Daily Times

In August 2023, Pakistan submitted its consolidated sixth and seventh periodic reports to the UNCRC Committee for examination of its progress on the implementation of UNCRC in the country.

The sixth and seventh periodic reports were due in 2016 and 2021 respectively. However, these reports were not submitted in time to the Committee, so the government has submitted both of these reports in combined form to the Committee. The next step would be the evaluation of the progress of Pakistan pertaining to the fulfilment, protection and implementation of children’s rights based on the report submitted by the State, including alternative reports submitted by UN agencies/organs (UNICEF etc), NHRIs civil society etc.

In 2016, the UNCRC Committee considered the fifth periodic report of Pakistan and issued its recommendations in its concluding observations about the implementation of UNCRC in the country by addressing the number of child protection thematic areas. In respect of legislation on child protection thematic areas, the Committee observed that despite the Committee’s previous recommendations made in its concluding observations of 2009, Pakistan has not taken sufficient steps to harmonize its legislative framework with the Convention. The Committee therefore recommended that Pakistan should adopt all pending bills in the area of children’s rights and ensure that they conform with the Convention. It also recommended that Pakistan should take measures to harmonize its legislation and regulations with the principles and provisions of the Convention in all areas affecting children, at the federal, provincial and territorial levels.

In the last decade, Pakistan has made outstanding progress pertaining to the formulation of policies on various child protection thematic areas.

To address the Committee’s recommendations in its concluding observations about legislation on the 5th Periodic Report of Pakistan, Pakistan has tried hard to fulfil those recommendations in the country. In the last decade, Pakistan has made outstanding progress pertaining to formulation, enactment and implementation of policies, programmes, campaigns and legislation on various child protection thematic areas, harmonization of domestic legislation with the international standards particularly UNCRC and establishment of child rights monitoring/protection bodies including ratification of various international conventions/protocols concerning children.

Notable child-protection thematic areas, where model policies, programmes, campaigns, administrative actions and legislation were executed by federal, provincial and territorial governments in the last decade inter alia are children in conflict with the law, raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, child trafficking/smuggling, child sexual exploitation/abuse/harassment, rape, child pornography, online harassment/exploitation/violence of children, gender-based violence, corporal punishment, cruelty on children, torture and custodial deaths of children, missing children, street children, children with disabilities, child mortality, child malnutrition and stunted growth, honour killing, child marriages, child labour, birth registration, children education and health issues including establishment of child rights monitoring/protection institutions.

There are some child protection thematic areas which still require the attention of legislators to bring them in conformity with the international standards. These are child marriages and labour issues. Each province/administrative territory has set its age of marriage, as less than 18 years except Sindh province, where the marriageable age for both boy and girl, is 18 years. Similarly, the age of the child for involvement in labour is also different in every province/administrative territory. A child as young as 12 years old can be exploited in light labour in KP province. Other provinces/administrative territories set the minimum age limit for children to be involved in labour as 14 or 15 years. Because of the age limit of less than 18 years in domestic laws for the solemnization of marriage and involvement in labour, children are vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation.

In some child protection thematic areas, model legislation was enacted by only a few provinces/administrative territories and the remaining provinces/territories still have to enact the legislation on the issue. For example, exclusive legislation on the prohibition of corporal punishment upon children was enacted by Sindh, ICT and GB only, whereas other provinces/administrative territories haven’t enacted exclusive legislation on it. Similarly, exclusive legislation to ban child labour at brick kilns was enacted by Punjab and AJ&K only, whereas other provinces/administrative territories haven’t enacted exclusive legislation on it.

Although in some child protection thematic areas, model legislation was enacted by the federal/provincial/territorial governments, their full implementation is still missing. For Example, JJSA 2018 was enacted by the federal government applicable to all provinces barring GB and AJ&K, but provinces except KP have not enacted the rules of this law to date for its full implementation. Likewise, the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021 enacted by the federal govt. applicable all over Pakistan is partially implemented because of enacting its rules for a subset of domains it covers and not reconciling its rules with other laws. Another important law Children’s Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act was enacted by all the provinces including GB, but its rules except Sindh haven’t been enacted so far by any province/administrative territory for its implementation.

Notable child protection/monitoring bodies established by federal/provincial governments are the National Commission on the Rights of Child, the Balochistan Child Protection Commission and the Child Protection Unit in Quetta. Likewise, notable conventions/protocols concerning children ratified/acceded by Pakistan are the Optional Protocol to the UNCRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) ratified in 2016 and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTIP Protocol) acceded in 2022.

Recommendations:

1. Uniform Definition of Child: There should be uniform legislation on child protection in thematic areas all over Pakistan. The laws which define the child below the age of 18 years must be amended to bring them in conformity with the UNCRC. This specifically applies to child marriages and labour scenarios.

2. Enactment of Rules: Those child protection laws whose rules have not been enacted so far must be enacted immediately for their full implementation in the country.

3. Overriding Effect of Child Protection Laws: Exclusive legislation on child protection thematic areas should be given over-riding effect over other laws. This inter alia applies to PTIPA 2018. For example, in child trafficking offences, certain sections of PPC 1860 and child labour laws overlap with the offence of trafficking under PTIPA 2018. Different laws prescribe different punishments for the trafficking offence, so it gives LEAs wide-ranged powers to choose a law under which to register a case and selection of forum at which case would be tried. Moreover, these loopholes in laws result in the form of acquittal of perpetrators or not receiving harsh punishments in child rights violation cases.

4. Allocation of Resources: The federal/provincial/territorial governments must allocate sufficient resources in the form of funding, staff, offices, equipment etc for the full implementation of child protection laws in the country.

The writer is an Advocate High Court & Human Rights Activist. He can be reached at adv.wajahat.ali@gmail.com and tweets @Adv_WajahatAli