ISLAMABAD - The alarming rise in reported incidents of child sexual abuse and child marriage cases in the country is an urgent call to action for state and civil society to collectively work towards punitive and preventative measures that tackle the challenge of child abuse, said the participants on Thursday at the Jinnah Institute’s conference titled ‘Protecting Our Children: Supportive Legislative and Civil Society Action’.
On the occasion, MNA Mehnaz Akbar Aziz highlighted the relevant legislation tabled in the National Assembly, including her own bill titled ‘Islamabad Capital Territory Domestic Workers Bill 2019’ and the ‘Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2019’, both pending review by a standing committee.
She stated that legislators often faced an uphill task in finding support in the Parliament for human rights legislation and backing from the civil society groups, adding that the media could generate critical pressure for policy reform, as well as hold governments and state institutions accountable for inaction.
“The Farishta Mohmand case has made clear how inadequate our responses are in the event of a crisis, she said, recommending that a special committee for child protection be constituted in the National Assembly that could review and assist such cases.
Human rights activist Tahira Abdullah stressed the need to be clear on definition of a child. She stated that Pakistan had long been a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of Child that sets the age of a child at 18 years.
“Pakistan has omitted this in its own legislative frameworks, resulting in a lack of laws that criminalise child marriage, child labour or domestic work, and provide little protection from sexual abuse for those under the age of 18,” she maintained, adding that legislation played an important role in human rights’ interventions, but the work of lawmakers and civil society did not end there. “Legislation is only the first step in creating visible and sustainable change, and it falls to stakeholders to implement those laws to impact change on ground” she said. Child rights activist Valerie Khan stated that the government was treading dangerous territory vis-a-vis declaring death penalty as a punishment for child abuse. She underscored that it leads to desensitisation of people towards loss of life.
Since the hanging of Zainab Ansari’s rapist and killer in November 2018, the number of cases reported had gone up by 13 per cent. The problem must be addressed at the grass-root level through lobbying for child rights and by conducting a national awareness campaign with the aid of media and political parties that utilize resources from Islamic jurisprudence, she said.
Senator Meher Taj Roghani stated that the issue of child sexual abuse and child marriage was a veritable public health crisis, rarely described in those terms. “Children’s health is subjected to severe danger when they are forced into marriages and made to give birth much before they turn 18”, she added.
Senate body perturbed over delay in post-mortem report of Farishta
Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Thursday expressed its indignation and serious concern over delay in submitting post-mortem report of a child-abuse victim girl Farishta and directed the inspector general of police to include the relevant doctor in the investigations.
A meeting of the committee chaired by Senator A Rehman Malik said that the body had apprehensions over extraordinary delay in post-mortem report.
Farishta would be provided justice, he said. He summoned the concerned doctor, who conducted the autopsy, in next committee meeting.
He vowed introducing drastic reforms in first information report registration system.
A sub-committee comprising Rana Maqbool, Senator Javed Abbasi and IGP Islamabad was constituted to recommend reforms in FIRs within a week time. The committee directed ICT to submit complete list of illegal buildings, shopping malls, their encroachments in Islamabad to the committee. The committee also recommended registration of FIR against the relevant officers of CDA on neglecting the violations of encroachment mafia.
A list of houses being used for commercial purposes should also be submitted to the committee.
The committee directed the CDA to give encroachers at least 15 days time before conducting operation.
Chief Commissioner Islamabad Aamir Ali Ahmed said that the administration had conducted anti-encroachment operation without any discrimination.