perspective- child protection

Juvenile Offenders in Punjab

The total number of convicted and undertrial juveniles imprisoned in various borstal institutes and jails of Punjab province was 645 as on 15 March 2022 (Prisons Department, Govt. of Punjab). Out of the total number of juvenile offenders, 81% (523) juveniles were on trial (under trial) and 19% were convicted juvenile offenders. All juvenile offenders were male and no female…

Permitted age for employment of children as domestic workers

Do you know what the minimum age is for children in the different provinces of Pakistan to be employed as domestic workers? Child labour is a provincial subject in Pakistan after the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010. The 18th Constitutional Amendment devolved the issue of labour and employment to the…

Ghost Schools

KARACHI: Apropos the letter “Ghost Teachers” published on September 19, 2024, the…

Futures Snatched By Force Of Faith

The concerns regarding forced conversion are not a new phenomenon in our part of the world. Almost a century ago the All India Muslim League chalked out the rules for conversion in this region. The All India Muslim League adopted a resolution in December, 1927 at Calcutta which addressed the…
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Between Books and Screens

A SCHOOL administrator recently remarked in a tone of resignation that these days many parents would rather have their children remain occupied with academic work than risk letting them venture outside. “The world beyond the gate,” she said, “is no longer safe.” Streets feel more chaotic, parks feel less secure,…
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Bonded Labour

Policymakers in Pakistan appear to be in a deep slumber, unmoved by one of the most pressing human rights crises festering within the country. A new study launched last week by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), titled ‘Unveiling Exploitation and Abuse in the Brick Kilns of Punjab’, lays…
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Theft of Childhood

LAST month, I travelled through Pakistan’s four provinces to oversee UNFPA projects and initiatives. I also engaged with partners to get their perspectives on development amid the recent geopolitical and funding challenges. During these visits, I connected with various partners, officials and intellectuals. One particularly moving — and painful —…
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Child Abuse and Islamabad

Recent data published by the interior ministry has revealed that our capital city has had 200 cases of child sexual abuse registered between January 2021 and June 2025. While the high number of cases is a major crisis in its own right, what makes it even more harrowing is that…
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A Mirror To The Nation’s Young

The State of Children in Pakistan 2024 report was prepared by and launched on April 30 this year by the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC). Established by the Federal Government on February 28, 2020 as an independent statutory body, the NCRC has the overarching mandate for the…
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Trading Babies

CHILD trafficking is the most repellant avatar of human sale. Not new to Pakistan, it reduces minors to easy commodities. In this context, the FIA’s arrest of Dr Mubina Agboatwala, who heads the NGO HOPE, following complaints by US consulate authorities about her alleged role in the “illegal business of…
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LAW: LOCKED OUT OF JUSTICE

Naheed, a Hafiz-i-Quran from Mirpurkhas and mother of two, has spent the last eight years within prison walls awaiting a decision on her pending appeal. Her embroidery and crochet work, sold through a prison-run sewing centre, sustains her children on the outside. The failure of her case is not rooted…
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CII On Birth Spacing

Pakistan stands at a critical demographic and health crossroads. With one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world outside Africa, a population of almost 250 million, high food insecurity and limited water, there is an urgent need for population policy reforms that keep the living alive while reducing…
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The Children We Sacrifice

Pakistani children aren’t safe. That’s not opinion or exaggeration. It’s the bleak, burning truth we keep looking away from. They’re ignored, exploited, brutalised and abandoned on every possible front. But don’t think for a second the numbers in this piece tell the whole story. For every reported case, dozens vanish…
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