LAHORE: The Office of the Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab, has provided official data confirming that a total of 72 children have been convicted to life imprisonment across various prisons in Punjab. The information was released in response to a request filed by Advocate Sarmad Ali under Article 19 (A) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, read with Section 10 of the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013. According to the data,
Child Rights in Focus
Islamabad: Awaz Foundation Pakistan (Centre for Development Services) convened the First Multi-Stakeholder Task Force Meeting on Girls’ Education in Punjab, bringing together representatives from government departments, parliament, civil society, and education experts. The meeting aimed to push for an immediate enhancement of girls’ education stipends and stronger conditional cash-transfer mechanisms. The meeting followed the presentation of the latest study, “Economic Cost of Out-of-School Girls (OOSG): Estimating Pakistan’s Losses from Incomplete Secondary Education.” The study
The plight of children in Pakistan can be gauged by a recent report that says that in the first six months of 2025, over 4,000 cases of violence against children were reported in Punjab alone. Perhaps even more concerning is that the report by Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO) is based on official police data, meaning that these are only cases where victims and their families came forward. Countless other victims will never become
Students across Sanghar, Shahdadpur, Shahpur Chakar, and Sakrand districts staged demonstrations against the recently announced Class XI results by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Shaheed Benazirabad, accusing the administration of mismanagement and manipulation. Shaheed Benazirabad (SBA) division, along with Sukkur and Larkana divisions, had adopted e-marking for the results of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Part One and High School Certificate (HSC) Part One, which were announced on November 25. Board of
KARACHI: Civil society members on November 25 sounded the alarm on the rapid conversion of public parks into commercial ventures and its impacts on the environment and the ecosystem. Speaking at a press conference from the platform of the Karachi Residents’ Committee at the Karachi Press Club, city residents, representatives of the civil society and well-known environment activists said as many as 13 parks in Clifton, PECHS and adjacent areas had already been converted
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is losing billions of rupees every year to drug-resistant infections, health officials and experts warned on November 24, saying rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) drives treatment failures, increases hospital deaths and forces families to spend more on prolonged care. Speaking at a national symposium held by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Ministry of National Health Services to mark World AMR Awareness Week, experts said AMR has become a major public-health
KARACHI: Provincial Assembly of Sindh Standing Committee on Home Affairs Chairperson Faryal Talpur has said drugs are a curse destroying our children’s future, so no leniency would be shown in the crackdown on them. During a standing committee meeting she chaired at the PA on Tuesday, Faryal stressed that the zero-tolerance policy against drug dealers must continue. The meeting discussed drug mafia members’ arrests, the forensic lab’s performance, the investigation of chemically adulterated milk,
ISLAMABAD: Health officials, pediatricians and lawmakers on November 25 warned childhood pneumonia is becoming a silent national emergency, driven by dangerously low routine immunisation, poor primary healthcare, and widespread misuse of antibiotics, despite the disease being entirely preventable and easily treatable with low-cost tools. Speaking at a national dialogue on combating childhood pneumonia, Director General Health Dr Ayesha Majeed Isani said country continues to see a yearly rise in pneumonia cases because hundreds of
ISLAMABAD: UKS Research Centre will observe 16 days of activism against gender-based violence following the global theme for 2025 ‘UNITE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls’. It will release two resources on online harassment: one is a report on online violence against women and the second is a compendium of abusive Urdu and Punjabi terms that are used online. Both are part of Uks’ 2023–2024 initiative Safe Word, Safer Word, which
LAHORE: The Punjab government on November 25 imposed a province-wide ban on substandard buses and heavy vehicles used by all public and private schools, colleges, universities and hospitals in an anti-smog campaign from Dec 2. Despite anti anti-smog operations, Lahore recorded an average AQI of 200 on November 25, with levels spiking above 392 in the early hours. According to IQAir, air quality remained unhealthy as the PM2.5 concentration was higher than the WHO’s
ISLAMABAD: Over 4,150 cases of violence against children were reported in Punjab during the first six months of the current year, 2025. These figures have been released by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO). According to the NGO, 23 cases of child violence occur daily across Punjab. The fact sheet is based on district-level police data obtained through the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013. SSDO’s analysis shows that 4,150 child-related criminal
Online threats are rising, and our children are the easiest targets. Obun2 invites you to share how we can keep them safe online.