The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is a non-profit organization in Pakistan that works to promote and protect human rights in the country. The State of Human Rights Report is one of their flagship publications, released annually.
The 2022 report provides an overview of the human rights situation in Pakistan, highlighting both progress and challenges in various areas in different provinces of Pakistan. It covers a wide range of issues such as civil and political rights, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, religious freedom, education, health, women’s rights, minority rights, labour rights, child rights, etc.
Some of the child rights issues highlighted in the report are
- At least 937 children were victims of sexual abuse during 2022 according to HRCP’s media monitoring, at. Between January and October, around 4,503 cases of child abuse occurred in Punjab.
- In March 2022, the IHC criminalised marriages under the age of 18, which was opposed by the Council of Islamic Ideology.
- At least 19 cases of child marriages were recorded by HRCP, with 13 taking place in Sindh.
- In April, Dua Zehra went missing from Karachi in what her parents alleged was a case of kidnapping. Found married to a boy in Punjab, Dua stated that she was of age. While the accused were found guilty of abducting Dua and orchestrating the child marriage, Dua approached a Lahore court in July requesting to be sent to a dar-ul- aman.
- By the end of 2022 as many as four million children in Sindh were living near contaminated and stagnant flood waters (UNICEF).
- More than one in nine children under the age of five admitted to health facilities in flood-affected areas of Balochistan and Sindh were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition.
Please visit here to read to full HRCP’s State of Human Rights in 2022 report.
Acknowledgement/Credit:
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
