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