Undernutrition: An unfinished agenda

“Nutrition is crucial to both individual and national development. The evidence in the Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition furthers the evidence base that good nutrition is a fundamental driver of a wide range of developmental goals. “The post 2015 sustainable development agenda must put addressing all forms of malnutrition at the top of its goal” was a unanimous agreement at the launch of the Lancet Series in Pakistan. Lancet is a pioneer medical research journal which focuses on health issues. The launch ceremony was well attended by representatives of the federal and provincial governments, UN agencies, donors, academia, media and civil society.

While there has been a tremendous increase in a global political commitment to improve nutrition; yet this has translated into a modest impact. This presents a substantial unfinished agenda i.e. to address the cause of 45% (3.1 million) of all under 5 child deaths due to malnutrition said the President and CEO of Save the Children US, Carolyn S. Miles observed in her opening remarks at the launching ceremony in Islamabad. In Pakistan alone, 35% of all under five deaths can be attributed to the menace of malnutrition observed Ms. Miles. 

She further noted that the national and international momentum to address human nutrition and related food security and health needs has never been higher but we have to seize this opportunity and take concrete actions. Carolyn Miles reaffirmed Save the Children’s commitment to the cause of addressing malnutrition and assured that Save the Children will remain a frontline ally for responding to nutrition issues in Pakistan.

One of the leading global experts on nutrition and a lead author of the Lancet Series Dr. Zulfiqar A.  Bhutta from the Agha Khan University presented the key finding of the four papers. Breastfeeding practices are far from optimum, despite improvements in some countries said Dr. Bhutta. Sub optimum breastfeeding results in an increased risk for mortality in the first 2 years of life and results in 800,000 deaths annually. Furthermore, nearly 15% of deaths of children younger than 5 years can be reduced (i.e. 1 million lives saved), if the ten core nutrition interventions identified in the Lancet Series are scaled up.

“If we want to address issues of malnutrition we would need long term sustained initiatives. This includes food security, child protection, gender dynamics which calls for nutrition sensitive interventions such as programs aimed at poverty alleviation, empowering women, targeted agriculture safety nets and early childhood development programs” recommended Dr. Bhutta.

“Pakistan has made insufficient investments in nutrition sensitive interventions that are critical to produce policy change and impact” lamented Dr. Bhutta and called for a collective societal approach, whereby all segments of society such as media, government, civil society and public work in collaboration to provide an enabling environment which puts the issue of malnutrition at the center stage.

“The Lancet Series in 2008 identified the need to focus on the crucial period from conception to a child’s second birthday-the 1000 days in which good nutrition has lasting benefits throughout life”.

“In Pakistan, about one quarter of the new borns are born at a low birth weight. Whereas, one half of the children suffer from chronic malnutrition. This seriously undermines the prosperous development of Pakistan as consequences of malnutrition cut the nations GDP by up to 4%” said Mr. Dan Rohrmann, Country Representative UNICEF Pakistan. “Despite the economic development of the nation, we are facing a silent crisis of malnutrition with indicators amongst the worst in the world and no improvements in recent four decades regretted Mr. Rohrmann and emphasized that if this issue is prioritized, malnutrition can be ended in a life time of a generation.

The Development Partners for Nutrition (DPN) group is involved in advocacy for considering nutrition as a priority at the national development agenda, policy and strategy support and strengthen nutrition in implementation shared Ms. Silvia Kaufmann, Chief Nutrition, UNICEF Pakistan. The DPN is supporting the development of provincial nutrition guidance notes and provincial inter-sectoral nutrition strategies she informed.

Mr. Aslam Shaheen, Chief Nutrition, Planning Commission of Pakistan lauded the efforts of Save the Children in launching the Lancet Series in Pakistan and observed that recommendations highlighted in the lancet paper will build into the Vision 2025 and government’s 5 year development plan. He also informed the participants that the Government of Pakistan will formally launch the National Nutrition Survey 2011 in the coming few weeks.

The launch of the Lancet Series on Nutrition  is timely and relevant for Pakistan as recommendations could be used in the Integrated Provincial Nutrition Strategies being prepared in all the four provinces through a consultative process. Save the Children together with the DPN is committed to providing support to the federal and provincial governments to have the strategies in place and implemented. There is also a commitment for full support and cooperation to the government for implementing the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) initiatives commitments in Pakistan. Together with the Development Partners for Nutrition and the civil society of Pakistan we are committed to work for improving the nutrition situation in Pakistan. However, for these initiatives to materialize political will and leadership is needed by the government both at the federal and provincial level.

The launch got excellent coverage from Pakistan’s leading newspapers and on social media including facebook and twitter. There was great resolve and commitment among the stakeholders to use the findings of the series in the ongoing efforts to improve the nutrition situation in the country and put nutrition on the agenda of decision makers, civil society and media and the national and provincial levels.

 

The was blog also published at:

http://www.healthynewbornnetwork.org/blog/undernutrition-unfinished-agenda

http://www.trust.org/item/20130827063530-lq9ek/

http://everyone.savethechildren.net/articles/undernutrition-pakistan-unfinished-agenda

 

 

 

 

The superfood with the potential to save hundreds and thousands of children’s lives

Imagine a food that is free, nutritious and has the potential to save thousands of children’s lives. Well there’s no need to imagine it, it already exists- a mother’s milk; breastfeeding is one of the most powerful weapons we have to fight child mortality. The teachings of Islam also strongly endorse that mothers should breastfeed their children for two years.

The Global Breastfeeding Week concluded with a number of advocacy and awareness raising events across the country and globally. The World Breastfeeding Week which, each year, presents an important opportunity to put the spotlight on the importance of breastfeeding for saving children’s lives. But this can’t just be a one week effort; we need strong leadership and political action all year round to promote it.

According to the medical journal, the Lancet, suboptimum breastfeeding results in more than 800,000 child deaths annually. If we can ensure that every newborn is given breast milk immediately after birth and is fed only breast milk for the first six months, we can greatly increase the chance that they will survive and go on to fulfil their potential. Around one in eight of the young lives lost each year could be prevented through breastfeeding, making it one of the most effective of all ways to prevent the diseases and malnutrition that can cause child deaths.

It is estimated that 3.1 million children die from malnutrition each year. Breastfeeding is not only crucial for tackling malnutrition and saving children’s lives, it also has the potential to have tangible impacts on the economic and social development of countries likes Pakistan. Malnutrition can undermine future earning potential by as much as 20% and can inhibit growth of GDP by as much as 2-3%.  Today’s malnutrition will knock $125bn off the global economy by 2030, when these children reach working age. 

But breastfeeding is undervalued. Global rates of breastfeeding have remained below 40% for the past 20 years as breastfeeding has slipped down the list of political priorities. In some countries, particularly in East Asia and the Pacific, the number of breastfed children is starting to fall.

In Pakistan only 37 per cent of children are exclusively breastfed for the first six months meaning that too many children are missing out on the vital nutrients they need in the first months of life. Similarly, the early initiation of breastfeeding is only 29 per cent in the country. That needs to change.

If babies receive colostrum – the mother’s first milk – within an hour of birth, it will kick start the child’s immune system, making them three times more likely to survive. If the mother continues feeding for the next six months, then a child growing up in the developing world is up to 15 times less likely to die from killer diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea.

So what needs to happen? We need to ensure that women have the support they need to breastfeed and overcome the main barriers preventing them from doing so. Those barriers include community and cultural practices which discourage women from breastfeeding, severe shortages of midwives and health workers meaning that too often the opportunity for new mothers to be supported to breastfeed in the first few hours is lost, lack of adequate maternity legislation and marketing practices by some breast milk substitute companies leading to infant formula being used unnecessarily and improperly, ultimately putting children at risk.

Tackling these barriers demands a new and concerted effort from many different groups of people; governments, local communities and business. For example, governments and local communities need to take action to empower women to make their own decisions about breastfeeding, governments need to invest in strengthening health systems to protect, promote and support breastfeeding and introduce nationwide breastfeeding-friendly policies and legislation. Finally, businesses need to act responsibly in their marketing on Breast Milk Substitutes and governments need to ensure that national regulation of Breast Milk Substitutes is strengthened and enforced. This issue is increasingly important in emerging economies, where some companies are aggressively marketing their products, despite the threat that this undermines support for breastfeeding.

In the last two decades there has been huge global progress in reducing child mortality with five million fewer children dying in 2011 than in 1990. The world is nearing a tipping point, the time at which the eradication of preventable child deaths becomes a real possibility.  But there is still a lot to do to reach that point - breastfeeding is key to unlocking further progress and saving hundreds and thousands of children’s lives.

Pakistan, voted in favour of adopting the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes during the World Health Assembly in May 1981, and promulgated “The Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Ordinance 2002” to enforce the code. The ordinance prohibits the promotion of any milk produced as partial or total replacement for mother’s milk or represented as a complement to mother’s milk to meet the growing nutritional needs of an infant. The ordinance requires from health workers to encourage, support and protect breastfeeding. Following the devolution, earlier this year, the Sindh Assembly enacted the local legislation by Sindh “The Sindh Protection and Promotion of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Act 2013”. Similarly, last year the Punjab Assembly also adopted the law as the Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act 2012.

“It’s heartening to know that Sindh and Punjab have enacted laws for the Protection and Promotion of Breastfeeding. However, the real test is its implementation in letter and spirit”. “Despite the Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Ordinance on statute books since 2002, its implementation has always remained a distant desire.” Similarly, Punjab and Sindh have not been able to notify the rules and Infant Feeding Boards to monitor implementation of the law.

Keeping in view, the importance of breastfeeding in preventing fatal childhood diseases and neonatal mortality it is important that Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also enact laws on the pattern of Sindh and steps are taken for the effective implementation of these laws in all provinces. This will ensure safe nutrition for infants by promoting and protecting breastfeeding.

Similarly, the federal government should also take practical steps for the implementation of the Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Ordinance 2002 for the Islamabad Capital Territory and Federally Administered Areas. Infant Feeding Boards require to be notified immediately in Islamabad, Sindh and Punjab to monitor the implementation of the respective laws.

There is also a need to put promotion of breastfeeding on the agenda of civil society including NGOs, print and electronic media and academia to play their role in its promotion at all levels and create widespread awareness in the society which will ultimately lead to reduction in preventable infant and under 5 mortality in Pakistan.

The writer is a child rights activist and tweets at @amahmood72

 

Child domestic labour in Pakistan

Almost every month or two we hear about a new case of torture to death of a child domestic worker in Pakistan and then forget until a new case surface. The recent cold blooded torture to death of 10 year old Jamil in Multan by the wife of his employer show the seriousness of the problem in Pakistan.

Jamil's cruel torture to death is not the first case of murder of a child domestic worker in Pakistan. Approximately 42 cases of cruel violance against child domestic workers were reported in media since Shazia Masih's torture to death in January 2010 in Lahore. Jamil is 20th child domestic worker tortured to death and majority of these cases have been reported in Punjab.

If someone has any doubts, please google Shazia Masih (Lahore), Yasmin (Okara), Shehzad (Gujranwala) Tehmina (Islamabad) to name a few. All these cases show that child domestic labour is one of the deadliest form of child labour in Pakistan. However, the federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have failed to respond to the situation. The Chief Minister of Punjab to take a proactive action and immediately ban child domestic labour under the schedule of banned occupations of the Punjab Employment of Children (Amendment) Act 2012. I understand that policing may not be an effective way to respond to the situation however, banning child domestic labour can be a good deterance particularly for parliamentarians and government servants.

For resolving the issue of child labour on sustainable basis in Pakistan, the federal and provincial governments should make serious efforst to implement Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan about right to free and compulsory education for children 5 to 16. The Government of Punjab should immediately enact the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill and make sufficient budgetary allocation for the implementation of the law.

Children’s place in manifestos

FORMER prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf declared 2013 the year of the rights of the child in Pakistan on Nov 20, 2012 while speaking at a function to commemorate Universal Children’s Day. Unfortunately, however, his government couldn’t take any tangible steps in the first two and half months of 2013 except the last-minute approval of the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill 2013 by the National Assembly and the approval of the Criminal Law Amendment (Child Protection) Bill 2013 by the federal cabinet in its last meeting.

The current year is also the year of elections in Pakistan and in the coming days and weeks we’ll be hearing political parties share their programmes and manifestos with the masses. This article has attempted to review the manifestos of Pakistan’s major political parties, specifically with reference to the rights of children to health and protection.

The PPP in its manifesto of 2008 referred more to what the party has done during earlier periods in power. While referring to health, the party declared it a high priority and committed that “it will further consolidate the Lady Health Workers Programme”.

The PTI highlighted “the present dismal state of women and children in terms of their access to healthcare, nutrition, and education”. The party plans to revamp and upgrade the public healthcare system in Pakistan in line with its slogan “healthy people, healthy nation” by putting in place reforms such as doubling state spending on health, achieving 100 per cent immunisation of children against preventable diseases, policy emphasis on preventive healthcare etc.

The PML-Q while referring to health commits to investment in hospitals to provide better treatment to patients and special incentives for doctors to serve in rural areas.

The PML-N while highlighting the importance of health made commitments to modernise main teaching hospitals both in the federal capital and provincial headquarters and equip these with state of the art medical equipment and facilities. The PML-N also committed to increase overall expenditure on health to 2% of the GDP, achieve 100% vaccination of children and 50% reduction in maternal and infant mortality by 2018.

The MQM committed to increase public expenditure on health from 0.6 per cent to five per cent of the GDP during the next five years. Interestingly, in its 2008 manifesto, the MQM had committed to increase it from 0.6 per cent to four per cent of the GDP and while drafting their manifesto for 2013 they were aware that it’s still at 0.6 per cent. The MQM further committed to ensure full coverage of the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) and to establish hospitals in every district and healthcare centres in every village of the country. In its manifesto the MQM also committed for effective legislation against social ailments like gender discrimination, sexual harassment, domestic violence, child abuse, rape, honour killings, child marriage, karo kari, vani, marriage to the Quran, bonded labour and child labour. The party also committed to repeal all discriminatory laws against women and religious minorities.

The ANP committed it would strive to provide health facilities to all citizens. The party aimed to allocate at least six per cent of the GDP to health. It emphasised child and mother care, provision of clean drinking water and preventive medicine. ANP is the only political party that has included section on child rights in its manifesto and has vowed to review, legislate and implement child labour laws to ensure that child labour under the age of 16 years is prohibited in all formal and informal sectors including domestic sector. The ANP is committed to implementation of the Juvenile Justice System and will establish exclusive juvenile courts and introduce exclusive prisons with immense rehabilitation possibilities for the children. The ANP has also committed to make efforts to prohibit all forms of violence against children such as corporal punishment, sexual abuse, rape, kidnapping and ensuring punishment as per law.

The ANP also made commitments about bringing changes in FATA however, no child rights specific recommendation was made to ensure children of FATA equal rights without any discrimination as per the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights instruments.

While reviewing the manifestos of political parties it was observed that the content of most of the manifestos has minor changes from the 2008 elections. It was also observed that most of the commitments made regarding the right to health are of a general nature and there has been little focus on large-scale health reforms linking this right with achieving our international commitments such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Convention on the Rights of the Child and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights etc.

Similarly, except the PTI little attention has been paid to the prevention aspect highlighting areas like child and maternal health, infant and under-five mortality, immunisation and budgetary allocation.

The ANP and MQM have made specific recommendations related to budgetary allocation for health. However, one fails to understand what steps they took to increase budgetary allocation for health during their time in power.

According to the findings of the Draft National Nutrition Survey 2011, malnutrition has become a key concern for the country. Approximately 400,000 children die in Pakistan every year before their fifth birthday and 35 per cent of these deaths are attributed to malnutrition. However, none of the political parties have shared any vision about how they will address this important issue. Similarly, no specific agenda has been shared about what steps they would take to put Pakistan or their respective provinces on the right direction towards achieving the MDGs.

Health workers and immunisation are of immense importance towards achieving the MDGs. However, these important areas are not that visible on the agendas of political parties except the PPP and PTI, and that too without clear objectives and strategies.

It has emerged from the review of the manifestos that except ANP child protection is of no interest to any political party, except some highlights in the manifesto of the MQM without any solid plan about addressing the issues.

 

I need not remind anyone that millions of children are working as child labourers in Pakistan, including as part of the child domestic labour force, particularly in the homes of elites including politicians, while the number of children living and or working on the streets is increasing. Child marriage is still common, corporal punishment is widespread, internal trafficking of children, the use of children as child soldiers and suicide bombers and a poor criminal justice system for children are also some of the issues faced by minors.

The political parties in Pakistan need to come up with firm commitments about child rights, particularly children’s right to health and protection. Focus should be on areas which can bring solid changes in key indicators like child and maternal mortality, vaccination ratio, nutrition indicators, health workers’ coverage, protection of children from abuse, exploitation and violence against children, and above all policy, legislation and budgetary allocation for children.

The writer is a child rights activist. Twitter: @amahmood72

Published in Daily Dawn on April 9, 2013 http://dawn.com/2013/04/09/more-of-the-same-6/

 

 

 

Time to invest in routine immunization

It was a unanimous agreement among participants of the annual review of the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, to invest in routine immunization and that investment in routine immunization will help not only put Pakistan on the right track for achieving the Millennium  Development Goal 4 but will also ensure eradication of polio on sustainable basis. The review was held in Islamabad on March 22-24, 2013.

Dr Janbaz Afridi, Deputy Director EPI, highlighted the issues faced by the programme in KP including complicated security situation, difficult terrain, burden of Afghan refugees since 1979 and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) since 5 years, absence of a uniform and sustained quality of  coverage in critical districts, reporting and data management problems, weak technical capacity at district level and late compliance from some of the districts, limited number of female EPI technicians and no legislation concerning immunization to ensure 100% coverage of the target population.

While discussing the way forward it was agreed that the World Immunization Week to be celebrated in the last week of April 2013 with the theme “Stop Measles Now” shall be used as an opportunity to strengthen routine immunization in the province. Furthermore, service structure of staff involved in routine immunization, training of EPI staff in vaccine management, data management, communication and M&E, involvement of paramedics in routine immunization, evaluation of Lady Health Workers involvement in routine immunization, involvement of private sector and CSOs in EPI and legislation to ensure 100% coverage of target population were some of the areas require to be focused for greater immunization coverage and strengthening of the routine immunization system in the province.

A brief introduction of the EVERY ONE campaign was presented with its purpose and strategic objectives with a focus on immunization. It was highlighted that not enough children in Pakistan receive childhood vaccinations and children in rural areas are 1.4 times less likely to be immunized than children in urban areas. Highlighting the importance of immunization among the masses it was shared that 20% of the people in Pakistan have no knowledge about immunization and 14% think it’s unnecessary. It was emphasized that parental attitudes & knowledge and the quality of communication and outreach strategies directly affects the parental knowledge & attitudes – many parents of unimmunised children lack information about routine immunisation programme.

The EVERY ONE Campaign demanded that the provincial government should allocate specific resources to scale up routine immunisation targeting uncovered areas and children from poorest wealth quintiles. For this purpose, a policy should be adopted to train and expand the scope of work of LHWs to administer routine immunisation. Similarly, for KP to progress towards achieving universal standard for number of vaccinators (one vaccinator per 5,000 people) it is imperative to introduce a policy and make budgetary allocation. Furthermore, donors’ commitment was requested for responding to the needs of the province for universal coverage of routine and new vaccines.

It was discussed during the review that specific existing initiatives can be used to strengthen routine immunisation such as investments in LHWs and vaccinators, specific initiatives to reach out to every union council of the district as currently 110 of 1040 union councils of the province have no fix EPI Centre for immunization. It was also an undisputed agreement that there is a need for widespread awareness among the communities and their empowerment to demand services and hold the EPI accountable.

Dr Roohullah representing the Director General of Health Services reassured provincial government’s commitment for strengthening the routine immunization system in the province. He further committed that all issues raised in the review will be seriously considered and addressed.

It was agreed that such reviews should be held regularly both at the provincial and district levels to be able to identify and remove weaknesses and strengthen the routine immunization system in the province including in the poor performing and hard to reach union councils and districts. Based on the findings of the review, the Deputy Director EPI and Provincial Coordinator of LHW Programme agreed to review the Terms of Reference of the LHWs and formally include responsibilities related to EPI as they are now permanent government servants. It was also agreed that joint advocacy efforts should be made by the civil society, donors and UN Agencies for legislation and increased budgetary allocation for immunization in the province. 

http://everyone.savethechildren.net/articles/time-invest-routine-immunization  

 

SUPERFOOD for Babies

There was a unanimous agreement among the participants and speakers of the launching ceremony of Save the Children’s Global Breastfeeding report, ‘SUPERFOOD FOR BABIES: How overcoming barriers to breastfeeding will save children’s lives’, that breastfeeding is the most effective and tested method to protect children from killer diseases as soon as they are born.  

“The lives of 95 babies could be saved every hour - 830,000 a year, if new mothers around the world breastfed immediately after giving birth”, said Dr. Qudsia Uzma, Director Health & Nutrition at Save the Children, while sharing the salient features of the report. She highlighted that if babies receive colostrum – the mother’s first milk – within an hour of birth, it will kick start the child’s immune system, making them three times more likely to survive. If the mother continues feeding for the next six months, then a child growing up in the developing world is up to 15 times less likely to die from killer diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea.

It was only four days ago that Pakistan witnessed the adoption of the local legislation by Sindh to address breastfeeding violations. Serendipity perhaps, but the timing of this development in terms of the revealing of the Report could not have been better.  

“It’s heartening to know that the Provincial Assembly in Sindh has adopted the Sindh Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act 2013. However, the real test is its implementation in letter and spirit”, noted Save the Children’s Deputy Country Director in Pakistan, Mr. Ghulam Qadri: “Despite the Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Ordinance on statute books since 2002, its implementation has always remained a distant desire.”

The EVERY ONE Campaign in Pakistan also recently saw the induction of its second champion, Haroon Rashid.

 “I would like to take this opportunity to pledge that as a Campaign Ambassador for Save the Children’s EVERY ONE Campaign, I will do all that is possible in my capacity to take forward the cause of maternal, newborn and child health in Pakistan” the singer proclaimed at the launch,  where he was formally introduced as the Campaign Ambassador. “When I was approached to become an Ambassador, I didn’t hesitate to take the assignment up as this is a subject very close to my heart.”

“The teachings of Islam strongly endorse that mothers should breastfeed their children for two years and I congratulate Save the Children for taking up such an important subject related to infant mortality”, said Dr. Donya Aziz, Member National Assembly of Pakistan, who was also part of the panel. With her proclamation of taking up the matter of implementation of the Ordinance with the Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), it was clear that Dr. Donya recognized the value of such an intervention to ensure that every infant is given the life-saving protection that breastfeeding can offer. Referring to the report’s recommendation about lack of adequate maternity legislation which makes breastfeeding and returning to work a challenge, Dr. Donya Aziz, promised that if provided with a bill about adequate maternity legislation, she will place it before the National Assembly of Pakistan and endeavour to help ensure that the law is adopted.

“Legislation alone is not going to change the situation as numerous bills already exist in Pakistan; it is the implementation of laws that demand attention”, said Dr. Sania Nistar, a prominent right to health advocate in Pakistan and founder of the organization Heartfile.

“Equity statistics at all levels shows fundamental distortions in Pakistan. The Breast Milk Substitute production industry has to be brought to the table. If they are part of the problem, they should also be part of the solution.”

Dr. Sania rounded up the entire event by underlining that breastfeeding can have an impact on the bottom line because it costs nothing, thereby having a large scale impact on the improvement of newborn and child health By concluding that Save the Children has touched the heart of the problem with the new report, we knew that a potential partnership with Heartfile could be in the making. 

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/