perspective- child protection - Page 6

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…

Missing Priya Kumari

The disturbing case of missing seven-year-old Priya Kumari has sparked a wave…

Child Marriages – A Vicious Cycle of Poverty and Abuse

KARACHI: Despite being illegal, child marriages continue to affect millions of young…

Fistula and child marriages

Seema’s battle with fistula unveils the tragedy of early marriage, urging society to confront the intertwined dangers of child marriage and women’s health crises. Seema, a resident of Astore District of Gilgit-Baltistan, received the title, ‘Woman of the Year’, not for her achievements, but for a fate imposed upon her…

Childhood trauma

Several people glorify different forms of abusive behaviour by parents to discipline children, despite the existence of non-abusive alternatives that work well. When asked about the long-term consequences of such abuse, they are unaware at best or dismissive at worst. Dismissive answers can be as simple as `we turned out…

Trapped BY Taboos in Pakistan

April is recognised as the Sexual Assault Awareness Month globally. In Pakistan, though, sexual awareness remains a controversial topic and it is often falsely equated with promoting immorality and indecency. In reality, it is to the contrary and sexual awareness plays a pivotal role in preventing sexual violence, which is…

Curious case of Priya Kumari

IT was on Ashura, Aug 19, 2021, when nine year-old Priya Kumari went missing. Just before her disappearance or abduction she had been happily helping her father a syncretic Hindu who runs a sabeel every year in Muharram in Sangrar, a small town near Sukkur serve sherbet to thirsty mourners.…

Are Schools Ignoring a Bullying Epidemic?

Mrs Arshad’s son, Aalyan, was subjected to bullying at a private school when he was 14 years old. ‘My child was traumatised to the extent that he refused to go back to school, and for two years we have been homeschooling him,’ she reveals. He could not sleep for a…

Laws and domestic workers

ON assuming power after his landslide victory in West Pakistan in the 1970 elections, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced five labour welfare laws and brought in amendments in other laws applicable to industrial and commercial establishments. These laws pertained to the education of workers’ children, the constitution of a workers’ welfare…

Human Trafficking in Pakistan

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in monetary discontent and absence of opportunities, are forced into scenarios that put their safety in peril. The recent horror show of trafficking saw smugglers cash in on Pakistani immigrants, desperate to…

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…