ISLAMABAD: Unicef Pakistan on 30 April, 20204 launched its National Gender Strategy (2024-2027) to bring about lasting and transformative change for millions of girls between 10-19 years. Unicef said that if the strategy was implemented effectively from urban to rural areas, it could drive change, address inequalities and improve the lives of all girls and women, including those living with disabilities. `Striving for equal opportunities for all, especially girls, is fundamental to Pakistan’s progress.
Child Rights in Focus
ISLAMABAD: The federal government in principle has decided to declare a four-year education emergency in the country to tackle out-of-school-children and other pressing issues in the sector. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in coming days is likely to declare the education emergency. Sources said the PM was expected to chair a conference on 30 April 2024, but on Monday night it was postponed for a few days because of his other engagements. Pakistan has 26.2
HYDERABAD: Three more children died from measles complications in Tando Allahyar on 29 April, where the disease had claimed lives of five children on April 26, prompting departmental inquiry and action against officials concerned. A team of officials of Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) has arrived in Tando Allahyar from Karachi to conduct the inquiries, which led to action against three vaccinators and focal person. The team led by Dr Sohail Shaikh, additional project
LAHORE: The Child Protection Welfare Bureau (CPWB) has proposed the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2024-25 to the Punjab government. The bill suggests increasing the minimum age for girls to marry to 18 years. CPWB Chairperson Sarah Ahmad has written to Punjab Home Secretary Noorul Amin Mengal, emphasizing the urgent need to address the harmful practice of child marriage. She cited the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2017-18, which revealed that 18pc of women aged between
KARACH: Forty-three areas in 11 districts, including 34 in Karachi division alone, are at a high polio risk whereas more than 38,000 cases of refusals were reported in the province during the national immunisation days observed in February this year. This was shared during a meeting of the provincial task force for the eradication of polio held at the CM House on 27 April 2024. The meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Murad Ali
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has said that educational institutions in the province are being digitised in line with modern needs. The digitisation will be completed through public-private partnership. Computer tablets will be provided to teachers in schools to improve the preparation of their lessons. “Youth, especially women, can be empowered using ICT skills, because by freelancing, they can take the path of self-employment,” the chief minister said in a meeting with
Karachi: At least 10 per cent students, both boys and girls, are getting free education at over a thousand schools surveyed by provincial government officials in Sindh. Moreover, many students enjoy 25 to 50 per cent discounts at private educational institutions, said a report of Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions (DIRPIS). The directorate working under the Sindh School Education and Literacy Department (SELD) has set out to enforce the law that
“Modern Slavery: Trafficking in women and girls in Pakistan” is a publication by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) which explores the issue of trafficking in persons, specifically focusing on women and girls, within the context of modern slavery in Pakistan. It examines the existing legal and policy framework in Pakistan to combat trafficking and highlights the challenges in law enforcement. Read Modern Slavery: Trafficking in women and girls in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on 26 April 2024 emphasised the need for making concerted efforts on part of the police force to shift its investigation techniques by introducing and relying on forensic science and accordingly train specialised officers in this field. “The cornerstone of criminal justice system is the effective functionality of the investigating agency and prosecution since a faulty investigative process will continuously dampen trust and confidence in the criminal justice system,” observed
LAHORE: Police have arrested a man after a minor girl succumbed to the burns she allegedly suffered while working as home help at his Millat Park residence. Identified as Zainab (9), the girl was employed at the house of the suspect, Salman, who claimed that she had suffered burns when a gas cylinder exploded in the kitchen. Following the incident, Operations DIG Faisal Kamran visited the suspect’s house, along with other police officers. During
ISLAMABAD: While World Malaria Day was observed under a global theme, ‘Accelerating the fight against malaria for a more equitable world’ on 25 April 2024, Pakistan has committed to controlling the mosquito-borne disease, hoping to ‘become malaria free by 2035’. Once, Pakistan was eying the status of a malaria-free country but now it seems the goal may not be achieved in the near future. Health Ministry’s Special Secretary Syed Waqar ul Hassan said that
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on 24 April 2024 acquitted the two men who were handed down life imprisonment in one of the cases pertaining to Kasur child abuse scandal surfacing in 2015. A two-member LHC bench comprising Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry and Justice Amjad Rafiq allowed the appeals of the convicts -Haseem Amir and Faizan Majeed. A counsel for the appellants argued that there were several discrepancies in the prosecution’s story and the