The draft of the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill 2019 is ready to be presented in the parliament any time. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights, tasked with framing the legislation aimed at the recovery and rescue of lost children and punishment for their kidnappers, traffickers and murderers, has approved the initial draft. The draft bill envisages rigorous imprisonment until death for sexual assault and murder of children. Once legislated, the bill will go a long way in the protection of children. Harsh punishments laid down in the bill will hopefully deter crime against children. The committee has proposed rigorous imprisonment for life in child sexual assault and murder cases rather than 14 years in prison or death. It is argued that such criminals do not deserve to be no the streets. The law shall now be placed before the parliament for debate and approval. Parliamentarians must discuss the rapid increase in the cases of child sexual assault and murder. It is generally believed that not all cases get reported; still less are suitably prosecuted and result in a conviction. In many cases the kidnappers, rapists and murderers are close relatives of the child involved. Many families, it is feared, try to hush up such cases. This, unfortunately results in the offenders getting more opportunities. The need for legislation was highlighted by the arrest and prosecution of a serial killer of children in Kasur last year following a public outcry after a six-year-old was kidnapped, raped and murdered. The convict was put down following an unprecedented quick trial. The prosecution and execution failed, however, to drastically bring down crime against children. According to a report by Sahil, a non-government organization working for rights of children, reported cases of child abuse cases went up by 11 per cent during 2018 compared to 2017. The report relied on newspaper accounts alone, which might not reflect the actual frequency of the offences. The report mentioned 3,832 cases of child abuse in 2018. Girls aged zero-five and 16-18 years were found to be most vulnerable; boys were most vulnerable between the ages of 6 and 15 years. The Zainab Alert law should encourage people to speak out whenever and wherever they see an incident of child sexual abuse. The alerts will become a norm after the government shows the political will to enforce the law and the civil society and the media educate the people about it. *