Background Research on Situation of Children Rights in Pakistan

(The information in this paper is collected from publicly available sources and reports by Human Rights Watch, PILDAT and other organizations) United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) defines child as anyone below the age of 18. The situation of children rights all over the world is alarming and need special considerations. There are many international laws that ensure the protection of the rights of the children in all states and countries of the world. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislat ive bodies, the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration. Article 3(1) Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, onthe part of his family, society and the State. Article 24(1) In Pakistan, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, children aged 5-14 are above 40 million. The constitution of Pakistan safeguards the rights of children in all areas like education, health etc. Despite the legislations, the scenario is of children rights is not satisfactory and needs much improvement.

Health:
According to the United Nations Human Development Report 2011, the infant mortality rate in Pakistan was recorded at 63.3 deaths per 1,000 births, indicating a marginal drop from the previous year and the under-five mortality rate was 89 deaths per 1,000 children, which was about five deaths less than the preceding year. However, such a nominal decrease in the figures seemed insufficient to meet the Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce c hild mortality, which envisages the infant mortality rate to fall to 40 and the underfive mortality rate to 52 by

the year 2015. The Annual Health Report of the Pakistan MedicalAssociation (PMA) for the year 2011 revealed that one child dies every minute from EPI (expanded programme on immunisation) diseases, diarrhea and acute respiratory infection. According to the Pakistan Pediatr ic As soc iation president, the general trend of getting c hildren vac cinated agains t var ious dis eas es , including polio, was dropping in Pakistan. As polio was eradicated around the world, there was an explosion in the number of cases in Pakistan. In 2011, 197 polio cases were reported as opposed to 144 cases in 2010. As per data provided by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the highest number of polio c ases was regis tered in Balochistan. However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FederallyAdministeredTribal Areas witnessed a decline in polio cases from 98 in 2010 to 73 in 2011. The dropwas linked to greater accessibility of vaccinators and lesser refusals against oralpolio vaccine by parents 13,000 refusal cases recorded in 2011 compared to 23,000 the previous year. The gaps in the implementation mechanism in the polio immunisation campaign were believed to be the reason for the number of polio cases and the affected districts continuing to rise.

Education:
The overall literacy rate in Pakistan was recorded at 57.7 percent (69.5 percent for males and 45.2 percent for females) in the latest report of the Economic Survey of Pakistan (2010-2011). A report by PILDAT, an NGO focused on political and public policy research and legislative strengthening, published in June 2011, estimated that over 55 million Pakistanis of age 10 and above could not read or write. It also observed that over 7 million children of school-going age were not attending school, despite abolition of school fees and provision of free textbooks. A survey of basic facilities at 147 state-run primary schools across the country found many gaps:

As for madrassa reforms, a project started in GeneralMusharraf s era, there appeared to be little headway during the tenure of the current government. According to the federal minister for religious affairs, there was increased registration of madrassas. He claimed that up toAugust 10,973 madrassas had been registered. He stated that while negotiations were in process with the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan, an umbrella organisation ofmadrassas in the country, worthwhile results had not been achieved, especially pertaining to rationalisation of the syllabus and mainstreaming of the madrassas of the fundamental objectives of the two madrassa reform project. Militants attacks on educational ins titutions, mainly girls sc hools, continued in 2011 as well. According to media monitoring by HRCP, at least 135 attacks were reported on educational institutions across the country in 2011. Of these, 76 attacks took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 53 in FATA, two in Balochistan, and four in Gilgit Baltistan. Of the educational institutions targeted, at least 60 were girls schools and 109 were government schools.

Child Labour:
During the last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released the results of its survey funded by ILOs IPEC. The findings were that 3.8 million children age group of 5-14 years are working in Pakistan out of total 40 million children in this age group fifty percent of these economically

activechildren are in age group of 5 to 9 years. Evenout of these 3.8 million economically activechildren, 2.7 million were claimed to be working in the agriculture sector. 73% of them were said to be boys. The distribution is given below:

In a workshop held in September, the ILO staff shared preliminary results of a research, according to which stone-crushing was the most hazardous occupation for children as their lungs were damaged by silica dust and they suffered bone injuries. Injuries to children leading to amputation of limbs had also been recorded at small workshops and repair shops and these evidenced psycho-social damage to the children, particularly thoseworking at brick kilns.

Rights violations, child protection, abuse and abduction:

In a report released in February 2011, Madadgaar Helpline, an NGO working with victims of violence, abuse and exploitation, reported as many as 5,120 cases of abuse and violence against children in the year 2010. These included 1,062 children murdered and 916 injured in various incidents, 799 children kidnapped, 288 children raped, 149 sodomised and 211 children who faced sexual assaults in 2010. The report added that 571 childrenwere tortured, 200 trafficked, 364 went missing and around 202 children committed suicide while 121 children fell prey to karo kari. Majority of the cases had occurred in Punjab or Sindh. In 2011, according to the print media monitoring by HRCP and reports send by HRCP volunteers from districts across Pakistan,

at least 93 minor girls were killed in the name of honour . In the period under review, as many as 173 minors committed suicide and another 82 unsuccessfully attempted to end their own life, according to HRCP monitoring. According to figures compiled by AGHS Child Rights Unit, based on monitoring of various newspapers published in Lahore, at least 407 cases of child rights abuse and violation were recorded in 2011

The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009, introduced three years back, which aimed to insert new sections in Pakis tan Penal Code, criminalizing child pornography and exposure to seduction was yet to be passed as law at the end of 2011. This cast doubts on how effectively the optional protocol would be complied with. An almost four percent rise in the number of child sexual abuse cases was noted in the first sixmonths of 2011 as compared to the same period the previous year, as shown in a report by Sahil, an NGO that works against child sexual abuse and exploitation. A total of 1,080 cases of child abuse were reported during the said period, and 72 percent victims were girls. The number of children abused in the age bracket of 1-5 years was higher than in the previous year. Geographically, 870 cases were recorded in Punjab. In term of police reporting, 73 percent of the cases had been registered with the police. The total number of child sexual abuse cases in 2010 was 2,252. Media reports suggested an increase in abduction by parents in countries that have not ratified the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction and Pakistan was one of the most common abduction destinations last year fromamongst these countries. BetweenApril 2010 andMarch 2011, the number of children being abducted to Pakistan from Britain was reported to be 21. A large number of kidnappings and abductions were reported this year also. At least nine cases were highlighted in the media where newborns disappeared from hospitals. In September 2011, Taliban militants kidnapped 30 Pakistani boys from FATAas they picnicked just over theAfghan border. Sixty children were initially seized, but 20 children under the age of 12 years were immediately released and another ten were recovered through efforts of Pakistani officials. Of the 30 who continued to be in captivity, 17were released in the firstweek of 2012. A similar incident had occurred in June 2009 when hundreds of Pakistani

students from the tribal NorthWaziristan region were kidnapped by the Taliban, all were later released unharmed. Militant groups in Pakistan are known to kidnap or coerce children to spy, fight or even carry out suicide bombings. There have also been accounts of sexual and physical abuse of these children.