Daily Times

Violence against children is common and endemic in Pakistan. Around 1.2 million children living on the streets of Pakistan’s major cities and urban centres constitute the country’s largest and one of the most vulnerable social groups. These include “runaway” children who live or work on the streets as well as those that return to their families at the end of the day.

According to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 72 percent of the working children do not have any contact with their families while 10 percent do not have any knowledge regarding their families. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted Concluding Observations and Recommendations in 2016 on Pakistan’s 5th Periodic Report to the Committee. While highlighting its concerns about children in street situations the Committee noted: “The Committee is alarmed at the reports that a large number of children live in street situations and are deprived of all their basic rights, including access to health care, education and shelter and are subjected to hazardous forms of child labour, child sexual exploitation and abuse as well as trafficking”.

Although only a limited literature is available regarding the exact magnitude of the problem of children in street situations in Pakistan, an overview of the available information indicates that the problem is acute. In September 2014, UNICEF released a survey report, which enumerates acts of violence against children in 190 countries around the world. The report provides information on multiple and complex forms of violence, which can be broadly categorised into physical, mental, sexual, and neglect. It provides startling revelations on the state of violence against children in Pakistan: the country is included among the ten countries around the world with the highest number of child homicide rates.

The article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan stresses upon all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse while in the care of parents, legal guardians or any other person who has the care of the child. Following the Eighteenth Amendment in 2010, child rights have become a provincial subject. However, there is nobody with a statutory status in the provinces to take care of this huge problem, and ensure those child rights are protected and promoted. The Child Rights Movement Punjab launched an advocacy campaign to establish a Provincial Commission on the Rights of the Child (PCRC). However, the government has not yet initiated any action to form the proposed commission. The situation of the child rights in Pakistan was reviewed earlier this year by the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child in Geneva, which formulated concrete recommendations and measures that Pakistan should take on the way towards the creation of an environment for children, which is in line with international standards.

Let me briefly explain what the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) says as it is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two optional protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: the right to survival, to develop to the fullest, to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation, and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child. Every right spelt out in the Convention is inherent to the human dignity and harmonious development of every child. The Convention protects children’s rights by setting standards in health care; education; and legal, civil and social services.

The government has formulated a number of policies to counteract the various forms of violence against children. However, the policy initiatives undertaken by the government remain ineffective in the face of a weak implementation regime. Furthermore, efforts to formulate an all-encompassing policy to counteract violence against children are hampered by the absence of a reliable quantitative information base, which would highlight the forms, and magnitude of the problem in Pakistan. Children are the future of any society. However, the way we are treating ours is shameful and a disgrace to humanity. If we want our country to progress and move forward in the right direction, it is important that we protect child rights. By neglecting their rights, we are paving the way for a disastrous future for the country.

The writer is a social and political activist based in Lahore. Presently, he is linked with a humanitarian organisation working in Interior Sindh. He can be reached at salmanali088@gmail.com