perspective- child protection - Page 10

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…

Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 and Jinnah

The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 was drafted by Quaid-i-Azam- Mohammad Ali…

Death Mines

Not just the first such incident, and will not be the last unless stringent labour protection measures are put to practice. Another coalmine incident, in Harnai district of Balochistan, claimed the lives of a dozen workers on 20 March 2024. Hundreds of miners die from mining accidents in Pakistan every…

Unveiling Deepfakes

Laila* first met Adeel* at a fine dining restaurant along the coastline of Karachi city, after eight months of online dating on Instagram. She was then 20, he 21. The two talked for hours as the golden sun set, meeting the horizon of the sea. Laila described Adeel as the…

Combatting human trafficking

Human trafficking in Pakistan is a severe and multifaceted problem that has affected countless individuals, particularly women and girls, coerced into exploitative labour or sexual servitude under the false pretences of better opportunities. The issue presents a dire humanitarian crisis, as it inflicts immeasurable suffering upon its victims and greatly…

Anti-rape ordinance

THE much-anticipated Anti-Rape Ordinance 2020 introduced chemical castration as punishment for rapists. In doing so, however, it missed the very critical point that rape is not merely a physical act, and that it is triggered by many serious social and psychological conditions. More stringent measures are required to deter such…

Future of Flood Affected Children in Sindh

WHILE the elites are locked in an internecine power struggle, millions of flood-affected, homeless and destitute citizens have been left to fend for themselves. Most of these wretched families have been practically forced to cater to their own needs — food, shelter, health and above all, the education of their psychologically…

Child marriage and religion

Enactment and enforcement of legislation against child marriage has repeatedly run into resistance that claims religious authority. Overcoming this resistance will require a wider intellectual engagement with the foundations and structure of religious thought. Consider. The latest report on Pakistan, based on figures contained in the Unicef database 2016, issued…

Bystander Behaviour on CSA

Child sexual abuse is prevalent worldwide. Several studies have been conducted to identify the traits common to those who perpetrate it, but results indicate that the latter come from all socioeconomic backgrounds, races, gender, religions and literacy levels. While some may have a condition called paedophilia, which is a sexual…

The Juvenile Justice System Act of 2018

On May 18 2018, the President of Pakistan approved the Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA) 2018, which was passed by the Parliament in 2018. JJSA 2018 overcomes the shortcomings which were present in Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, and provides a much better system for criminal justice and social reintegration…

Why do children want to stay on the streets?

WHY would children, given an option, ever want to stay on the streets? This question arose when speaking to staff from a reputable organisation in Peshawar, with decades of experience in outreach and rehabilitation for children who live or work on the streets. It takes special skills to engage with…

A solution for millions of out-of-school children?

According to a UNICEF report, around 22.8 million children between the ages of five to16 are out of school in Pakistan. Unsurprisingly, these kids can neither read nor write, as a result of which they are labelled as illiterate or uneducated. Some scholars believe that such labelling is unjustified because children…