This year on Universal Children’s Day, as Pakistan prepares for its 2025 review by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, I’m forced to reflect on a 35-year-old promise. In 1990, Pakistan was one of the six initiators of the World Summit for Children, a champion
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
WORLD Children’s Day is upon us, yet countless children are denied even simple rights that should never be in question. This year’s call to “listen to children and stand up for their rights” feels painfully apt. Millions of children wake up each day to fear and uncertainty. In
The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) advanced major child protection reforms in 2024–2025, including the drafting of the Prohibition of Child Labour in Domestic Work Bill 2024 and advocacy for harmonizing the minimum marriage age at 18 years across all provinces. The Commission launched the
The concerns regarding forced conversion are not a new phenomenon in our part of the world. Almost a century ago the All India Muslim League chalked out the rules for conversion in this region. The All India Muslim League adopted a resolution in December, 1927 at Calcutta which
Pakistan is home to over 53 million boys under 18, forming a significant part of its 106 million child population. Yet, challenges remain acute: nearly 27% of boys aged 5–16 are out of school, and an estimated 3.4 million children are engaged in child labour, with boys forming
Recent data published by the interior ministry has revealed that our capital city has had 200 cases of child sexual abuse registered between January 2021 and June 2025. While the high number of cases is a major crisis in its own right, what makes it even more harrowing
The State of Children in Pakistan 2024 report was prepared by and launched on April 30 this year by the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC). Established by the Federal Government on February 28, 2020 as an independent statutory body, the NCRC has the overarching mandate
Pakistani children aren’t safe. That’s not opinion or exaggeration. It’s the bleak, burning truth we keep looking away from. They’re ignored, exploited, brutalised and abandoned on every possible front. But don’t think for a second the numbers in this piece tell the whole story. For every reported case,
The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) submitted an alternative report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of Pakistan’s 6th periodic review under the UNCRC. The report highlights key child rights concerns in Pakistan, focusing on child marriage, juvenile justice, and child
Another horrifying incident has come out of the hotbed of child exploitation, Muzaffargarh. A young boy, sent to collect his brother’s unpaid wages, was sexually assaulted and filmed by a man his family once relied on for employment. This case, shocking as it is, comes on the heels
Some 3,364 cases of child abuse were reported across Pakistan in 2024, according to Sahil’s annual Cruel Numbers report – an alarming figure that should shock the conscience of the nation. The cases, drawn from media reports across all provinces, include 1,828 incidents of child sexual abuse, 1,204