How many of us know that there was a National Plan
of Action for Children adopted in 2006 and whether it was implemented; that
there is no independent National Commission on the Rights of the Child Rights; that
birth registration rate is merely 30 per cent; that 352,000 children die before
their fifth birthday; that 45 per cent children are malnourished; that there is
a need to protect children belonging to religious minorities from sectarian
violence and attacks, forced marriages and forced conversions and from
prosecution and conviction under blasphemy law; that the Prohibition of
Corporal Punishment Bill is still pending; that the minimum legal age for
criminal responsibility is still 7 years; that the minimum age of marriage for
girls is still 16 except in Sindh; that no specific programmes have been
initiated for children with disabilities to enjoy their rights and to prevent
their marginalisation and abandonment and to build an inclusive education
system.
The article was published in Express Tribune on November 20, 2015
http://tribune.com.pk/story/994779/pakistans-child-rights-record-under-scrutiny/
These are sad realities and we all know that
budgetary allocation for children is still a mere 6 per cent of the GDP; that
Pakistan has the highest bottle feeding and lowest exclusive breastfeeding for
six months rates in South Asia; that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that Article 25-A of
the Constitution about the right to free and compulsory education for children
between the ages of 5 and 16 years and the Employment of Children Act 1991 are
poorly implemented; that child domestic labour is still legal and no child
labour survey has been conducted since 1996; that no specific measures have
been taken to combat sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
that child sexual abuse is still denied despite huge scandals like the Kasur
and that the children of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are still
deprived of most of their rights enshrined in the UNCRC and the Constitution.
The above issues are just a few of those mentioned
in the list
of issues that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child came up with during
the pre-session, held between October 5-9, and requested the Government of
Pakistan for written replies before March 01, 2016. This is part of the States
scrutiny being party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). State
Parties are required to submit their Periodic Reports about implementation on
the Convention after every 5 years. The Government of Pakistan submitted its 5th
Periodic Report to the UN Committee on May 23rd, 2015; the same was due on December
11, 2012. Civil society was invited to submit Alternative Reports by June 30,
2015. CSOs and coalitions, including the Child
Rights Movement (CRM) Pakistan, Justice
Project Pakistan and Global
Coalition to Protect Education form Attack Pakistan submitted their Alternative
Reports.
A plenary session will be held where the Government
of Pakistan will be scrutinized for the state of child rights in Pakistan by
the Committee in its Seventy Second Session to be held during May 17-June 03,
2016. Following the plenary with the government, the Committee will adopt
Concluding Observations and Recommendations for the Government of Pakistan and
all other stakeholders.
Having a look at the State report, all the
alternative reports submitted by the civil society and the list of issues and
questions raised by the Committee, one realize that Pakistan is still far from
achieving any significant milestones in making rights enshrined in the UNCRC a
reality for the children of Pakistan. This is high time that the federal and
provincial governments prioritize child rights and immediately respond to the
issues raised by the Committee in its list of issues on which the government of
Pakistan is required to respond before March 01, 2016.
The federal government should immediately enact all
the pending bills related to children including the National Commission on the
Rights of the Child Bill, the Child Protection (Criminal Laws) Amendment Bill,
the ICT Child Protection and Welfare Bill, the Child Marriages Restraint
(Amendment) Bill and the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill. Similarly,
the federal government should also take practical steps for the implementation
of the right to education legislation at the Islamabad and FATA level by
notifying rules and making budgetary allocation for the ICT Right to Free and
Compulsory Education Act 2012. There is also a need to make budgetary
allocation of establishing child protection system at the ICT and FATA levels
by the federal government and at the provincial level by all the respective
provincial governments. Steps should be taken for the effective implementation
of the Employment of Children Act (ECA) 1991, notify child domestic labour
under ECA’s schedule of banned occupations and conduct a fresh National Child Labour
Survey.
At the provincial level, Sindh is ahead of other
provinces and have introduced most of laws and policies however; there is a
high need to ensure implementation of the Sindh Multi Sectoral Nutrition
Strategy, the Sindh Protection and Promotion of Breastfeeding and Child
Nutrition Act 2013, the Sindh Right to Free and Compulsory Education 2013, the
Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011 and the Sindh Child Marriages
Restraint Act 2014. Notification of rules of business and budgetary allocation
with a robust monitoring system should be put in place immediately to ensure
realization of the rights of children in the province in accordance with the
UNCRC. Steps for universal birth registration, protection of children from
religious minorities and protection of children living and or working on the
streets and those in child and bonded labour should be taken.
The Government of Punjab should take steps for the
implementation of all children related laws and policies with sufficient
budgetary allocation. The Punjab Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill
should be enacted and an independent Commission should be established for the
promotion and protection of child rights in accordance with the UNCRC. Punjab
should also enact comprehensive child protection legislation as the current
Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2007’s scope is limited to destitute and
neglected children only.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should immediately enact the KP
Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill and the KP Child Marriages
Restraint Bill. The Government of KP should make sufficient budgetary
allocation for the implementation of the KP Child Protection and Welfare Act
2010 to establish a child protection system in the province. It should also
implement the KP Borstal Institutions Act 2012 and established Borstal
Institutions for juvenile inmates at Bannu, Peshawar and Haripur. The
Government of Balochistan should immediately enact the long awaited Balochistan
Child Protection and Welfare Bill and the Balochistan Child Marriages Restraint
Bill. Together with all other provinces, it should also make budgetary
allocations for the implementation of health and education related laws and
policies. Similarly, practical steps are required from all the federal and
provincial governments for the implementation of the Juvenile Justice System
Ordinance 2000.
I hope that by June 2016, when the concluding
observations and recommendations will be adopted by the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child on Pakistan’s fifth Periodic Report, the National
Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill would have been enacted and the
Commission would have been established to follow up with the federal and
provincial governments and ensure effective implementation of the concluding
observations and recommendations of the Committee and play a lead role in
improving the state of child rights in Pakistan.
The writer is a human 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 published in Express Tribune on November 20, 2015
http://tribune.com.pk/story/994779/pakistans-child-rights-record-under-scrutiny/
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