably reduce maternal and child mortality ratio.

The lack of health workers directly impacts the quality of life for mothers. This was reflected in the second report, released by Save the Children on May 8th, where Pakistan was ranked 78 out of 80 countries under the less developed countries category on the annual Mothers’ Index. The State of the World’s Mothers, released for the thirteenth year, ranked 165 countries for being the worst and best places to be a mother. It echoed the views of Born too Soon – that health workers are the key to success. Frontline health workers have a vital role to play in promoting good nutrition in the first 1,000 days in impoverished communities in the developing world where malnutrition is too common, doctors and hospitals are often unavailable, too far away, or too expensive.

Indeed, we need more frontline health workers who are skilled and confident in newborn care. We need health clinics equipped with life-saving commodities. We need community health workers and midwives to screen children for malnutrition, treat diarrhoea, promote breastfeeding, distribute vitamins and other micronutrients, and counsel mothers on good nutrition, hygiene and sanitation. The “lifesaving six” interventions highlighted in the State of the World’s Mothers report can be delivered in many remote and impoverished places through well-trained and well-equipped community health workers. In a number of countries – including Cambodia, Malawi and Nepal – these health workers have contributed to broad-scale success in fighting malnutrition and saving lives.

Save the Children says nearly 1.3 million children’s lives could be saved each year if six interventions are fully implemented at scale in the 12 countries, including 100,000 in Pakistan, most heavily burdened by child malnutrition and under-5 mortality. With the help of frontline health workers, all six of these interventions can be delivered fairly rapidly using health systems that are already in place.What is lacking is the political will – the will to invest in inexpensive yet proven solutions that are essential to the women and children who need them most. Three of the six solutions – iron, vitamin A and zinc – are typically packaged as capsules costing pennies per dose, or about $1 to $2 per person per year. The other three solutions – breastfeeding, complementary feeding and good hygiene – are behavioural change solutions, which can be implemented through outreach, education and community support.

In Pakistan, about 100,000 Lady Health Workers (LHWs) and 4,000 Community Midwives (CMWs) exist at community level. While the government’s LHW Program is present in all districts, in reality only 60% to 65% of the whole population is covered, with many of the poorest and hardest to reach without any access at all. The Prime Minister announced an increase in the number of LHWs to 120,000 and CMWs to 16,000, although about 12,000 more CMWs need to be deployed in order to meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria.

The Government of Pakistan should live up to its commitment to increase the number of LHWs and extends its commitment to increase the number of CMWs. These increases would help close the gap in health promotion and provision of services. Both the federal and provincial governments and donors should work together to fill this frontline health workers gap by recruiting, training and supporting new and existing health workers, and deploying them where they are needed most.

The provincial governments and donors are now playing a larger role in the post 18th constitutional amendment scenario as the LHW program has devolved to provinces. The appointment and training of CMWs have become provincial subjects as well and should now be prioritized by the provincial leaders.The provincial governments now need their own frontline health workers policies and strategies in light of their respective Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. This needs to be done with great urgency, given high maternal mortality ratios like that of Balochistan, at 785 per 100,000 live births. All provincial governments and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) secretariat will need to come up with policies and strategies about increasing frontline LHWs and CMWs quickly in order to put provinces and FATA on the right track towards achieving MDGs 4 and 5. Donor agencies are also required to align their support in the post 18th constitutional amendment scenario and extend technical assistance to provinces to respond to the demands in an effective manner.

The writer is an advocacy manager for Save the Children and tweets at @amahmood72.

The Article was published in The News on Sunday on June 17, 2012 http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2012-weekly/nos-17-06-2012/dia.htm#4
This piece was published as a blog on Save the Children Asia's website http://save-the-children-asia.mynewsdesk.com/blog_post/view/in-pakistan-health-workers-are-crucial-in-delivering-life-saving-support-to-newborns-and-mothers-13075
This was also published as a blog on Every One Campaign's page http://everyone.org/saving-newborns-in-pakistan/

Falling short to achieve MDGs

Arshad Mahmood
Progress towards achieving Millinium Development Goals remains a challenge for Pakistan. MDG 4 requires a two third reduction in child mortality, whereas, MDG 5 demands a reduction of maternal mortality ratio by three quarters. There is a need to accelerate the efforts to achieve the desired results by 2015.

Globally child mortality remains a major public health problem with over 9 million children under five years of age dying each year. Of those 9 million deaths, an estimated 4 million babies die in the first 4 weeks of life (the neonatal period). Ten countries, including Pakistan, account for two-thirds of these neonatal deaths. MDG 4 cannot be met without substantial reductions in neonatal mortality.

In Pakistan 423,000 children die every year before reaching their fifth birthday (87 deaths per 1000 live births) with 46 percent of them dying in the first 4 weeks of life. Infant mortality rate is 70 per 1000 live births and under 5 mortality rate 87 per 1000 live births. The maternal mortality ratio stands at 260 deaths per 100,000 live births. Malnutrition is one of the contributing factors that accounts for 35% of all under-5 deaths in Pakistan. The National Nutrition Survey 2011 identified 15.1% under 5 children wasted, 43.6% stunted and 31.5% under weight. Child anemia is recorded at 62.5% and maternal anemia at 51%.

According to a 2008 UNICEF report, poor children with uneducated mothers, who live in rural areas or are from marginalised social and ethnic groups, are at greatest risk of early death. A Save the Children report in 2010 states, “Children in conflict-affected countries are particularly vulnerable: almost 70% of the countries with the highest child mortality burden have experienced armed conflict over the past two decades”. In Pakistan, a great majority of population is living in rural areas and literacy ratio for rural women is alarmingly low. Similarly, the situation in FATA, parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have also exposed children to various risks.

This calls for the federal and provincial governments to take appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures to save these precious lives. There is a need to ensure full coverage of immunization and to reduce high rates of malnutrition. Similarly, it is also important to increase the number of Lady Health Workers (LHWs) as presently they are covering only 60% of the population. There is a need to invest in building their capacity for improved skills.

Furthermore, the federal and provincial governments should prioritize policies and programs on nutrition, vaccination and health workers and make sufficient budgetary allocations. Following the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provincial governments need to take lead and initiate ventures to improve the situation in their respective provinces. Donors also have an important role to play to support the provincial governments to effectively handle the added responsibilities.

http://save-the-children-asia.mynewsdesk.com/blog_post/view/falling-short-to-achieve-mdgs-in-pakistan-12797

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/asia-views/falling-short-of-mdg-targets-in-pakistan/

http://everyone.org/falling-short-to-achieve-mdgs/

Child rights in Balochistan There is a debate in the country about the Balochistan situation and how to bring Balochistan back into mainstream. Different opposition leaders are giving their vague plans for responding to Balochistan’s grievances and are in touch with various Baloch leaders. The government on the other side have introduced much talked about ‘Huqooq-e-Balochistan package’ and commitments on different forums by the President and the Prime Minister about addressing Balochistan’s concerns and giving them their due share. No one however, has a clear agenda and vision that how will they resolve Balochistan’s issues? How will be the state of human rights improved in Balochistan? How will be the missing persons issue solved and resolved forever? How will be the Baloch youth and children ensured a safe and healthy future within the federation of Pakistan? I’d like to respond to these questions with a focus on the deteriorating state of human rights in the province and how to improve that? The provincial government should immediately take steps to establish an autonomous, impartial and powerful provincial human rights commission through an Act of the assembly for the protection of human rights in the province. The commission should have representation from local media, bar, judiciary etc. and should have enough human and financial resources at its disposal to be able to respond to the human rights violations in the province in an effective way. A retired High Court or Supreme Court judge from Balochistan must be acceptable to all sections of the society for effectively addressing human rights related grievances such as missing persons, target killings, kidnappings, sectarian killings etc. Civil society of Pakistan will be more than willing to support the provincial government and members of the assembly in drafting a bill for the establishment of such an institution. Education is the basic right of every child and this has been reiterated to by the present Parliament by making education a fundamental right for children from 5 to 16 years of age under the 18th constitutional amendment. In Balochistan, a huge number of children from 5 to 16 years are not going to schools or drop out following primary as there are only 586 high schools both for girls and boys to cater to students of more than 12,000 primary and middle schools in the province. There is huge difference between the number of children and those getting education. Similarly, those enrolled in schools have a huge gender disparity. According to education department Balochistan an estimated 6000 schools would need to be build to be able to ensure education to all children of Balochistan in accordance with Article 25-A of the constitution about the right to free and compulsory education for children from 5 and 16 years of age. The federal government shall take responsibility and immediately respond to this call of the Balochistan education department and immediately allocate funds for this purpose from the ‘Huqooq-e-Balochistan package’ so that the people of Balochistan could be assured that this package is not just a gimmick rather it can be used for practical purposes such as ensuring Baloch children’s right to education. This will lead to a healthy atmosphere for the children of Balochistan and will be helpful in bringing them into mainstream. This will also create job opportunities of the educated youth and will prevent them from indulging in anti state activities and will also heal their sense of deprivation. Likewise, the provincial assembly shall take responsibility of introducing the Balochistan Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill on priority basis to start with. Balochistan is the only province of Pakistan where there is simply no legislation about child rights. What are the provincial assembly members doing? In the past one year, provincial assemblies in rest of the three provinces introduce legislation related to children such as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Welfare and Protection Act 2010 and the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011. Why is/was the provincial assembly Balochistan unable to legislate about child rights for the last six decades? The Balochistan Child Welfare and Protection Bill is in the pipeline for quite some time now and it’s high time that the provincial government and the assembly show their willingness and commitment and immediately adopt this Bill to be able to put in place an effective child protection system in the province. Violence against children in schools, in madrassahs, at homes and at work place is common in the province which is leading to violent behaviour among children however; there is no legislation in the province to check violence against children. A Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill is in the pipeline for quite some time again with no signs of its immediate adoption by the provincial assembly. This is another area where the provincial assembly shall come forward and play its role for the protection of the children of Balochistan from violence committed against them. Child labour is quite common in the province and a large number of children are working in various hazardous sectors including mining, deep sea fishing and brick kilns sectors with no response from the government. Besides, introduction of free and compulsory education laws the government should also build the capacity of the labour department to respond to the situation and ensure the effective implementation of the labour laws not only about child labour but also about bonded labour and minimum wages. This will be helpful in minimizing labour’s issues and checking exploitation of children working in hazardous sectors. Despite the fact that the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) was adopted way back in 2000 which abolishes death penalty for children below 18 years of age, recently, a civil society organization reported cases of four persons below the age of eighteen years awarded death sentences in violation of the JJSO. Their appeals are in process and hopefully their death sentences will be commuted by the honourable High Court, the question is about lack of awareness about children related laws among the stakeholders responsible for their implementation. This is also because of poor or no budgetary allocation for the implementation of children related laws in the province. The government of Balochistan, besides introducing children related laws, should focus on budgeting of the available laws and allocate sufficient funds for their implementation besides training of the stakeholders including police, probation officers, prison officials and teachers etc. The above mentioned steps will not only emphasize provincial assembly and government’s commitment towards improving the state of human rights and child rights in Balochistan but will also create opportunities for the Baloch youth to be part of the development process in the province. The writer is a development practitioner and tweets at @amahmood72.

FATA reforms: rhetoric or reality

There is no second opinion that Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) 1901 is against all basic norms and standards of human rights and is rightly being called a black law by the rights groups globally. It was a long standing demand of the civil society that in order to be able to bring the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into mainstream, the FCR would have to be abolished and reforms will need to be introduced in FATA through amendments in Article 1, 246 and 247 of the Constitution. In his first speech to the National Assembly of Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani announced repeal of the FCR. Similarly, in his address to the nation on 14th August 2009 the President of Pakistan Mr. Asif Ali Zardari announced political reforms in FATA including abolition of the FCR.

When the parliamentary committee was established for framing 18th constitutional amendment, FATA reforms were part of its terms of reference and there was representation from FATA as well. Surprisingly however, there was no amendment in the 18th Constitutional Amendment Act 2010 related to FATA. Article 1, 246 and 247 of the constitution are still intact and FATA has the same status as it had ever.

In response to the growing demand for reforms in FATA, in August last year the President introduced the Frontier Crimes (Amendment) Regulation 2011 and extended Political Parties Order 2002 to FATA. The nation was informed that major changes have been made in FCR and now children below 16, women and elderly will not be arrested under the collective responsibility clause of the FCR; there will be a right to appeal against the judgements of the political agents.

While going through the Frontier Crimes (Amendment) Regulation 2011 one comes to the conclusion that there is no major change in the FCR and even this regulation was introduced to divert attention from the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation 2011introduced earlier same year with more stringent and inhuman sentences and procedures in complete violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution and the international human rights laws. Human rights activists consider it stringent than FCR as it has also introduced death sentence which was not a part of the FCR.

The long standing demand of extending the jurisdiction of superior judiciary to FATA has been ignored once again and the collective responsibility clause is still very much a part of the FCR. National laws will still require to be extended to FATA by the president and no legislation is automatically applicable to FATA unless extended there by the president i.e. the women of FATA will remain deprived of the recently enacted Women Protection (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act 2011 unless it is extended to FATA by the president.

Most of the political commentators and civil society representatives term the reforms inadequate as in the presence of the Article 247 of the constitution the people of FATA are still not the full citizens of Pakistan. Article 1 needs to be amended in order to give FATA the status of a full federating unit by declaring it a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or giving it the status of a separate province in accordance with the right to self determination of the people of FATA.

Article 1 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, describes FATA as a part of Pakistan and Article 247 describes the manner in which the area is to be administered. “Under Article 247 (3), no act of Parliament is applicable to FATA or any part thereof unless the President of Pakistan so directs. The Governor of [KP] acts as the ‘agent’ to the President of Pakistan” but under Article 247 (7), the tribal areas are excluded from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the High Court of [KP] until Parliament makes law in this regard however, the parliament is not fully authorized to do so.

Under Article 199 (14) and 184 (3) & (5), the High Courts and the Supreme Court can ensure the enforcement of fundamental human rights. In view of the fact, however, that FATA is excluded from the Courts’ jurisdiction under Article 247(7), the enforcement of fundamental rights cannot be foreseen. Under the Article 2-A and 175 of the Constitution, an independent judiciary has to be established, but there is no court in FATA what to talk of an independent one. Not a single human rights provision in the Constitution is possible to be applied.

Only one solid positive step is the extension of the Political Parties Order to FATA that will be helpful for political parties in initiating their activities in FATA and subsequently putting issues like FATA reforms in the manifestos of mainstream political parties. This may result in some positive reforms including the status of FATA and the repeal of discriminatory laws in future. This is what the ruling alliance is telling the civil society when asked about FATA reforms knowing well that this will be meaningless without constitutional amendments.

With the above analyses one can safely come to the conclusion that the FATA reforms in its present shape are a gimmick or rhetoric and it is not going to bring any lasting changes in the lives of the people of FATA and is going to play no role in bringing them into mainstream and upholding their human rights.

This is unfortunate that despite repeated commitments, this government and the present parliament lost an important opportunity to bring FATA into mainstream and ensure the people of FATA their rights in light of the constitution and Pakistan’s international obligations being party to the international bill of rights, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified on April 17, 2008, and other important human rights treaties such as the Convention Against Torture, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CESAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) etc.

The president, the government and above all the parliament should look into the FATA reforms issue in light of the demands of the people of FATA and Pakistan’s international obligations and should recommit themselves to bringing genuine reforms in accordance with the wishes of the people of the FATA. Amendments shall be made in Article 1, 246 and 247 of the Constitution not only to bring FATA into mainstream but also to ensure protection of the fundamental rights of the people of FATA. Similarly, jurisdiction of the superior courts should be extended and the Parliament shall be empowered to legislate for FATA and all relevant laws of the country shall be applicable to FATA without any condition of extension by the president.

The writer holds a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and is the Executive Director of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child.
Published in Islamabad Dateline on January 31, 2012