In an impactful awareness session organized by PODA at the Tehsil Municipal Corporation hall, participants unanimously supported a proposed amendment to the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 2015. The amendment seeks to raise the minimum marriage age for girls from 16 to 18 years, ensuring a safer and more empowering future for young girls in Punjab. This proposed change aims to protect adolescent girls’ fundamental rights, including access to education, reproductive health, and employment
Child Rights in Focus
KARACHI: Raising alarm over multiple outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and deaths of a large number of children across the country, health experts said on 4th January that these precious lives could have been easily saved if the governments at the federal and provincial levels had taken timely measures and plugged the loopholes in the routine immunisation programme. Representing major tertiary care private and public sector hospitals, the experts also said the health crisis continued
ALTHOUGH the move has caused panic among weary parents mortified at the thought of carting their children to Nadra offices, the interior ministry’s recent directive to incorporate biometric features into Form B for 10-18-year-olds is not without its merits. While the immediate catalyst for this decision remains unclear, historical instances of identity document misuse underscore the necessity for such measures. In 2009, a sitting federal minister faced allegations of human trafficking, involving the manipulation
MY daughter, who is seven and a half, is my latest teacher. She is in grade two. She gets a fair bit of homework and she is kind enough that she lets me sit with her when she is doing her homework. I started sitting with her to see if she needed any help. But now I sit with her largely to learn from her. She likes some subjects more than others. It is
ISLAMABAD: The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Human Rights has expressed grave concern over the rapid growth of child begging, child abuse, and the increase of drugs in private and government educational institutions. The committee directed the Ministry of Human Rights and the National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) to take effective measures to curb such social evils. The Committee emphasized the need for effective legislation and the implementation
2025 will be a year of new openings and possibilities for Pakistan. Several initiatives started during the outgoing year will approach completion and offer opportunities to integrate economic and climate priorities. For Pakistan, economic and climate vulnerabilities reinforce each other and hence they must be addressed simultaneously. We will learn from our constraints while building upon our commitments and national resolve to strengthen our climate action. In 2025, we will have a chance to
ISLAMABAD: On the instructions of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, it was decided on 01-January-2025 to introduce Form B with special security features for children above the age of 10 for the first time in history. As part of these new security features, fingerprints and photographs of children aged 10 and above will now be mandatory for Form B. The issuance of the upgraded Form B registration certificate will begin in phases starting January 15.
ISLAMABAD: The Universal Healthcare (UHC) Monitoring Report for Pakistan 2024 – a yearly report that assesses and monitors the progress of the country’s health sector – has revealed that only half of Pakistan’s population has access to UHC. The country lagged far behind in achieving the global target of over 80pc, said the report, which was prepared in collaboration between the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and the World Health Organisation
SUKKUR: The District Advisory and Implementation Panel has called for devising joint actions for urgent implementation of the Sindh Protection and Promotion of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Act, 2023. Iqbal Detho, chairperson of the Sindh Human Rights Commission who co-chaired a meeting of the panel organised by the National Advocacy for Rights of Innocent (NARI) Foundation at Sukkur commissioner’s office the other day reaffirmed his support at the policy level, including engagement with
ISLAMABAD: Participants of an awareness session on 1st January urged the Punjab government to raise the minimum age of marriage for girls from 16 to 18 years in the province to ensure a safe future for them. They were attending an event organised by the Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (Poda) in collaboration with the Norwegian embassy in Islamabad. Titled ‘Reduce Early Marriages to Enhance Gender Equality’, the moot unanimously agreed to advocate for
LAHORE: The Punjab government on 1st January announced to celebrate January 2025 as ‘Speak Truth’ month in all public school across the province. Punjab School Education Department issued directions to all district education authority chief executive officers in this regard. During the month, the teachers will deliver lectures to students about ‘Speak Truth’ and encourage them to speak truth in daily life. Teaching sessions will commence on Jan 13 and will continue till Jan
School days were repeatedly disrupted in 2024 due to political events, climate emergencies & govt decisions LAHORE/PESHAWAR/QUETTA:Twice this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared an education emergency. He drew attention to Pakistan’s education crisis of having 26 million out-of-school children. Yet both times, the reaction on ground to tackle this emergency remained invisible. Ironically, the academic year of 2024 was repeatedly disrupted across the country due to various reasons including governmental decisions as well