17.11.2013 “Reliance on foreign aid can’t ensure child rights”
The United Nations (UN) Universal Children’s Day is celebrated on November 20 each year to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide. TNS spoke to Anees Jillani, veteran child rights activist and founding member of SPARC (Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child). An advocate of the Supreme Court, he has also authored a book “Child Labour: The Legal Aspects”.
By Waqar Gillani
TNS: How do you see the situation of children’s rights in Pakistan?
Anees Jillani: Approximately half of Pakistan’s population consists of children who are defined internationally as someone below the age of 18 years. If you take out the under-five who are not of school going age, then majority are not going to school. A country with an uneducated lot cannot progress and compete in the international arena.
The situation is more acute in some regions as opposed to the others. For instance, it is quite bad in the tribal areas, and then generally with reference to girls. In rural areas 65 per cent of Pakistan’s populace faces the brunt of this bleak situation.
Even if children go to school, they hardly learn anything substantial and whatever they do is seldom useful in the national context. Most of the time, it is outdated.
Majority of Pakistan’s population is poor and resultantly their children are malnourished. As a result, the physical and mental growth of such children is compromised and many die young. The infant mortality rate in Pakistan is one of the highest in the world.
The sad part is that the state is oblivious to all these difficulties and hardly even taking the first step to solve these innumerable problems faced by children.
It is unclear as to what you mean by major child abuses. I would categorise child labour as child abuse. Similarly, child sexual abuse continues to take place both against boys and girls. Abuse of girls below the age of 18 is rampant in our red-light areas and it is common to use under-age children for purposes of prostitution. Some are trafficked even to the Gulf countries.
TNS: How do you compare the child rights situation of Pakistan to the rest of the world? How different it is from developed nations and how close it is to other developing countries?
AJ: Comparing the situation with the developed world will be ironical as the children there enjoy a whole lot of rights which are absent in our country. These rights range from covering health, education, entertainment, protection from abuse and respect.
The situation of Pakistan’s children is not good even when compared with those in other South Asian countries. The literacy rate of India, despite a much greater population, is higher and the quality is better. India is a poor country but it is moving towards fighting child labour. There are a number of state sponsored authorities working to protect child rights. In the whole of Pakistan, there is not a single such authority or commission functioning. Children need recreation and entertainment to grow as healthy individuals. They are not to be seen in Pakistan. It is common to see children playing cricket on the roads. We have failed to even provide them simple grounds where they can play, which is not a costly proposition.
TNS: Where does Pakistan stand vis-a-vis international treaties and UN conventions on children rights? And what is the status of the implementation and practicing of these conventions?
AJ: Pakistan has signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which frankly is not a big deal as with the exception of three countries, all have done so. What Pakistan has failed to do is to follow the spirit of this convention and adopt and implement its provisions in letter and spirit. It is expected to file reports regarding its compliance every five years. So far, it has filed only three reports; and with the exception of the first one, the remaining two were filed after a delay of several years. The third one was delayed so much that the committee entrusted with the task to review it had to ask Pakistan to combine its third and fourth report. Now the fifth one is already delayed by a year as it was due to be filed in December 2012.
Similarly, Pakistan signed two key ILO Conventions dealing with child labour during the Musharraf era and ratified them later. Not much has been done regarding their implementation in the country. What our policy-makers fail to realise is that it is in our interests to follow these conventions and do something for our children.
Others may or may not be sincere in criticising us but the most they can do is to provide us with guidance and show us the way. Foreign assistance is not the answer as the number of children is huge. More importantly, developed countries did not solve these problems through foreign aid but through their own efforts.
TNS: What is the status of full implementation of JJSO (Juvenile Justice System Ordinance) and juvenile courts and rehabilitation centres in the country?
AJ: The JJSO was introduced in 2000 but not a single exclusive juvenile court has been established during the past 13 years. Existing courts have been given powers through notifications to also assume powers of juvenile courts which does not serve the purpose. The Ordinance expects the juvenile courts to function in a particular fashion and respect the right of privacy of the accused children. The existing courts assuming powers to handle cases of juveniles does not serve such a purpose.
The Ordinance also requires the cases to be decided within a period of four months which is seldom done. The police while arresting a juvenile defined as anyone below the age of 18 years fail to follow the procedure given in the law.
TNS: What is Pakistan’s status in term of framing laws related to child rights and their violations?
AJ: There are no laws relating to child rights in Balochistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa adopted its first law on this subject in 2010 and passed a law dealing with establishing special prisons for children only in 2012. Punjab passed a law in 2004 which is now being partly implemented. Prior to this, there were two laws which were never notified to come into force. Sindh took 19 years to notify its 1955 Act to come into force and there are hardly any noteworthy steps taken to even do justice to this Act.
The 18th Amendment has not really affected the issue of child rights as the subject was within the domain of the provinces even prior to it. The major confusion it has created is with regard to the responsibility within the federal ministries in relation to compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It has also made it difficult to enact national laws like the JJSO dealing with the issue. However, there is no stopping the provinces from enacting their own laws.
TNS: There is always a justification for child labour, both commercial and domestic, in Pakistan relating it to the economy. To what extent this debate is justified? What is the role of state in this regard?
AJ: Eidul Azha just passed. Roughly speaking, more than 10 million people offered Qurbani. If each such person spent a minimum of Rs20,000 on the Qurbani, which is likely to be more and not less, the total spent on just Qurbani during the Eid comes to a staggering amount of Rs200,000,000,000. Do you think Pakistan would have had any poor people left and we have had any child labour left in the country if just this amount one time alone had been spent to alleviate and eliminate poverty from Pakistan? Instead, we look towards the donors to solve our poverty-related problems while we all prepare for the life hereafter. The presence of corruption is yet another proof of our sincerity even in this endeavour.
The point I am trying to make above is that the country has resources. We are not a poor country. The resources are divided unevenly. The rich are unwilling to share with the ‘have-nots’ and just throw them crumbs from time to time. Child labourers work due to poverty but they will never be able to alleviate the suffering of their families. They themselves will remain poor all their lives. The state has to intervene to break this vicious cycle.
TNS: There are different reports citing an increase in child rights violation in Pakistan, especially child sexual abuse? What are the factors behind it and how can this be controlled at government and social levels?
AJ: Child sexual abuse is prohibited under the Pakistan Penal Code 1860. However, there is a need to improve upon these provisions and make them more child friendly. It should be made easier for abused children to testify in the courts without their privacy being compromised.
The reasons behind child sexual abuse are many. However, more cases are coming to our attention due to growing population and the expansion of media. Pornography on the internet, including social media, and Indian movies are also to be blamed.
TNS: Do you think parents are giving due attention to their children in term of giving awareness about their rights, abuses? If not, what are their responsibilities?
AJ: The upper and middle class parents treat their children as flowers but in their own fashion, usually the way they were raised by their parents. The poor constituting the majority hardly worry about it as survival is the foremost priority for them and not raising children.
What is common amongst all the parents in Pakistan is not respecting the rights of their children and giving them respect. Their voice should be counted and they should be encouraged to participate in all decisions affecting the family particularly those relating to them.
TNS: Where does our curriculum stand in teaching and creating awareness about child rights at school and college level? What type of changes do we need to address this issue?
AJ: The curriculum is silent on this issue. The basic postulate relating to child rights is that ‘human rights are child rights’. In other words, children are as human as all of us and thus enjoy exactly the same rights. These rights should be respected and this fact must be covered in the curriculum. Thus, the curriculum can be made interesting and relevant for the children.
TNS: Is there any national level commission on status of children?
AJ: There is no national commission on child rights. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to establish such a commission now after the 18th Amendment. However, there is no stopping the provinces from establishing such commissions at the provincial level. In 2011, Sindh established a Child Protection Authority but it has yet to be made functional. In 2010, KP passed a law which envisaged a similar Child Protection Authority, but the establishment is awaited. The 2004 law in Punjab talked about establishing a Child Protection Bureau, but it is again not active. Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir continue to lack any legislation what to talk of any authority or commission relating to child rights.
vaqargillani@gmail.com