Child Protection in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

A lot has been said and written about the Kasur child sexual abuse and pornography scandal and now its gradually becoming history as we as a nation have this excellent habit of not to worry too much and for too long about issues and like to move on to look into some other important things. Even a mighty and organized case of the level of Kasur where hundreds of children and their families were involved, couldn’t shatter us to think seriously about protecting our children and preventing such abuses in future. It was dealt with like if it was something limited to Kasur and had been taken care of and we don’t need any more to worry about it and then we came to know about another similar case in Hafizabad. What if such cases are reported from other parts of Punjab or other provinces of the country i.e. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)? Let’s review what child protection system is in place in KP to protect children from abuse, exploitation and violence and what should be done by the government of KP to protect each and every child in the province.

Riaz Ahmad from this paper started highlighting the cases of missing children in Peshawar. The trend of mutilated bodies of children as young as four or five being found in various parts of Peshawar city is alarming. How to prevent this? What steps have been taken? I understand from the newspaper reports that everyone is clueless.

Similarly, organized child sexual abuse cases were also highlighted in the media and a report ‘Peshawar’s Jinnah Park: A hub of underage sex workers’ was simply devastating for me as parent and as child rights activist. The documentary ‘Pakistan’s hidden shame’ highlighted the ordeal of small boys being abused by pedophiles. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf’s Chief Imran Khan also agreed that child sexual abuse is common and we as a society have failed to protect our children while speaking in the documentary. Following the Kasur scandal, Imran Khan also criticized the Punjab Government and said that as a Pakistani, his head hangs in shame after hearing about child-abuse case in Kasur, Punjab.

There is no doubt that the children living and or working on the streets easily fall prey to all abuses and exploitation and there are a large number of such children on the streets of almost all cities of KP and the rest of the country. Child abuse, exploitation and violence are not limited to children living and working on the streets however, and children are facing all this even within the four walls of their houses. In April 2015, the Government of KP appointed Ms. Reham Khan as Ambassador for children living and or working on the streets. This was a positive development and will help put the much needed attention on child protection in KP. The solution by the KP government and PTI, however, is not new and as usual they came up with this noble idea, on the pattern of Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB), to establish what they call ‘a state of the art institution’ with a capacity to house 1000 children. Instead of putting the whole focus on establishing an institution, it will be more practical if the focus is on establishing and strengthening a Child Protection system to cater to all the protection issues of children across the province and not limited to one single issue and that too at the Provincial Capital level.

Child protection system is a comprehensive approach to the protection of children from abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence and responding effectively when it occurs by providing necessary treatment, rehabilitation and compensation to child victims; Developing appropriate policies and regulations, interventions for prevention and response, and ways to measure progress and encouraging the participation of girls and boys, their parents, caregivers and community members, and the national & international NGOs and civil society.

Child protection systems are made up of a set of components that, when properly coordinated, work together to strengthen the protective environment around each child. These components include a strong legal and policy framework for child protection which is very much present in the shape of the KP Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010. There is however, the need on part of the Government of KP and Mr. Imran Khan to ensure the implementation of this key child protection related legislation which is considered the most comprehensive child protection law as compared to other provinces. Adequate budgetary allocation is another key component which is missing and only a grant of 10 million rupees is allocated every year since 2011 when the KP Child Protection and Welfare Commission (KPCP&WC) was established.

The Government KP should allocate enough budget to be able to establish the child protection system across all 25 districts. Approximately 300 million rupees will be enough for a robust child protection system in KP which is much less than one per cent of the Provincial budget. Multi-sectoral coordination is quite weak as the quarterly meetings of the KPCP&WC never took place. Child friendly preventive and responsive services are missing again except in a few districts where Child Protection Units (CPUs) have been established with donor support. A child protection workforce is again missing except in 10 out of 25 districts where it is supported by the donor. Robust data on child protection issues could be ensured only if the KPCP&WC is active and been provided with the necessary human and financial resources. 

I hope that a candid review of the above points by the government of KP and Mr. Imran Khan will help put some focus on child protection in KP with a few practical steps including budgetary allocation to establish and strengthen child protection system across the province. Only then will KP be in a position to claim that it has taken solid steps to protect the children of KP and prevent Kasur like scandals. 

 

The writer is a child rights activist and development practitioner with a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics (LSE) and tweets at @amahmood72

The article was also published in Express Tribune on October 13, 2015
 http://tribune.com.pk/story/972283/child-protection-in-khyber-pakhtunkhwa/