by Jamil Junejo
Universal children’s day is being observed globally on 20th November every yearwhen theUN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This year, it is the 25th anniversary of UNCRC. A wider galaxy of international rights community has planned to mark this day in order to review the child rights situation and reiterate the commitments and pledges. Many of the child rights workers and organizations would mark this day in Pakistan too.
Pakistan was the first Muslim country andthe 6th in the world to sign and ratify the UN CRC on 12th, November 1990 with some observations and reservations, which were withdrawn in 1997. Most importantly, Pakistan was one of the six initiators of the World Summit for Children 1990 which culminated into the development of World Declaration and Plan of Action establishing the guiding principles and a setting of goals for the year 2000.
In response to targets set by World Summit for children in 1990, the national government of Pakistan first developed the National Plan of Action. Later, the national government developed its second plan of action for children. But the second national plan of action became redundant for the Provinces after the 18th constitutional amendment which transferred legislative and administrative powers of many several child rights related subjects from the federal government to the provincial governments.
Sindh government has made many significant policy level developments regarding child rights such as promulgation of Sindh Child protection Authority Act-2011, the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2013, the Sindh Protection and promotion of breast feeding and Nutrition Act-2013 , and the Child Marriage Restraint Act-2014 ( Amendment).
Notwithstanding all the legislation mentioned above, the overall child rights situation depicts murky picture in the Sindh. There are host of issues children have been facing with in Sindh such as child marriages, child labor, child begging, corporal punishment, child sexual abuse etc.
Despite the elapse of fourteen years of theJuvenile Justice Ordinance ,no significant progress has been made by the provincial government of Sindh on the various aspects of juvenile justice. According to data collected by child rights movements, there has been recorded 303 juvenile prisoners by the end of December ,2012 and Out of a total 303 children 277 were under-trial. Just a few Youthful Offenders Industrial Schools (YOIS) have been established in Karachi and Hyderabad where treatment of the children has been reportedas non- satisfactory. Contrary to commitments made in the ordinance, there are no exclusive juvenile courts in Sindh.
The trend of child marriages has been perpetuating in various areas of Sindh. In 2012, 12 cases of child marriages were reported in the province. However, thousands of child marriages cases remain unreported. Recently, the government of Sindh has promulgated the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2014(Amendment) which could help in reducing the child marriages cases if it is implemented in letter and spirit.
Child labour is one of the most serious child rights violations, deeply rooted inthe Socio economic fabric of Sindh. The International Labour Office (ILO) defines child labour as any activity other than study or play, paid or unpaid, that is carried out by a person under the age of 15 (14 in certain countries). In Sindh, child labour has been recorded in agriculture, garages, hotels, carpet-making, manufacturing and selling of bangles, retail shops, auto workshops, home business, technical shops. There could be many reasons behind this phenomenon ranging from poverty, outstanding debt, increase in population, female labour force participation, to low illiteracy rate.
Employment of Children Act of 1991 has banned employment of children below the age of 14 years. Out of , 2.58 million children aged between 10 to 14 are involved in child labour in Pakistan as reported by Universal Periodic Review Report and approximately one million children are from the Sindh. Such a dismal situation is a grave violation of many provincial, national and international obligations such as Article 25-A of the Constitution, the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Child and the International Labour Organisation’s Conventions 138 and 182.
It is no doubt that the Sindh government has made many policy level efforts to reduce child labor issues. Many initiatives taken by the provincial government in this regard are; Minimum Wage Policy, Child Support program, National centers for rehabilitation of Child laborers ( NCRCL) and legal aid support Units for bonded labors and Provincial Child Labour Unit established Sindh Labour Department. However, after 18th Amendments, Sindh has to adopt or bring new law on the employment of child children which could pave foundation for further institutional and fiscal arrangements inorder to effectively check child labour issues in Sindh.
To conclude, the improvement in child rights situation in Sindh demands various coordinated efforts based on integrated and holistic approach. Specifically, the government of Sindh urgently needs to notify the establishment of a Child Protection Authority according to the Child Protection Authority Act,2011.Provincial as well as district level child protection units needs to be established without any unnecessary delay. Budgetary allocations for effective and smooth running of the Authority and its units need to be ensured. Government of Sindh should also establish exclusive juvenile courts at least one in Karachi. Budgetary allocations for the Sindh Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2013 needs to be done at the earliest.
In addition to this, government of Sindh should enact all pending bills which include the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill and the Prohibition of Employment of Children.
