State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Edited by: Fazila Gulrez
© SPARC 2007
All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without the permission of SPARC.
ISBN: 978-969-8616-15-1
First Edition: 1500 Copies Price: Rs 250
Published by SPARC (Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child) House No 151, Street No 37, F-10/1, Islamabad, Pakistan. Telephone: +92 51 229 1553/229 1559 Telefax: +92 51 229 1680 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Peshawar: 59-C/iii, Ground Floor, University Road, University Town Telephone: +92 91 570 6142 Email: [email protected]
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Lahore: No. 3, Fifth Floor, Rahim Complex, 31-E, Main Market, Gulberg II Telephone: +92 42 571 6142 E-mail: [email protected] www.sparcpk.org This publication is published with the financial support granted by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
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Photo Credits: Cover Anees Jillani
Chapter Titles: Health, Juvenile Justice, Violence (Anees Jillani) Child Labor, Education (Fahmina Naz), Earthquake (“© ICRC” F. Clarke)
Full Inside : Health, Juvenile Justice (Anees Jillani), Violence (Tanveer Shahzad) Child Labor (Fahmina Naz), Education (Nazra Jehan), Earthquake (“© ICRC” F. Clarke) The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Contents
SPARC’s Board of Directors ...... x Abbreviations ...... xi Preface...... xv Introduction...... xvii The Second National Policy and Plan of Action...... xxii Profile of South Asia...... xxxiii
1. HEALTH: Fatal Neglect 3
Health Indicators...... 5 Budget & Resources...... 6 Legislations and Proposed Acts...... 7 Proposed Act on HIV & AIDS...... 7 National Plan for Prevention and Control of Blindness 2006...... 8 Gateway Paper of Pakistan’s Health Policy Forum...... 11 Consultations for PRSP-II ...... 12 Finalization of Child, Mother Care Project ...... 12 Mother, Child Health Concerns...... 14 Infant and Child Mortality ...... 15 Neonatal Tetanus: A Major Killer...... 15 Under-five Mortality...... 16 Vaccination of Children ...... 16 Measles and Expanded Program on Immunization ...... 17 Health Concerns in 2006 ...... 18 Diarrhea and Withering Breastfeeding...... 18 Priority Health Problems...... 21 Water Borne Diseases...... 23 Thalassaemia ...... 24 Polio ...... 26
SPARC Contents
Malaria ...... 30 Epilepsy...... 30 Malnutrition ...... 31 Children in Balochistan on verge of Malnutrition ...... 32 Action Plan on Micronutrient Malnutrition ...... 33 Quake Affected Children and Health ...... 34 Child Amputees: What lies ahead! ...... 34 Psychological Trauma of Children ...... 35 AIDS ...... 36 International Agencies and HIV and AIDS ...... 39 Conclusion ...... 44 Recommendations ...... 44
2. CHILD LABOR: A Vicious Cycle...... 49
Child Labor in Pakistan ...... 50 Forms of Child Labor ...... 53 Worst Forms of Child Labor ...... 53 Child Labor in Carpet Industry ...... 55 Child Labor in Glass Bangle Industry ...... 57 Child Labor in Surgical Industry ...... 58 Child Labor in Rag Picking Business ...... 59 Child Labor in Tanneries ...... 60 Child Labor in Deep Fishing Industry ...... 61 Child Labor in Bondage and Forced Labor ...... 62 Child Labor in Domestic Service ...... 65 Child Labor in Begging Profession...... 66 Child Labor on the Streets ...... 66 Factors Contributing to Child Labor ...... 66 Supply- Side Causes ...... 67 Demand-Side Causes ...... 68 Consequences of Child Labor on Children ...... 69 Legal and Regulatory Environment ...... 71 Legislation ...... 71 National and International Commitments ...... 71 Challenges and Developments in 2006 ...... 76 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-II ...... 76 The ILO Committee Questions the Government ...... 76 ii The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Ratification of ILO Minimum Age Convention 1973 (No. 138) ...... 78 Employment and Service Conditions Bill 2006: Still Lying on Tables...... 78 Legislating Domestic Work: Confused Progress ...... 79 Agreement between FIFA and ILO...... 80 Mitigating Child Labor through Education in Pakistan ...... 81 Time Bound Program to Eliminate Worst Forms of Child Labor ...... 81 SPARC National Campaign ...... 82 PBM to Expand Child Support Program...... 83 Combat Child Labor through Media ...... 83 Nike Sacks Saga over Child Labor Row...... 84 Communication Strategy on Child Domestic Labor...... 85 Child Labor: An Impediment to Education for All ...... 86 RugMark Campaign in US to End Child Labor in South Asia...... 87 Conclusion ...... 88 Recommendations ...... 90
3. EDUCATION: An Elusive Goal...... 95
First National Education Census (NEC) ...... 100 UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007 ...... 103 UNESCO Education for All (EFA) Goals ...... 104 Pakistan’s Progress towards EFA Goals ...... 104 Primary Education ...... 104 How Many Children are out of School? ...... 105 Teachers Numbers & Training ...... 105 Pakistan may not Achieve Literacy Goal ...... 105 Domestic Spending on Education ...... 107 Pakistan Must Do More for Education ...... 109 Primary and Middle Education ...... 110 Gender Disparity ...... 114 Institutions with Missing Facilities ...... 118 Literacy Rate ...... 119 Case Study of a “Model Literacy District” ...... 125 Conclusion ...... 128 Recommendations ...... 129
SPARC iii Contents
4. JUVENILE JUSTICE: Deadly Deadlock...... 133
Arrest, Role of Police and Bail ...... 136 Children Kept in Fetters ...... 136 Role of Probation Officer ...... 138 Who is a Child? ...... 140 Age of Criminal Responsibility ...... 142 Trial and Juvenile Courts ...... 143 Terrorism, Juvenile Courts and Death Penalty ...... 147 Life Term for Juvenile Offenders ...... 147 Legal Aid ...... 148 Detention and Rehabilitation ...... 150 Borstal Institutions ...... 151 Lack of Systematic Data...... 155 Prison Conditions ...... 158 Probation Officers ...... 159 Children Living with Mothers Behind Bars...... 162 Conclusion ...... 172 Recommendations ...... 173
5. VIOLENCE: Silent Agony ...... 177
UN CRC Articles ...... 179 Physical Violence ...... 180 Sexual Violence...... 180 Psychological Violence ...... 181 Adverse Impact of Violence ...... 182 Violence in the Home ...... 183 UN Study on Violence against Children Launched ...... 187 Attempted Suicide/ Suicide ...... 190 Incest ...... 190 Corporal Punishment ...... 192 Corporal Punishment in Madressahs ...... 194 Traditional Violence ...... 195 The Deadly Decisions of Jirga ...... 196 Karo-Kari ...... 197 Vani/ Swara ...... 199 Child Marriages ...... 202 iv The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Street Children ...... 203 SPARC Drop in Center- Reshaping Lives ...... 206 Child Trafficking ...... 207 Camel Jockeys ...... 210 Pakistan’s Efforts in Curbing Human Trafficking ...... 211 Infanticide/ Cradle Babies ...... 213 Violence in Jails ...... 214 Unsafe Environment ...... 214 Conclusion ...... 215 Recommendations ...... 217
6. EARTHQUAKE: Rebuilding Lives in Hope and Despair....221
Preparedness for Disaster Management ...... 222 The Impact of Earthquake on Children ...... 223 Emergency to Reconstruction Phase...... 225 Education ...... 229 Health ...... 233 Policies ...... 237 The Social Protection Policy 2006-2009 ...... 237 ERRA’s Education Policy ...... 242 ERRA’s Health Policy ...... 242 National Disaster Management Ordinance 2006 ...... 243 Contributions of Civil Society Organizations ...... 244 SPARC ...... 244 UNICEF ...... 246 USAID ...... 248 Save the Children Alliance ...... 251 World Vision ...... 253 Plan Pakistan ...... 253 Kindernothilfe ...... 253 Trocaire ...... 254 Conclusion ...... 254 Recommendations...... 255
SPARC Contents
TABLES
1. HEALTH: Fatal Neglect ...... 3
g UNICEF Analysis of Underweight Prevalence amongst Children Under Five in Developing Countries...... 5 g More than 30% Increase in the Budget Allocations for Health Sector...... 7 g Major Causes of Death Among Children Under 5 Years of Age and Neonates in the World, 2000-2003...... 14 g Districts with High Incidence of ARI/10,000 New Cases ...... 22 g Malaria Incidence in ARCs in Pakistan...... 30 g Districts Showing High Malnutrition Cases ...... 32 g Pakistan Population Tree ...... 37
2. CHILD LABOR: A Vicious Cycle...... 49
g National Child Labor Survey 1996 ...... 51 g List of Hazardous Forms of Child Labor ...... 54 g Estimates of Children in Worst Forms of Child Labor in Six Sectors ...... 58 g Estimated Number of Rag Pickers ...... 59 g ILO- IPEC Pakistan Time Bound Program...... 82
3. EDUCATION: An Elusive Goal ...... 95
g Total Number of Institutions Covered in NEC ...... 102 g Total Enrolment by Gender & Level of Institutions in NEC ...... 102 g Summary of Public Sector Budgetary Allocation for Education 2005-2006 (Million Rs.) ...... 108 g Donor’s Budgetary Allocation ...... 109 g Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the Primary Level (Age 5-9) by Provinces and Region ...... 111 g GER at the Middle Level (Age 10-12) by Provinces and Regions ...... 112 g Dropout Rates by Grade and Gender at Primary Level for Public Sector Institutions ...... 113 g Gender Gap in Overall Literacy ...... 114 g GER and NER at the Primary Level ...... 118 g Literacy Rates (10 Years & Above) for Pakistan and Provinces 2004-05 (%)...... 120
4. JUVENILE JUSTICE: Deadly Deadlock ...... 133
g Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility ...... 142 g Number of Children Detained ...... 151 g Fifteen Indicators with Definition ...... 157
5. VIOLENCE: Silent Agony ...... 177
g Total Number of Affected Children in Pakistan (Madaadgar) ...... 186 vi The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 g Gender Divide of Crime Categories ...... 186 g Age of Sexually Abused Victims ...... 187
6. EARTHQUAKE: Rebuilding Lives in Hope and Despair ...... 221 g Damages Caused by 8 October 2005 Earthquake in Pakistan ...... 222 g Funding Overview of the Early Recovery Plan ...... 228 g Cost of Damages (Rupees in Million) ...... 230 g No. of Academic Institutions Planned for Reconstruction (2006-2007) ...... 231 g Progress of Reconstruction in Health Sector...... 235 g Emergency Response by UNICEF ...... 246 g UNICEF Support to Recovery and Rehabilitation ...... 247
PANELS
1. HEALTH: Fatal Neglect ...... 3
Health at a Glance ...... 4 To See or Not to See ...... 11 Eight NGOs get Grants for Health Projects...... 13 Some Eye Openers ...... 16 FDA warns Nestle on Nutrient Levels in Infant Formula ...... 21 Implementation of Breastfeeding Law Vital ...... 22 Dirty Water Kills 5,000 Children a Day in Developing Countries ...... 24 Interfamily Marriages Cause Birth Defects ...... 26 Only Polio-Free Children to Get Saudi Visa ...... 27 Resistance to Polio Drops on the Rise in NWFP ...... 28 PHC Takes up Petition against Polio Vaccine ...... 29 International Commitments: Millennium Development Goals ...... 36 23 Orphan Children need AIDS Test ...... 37 First Ever Audio Cassette on HIV and AIDS ...... 38 Six of a Family Suffering from AIDS ...... 39 Children with HIV and AIDS Die Faster ...... 40
2. CHILD LABOR: A Vicious Cycle ...... 49
Child Labor and Child Work ...... 49 Reality Check ...... 50 Ban on Child Labor in India ...... 51 ILO Report Shows Marked Decline in Child Labor Worldwide ...... 52 Body to Curb Child Labor in Tanneries ...... 60 Pakistani Children Head to Sea for a Living...... 61 Women, Kids among 30 Kiln Workers Recovered ...... 62 SPARC’s Intervention in Bonded Labor ...... 63 Street Theater and Peace Demonstration ...... 64 Child Labor in Makkah ...... 64 Reminders ...... 69
SPARC vii Contents
Punjab Industrial Policy 2003 ...... 72 SPARC Commends ILO Convention 138 Ratification…...... 74 NCSW Seeks Law for Domestic Help ...... 80 Utah Firm Hit with Fine of $10,395 for Child Labor ...... 83 $10 Billion Could Buy Universal Schooling ...... 89 Major Success in Reducing Child Labor ...... 90
3. EDUCATION: An Elusive Goal ...... 95
World’s Most Illiterates are in Pakistan ...... 96 Khwendo Kor School Attacked ...... 98 Plight of Six Schools in Sialkot ...... 99 Facts and Figures on Education Worldwide ...... 100 An Overview of the Major Features of National Education Census ...... 101 NEC Marred by Unrest in Balochistan and FATA ...... 103 4% of GDP for Education in Next Budget ...... 107 Can Literate Punjab Really Help Saima? ...... 107 130 Schools Closed in Larkana (Sindh) ...... 114 Why Children do not Go to School? ...... 115 Controversy Mars Tawana Program ...... 116 Facts and Figures on Out-of-School Children and Proportion of Females ...... 117 Students Injured as Classroom Roof Caves in ...... 119 Literacy Rate Figures Still not Updated ...... 121 Teachers’ Associations can help Promote Education ...... 122 Dream of a “Literate Punjab” to be Realized ...... 127
4. JUVENILE JUSTICE: Deadly Deadlock ...... 133
Youth Tortured to Death ...... 153 International Standards Relating to Children in the Criminal Justice System ...... 155 Fifteen Juvenile Justice Indicators ...... 156 Police Torture Damages Student’s Eyesight ...... 159 Security Cameras in Juvenile Wing of Haripur Jail ...... 161 What will Happen to Salma? ...... 164 “I would Like to See the World Outside” ...... 165 First Glimpse of the Ocean ...... 166 Nurseries for Children in Jails ...... 167 Frontier Crime Regulation: A Draconian Law ...... 169
5. VIOLENCE: Silent Agony ...... 177
UNICEF Facts and Figures ...... 178 Fact Sheet on Child Abuse ...... 181 Child Protection Bill ...... 184 Violence Balance Sheet ...... 185 Another Meerwala in Muzaffargarh ...... 185 Father Kills 3 Daughters ...... 189 viii The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Minor Kills Himself by Hanging ...... 190 Father Sexually Abuses Daughter ...... 191 Man Accused of Molesting Daughter ...... 192 School Teacher Accused of Beating Same Child Again ...... 193 Teachers Torture Student ...... 194 Children Kept in Chains in Madressah ...... 195 Imam Slits Boy’s Throat on Resisting Rape ...... 195 Little Girls Given as Compensation ...... 197 14-year-old ‘Kari’ Shot 5 Times ...... 199 Four Unborn Girls made Vani ...... 200 Do Women Need Protection or Rights? ...... 201 Pakistan Study Sees No End to Violence against Women ...... 202 Father Sells Daughter to Pay Gambling Debt ...... 203 A Death in Vain ...... 203 Over 25,000 Street Children in Karachi ...... 204 Street Boy Burnt to Death ...... 205 Khan Wants Quality Education ...... 207 Siar Returns Home...... 207 India, Pakistan Top Traffickers in Women ...... 209 Two Boys Trafficked to Iran ...... 209 Dubai Governor, Arab Sheikhs Sued for Enslaving Children ...... 211 Toxic Waste Dumping Kills Boy ...... 215
6. EARTHQUAKE: Rebuilding Lives in Hope and Despair ...... 221
200 Orphans Stopped from Attending Schools ...... 231 US “Donated” Expired Vaccines ...... 233 Children’s Reaction in Post Traumatic Situations ...... 234 High Infant Death in Earthquake Areas ...... 236 Children in Quake Areas at Risk of Abuse: UN Report ...... 239 Father Held for Selling 3 Daughters ...... 239 How to Deal with Children? ...... 243 Quake Hit Children Join Workforce ...... 245 Helping Quake Orphaned Children Cope ...... 249
SPARC ix SPARC’S Board of Directors
SPARC’s Board of Directors
g Mr Qazi Azmat Isa (Chairman)
g Mr Qindeel Shujaat (Secretary)
g Mr Javed Jabbar
g Mr Anees Jillani
g Ms Sara Ahmad
g Ms Maryam Bibi
g Dr Attiya Inayatullah
g Ms Samina Omar Khan
g Ms Humera Malik
g Mr Gul Mastoi
g Ms Shaheen Ateequr Rehman
g Mr Rashid Rehman Advocate
The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Abbreviations
ADB: Asian Development Bank CNG: Compressed Natural Gas WB: World Bank CNIC: Computerized National Identity ADP: Annual Development Plan Card AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency CNSA: Control of Narcotics Substance Syndrome Act 1997 AJK: Azad Jammu and Kashmir CRC: Child Rights Committee ANC: Anti-Natal Care CSA: Child Sexual Abuse ARI: Acute Respiratory Infections CSEC: Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children ARV: Antiretroviral Therapy CSRSP: Community Support Rural ATA: Anti Terrorism Act School Program ATC: Adolescent Training Centre CWA: Child Workers in Asia ATC: Anti Terrorist Court DDEO: Deputy District Education Officer AUSAID: Australian Government CDL: Child Domestic Labor Overseas Program DEO: District Education Officer BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation DFID: Department of International BHU: Basic Health Units Development CAP: Community Action Program DOH: Department of Health CAAH: Child and Adolescent Health DSJ: District and Sessions Judge CBO: Community Based Organization DRC: Democratic Republic of Congo CBR: Community Based Rehabilitation DVC: District Vigilance Committee CCB: Citizen Community Bureau ECA: Employment of Children Act 1991 CDW: Child Domestic Worker ECE: Early Childhood Education CEO: Chief Executive Officer ECNEC: Executive Committee of National CIDA: Canadian International Economic Council Development Agency ECOSOC:UN Economic and CIWCE: Center for Improvement Working Social Council Conditions and Environment EDO: Executive District Officer CJ: Chief Justice EDR: End Decade Review CLAAS: Center for Legal Aid Assistance EFA: Education For All & Settlement
SPARC xi Abbreviations
EMIS: Education Management ICT: Islamabad Capital Territory Information System IDU: Injecting Drug Users ENT: Eye, Nose & Throat ILO: International Labor Organization EPI: Expanded Program on IMF: International Monetary Fund Immunization IMR: Infant Mortality Rate ERRA: Earthquake Rehabilitation and INGOs: International Non Government Reconstruction Authority Agencies ESR: Education Sector Reforms IOM: International Organization for EU: European Union Migration FANA: Federally Administered Northern Areas IPEC: International Program on the FATA: Federally Administered Tribal Areas Elimination of Child Labor FBS: Federal Bureau of Statistics PRSP: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper FCR: Frontier Crime Regulations 1901 IRIN: Integrated Regional Information FDA: Food and Drug Administration Network FIA: Federal Investigation Authority ITA: Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi FIFA: International Football Federation IUCN: The World Conservation Union FIR: First Information Report JICA: Japanese International FISH: Fluorescent in Situ Hybridization Coordination Agencies GAIN: Global Alliance for Improved JJSO: Juvenile Justice System Nutrition Project Ordinance GAVI: Global Alliance for Vaccination LBW: Low Birth Weight GCE: Global Campaign for Education LCCI: Lahore Chamber of Commerce GER: Gross Enrolment Rate & Industry GDP: Gross Domestic Product LFS: Labor Force Survey GMR: Global Monitoring Report LHRLA: Lawyers for Human Rights & GNI: Gross National Income Legal Aid GNP: Gross National Product LHW: Lady Health Workers GOP: Government of Pakistan LMT: Lactation Management Training GPI: Gender Parity Index LPG: Liquid Petroleum Gas GTZ: Gesellschaft für Technische MCH: Maternal and Child Health Zusammenarbeit Centre HDSA: Human Development in South MCP: Malaria Control Program Asia MDG: Millennium Development Goal HDI: Human Development Index MI: Micro-nutrient Initiative HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus MIED: Mountain Institute of HMIS: Health Management Information Educational Development System MMR: Maternal Mortality Rate HRCP: Human Rights Commission of MNA: Member of National Assembly Pakistan xii The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
MNCHP: Maternal, New born & Child PAP: Poverty Alleviation Program Health Program PATA: Provincially Administered Tribal MoL: Ministry of Labor Areas MOU: Memorandum of Understanding PBM: Pakistan Baitul-Mal MPA: Member Provincial Assembly PCCWD: Punjab Commission MTCT: Mother to Child Transmission for Child Welfare Development NA: Northern Areas PC1: Planning Commission-1 NADRA: National Administration of Data PCMEA: Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers Registration Authority & Exporters Association NAP: National Action Plan PCHR: Parliamentary Commission of Human Rights NACP: National AIDS Control Program PERRA: Provincial Earthquake NARA: National Alien Registration Authority Reconstruction & Rehabilitation NCCWD: National Commission for Child Authority Welfare & Development PHC: Primary Health Care NCSWA: National Commission on the PHPF: Pakistan’s Health Policy Forum Status of Women PIHS: Pakistan Integrated Household NEC: National Education Census Survey NEF: National Education Foundation PIMS: Pakistan Institute of Medical NEAS: National Education Assessment Sciences System PLWHA: People Living With HIV and AIDS NER: Net Enrolment Rate PMA: Pakistan Medical Association NGO: Non-Government Organization PMDC: Pakistan Medical and Dental NIC: National Identity Card Council NICH: National Institute of Child Health PML: Pakistan Muslim League NID: National Immunization Day PMTCT: Prevention of Mother to Child NIH: National Institute of Health Transmission NMR: Neonatal Mortality Rate PPC: Pakistan Penal Code NORAD: Norwegian Agency For PSLM: Pakistan Social and Living International Development Standard Measurement NPA: National Plan of Action PTA: Parent Teacher Association NPPA: National Policy and Plan of PTSA: Parent Teacher Student Action Association NWFP: North West Frontier Province PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder OCHS: Office for the Coordination of PTV: Pakistan Television Humanitarian Affairs PYO: Punjab Youthful Offenders ODA: Official Development Assistance Ordinance 1983 OSH: Occupational Safety and Health PVO: Punjab Vagrancy Order ORT: Oral Rehydration Therapy RA: Rapid Assessment PAIMAN: Pakistan Initiative for RI: Routine Immunization Mothers and Newborn
SPARC xiii Abbreviations
RIPORT: Regional Institute of Policy UAE: United Arab Emirates Research and Training UNCRC: United Nations Convention on ROSA: UNICEF Regional Office for the Rights of the Child South Asia UNDHR: United Nations Declaration on RHC: Rural Health Center Human Rights SAARC: South Asian Association for UNDP: United Nations Development Regional Cooperation Program SAP: Social Action Program UNDCP: United Nations Drug Control SCA: Sindh Children Act 1955 Program SC: Supreme Court UNESAP:United Nations Economic & Social Commission SCCI: Sialkot Chamber of Commerce for Asia & Pacific and Industry UNESCO: United Nations Educational SCF: Save the Children Fund Scientific & Cultural Organization SCFUK: Save the Children Fund UK U5MR: Under Five-Mortality Rate SDC: Swiss Agency for Development UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund and Cooperation UNGAS: United Nation General SDPI: Sustainable Development Policy Assembly Special Session Institute UNGEI: United Nations Girls’ Education SEF: Sindh Education Foundation Initiatives SERRA: State Earthquake UNHCR: United Nation High Reconstruction and Commissioner for Refugees Rehabilitation Authority UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund SHC: Sindh High Court UNGASS:UN General Assembly Special SHO: Station House Officer Session on Children SIMAP: Surgical Instrument UNODC: United Nations Offices on Drugs Manufacturers Association of & Crime Pakistan UNOPS: United Nations Office of Project SIR: Social Investigation Report Services SMC: School Management UNTOC: UN Convention on Transnational Committees Organized Crime SOS: Save Our Souls UPE: Universal Primary Education PCCWD:Provincial Commission for Child US-AID: United States Agency for Welfare & Development, Sindh International Development STD: Sexually Transmitted Diseases WFP: World Food Program STI: Sexually Transmitted Illness WHO: World Health Organization TAMA: Technical Assistance WSC: World Summit for Children 1990 Management Agency YOIS: Youthful Offenders Industrial TBA: Traditional Birth Attendants School TB: Tuberculosis
xiv The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Preface
eartiest congratulations to SPARC on the publication of the State of Pakistan’s Children, 2006. In essence this report is also a testament to the organization’s Hwork and its unrelenting commitment in promoting and protecting the rights of children. SPARC has continued to spearhead changes in legislation and raise awareness to help create a better environment for the children of Pakistan.
Children are the essence of life; their smile, the advent of spring; their presence, a celebration of the divine. We must not be deceived by their size; they are wise, speak the truth and are trusting. They are Allah’s miraculous gift to us, to protect, cherish and nurture. They have the right to be safe, a right to education, health, to have fun and to be respected. Yet, we continue to fail them, worldwide and sadly as the report shows considerably so, in Pakistan. The responsibility to make things better lies not only with institutions of the State but with society and each and every one of us. We all must ensure that children are provided safety, security, a good clean, caring and healthy environment in which they can reach their full potential as human beings. Nothing short of a personal oath and commitment can guarantee this transformation.
Acts of unkindness to a child, or words spoken harshly to them, or ignoring injustices towards children are done at our own peril, for tomorrow we reap the whirlwind of this attitude. Infact the violence that we see today and the unraveling of our social fabric is to a great extent a manifestation of our apathy, neglect and carelessness towards our children. The majority of whom are relegated to uncaring schools and madrassah’s where beatings, learning by rote and dogma prevails, where true learning and enquiry is taboo - the mind closed and questions never asked, where darkness prevails. Imagine the child that comes through this system; imagine the adult he or she will become.
We all have our childhood memories and the happiest are the ones where we were heard, listened to, believed in, loved, respected and not shunned. Let’s make those memories come to life by protecting the rights of all children and bequeath them a truly happy environment to grow-up in. Fill their life with light, joy and humor. Hold on to their hands, embrace them, so that they feel safe and loved. The child of today,
SPARC xv Preface
secure in his/her rights, will be a responsible care giving adult of tomorrow. Let’s help make our children secure adults.
I take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks to SPARC’s staff for their unstinting enthusiasm, cooperation and dedication ably lead by SPARC’s new Executive Director, Qindeel Shujaat. The institution will need to continue on the path of building solid foundations that allows it to ensure good governance, transparency and accountability and yet position itself to meet the changing needs and demands of the future by being agile and responsive. All of us, staff together with the Board of Directors must do everything in our capacity to engender an institutional atmosphere that nurtures and rewards hard work, dedication and idealism. As an organization we also seek such nurturing and support from our government, the national and international donor community, friends of SPARC and those who wish to help us promote the objectives of SPARC.
SPARC’s achievements described in the report would not have been possible without the active assistance of many individuals and organizations. Among those we wish to thank for their assistance, cooperation, guidance and support are from Royal Norwegian Embassy, Swiss Development Agency, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, Solidarity Center, Save the Children, Trocaire and Kindernothilfe.
In closing, I would like to thank the Board for appointing me Chairman of SPARC; this is a momentous honor for which I am truly humbled. SPARC is a very special institution and I have cherished my association with it - its unrelenting commitment in promoting and protecting the rights of children has been inspirational. Being on SPARC’s Board has been a rare privilege for me, for here I have been able to work with our country’s most outstanding individuals. As Chairman now, I look to the Board for support and guidance if I am to do justice to this position; for as SPARC looks to the future, a huge task lies ahead as gains can easily be eroded by economic inequalities, conflicts and increasing child abuse. SPARC must ensure that the cause of the child never wavers for it is our children that carry our hopes for a better world.
Qazi Azmat Isa
Chairman SPARC Board of Directors May, 2007
xvi The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Introduction
hild Rights are human rights and denying rights to children is a breach of human rights. Every person including children has the right to human dignity Cand integrity. These rights are upheld in the Constitution of Pakistan, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children (UN CRC). The UN CRC emphasizes that children are holders of rights and are actors in their own lives, and not mere recipients of adults’ care and protection. The Convention covers a whole spectrum of rights for children including civil, economic, social and cultural. Effective implementation of the UN CRC could revolutionize the status of children in Pakistan; however, the reality is in stark contrast.
Implementation of the UN CRC may appear to be a daunting task, but if pursued in true spirit and with the required political will, children of Pakistan can enjoy every right given in the Convention and in the corresponding Declarations and international instruments. What is even more frustrating, and in case of children heart rending, that Pakistan has not even taken the first step towards giving children what is due to them, their rights, so that each child is given the chance to lead a happy, empowered and fulfilled life and be able to attain the very best that a life has to offer. This bleak situation is mainly due to a lack of vision and the lopsided policies and priorities of the people at the helms of affairs.
When I joined SPARC in June 2006, it was rumored that the Cabinet had approved the National Policy and Plan of Action on Children on May 23, 2006. The impression I got was that the government was all set to approve the Child Protection Bill. The Bill was drafted by the National Commission on Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) - Ministry of Social Welfare in consultation with all the stakeholders including government and NGOs with UNICEF’s support.
The bill addresses several concluding observations made by the UN CRC Committee on the second UN CRC country report submitted in 2003 by Pakistan. According to the bill the minimum age of criminal responsibility should be raised from seven to12 years, prohibit sending children under the age of 15 years to prison; increase the age of marriage for girls and boys respectively from 16 and 17 to 18 years, criminalize offenses against children including child sexual abuse and exploitation, ban corporal
SPARC xvii Introduction
punishment; address the custody issue of separated children, and request provincial governments to establish Child Protection Bureaus, Child Protection Fund and Child protection Courts at provincial and district levels.
Unfortunately, the Child Protection Bill faced its first hurdle, when the cabinet secretary, according to the update, sent the bill back to the ministry of social welfare after indicating several lacunas and asked for its revision. Mr Ijaz Raheem, Cabinet Secretary, raised several concerns which were of administrative nature and dealt more with the implementation of the bill (such as how will the government/ ministry mobilize funds to establish children’s courts etc). The Cabinet Secretary has now asked the NCCWD to prepare the Child Protection Strategy, before the bill can be tabled again.
In Pakistan, there is a great deal of controversy on the ‘age of a child’. Although the issue was decided that ‘a child is any person under 18’ when the government signed and ratified the UN CRC in 1990. However, the State has failed to bring its national policies and laws in accordance with the international instruments and a number of laws have different age that defines a child.
Pakistan’s legal system comprises both civil and Islamic laws, which at times creates confusion regarding issues related to children. For example, a child can enter the labor market at the age of 14, but he cannot have an identity card or file a case in the court. He has no political voice but s/he can be jailed at the age of seven, if found guilty. The age of marriage for boys is 18 and 16 for girls, but marriages below these ages are also considered legal.
The Prime Minister’s statement issued on November 20, 2006 on Universal Children’s Day claimed that the government is committed to promote and protect rights of children and to prove the government’s good intentions it has ratified international conventions to help children enjoy their rights. However, the government has remained mired in this rhetoric and nothing is happening on the ground.
In recent years the government has signed and ratified international treaties because of international pressure and not out of the goodness of their heart for the children. The government’s response to human trafficking initiative was directly linked to safeguarding the country from the threat of economic sanctions which could be imposed by the US, if effective measures were not taken to combat human smuggling, trafficking of women and children. The initiative was also linked to war on terror.
Recently, the government ratified ILO Convention on Minimum Age No 138 dealing with the minimum age of employment for children. This was done to retain trade benefits from European Markets and European Union. If this is the way the Government takes actions for the promotion of child rights in the country, the civil society has the right to advocate for change with those countries that can and do influence the government xviii The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 policies and plans particularly when it does not listen to the local voice and fails to take actions.
It is observed that the government, when reporting on child rights qualifies its progress by the number of policy initiatives taken and direct interventions made with target groups. On close analyses of the government‘s performance, one will notice that most of the work is funded by the donors such as the ILO, UNICEF, US AID etc.
There are not very many projects funded by the Government, and very often many of the projects carried out are done just like that of NGOs. Donors will not fund the government forever and as such sustainability will always remain an issue. Most of the work done by the government is cosmetic and tokenistic and it is obvious when you see that the social indicators in Pakistan are not only worsening but are the poorest even in the region. We rank just above the poorest of the poor African countries.
One can measure the government’s seriousness about child rights from the very fact that the NCCWD, which is the nucleus body working on child rights issues is just a commission with no statuary powers. Human resource available to this commission is insufficient and funds even more scarce. To bring an effective change in the lives of the children in Pakistan the ministry of social welfare needs to take up this issue with the finance ministry and other relevant authorities.
There are also instances where the budget remains un-utilized by the relevant departments or ministries in provinces and lapses. This is even worse. One cannot expect any meaningful change to take place unless the institutional capacity of the relevant commission or ministry is enhanced. The other urgent issue that the government must look into is building strong coordination between federal and provincial departments.
William Wordsworth wrote: “Child is the father of the man.” This is a simple philosophy, but beyond the comprehension of our policy makers. If only they could follow it, it could actually change the very fabric of the society and the future of this country. Pakistan has the potential to grow into a stable, strong and resourceful country, free of poverty and deprivation. The step urgently required to put Pakistan on the right track is to put all the children in schools where they receive quality education. It is not an impossible task, Korea, Malaysia and many other countries have done it and so can Pakistan. The challenge today is not only to determine what needs to be done for children, but how will the government make funding available for children. Does the present or any future government have the courage to divert its massive defense funding towards the welfare of the children?
Experience shows that countries that are developed today, are those that realized the long term benefits of compulsory education for all. Education has helped raise the
SPARC xix Introduction
productivity of labor and human-resource; schooling of females even in traditional societies contributed to a decline in infant mortality and fertility rates; mass schooling has reduced child labor. As a result, there is less inequality in income distribution and a greater occupational mobility.
“Poverty Reduction” has continued to be a priority for every government. It must be understood that poverty is the result and the consequence of neglect of human development. Earlier the government was totally silent on child labor in its draft on Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-II. However, following pressure from the NGOs child labor has now been “mentioned” in the final draft which was recently launched at the Pakistan Development Forum meeting. It appears from this that either the government has eliminated child labor or that it can reduce poverty without eliminating child labor.
When we talk of marginalized groups and children who are victims of societal injustices, one of the ways to provide relief and reintegrate them back in our society is through effective safety nets and social protection systems. The distribution of social services and resource allocation in Pakistan is uneven, insufficient and inequitable. The glaring gap between the haves and the have nots is widening. It is sad to notice that Pakistan’s spending on safety nets is lower than other South Asian countries. Social safety nets are necessary components in order to alleviate poverty and injustices because macro-economic policies, through their ‘trickle-down’ effect, are unlikely to be effective, even in periods of high growth. Just a reminder, we cannot become enlightened and moderate, unless all excluded and isolated people are mainstreamed.
Rights of our children are violated from the day they are born; only a small percentage of children enjoy the right to education and healthcare; children are mistreated and abused; they endure severe physical and psychological punishment; they are exposed to neglect, torture, forced labor, forced prostitution, early marriage, rape, even murder. Similarly, violence against children occurs in different environments: the family, the community, school, at work or on the streets. The new forms of communication such as the Internet misuse by children is of serious concern, particularly because of the wide-scale availability of pornography on the Internet, and because people who target children for abuse use this technology to ensnare children or to share information.
Today, if we are talking of building a child friendly environment, we should be building a protective environment for children and it must look at the following issues:
1. Government’s commitment and capacity 2. Capacity of families and communities 3. Legislation and enforcement xx The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
4. Attitudes, customs and practices 5. Open discussions and public debate 6. Children’s life skills, knowledge and participation 7. Essential services, including prevention, recovery and reintegration 8. Monitoring and reporting
The tenth flagship publication of SPARC, The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006, provides a summary of developments on child rights in Pakistan both positive and negative. I would like to thank my colleagues at SPARC who have contributed in the preparation of this report; Mr Irfan Raza, Ms Asiya Arif, Mr Akhtar Balouch and Mr Rafiq Khan. Ms Fazila Gulrez deserves special appreciation for carrying out the difficult task of editing the whole report. Readers will miss Ms Zarina Jillani’s contribution who has been a regular contributor and author of many chapters and publications in the past.
I am proud and honored to be associated with SPARC, a movement that speaks for the most neglected and marginalized groups of the society. SPARC is well known for the legacy set by Mr Anees Jillani and for his hard work and commitment to create a world where children are valued and empowered. We must take his mission forward. I look forward to your support in making it possible for SPARC to achieve its vision in creating a society where rights of children are promoted and protected.
Qindeel Shujaat
Executive Director SPARC May 2007
SPARC xxi NPA
The Second National Policy and Plan of Action National Policy and Plan of Action for Children 2006 he second National Plan of Action for children (NPA) is a commitment of the Pakistan government towards its children over a period of one decade. The TFirst National Plan of Action for Children was implemented in the 1990s on the basis of the targets set forth in the 1990 World Summit for Children (WSC)
In the End of Decade Review Report (EDR) released by the UN Secretary General in May 2001, Pakistan’s first National Plan of Action for Children received criticism for being extremely un-participative during its formulation because of which people working at various levels in the state with children were unable to contribute towards developing the action plan. Moreover, the action plan was also evaluated as not being rights-based and rights-focused.
The statistical indices in the report demonstrated that Pakistan’s progress fell significantly short of the targets set by the WSC. Except for access to the potable water (coverage close to 83 per cent), “all the indicators lag substantially behind the NPA targets and those set out in the 1990 WSC, and are unlikely to be met in the next several decades at the current rate of development,” the report remarked. The report stressed that in order to overcome these shortcomings; it needs to elicit participation from all regional resources working with children such as district officials and the civil society.1
The government initiated the Second Plan of Action for Children (NPA) in 2003 with the assistance of the UNICEF, to constitute its major policy commitments towards children’s welfare and development over the next decade. UNICEF provided technical support and consultants to assist the provincial social welfare departments.
Learning from the previous experience, experts from various related fields in the government and NGOs decided to use a consultative approach to formulate the new
1 Asia Child Rights http://acr.hrschool.org xxii The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
NPA, through elaborate consultations at the regional, provincial and district levels. The meeting also discussed and agreed on guidelines for child participation in the planning process for development plans of action for children. To ensure that the new NPA fully rectified the earlier shortcomings, the new NPA elicited participation of the new players including district governments, TMA and civil society. The NPA was also linked with the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), which too were being prepared by the provincial and federal governments and reflected major policy commitments for economic development in the medium term (3 to 5 years).
The focus of the second NPA was to make it more focused, participatory, objective and outcome driven and task oriented. The NPA has been produced by the NCCWD and UNICEF after three years of consultations with all concerned stakeholders. The document has been approved by the cabinet on May 23, 2006
It is hoped that the approved NPA will help improve the situation of millions of children who constitute 46 per cent of the total population of Pakistan. It will help create an environment where children will enjoy their inherent and fundamental rights to education, healthcare, recreation, and love and care. Children will be protected from child labor and exploitation such as physical, sexual, emotional and verbal abuse.
National Policy and Plan of Pakistan2 National Policy and Plan of Action for Children prepared by the National Commission for Child Welfare & Development (NCCWD) Ministry of Social Welfare & Special Education, Islamabad and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Aims g Put children first g Fight poverty: investment in children g Leave no child behind g Care for every child g Educate every child g Protect children from harm and exploitation g Protect children from war g Combat HIV and AIDS g Listen to children and ensure their participation g Protect the earth for children
2 Presentation given by the Director NCCWD at SPARC’s conference on Violence against Children on December 4, 2006 Islamabad
SPARC xxiii NPA
National Child Policy To create a positive environment for realization of children’s rights in the wider societal context and to awaken the conscience of the community to protect children from violation of their rights, while strengthening the family, society and the Nation. The State in partnership with community will undertake all possible measures to ensure that:- g The child’s right to survival is protected and realized and to address the problems of infanticide and foeticide, especially of female child and all other emerging manifestations which deprive the girl child of her right to survival. g To provide all children from families below the poverty line with adequate supplementary nutrition and environmental sanitation and hygiene. Right to a standard of living. g To provide early childhood care for all children and encourage programs which will stimulate and develop their physical and cognitive capacities. g Recognizes the right to elementary education of all the children. g To provide special incentives to ensure that girls, children from disadvantaged social groups are enrolled retained and participate in schooling. g Regulation of conditions of work in occupations and processes where children perform work of a non-hazardous nature and that the rights of the child are protected. g Protection against neglect, maltreatment, injury, trafficking, sexual and physical abuse of all kinds, corporal punishment, torture, exploitation, violence and degrading treatment g Set up mechanisms for identification, reporting, referral, investigation and follow-up of such acts, while respecting the dignity and privacy of the child. g Ensure protection of children in distress for their welfare and all-round development. g Ensure protection of children during the occurrence of natural calamities in their best interest g Ensure that offenses committed against the girl child, including child marriage, forcing girls into prostitution and trafficking are speedily abolished. g Undertake measures, including social, educational and legal, to ensure that there is greater respect for the girl child in the family and society. g Take all steps to provide necessary education and skills to adolescent children. g To provide opportunities for the child to access information that will contribute to the child’s development A. Promoting Healthy Lives Goal i: Reduction of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Under five Mortality Rate (U5MR) by at least 2/3, in pursuit of the goal of reducing it to one thirds (1/3) by 2015. Goal ii: Reduction in the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) by at least three quarters by 2015 Goal iii: Reduction of child malnutrition among children under 5 years of age, by at least 1/3, with special attention to children under two years of age, and reduction in the rate of low birth weight to at least 1/3 of the current rate. xxiv The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Goal iv: Reduction in the proportion of households without access to hygienic sanitation facilities and affordable and safe drinking water by at least one third of the current level. Goal v: Development and implementation of national health policies and programs for adolescents, including goals and indicators, to promote their physical and mental health. Goal vi: Access through the primary health care system to reproductive health for all individuals of appropriate ages as soon as possible and no later than 2015.
Photograph by: Anees Jillani
B. Combating HIV and AIDS Goal I: Reduction in HIV prevalence, among young men and women, aged 15-24 years by 25 per cent by 2008 and a further 25 per cent by 2015. To establish time bound national targets to achieve the internationally agreed global prevention goal to reduce HIV prevalence among young men and women aged 15-24 in the most affected countries and to intensify efforts to achieve these targets as well as to challenge gender stereotypes and attitudes, and gender inequalities in relation to HIV and AIDS and encourage the active involvement of men and boys. Goal II: By 2008, reduce the proportion of infants infected with HIV by 25 percent, and by a further 25 percent by 2015.
SPARC xxv NPA
C. Providing Quality Education Goal i: Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education for girls and Boys especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Goal ii: Reduce the number of primary school age children who are out of school by 50 per cent and increase net primary school enrolment or participation in alternative, good primary education programs to at least 90% by 2010. Goal iii: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education and achieve gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on en ensuring girl’s full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. Goal iv: Improve all aspects of quality of education so that children and young people achieve recognized and measurable learning outcomes especially innumeracy, literacy and essential life skills.
D. Protection I. Special Protection Goal i: Protect children from the impact of armed conflict and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights Goal ii: Progressively prohibit, restrict, and regulate child labor with a view to its ultimate elimination through a phased and multi-sectoral strategy. Goal iii: Protect children from trafficking for prostitution, camel races, organ transplant, forced labor, drug smuggling, begging, pedophile, forced child marriages and other exploitative forms of work. Goal iv: Improve the plight of millions of children who live under especially difficult circumstances II. General Protection Goal-i: Protect children from all forms of abuses, neglect, exploitation and violence Goal-ii: Develop systems to ensure the registration of every child at or shortly after birth, and fulfill his or her right to acquire name and nationality, in accordance with national laws and relevant international instruments Goal-iii: Encourage all countries to adopt and enforce laws, and improve the implementation of policies and programs to protect children from all forms of violence, neglect, abuse and exploitation, whether at home, in school or other institutions, in the work place or in the community. Goal-iv: Adopt special measures to eliminate discrimination against children on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status, and ensure their equal access to education, health and basic social services Goal-v: End impunity for all crimes against children by bringing perpetrators to justice and publicizing the penalties for such crimes. xxvi The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Goal-vi: Raise awareness about the illegality and harmful consequences of failing to protect children from violence, abuse and exploitation. Goal-vii: Promote the establishment of prevention, support and caring services as well as justice systems specifically applicable to children. Goal-viii: End harmful traditions or customary practices, such as early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, which violate the rights of the children and women. Goal-ix: Adopt mechanisms to provide special protection and assistance to children without primary care givers. Goal-x: Adopt and implement policies for the prevention, protection, rehabilitation and reintegration, as appropriate, of children living in disadvantaged social institutions and who are at risk, including orphans, abandoned children, children of migrants workers, children working and/or living on the street and children living in extreme poverty, and ensure their access to education, health and social service appropriate. Goal-xi: Combat and prevent the use of children, including adolescents, in the illicit production of and trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
E: Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Children (CSEC) Prevention Ensure that all children have access to quality basic education, which is inclusive and has a strong life skills component. Increase children’s awareness regarding their rights and the issues surrounding child sexual abuse and exploitation
Protection g Ensure that there are comprehensive laws that cover all aspects of child sexual abuse and exploitation. g Ensure full enforcement of laws to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. g Ensure that children are not victimized by the legal system. g Protect children from being exposed to and be used in the production of pornographic material. g Ensure regional cooperation to combat trafficking.
Recovery and Reintegration g To promote and achieve the best possible recovery of child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. g To ensure that services provided to child victims and their families are comprehensive and of high quality, using non punitive approach and in keeping with the best interests of the child. g To build a national pool of health care providers who have the expertise to deal with all types of child abuse.
SPARC xxvii NPA
g To facilitate the full rehabilitation and reintegration of child victims into their families and communities.
Participation g Encourage appropriate participation. g Increase children’s awareness on their rights to participate and build their capacity. g Raise awareness of parents, teachers and other duty bearers regarding children’s rights g To participate in all matters affecting their lives. g Build capacity of relevant instructional structures and individuals to ensure children’s participation in matters related to their protection. g Build capacity of children to actively participate in all matters affecting their lives.
Monitoring and Coordination g Establish a multi-sectoral monitoring and coordination system at national, provincial and district level. g Ensure implementation and enhance the overall efficiency, coverage and impact of the activities and programs. g Enhance the effectiveness of efforts through strengthened coordination and cooperation.
NPA: Strategies g Policy and legal framework g Infrastructure expansion and upgradation g Human resource development g Focus on quality services g Community involvement and mobilization g Capacity building g Information collection and dissemination g Behavior change communication
A. Promote Healthy Lives Key Actions g Improve existing health services, particularly in rural areas by enhanced monitoring by MoH/ DoH and through the new district government to eliminate absenteeism in the rural health staff. g Provide new health facilities at union councils/ village level where the facilities are not available or situated at farther distances. g Encourage and coordinate NGOs for improvement of nutrition, vaccination, child growth and development, ante-natal and post-natal care and family planning. g Community involvement, upgrading knowledge and skills of family to optimize xxviii The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
available resources, encourage street/ mohalla health committees, train health volunteers and health workers with support from UNICEF/ WHO and NGOs. g Proper monitoring of Lady Health Workers (LHWs) under NP for FP and Primary Health Care (PHC). g Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) training in antenatal, postnatal care associated with incentives. g Health education promotion for nutrition, tetanus, vaccination, child spacing and family planning. g Improvement of quality care provided to pregnant women at MCH centers, BHUs, RHCs and hospitals through on job training and refresher courses for staff g Strengthening of referral system for mothers with complications detected by LHWs and other relevant staff g Screening of all pregnant and lactating women for anemia and malnutrition and iodine deficiency. g Improvement of natal care by involvement of community for maximum utilization of health facilities so that maximum deliveries are conducted by trained and skilled health personnel.
B. Combating HIV and AIDS
Key Actions g Promulgation of ordinance for mandatory screening of blood before transfusion (Ordinance Capital Territory Islamabad has already been issued). g Production and distribution of health education material. g Establish 20 new surveillance centers in addition to already existing 25 surveillance centers. g Supply of diagnostic kits and laboratory consumables and equipment to all provinces, AJK, FANA and Federal centers. g Conducting training workshops on AIDS with coordination of NGOs. g Supply of diagnostic kits and laboratory consumables/ equipment to all centers g NGOs support for patients living with AIDS in identification and surveillance. g Awareness raising campaign through media etc.
C. Providing Quality Education
Key Actions g EFA and NFE centers may also enroll pre-school children. g Number of early childhood education centers in government schools should be increased. g Curriculum for preschool children should be publicized for facilitation of domestic early childhood classes, NGOs, and CBOs. g Community basic education schools may also be established in rural areas.
SPARC xxix NPA
g Left out and drop out children to be brought back in mainstream of primary education through combined efforts of the NGOs, CBOs, community and health committees particularly in rural areas. g Private sector to make up for the gaps of government primary schools and establish easily accessible Primary Education Schools/ centers. g Education committees and school, parents- teachers working relationship should be established. g New classrooms and schools to be constructed on the basis of objective and demographic criteria. Preference to be given to female schools. g National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and EFA wing may coordinate for inclusion of Katchi Class in primary level in all government schools. g Education committees, community, NGOs and CBOs in collaboration with education department should point out the parents who do not send their children for primary education. g Refresher courses for teachers to be arranged to eliminate absenteeism and teachers to improve their attitude towards children. g Special focus on female education through integration of government, donors and international agencies resources for female education to eliminate gender disparity g Adopt suitable measures for gender equality by increasing number of education institutions and availability of required number of female teachers. g All provinces to provide free education to girls up to secondary level. g Support and develop establishment of village education / school management and make them legal entities. g Expand Education For All (EFA) and non-formal education campaigns concentrating on girls and bringing them into the mainstream of formal education system. g Sanctioned strength of teachers in primary and upgraded middle schools to be increased. g Services of Pesh Imams (clerics) will be utilized for each mosque Maktab Schools. New Pesh Imams to be appointed in new mosque Maktabs. g In order to improve the monitoring and supervision of the schools, additional supervisors/ learning coordinators, will be appointed. g Private sector to be encouraged to invest in education. g NGOs, CBOs, community and education committees to play their roles in attainment of quality education and improvement of school environment. g Revise regulations and service rules for teachers and create stronger and transparent personnel management mechanism. Enforce attendance and leave regulations with strict action against absentees. g Highly interactive (participatory), learner centered teaching and training materials to be produced. Training methods will be improved and improvised. g District Government (District Literacy Cell) will develop curricula and contents for the training of teachers. g Training of key persons, master trainers will be conducted at national and provincial level while the teachers will be trained at district and tehsil level. xxx The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 g Selection of sites in villages without primary school will be done with cooperation, coordination and efforts of the district education officers, district government through union councils, NGOs and CBOs. g Selection of sites in villages without primary school will be done with cooperation, coordination and efforts of the district education officers, district government through union councils, NGOs and CBOs.
D. Protection
Key Actions g Establishment of special rehabilitation centers for orphans and special children of armed conflict. g Provision of proper health care and formal vocational education training. g Rehabilitation. g Harmonization and synergies among government run programs and donor run programs on child labor. g Mass campaign that includes seminars, symposiums, and workshops on child labor issues involving district governments, contractors and employers. g Develop non-formal education facilities for children involved in child labor on a large scale and make arrangements for their mainstreaming in the formal education system. g Implement Occupational Safety and Health Standards in all industries. g Review existing child labor policies and revise them in consultation with the civil society. g Activate Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) on the issues of child labor on district level. g Promote research at university level on child labor issues. g Involve university students in non-formal education of children. g Provision of recreational, educational and health facilities for child laborers in all industrial sectors. g Enhanced wage rate and reduced working hours for children. g Consultations with NGOs and community to develop a mutually identified child labor monitoring system at the district level. g Micro credit financing for the families of child laborers through social safety networks. g Surveys on child labor g Engage print and electronic media to continuously project issues of child labor on media. g The establishment and operation of core groups/ networks in targeted districts to conduct advocacy activities to combat child trafficking at district level. g Constitute a committee on child trafficking at national level that includes members from government, public and private sector.
SPARC xxxi NPA
g Revise national laws and policies in consultation with the NGOs, academia, and civil society. g Government to undertake legal and other measures to ensure the implementation of SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution. g Improve birth registration and other related systems, (ID cards and passports). g Training and sensitization of FIA officials and border forces on trafficking issues. g Establish rehabilitation centers in coordination with District Governments, NGOs and CBOs for the victims of trafficking and ensure their education and welfare. g Check and break trafficking networks. g Improve the role and transparency of Zakat and Bait-ul-Mal committees to address the problems of deserving families. g Publicity of the consequences of perpetration of violence against any victim and facilities and services available to the victim. g Organizing the society to keep watch on the perpetrators. g Develop effective strategy for the protection of children from all forms of abuse, exploitation and violence.
g Capacity Development of the Law enforcing agencies to timely check the violence and take effective steps against the perpetrators. g Awareness raising and educating the masses on the harmful effects of early marriages. g Preparation of uniform rules and regulation for orphanages and child care institutions. g Support packages for development of social services for improving the standard of living of disadvantaged and poor children.
Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism
1. Child Protection Management Information System 2. Quarterly progress Reports 3. Annual Reviews 4. Third Party Validation 5. National Surveys like Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS) 6. Ministerial Committee
xxxii The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 Nepal 12395 3639 56 74 540 90 35 63/35 Sri Lanka 6054 1628 12 14 43 79 91 92/89 Afghanistan 15849 5535 165 257 1600 39 34 43/13 Bangladesh 59402 17399 54 73 320 74 39 - India 420678 120011 56 74 540 86 33 73/48 Pakistan 71800 21115 79 99 530 91 59 63/36 Profile of South Asia Profile Population under 18, Population (thousands) 2005 under 05 Population (thousands) 2005 Infant mortality rate (per 1, 000 live births) 2005 Under five mortality rate (per 1, 000 live births) 2005 Maternal mortality ratio (per 1, 000) 1990-2005 reported % of population using improved drinking water sources (2004) total % of population with access to sanitation (2004) total Adult Literacy rate male/female (2000-2004*)
SPARC xxxiii Profile of South Asia 83/73 61 24 270 5 17 10 99/98 - 6 1160 6 10 18 - 92 - 250 - - - 92/95 65 36 470 7 18 10 92/87 79 35 720 2 2 13 76/56 70 17 690 1 2 20 Health Education Defence Primary school enrolment ratio (net) male/female (2000-2005) % of primary school entrants reaching grade 5 (2000-2004) % of population below $1 a day (1994-2004) GNI per capita US$ (2005) % of central government expenditure allocated to: (1994-2004) Source: UNICEF, The State of World’s Children 2007 Source: UNICEF, xxxiv Chapter 1
HEALTH
The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Fatal Neglect By Asiya Arif Khan
ealth was once believed to be a misplaced priority in terms of developing countries in South Asia. Now, times have witnessed change and situation has Hstarted reversing. The induction of United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also proved to be a catalyst in streamlining health priorities in this region. Three out of the eight MDGs are directly related to health sector, which include: reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; and combating HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), Malaria and other diseases.1 Access to safe drinking water and affordable essential life saving drugs are also a part.
Yet another crucial factor in addressing and bringing health priorities on the agenda is the pressure of the international health organizations combined with national NGOs. The common belief is that it is mostly the donor who acts as a ‘driving force’ in the process. But here again, it cannot be denied that the government and related health departments occupy top position in this pyramid. Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Khalife Mahmud Bille, water and sanitation, accidents, indoor and outdoor pollution, and chemical safety are four crucial areas impacting the health status of children.2
The WHO Constitution identifies “the enjoyment of highest attainable standard of health” as one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction.3 Promises made in declarations, conventions, ordinances and goals cannot be met unless the political will of the government is part of it and if the priorities are set right. Health structure in Pakistan has been through a lot of changes and restructuring in previous years, but more fruitful results are yet to be seen and much needs to be done before any positive results are achieved. The Constitution of Pakistan guarantees basic human rights to all citizens, which include equitable access to health and social services. Though the government recognizes and acknowledges access to essential health as a basic human right, as a part of the Constitution and international charters, still the outcome is hardly satisfactory owing to mismanagements in health sector.
Regardless of the important role of health in socio-economic development of the people and the progress so far made in this regard, Pakistan is still lagging behind in its human welfare indicators as compared with the other regional countries .4
1 Economic Survey of Pakistan 2005-06, p 1 2 Dawn, September 22, 2006 3 Ibid 4 Ibid
SPARC Health
According to statistics, Pakistan ranks 134 in Human Development Index, whereas previously it was 135 according to the UNDP data pertaining to 2004.5 The under five-mortality rate is higher than in Bangladesh, Nepal and India.
Health--- at a Glance Population ……………………. <160 million Under five Mortality ………….103/1,000 Infant Mortality Rate ………… 80/1,000 Immunization at 12 months of age against TB……………….. 78 percent Immunization at six months of age against six preventable diseases ………………………………………….. 53 percent Blindness in general population ……………………….. 2 percent Home deliveries ……...... 80 percent by Traditional Birth Attendants Maternal Mortality Rate……. 340-500/ 1, 00,000 Non functional BHU, RHC, THQ…………..2,400 GDP on Health Government Sector…………………………. 0.6 percent Private Sector ……………………………….. 1.7 percent
Source: Annual Health Report 2007, Pakistan Medical Association
Each year, with a little variation, major health concerns almost remain the same. During this year too, Polio, Malnutrition, Measles, Malaria, HIV and AIDS and Hepatitis remained major challenges for the country in context of child health. Especially expectations for complete eradication of Polio could not be met owing to internal and external factors.
The poor conditions in our health sector can be attributed to a number of factors like poverty, malnutrition, urban and rural health disparities, inadequate provision of health facilities, high population growth and infant mortality. In this part of the region, child health is still a highly debatable topic with undesirable health indicators showing progress at snail’s pace. Hence, achieving MDG’s by 2015 can be seen as a distant dream, though not impossible to achieve provided enough effort is put into the process.
This chapter will deal with the current health indicators in Pakistan. Effort has been made to record important proposed acts and enforced laws. Moreover, an overview of key health issues and constraints affecting children’s health in Pakistan has been given.
5 UNICEF Newsletter, December 2006
Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Health Indicators In health indicators, under five mortality rate is critical in measuring the well being of children. It is the probability of dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births. Pakistan has an Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) of 99 per 1,000 live births.6
Pakistan is far from reaching its Millennium Development Goals in achieving low maternal mortality and low infant mortality, according to Ronald Van Djick of UNICEF. Here, infant mortality is the highest among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. Children born with low birth weight exceed 19 percent. 38 percent of under-fives are victims of malnutrition. Furthermore, 13 percent face wasting i.e. severely underweight. In terms of immunization, government has funded 61 percent of routine Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) vaccines.7
In case of HIV and AIDS, data on mother to child transmission is not available. Similarly, statistics on estimated number of children (0-14) living with HIV are also missing. This may be attributed to under reporting or no reporting at all. Other possible reasons include very late diagnosis, no diagnosis at all, societal taboos and stigma. However, under reporting or no reporting should be a cause for concern for National AIDS Control Program (NACP). Unofficial sources report of children at high risk across the country.
UNICEF Analysis of Underweight Prevalence amongst Children Under Five in Developing Countries
South Asia CEE/CIS Latin America & Carrabean Middle East & North America Eastern & Southern Africa West & Central Africa East Asia & Pacific
Source: United Nation’s Children Fund, Progress for children: A report card on nutrition, Number 4
6 UNICEF, The State of World’s Children 2007, New York, p 2 7 Ibid
SPARC Health
Budget & Resources Despite the massive health burden on the country, high budgetary allocation was kept at a low priority. However, in 2006, a change in trend was seen with more than 30 percent increase in the budget allocation for health sector was announced. The health budget allocated during 2004-05 was Rs. 38 billion. For 2005-06, it was slightly increased to Rs. 40 billion. For 2006-07, the budget put aside for health is Rs.52 billion.8
Budgetary increase in health is a positive and a welcome sign, but ensuring transparency in disbursement of funds to provinces is yet another challenge to ensure progress in the right direction. Bureaucratic hurdles are another factor in thwarting the disbursement of funds. While under utilization of funds also pushes the process backwards. It was in this year that women accessibility to skilled birth attendants improved. But, not more than 35 percent of pregnant women were attended to and their babies delivered by skilled birth attendants - a situation, which if, persists will leave little hope to contain maternal mortality and infant mortality rates in the coming years.
As for availability and expansion of resources pertaining to health, especially mother child health, healthcare facilities have multiplied in number compared to previous years. According to figures released by the government, these health care facilities include 946 hospitals, 4,554 dispensaries, 5,290 Basic Health Units and sub health centers, 907 Mother and Child Health Centers, 552 Rural Health Centers and 289 Tuberculosis (TB) Centers primarily run by provincial governments. A large number of Lady Health Workers have been recruited to assist expecting mothers in rural or far-flung areas.9 For the uplift of ‘nursing’ profession, incentives have been offered for ensuring efficiency among paramedical staff. Charge nurses are upgraded from BPS 14 to 16 and Head Nurses from BPS 16 to 17, with new jobs created in the nursing sector.10
However, the ground reality remains grave. In a number of basic health units, doctors fail to show up, adding more to the agony of patients. On the other hand, doctors complain of inadequate facilities. It is highly desirable to devise ways to attract doctors to health units.
As for donor funding, the United Kingdom announced 90 million pounds (Rs 10 billion approximately) to help address pregnancy related complications in Pakistan. According to the British Minister for International Development, “A woman in Pakistan is 120 times more likely to die a maternal death than in Britain”. It is estimated that between 2006 and 2011, this national program will save lives of at least 30,000
8 Ministry of Health advertisement, August 13, 2006 9 Economic Survey of Pakistan 2005-2006 10 http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2007-weekly/health-09-01-2007/index.html
Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 women and 100,000 babies preventing serious ill health and disability among 3.5 million women. These improvements will aid 10 million families.11
Moreover, since maternal and newborn health are closely related, Pakistan will seek a substantial support of US $37 million from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) to implement ambitious plans envisaging complete immunization coverage for five million newborn babies every year and six million pregnant mothers. The Routine Immunization (RI) program in Pakistan provides free immunization against seven deadly and debilitating diseases among children. RI reaches around 80 percent of the target population and protects the mother and child from these diseases with special focus on tetanus, a disease newborns contract during the process of birth, causing death among children who have not been immunized.12
More than 30% Increase in the Budget Allocation for Health Sector
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
Source: Ministry of Health, 2006
Legislations and Proposed Acts In terms of government efforts, the year saw some positive efforts taken to boost an otherwise underrated health system. The HIV and AIDS Prevention, Care and Treatment Act 2006 is under process and National Plan for Prevention and Control of Blindness has been launched.
Proposed Act on HIV and AIDS The proposed Act on HIV and AIDS Prevention, Care and Treatment Act 2006 which is in process of being drafted, deals with HIV exposure and possible combat
11 Dawn, October 6, 2006 12 The News, September 18, 2006
SPARC Health strategy in overcoming ‘dragons’ and constraints in a traditional society like Pakistan. SPARC’s Board member Mr Anees Jillani is on the committee appointed to prepare the proposed law.
Salient features include ‘implementation and monitoring’ by National and Provincial AIDS Authorities. The clauses of the proposed Act include powers and functions of authorities, right of redress, public enforcement and license and permit or suspension of authority. It also provides for protection against discrimination of people living with HIV. This includes non-discrimination in private and public health facilities, education, workplaces, accommodation and in regard to medical services. Behavior change communication and advocacy of HIV and AIDS prevention measures is another feature. The Act calls for reduction of ‘risk’ of HIV exposure among members of vulnerable groups. Women are more vulnerable and are at high risk of contracting HIV from husbands who are suffering from AIDS. HIV positive pregnant women further pass the disease to their newborns. Minors, prisoners and intra-authority task force- linking law enforcement and public health are among high risk groups.
Reduction of risk for occupational HIV exposure is another aspect that includes; safe working environment, provision of universal precautions, post exposure prophylaxis, provision of HIV related treatment and compensation and compliance with protocols. Promoting safe blood supplies, voluntary counseling and testing, care, support and treatment are also a part of the Act. Reduction of stigma and provision of quality treatment is assured in the proposed Act.
The Act calls upon the federal and provincial governments for scaling up preparations for treatment of HIV infection among the general public. Requirement of confidentiality and provision of legal services are other propositions.
National Plan for Prevention and Control of Blindness 2006 According to Mike Whitlam, the CEO of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, “In the poorest parts of the world children are not only affected by their own blindness, but also by the blindness of their carers; it is not an uncommon sight to see a young child leading family members and friends who are blind. What most people don’t realize is that treatments to prevent and cure blindness are among the most successful and cost-effective of all health interventions.”13
In this context, ending avoidable blindness in Pakistan took a major step forward in 2006 with the launch of the National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Blindness. The aim is to see how over the next five years, blindness will be prevented in over two million people, sight restored to two million others and useful sight restored to 15,000 children.14
13 http://www.v2020.org/gallery. 14 Dawn, June 25, 2006
Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
According to officials, the government has made blindness a key health priority and committed 2.7 billion Rupees (£3.3 million) over five years. The collaborators include Sightsavers. Sightsavers has been working in Pakistan since 1985 with the objective of developing eye care for the poorest people in both urban and rural areas, providing preventive services as well as a full range of treatments. Sightsavers work in Pakistan is based on its partnerships with the government and the national NGOs.15
According to unofficial figures, approximately 45 percent of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 16 and it is estimated that there are 52,000 children who are blind or severely visually impaired. However, the ministry had conducted a survey on blindness and low vision during 2002-04, which revealed that despite increase in population, the prevalence of blindness had come down from 1.78 percent to one percent. Pakistan is now at number 10 in the Eastern Mediterranean region in this regard. The national survey on Blindness and Low Vision was commissioned to determine the prevalence, magnitude and causes of blindness in the country in order to prepare an evidence-based national eye care plan. Earlier, the ministry had constituted a committee to prepare a National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Blindness (2005-10) based on the results of the survey and to achieve the MDGs towards poverty alleviation. The plan was examined by the ministry and was subsequently approved by the Planning Commission and Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
According to the Federal Health Minister of Pakistan about two-third of the 1.5 million blind people in the country is women. He said Punjab had 0.9 million blind people followed by 0.3 million in Sindh, 0.18 million in Balochistan and 0.005 million in the NWFP. The main causes of blindness were cataract, 53 percent; scarring of cornea, 14 percent; glaucoma, seven percent; refractive errors, three percent, and muscular degeneration two percent.
Through its actions, the Pakistan government has recognized the importance of the prevention and control of blindness as a way of alleviating poverty and meeting the MDGs. The Overseas Program Director, Sightsavers appreciated government of Pakistan’s action to support the prevention and control of blindness which should serve as a shining example for other governments of developing countries in fulfilling national and international commitments.”
According to the plan, 63 district eye units and 147 Tehsil eye units would be upgraded and strengthened, refraction and low vision services in 63 district eye units would be established, besides upgrading 20 tertiary teaching eye departments and developing seven centers of excellence.
15 www.sightsavers.org/pakistan
SPARC Health
The plan also envisages training of 50,000 primary health care workers, 100 community ophthalmologists and over 600 middle level eye care personnel, development of capacity in research at seven centers of excellence and a framework for delivery of vision 2020 up to the district and Tehsil levels.
In poverty stricken society, blindness and severe visual impairment can seriously hamper growth of individuals and whole families. Timely cure of preventable blindness can relieve these families from tedious clinical trials. Prevention of avoidable visual impairment leads to substantial long-term savings in health-care and social expenditures. This plan is a great achievement, but there is still a great deal to do in a country where the numbers of people who are blind are still over a million, the vast majority of eye ailments could easily be prevented or cured.
Source: Sightsavers: Three children from Pakistan after their cataract operations
10 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
...To See or Not to See “When I told my mother that I cannot see the blackboard in my classroom she scolded me and said that I was lying.” During a visit, this was overheard at Al- Ibrahim Eye Hospital in Malir, Karachi. A little boy was telling this to the doctor who was busy checking out his eyes. My visit to this eye hospital proved to be an ‘eye-opener’. It drew my attention to the stark reality regarding blindness in kids. It’s apparently quite an epidemic - but preventable. The effect of blindness on children can be significant. Naturally if their blindness is not identified and treated, it inevitably affects their opportunities for schooling, employment, social life and marriage, and potentially could leave them dependent for their entire lives. Establishing the numbers of children who are blind and visually impaired is difficult, but a range of methods are available to provide a good estimate of the problem. Recent studies in Pakistan indicate that around 45,000 children are blind, of whom 9,000 have bilateral cataract and therefore need surgery. A further 1,000 children become blind through cataract every year. There are an estimated 28,000 and 18,000 children with blindness in Punjab and Sindh provinces respectively. Interestingly enough, this number is just an ’estimation’. The actual numbers may exceed given the fact that there is a great deal of under-reporting or no reporting at all in Pakistan. There is an added level of urgency when dealing with a child who has cataract, particularly those who are blind from birth. If children are not treated at the earliest opportunity, there comes a time when, even if surgery is provided, the brain can no longer learn to see. It is therefore essential to refer children to the pediatric unit as soon as possible. Around 2.5 million children in Pakistan suffer from significant refractive error, while about 300,000 have low vision. For some, their visual impairment is so severe that they are unable to do very much without assistance. Without glasses, many children miss out on the social interaction and schooling that is obviously vital for their development. Refractive errors like these are easily corrected with spectacles, while low vision can be treated with simple low vision devices in a large number of children. The government must take action regarding the fact that this service is not readily available, and is not affordable to many poor families. The services that exist in Pakistan at the moment are able to deal with only part of the problem and every year thousands of children remain needlessly visually impaired. Additional services are needed to ensure that all children have access to the services they need to enable them to see. Source: Fatima Zehra, The News, December 19, 2006
Gateway Paper of Pakistan’s Health Policy Forum17 The Gateway of Pakistan’s Health Policy Forum (PHPF)- the first health sector think tank of the country was released in January 2006. According to Dr Sania Nishtar
17 The News, January 10, 2006
SPARC 11 Health of PHPF, the Gateway Paper entitled “Health Systems in Pakistan- a Way Forward’ has been termed as a unique effort for initiating a dialogue on reformation of health systems in the country.
The Gateway Paper makes a strong case for strengthening the stewardship and regulatory role of the State in health service delivery. Well-researched publication aims at putting together the complex pieces of the jigsaw that make up the health systems of Pakistan. Members of the Health Policy Forum include all categories of health professionals and service providers at individual and institutional level, NGOs and many more.
Consultations for PRSP-II Consultations on health were underway in connection with the formulation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP II). The PRSP was expected to be launched by September 2006. However, the PRSP II did not appear till the end of 2006. During consultations, strict monitoring of health projects was stressed along with more coordination between federal and provincial governments. It was stressed that proper interventions in health sector should be inculcated and provision of standard quality maternal health and nutritive services along with a network of laboratories in the country. It was pointed out that all expected expenditures were provided in PRSP-I but the output was very low.18
Finalization of Child, Mother Care Project The maternal-child health is a determining factor in measuring health progress of a country. Studies have shown that in rural settlements women and children are the main victims of poor health infrastructure. Non-availability of doctors and para- medical staff, and inadequate or spurious drugs further aggravate the situation. This serves as an open invitation to quacks, playing with precious lives. Every 20 minutes, a Pakistani woman dies due to complications of pregnancy. Over 60 percent of newborn deaths occur within this first week of life. The majority of these maternal and newborn deaths occur at home.19
An extensive strategy combined with effective implementation is a major requirement in helping mothers which will directly lower alarming rates of neonatal mortality and under five mortality.
Rs.27 billion project on Child, Mother Care was launched in 2006 to address high maternal and child mortality in Pakistan. The aim of the project is to help save precious lives of 25,000 mothers and 21,000 children per year. Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) program could help in catching up with the targets of 65 deaths per
18 The News July 26, 2006 19 http://www.paiman.org/pakistan
12 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
1000 live births for infant mortality and 200 deaths per 1000 deliveries for maternal mortality by the year 2011 if implemented in true spirit. This program would increase the number of community based skilled birth attendants, round the clock provision of emergency obstetric services as well as comprehensive family planning services.
Other ongoing health projects which started in 2004 include PAIMAN, (The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns) a five-year, USAID-funded project. The project, which is being implemented in Pakistan’s four provinces, focuses on building the capacity of public and private health care providers and improving the health care infrastructure at local and national levels. Effort is being made to develop a sustainable community based approach to provide timely care to mothers and newborns. It is expected that its efforts will reach 12.2 million people in ten districts.20 Eight NGOs get Grants for Health Projects USAID through PAIMAN project has provided grants to eight NGOs to help rural communities in health services needed by mothers and their babies, including emergency transportation. The eight NGOs will work with religious leaders, birth attendants, volunteers and health workers to alert families to the common emergencies during pregnancy. Through USAID, US has provided more than $1.5 billion to improve education, health, governance and economic growth. Source: Dawn, July 8, 2006
Mother Child Health Concerns Steps initiated and enforced by provincial governments are important in measuring rate of success of health related targets. No matter how vigorous efforts are made to pass a proposed act at federal level, the net outcome can be devastating if the provincial governments lack political will, in addition to other factors that slow the pace of implementation.
As reported in a leading newspaper, with some advancement in Punjab, progress rate in other provinces is relatively slow in meeting MDGs. Rather in some cases it is disappointing. Maternal mortality ratio currently stands at 350-400 per 100,000 births against an MDG target of 140 per 100,000 deliveries by the end of 2015.
The main causes of maternal mortality are hemorrhage, infection, eclampsia, and obstructed labor. In addition to delay in seeking professional care, logistics problem especially for women in far-flung areas, lack of human resources and trained personnel at health centers. The proportion of deliveries attended by skilled personnel has improved from 40 percent in 2001 to 48 percent in 2004, indicating a rise of eight percent points over the period. The quality, access and availability of basic and comprehensive obstetrical services and their utilization are low.
20 Dawn- The Review, January 25, 2007
SPARC 13 Health
Major Causes of Death among Children Under 5 Years of Age and Neonates in the World, 2000-2003
Undernutrition is an underlying cause of 53% of deaths among children under five years of age.
Source: WHO , South Asia: Under-five deaths by cause, 2002 Some 30,000 women die each year due to complications of pregnancy, and 10 times more women develop life-long pregnancy related disabilities. About 25 percent of children are born with low birth weight due to maternal problems and ten percent of children do not reach their first birthday. There are marked differences between the health status of women and men in Pakistan. More girls than boys die between the ages of one and four; in fact the female mortality rate here is 12 percent higher than for male child. The high prevalence of communicable diseases and malnutrition is not only related to poor living conditions, but also to the lower social status of women and girls.21 Girls growing with low nutritious food cannot reproduce healthy infants either, with their own life at stake too.
In regard to meeting this goal, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) is still assessing the situation and it is feared that without making progress on MDGs, the province will not be able to win credit lines from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, two major contributors to the province annual development program.
According to Ministry of Health’s Deputy Director General, Dr. Fahim A. Malik, the ministry had initiated a program aimed at encouraging delivery through skilled attendant. The present rate of skilled persons attending deliveries is 20 percent against an MDG target of 90 percent.22
Infant and Child Mortality Despite improvement since the start of the decade (2001-10), progress during the last five years has slowed down in reducing infant and child mortality. This is attributed to increasing burden of poverty leading to improper care seeking behaviors, high cost of health care services, harmful practices owing
21 Dawn, October 15, 2006 22 Ibid
14 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Photograph by: Islamic Relief to ignorance and illiteracy. In poor families of Sindh, 25-30 percent babies are born underweight owing to poverty compared to only 10 percent in the non- poor families.
Neonatal Tetanus: A Major Killer One of the targets of Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) was to achieve elimination of neonatal tetanus nationally by 2005. However, situation is not encouraging and Pakistan is among the nine Asian countries that have failed to control neonatal tetanus; a major cause of infant mortality in the country.
In rural areas, factors such as delivery in unhygienic conditions, direct contact with soil or dirt, un-sterilized blades to cut the umbilical cord are among the many others to place the life of an already vulnerable child, at stake. Around 25,000 infants die of tetanus every year in Pakistan as per data available- though unofficial - whereas the total number of neonatal deaths due to tetanus is about 350,000 all over the world.23
Illiteracy and ignorance among women have been termed as the main reasons behind this phenomenon. Survey teams narrate horrendous stories of cutting of newborn’s umbilical cord by a sharp piece of rock in Balochistan. The role of untrained and unskilled workers in most cases of delivery is another major cause.
23 Ibid
SPARC 15 Health
As per recommendation of WHO, a three-dose course of Tetanus Toxoid vaccine provides protection against Tetanus and a maximum of five doses will protect women throughout their child bearing age. WHO has also reported increase in incidence of neonatal Tetanus in NWFP during 2005. Health department reported 33 cases of neonatal Tetanus against 53 reported by the WHO.24
Some Eye Openers g One child dies every minute from EPI disease, Diarrhea and Acute Respiratory Infection. g 400,000 infants die in the first year of life every year g 30,000 women die from pregnancy related causes g 80 percent of births take place at home, with no or unskilled birth attendants g 500,000 new Malaria cases every year g >25 percent Low Birth Weight (Protein deficiency) and 45 percent Anemia in children Source: Annual Health Report 2007, Pakistan Medical Association.
Under-five Mortality The under- five mortality rate target by 2015 is 45 per 1,000 births as compared to 65 per 1, 000 recorded in 2001. Moreover, the infant mortality rate at present stands at 70 deaths per 1,000 live births while the MDG target is 40 per 1,000.25 In rural far-flung areas of Sindh, not many children are fortunate enough to live past age of five. Same situation prevails in Balochistan. These children when brought for medical treatment are often suffering from more than one ailment making diagnosis further difficult.
In an effort to improve health status of children in NWFP, its Chief Minister has approved a proposal for the establishment of a Modern Institute for Child Related Diseases in Peshawar.26 The Peshawar government would establish a facility for the treatment of mother-child health diseases in the existing buildings in Peshawar. Establishment of this facility and provision of necessary funding for the same on an emergency basis is a welcome step.
Vaccination of Children The national Extended Program on Immunization currently targets seven vaccine preventable diseases i.e. Poliomyelitis, Tetanus, including Neonatal Tetanus (by targeting pregnant mothers), Diphtheria, Pertussis, Measles and childhood Tuberculosis and introduction of Hepatitis B immunization for under one year of age children. Without effective immunization, it is estimated that 100,000 deaths
24 Dawn, April 24, 2006 25 Ibid 26 The News , August 30, 2006
16 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 due to Measles, 70,000 cases of neonatal Tetanus and 20,000 paralytic cases of Poliomyelitis would occur in Pakistan each year. EPI is a priority element in the schedule of preventive health services.27
While analyzing situation of countrywide vaccination, the only data available pertains to measles and BCG vaccination during 2004. According to the data available to the ministry, health facilities for Sindh showed more vaccination per report followed by Punjab and NWFP, whereas Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir has reported less vaccination.28 During 2005, 5.6 million children of 0-11 months and 6.2 million pregnant women formed the target group of the government. It claims that during this period, 69 percent children of 0-11 months and 48 percent mothers were immunized. The EPI is being provided technical assistance by WHO, UNICEF, JICA, DFID and US AID through Technical Assistance Management Agency (TAMA).29
On the other hand, reports have shown that EPI in various districts came to a halt after running short or out of vaccines. Reports said that at almost every center, established for providing the vaccines to the newly-born, the people were told that there was no such vaccine available there. Health officials say that initially the WHO had been providing the vaccines, but now it has stopped and this has led to the shortage.30
For attaining desirable results of EPI and related campaigns, health facility centers, field workers and hospitals should not run short of vaccine. Advocacy for parental guidance can yet prove to be another determining factor for success of the whole process. Ambiguities or misconceptions need to be cleared away from minds of parents and families. Thus, social mobilization/ health education/ public awareness are key components of this program.
Measles and Expanded Program on Immunization Measles are yet another threat to the life and good health of the children. The WHO is concerned about an increase in the incidence of Measles and Tetanus among infants in NWFP. The WHO reported about 450 cases of Measles in 2005 in major hospitals alone while the number of cases reported by the provincial health department from the entire province was only 225, said an official of the WHO’s Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI).31
The constraints pointed out by the WHO were that most of the staff was concentrated in and around urban centers, while the basic health units in rural areas had no technicians, and the immunization coverage was not more than 60 percent and
27 Reviewed documents of Ministry of Health 2003-2005 28 National Feedback Report 2006, p 51 29 Ibid 30 Dawn, March 4, 2006 31 Dawn, April 24, 2006
SPARC 17 Health allegedly the claims of 80 percent coverage by the health department were false. Besides, transportation is required to reach children in remote areas. Reaching inaccessible areas in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region is a challenge, which had more than a dozen cases last year. In the affected area, a former union council member said more than 110 children were killed last winter and now fresh cases have taken the death toll to 112 but no medical facilities were available to deal with the emergencies.32
It is ironical that slow progress in vaccinating children for measles has resulted in loss of lives. In Sukkur alone, twelve children died of Measles and over 400 were reported to be suffering from outbreak of disease.33 In Ghalani at Mohmand Agency, five children died of Measles whereas hundreds of children were affected by the communicable disease.34
Vaccination against this contagious but preventable disease requires effective and transparent use of funding. Children in far off areas of the country are more vulnerable to this seemingly ‘preventable’ disease for delayed action in controlling epidemic results in putting these young lives at stake.
Health Concerns in 2006 Some health concerns on a rise during 2006 and directly affecting children health have been listed below. These call for attention both by parents and government as a child’s well being is directly subjected to quick and effective solutions to these impeding health problems.
Diarrhea and Withering Breastfeeding A curable disease like Diarrhea continues to claim hundreds of children’s lives every year. 41,000 children die every year in Pakistan due to Diarrhea, caused mainly by bottle-feeding and contaminated water.35
WHO and UNICEF in Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding clearly state, “Malnutrition has been responsible, directly or indirectly, for 60 percent of the 10.9 million deaths annually among children under five. Well under two-thirds of these deaths, which are often associated with inappropriate feeding practices, occur during the first year…” (Jones et al. Lancet 2003; 362:65-71).
32 Ibid 33 Dawn, April 22, 2006 34 Daily Times, April 28, 2006 35 www.irinnews.org
18 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Breastfeeding is the best protection mechanism against childhood diarrhea. Often babies develop diarrhea due to unsuitability of breast milk substitutes. On the other hand, mother’s milk stimulates infant’s immune system and improves response to vaccination. Although 96 percent of mothers start breastfeeding at the birth of their babies in Pakistan, only 56 percent continue to do so until the child is two years old. A study by an NGO Network Consumer Protection shows that only 16 percent of infants in Pakistan are exclusively breastfed up to the age of four months as compared to other South Asian nations; 46 percent in Bangladesh and 37 percent in India.36
There is documented evidence of increased risk of infant mortality in formula fed infants versus breast fed babies. The hazards of bottle use for infant feeding, especially in underprivileged communities, are also well known. In a study conducted by a hospital, 150 mothers with infants up to one year of age were included over a period of six months. Out of these, 102 mothers were found Photograph by:Islamic Relief using bottle for infant with or without breast-feeding. The tendency to use the bottle increased in relation to child’s increasing age. Only 17 percent of the infants under the age of three months were offered bottle, it was 69 percent between 4 to 6 months and it increased to 76 percent in infants from seven months to one year. The attributes associated with increased bottle use were mother’s older age, illiteracy and lack of awareness on the benefits of mother’s milk and market pressures.
It was concluded that bottle use is a public health issue among poor and illiterate mothers of developing countries. While, in Pakistan, laws are enacted against its propagation, we need community-based strategies to bring about a socio-cultural shift in the growing prevalence of bottle use found in the study.37
According to health rights activists, accurate knowledge, a supportive environment and confidence are major factors, which enable mothers to breast- feed successfully. Sensitizing health professionals is necessary. Except for medical reasons, a mother should not be advised to “provide” milk formulas and supplements. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, followed by introduction of suitable complementary feeding along with continued breastfeeding for two years is
36 Ibid 37 Ayub Medical College Abbottabad 2006; 18(1)
SPARC 19 Health essential for child’s health. This child right has also been prescribed in the Holy Quran. According to a gynecologist, “Generally, 96 percent of mothers who come to hospitals complaining they cannot breastfeed just need advice. But the inability of our health professionals to give proper information turns them towards artificial milk formulas.”38
Attractive advertisements are yet another invitation to parents to use formula milk. The NGO, Network for Consumer Protection also believes that enormous sums are invested by companies producing infant formula on incentives to pediatricians for promoting their products. On the other hand, the Protection of Breastfeeding Ordinance 2002 prohibits health care providers from indulging in any such activity.
“ No manufacturer or distributor shall offer, or make contributions of any kind, or pay to any extent for any reason whatsoever, or give any kind of benefit, to a health worker or his family, or any personnel employed, directly or indirectly, in a health care facility, or any member of the Board or a Provincial Committee, as the case may be, or the employees thereof”. (Chapter iii, 7(2))
However, the ordinance can only be useful if implemented properly. In Pakistan as well as in other countries in the region, initiation of immediate breastfeeding within one hour of birth is not followed. Rather, pre-lacteal feed like honey, ghutti (herbal mixture) is administered to newborns. This prevents a child from receiving necessary protective mechanism required soon after birth. He /she becomes vulnerable to diarrhea, and if not treated in time it could prove fatal for the child. Dehydration and loss of minerals from the body requires immediate treatment.
When a child is suffering from Diarrhea, immediate oral rehydration therapy becomes a necessity. Owing to its importance, National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) has trained nearly 3,000 mothers to prepare Oral Rehydration Solution ORS (Nimkol) in the homes in rural and remote regions of the country, in an attempt to reduce child mortality from Diarrhea. So far enroled 1.75 million children have benefited from NCHD health services. Trainings given to mothers especially in rural areas by field workers should be appreciated but need is to target more numbers, for lack of knowledge and less understanding of consequences of the disease is yet another hindrance.
In November 2004, with UNICEF’s support, Lactation Management Training (LMT) workshops were conducted to create a new team of ‘National Master Trainers’. They
38 Ibid
20 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 later conducted ten countrywide LMT workshops during 2004- 05.39 Need is to increase sphere of such activities and far-flung areas should be especially focused for saving newborns from a threat of an otherwise seemingly curable disease.
FDA warns Nestle on Nutrient Levels in Infant Formula The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Nestle South Asia that a sample testing revealed one of its infant formulas contained slightly less calcium and phosphorous than required by law. FDA testing of the sample found that levels of the two nutrients also fell short of those listed on the label of the company’s Good Start Infant Formula with Iron, 13 fluid ounces, according to the November 27 warning letter. The company performed its own tests on samples from the same batch of formula and found they contained the proper levels of all required nutrients, including the two flagged by the FDA, Nestle Nutrition said in a statement. Nestle is now working with FDA to understand the discrepancy in the test results, it added. (Nestle Nutrition is part of Switzerland’s Nestle SA).
Source: International Herald Tribune, December 12, 2006
Priority Health Problems40 According to data released by National Health Management Information System (HMIS), in National Feedback Report 2006, out of 66.1 million new cases (of all diseases) during 2004, 28.6 million new cases belonged to HMIS health priority problems. 8.2 million children under-5 years of age were recorded through government health facility against 18 priority health problems and 13.2 million children were recorded for all other diseases. Among children under 5, the cases of Acute Respiratory Infection were found to be the highest (28.8 percent). It was followed by Diarrhea (14.6 percent), Fever (7.4 percent) and Dysentery was recorded at (6.4 percent). Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) especially in areas devoid of medical facilities is a major life-risk health problem for already susceptible children.
Among the priority health problems, the high incidence of ARI giving rise to Pneumonia is alarming. It was found to be much higher in the province of Punjab, and Sindh, whereas it was low in Balochistan and AJK. Among the districts, the incidence of ARI was found higher in Zhob from Balochistan, Sargodha, Pakpattan, Sheikhupura, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Faisalabad and Multan in Punjab and Mirpurkhas and Ghotki in Sindh.
39 Reviewed documents of Ministry of Health 2003-2005 40 National Feedback Report 2006 p 22
SPARC 21 Health
Districts with High Incidence of ARI/10,000 New Cases District 2003 2004 Zhob 2,355 3,318 Sargodha 3,676 3,300 Mirpurkhas 3,193 3,229 Pakpattan 2,864 3,184 Ghotki 2,348 3,077 Sheikhupura 2,870 3,019 Gujrat 2,732 2,964 Hafizabad 2,937 2,888 Faisalabad 2,714 2,865 Multan 2,695 2,832
Source: National Feedback Report p 25
Implementation of Breastfeeding Law Vital A large number of infants in Pakistan suffer from malnutrition because the breast milk substitutes are marketed and promoted unchecked in the absence of any mechanism to regulate them as the only law in this context is still on paper with no defined implementation procedure. According to UNICEF, 38 percent of Pakistani children of up to 5 years of age are underweight while 12 percent of them are severely underweight. Under-5 mortality rate in Pakistan is also highest in South Asia, which according to UNICEF stood at 107 per 1000 live births in 2002. This dismal situation is critical not only from the point of view of children’s health but also from public health cost viewpoint as billions of rupees are additionally spent by the State and the people, which can be avoided by promoting breastfeeding practices. An ongoing nationwide survey by the Network for Consumer Protection reflects that the violation of International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes is common in the cities and even remote towns and villages where the powerful industry makes the health workers promote infant formula. Some of the diametrical traditionalistic persuasions, such as breastfeeding not efficacious for mothers’ health or breast milk does not serve all the nutrients for a baby, etc, have also proved an anchor for the industry to expand their influence on mothers and even the cow’s milk is the primal substitute for breast milk. It is worth mentioning here that it is a fact that the dilemma orchestrated by the industries’ glamorous advertisements that promises infants’ healthy state is a peril to breastfeeding. Source: Consumer Report 013/06, August 13, 2006
22 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Water Borne Diseases The goal of achieving low child mortality appears elusive in the country. It is unlikely to see a brisk improvement especially as the problem is linked to another Millennium target on which there has been slow progress- halving the number of people without access to proper sanitation and portable water.
Water borne diseases are still a major cause of high morbidity rate and countrywide newspapers report of the increasing death toll. Water borne diseases include Cholera, Hepatitis A and Gastroenteritis. The shortage of clean drinking water in many districts led to 14-16 percent increase in diarrhea cases among children under five years of age. Economic Survey of Pakistan 2005-2006 has quoted these figures from the Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey conducted last year.41
According to the survey, Diarrhea cases among under five in Sindh rose 11-18 percent. This increase is particularly notable in rural Sindh, where there was a 9-19 percent increase. This is a cause for concern as shortage of clean water is responsible for this widespread and deadly ailment.
In Multan, 123 children suffering from Diarrhea were hospitalized during a span of one week and 47 children in serious condition were admitted to intensive care unit.42 The doctors advised people to consume boiled water only and urged the water authorities in the city to supply chlorinated water to minimize occurrence of Gastroenteritis. In another report, contaminated water menace remained a great risk for population in Sialkot. For rural suburbs, one can well imagine the situation, when Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) has failed to overcome the peril of water borne diseases in urban union councils. The water is supplied through rusted and broken pipelines giving rise to deadly consequences for the unsuspecting children and parents.43
Another cause for water borne diseases can be attributed to unmet drinking water target. Government is unlikely to meet an ambitious target set under multi billion ‘Clean Drinking Water for All’ project to provide water purification plants at the union council levels by the end of 2007. Prime Minister has expressed dissatisfaction over slow progress and now Ministry of Industries and Production will take control of the project. Plans are underway to extend the safe drinking water project to the village level by introducing low cost water purification methodologies. The government aims to provide access to clean drinking water to 93 percent of the population by 2015.44
41 Daily Times, June 5, 2006 42 The News, July 25, 2006 43 Dawn, November 27, 2006 44 Dawn, October 19, 2006
SPARC 23 Health
At village level, awareness campaigns for parents related to use of boiled water can be an effective tool. In these areas, preventive measures against water borne diseases are vital as a large part of country’s population resides here. As for clean drinking water for all target, the crux lies in addressing need to overcome main faults behind unhygienic water supplied by concerned departments or else, the cases and casualties will keep on mounting year after year.
Dirty Water Kills 5,000 Children a day in Developing Countries: UN Nearly two million children a year die of want of clean water and proper sanitation while the world’s poor often pay for their water than people in Britain and U.S. The United Nations Development Program, in its Annual Human Development Report argues that 1.1 billion people do not have safe water and 2.6 billion suffer from inadequate sewerage. This is not because of water scarcity but poverty, inequality and governmental failure. The report urges governments to guarantee that each person has at least 20 liters of clean water a day, regardless of wealth, location, gender or ethnicity. In contrast, the average Briton uses 150 liters a day while Americans are the world’s most profligate, using 600 liters a day. “Water, the stuff for life and a basic human right, is at the heart of daily crisis faced by countless millions of world’s most vulnerable people,” says the report’s lead author, Kevin Watkins. Hilary Benn, international development secretary said: ‘in many developing countries, water companies supply the rich with subsidized water but often don’t reach poor people at all. With around 5,000 children dying every day because they drink dirty water, we must do more.” Many countries spend less than one percent of national income on water. Source: The News: November 11, 200
Thalassaemia Thalassaemia is an inherited, serious and incurable blood disorder that begins in early childhood. Caused by inter family marriages, children with Thalassaemia major do not make enough hemoglobin in the blood and require frequent blood transfusions and medical treatment throughout their lives.45
Being a genetic disorder, it is not only dangerous from medical point of view but it also gives rise to social and economic problems. The treatment of the disease is very expensive and requires a hefty sum of Rs 10,000 monthly and Rs 120,000 annually.
According to Fatimid Foundation, at least five to seven percent of the people (eight to eleven million) suffer from Thalassaemia but all do not require blood transfusion,
45 Dawn May 10, 2006 46 Ibid
24 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 while at least 60,000 children suffer from the disease in the country.46 In Lahore alone, almost 10,000 children are suffering from severe blood disorders. In Pakistan, inter family marriages are common and wide spread, and because of a lack of awareness and illiteracy, not enough knowledge is available to people to understand the serious consequences of genetically transmitted diseases such as Thalassaemia which cause deadly medical problems for the children.
The disease has not yet been identified as curable, however, different options are said to be available including bone- marrow transplant and the ongoing research on stem cell implantation. These are currently available at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad but more such facilities are required at other major hospitals run by federal Source: Health Net International and provincial governments. However, the process requires huge sums and philanthropy for this cause is also required to support families.
Multan and other parts of Southern Punjab have a large number of cases of thalassaemia. Here the number of carriers is increasing due to lack of proper treatment facility in public sector hospitals and awareness about the disease. According to the doctors, two to three patients are registered daily but due to a shortage of separate blood bank for children and lack of blood transfusion equipment it is difficult to provide medical assistance to these children.
May 8 has been declared the World Thalassaemia Day. However, the government, nor the Pakistan Medical Association or any NGOs took any steps or measures in this highly vulnerable area to raise awareness about the disease. This depicts a sorry state of health concern about the disease in the country.47
Thalassaemia Bill in Sindh The Sindh Health Department, in close coordination with provincial law department, is currently in the process of preparing a Thalassaemia Eradication Bill to be soon presented before the Sindh Assembly.48
47 Dawn, May 10, 2006 48 Dawn, June 16, 2006
SPARC 25 Health
According to the health minister, the bill would be aimed at ensuring necessary support to those already inflicted by the genetic blood disorder and to arrest the growing number of Thalassaemia cases in the country. Once, it gets approval, necessary budgetary allocations will be made for the establishment of a Thalassaemia Care Center and special blood transfusion units will be set up at all major government facilities across the province.
Leukemia is another incurable blood disorder. Fifty percent of all cancers diagnosed among children are that of leukemia. According to the Consultant Pediatric Oncology Unit, National Institute of Child Health (NICH), 70 percent of cancers in children are curable, if diagnosed timely. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, almost 43 percent of the children inflicted with cancer expire due to delayed diagnosis or inability to approach medical centers where proper treatment facilities are available. Over 150 patients are presently on active treatment and there are about 35 out-patients daily and daycare admissions of 15 to 20 children. Often children have to be admitted in general pediatric ward due to shortage of beds.49
Inter-family Marriages Cause Birth Defects Inter-family marriages and an unhealthy diet are two reasons why mothers are likely to give birth to impaired children, cautioned Dr Rizwan Naeem of the Texas Children’s Hospital while announcing that the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) will inaugurate the country’s first-ever pre-natal testing laboratory. The Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA) will launch the prenatal technology called FISH (Fluorescent in Situ Hybridization) which will help diagnose abnormalities or defects in unborn babies so the mother’s life can be saved. FISH is a relatively new technology utilizing fluorescently labeled DNA probes to detect or confirm gene or chromosome abnormalities. Inter-family relations always end up making the genes weak which is why the cell formation of the child remains underdeveloped. Specialists should take preventive measures during birth cases. With FISH, of which screening is an important factor, mothers and families will be able to prevent disorderly births. They will have the option to abort the pregnancy or if they go ahead with their plans, they can prepare themselves for their child’s needs and wants in advance. This technology is a new step where prenatal diagnosis is still a far cry. Source; Daily Times, December 28, 2006
Polio Polio remained a major concern in 2006 although the government received huge amount of funds from international donor agencies. According to the health department officials, in 2005, 28 Polio cases were reported across the country
49 Dawn, June 16, 2006
26 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 whereas in 2006, it ended up at 39. 15 cases were reported in NWFP. This was a 30 percent increase from 2005. Despite using all available resources to achieve the goal of a Polio-free Pakistan, the number of Polio cases has climbed and despite launching seven campaigns in the country and administering anti-Polio drops to more than 32 million children, Pakistan is still ranked third among the Polio affected countries in the world.50
More than 75,000 teams were constituted, comprising 1.5 million workers, for each anti-Polio campaign. According to official reports, no Polio case has been reported in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the federal capital since the disease has come to light. The Punjab was also almost Polio free, except for two reported cases, one from Muzaffargarh and another from Multan.51
Health officials blamed and showed concern that insecurity on the Afghan border was the main reason for the increase in Polio cases in the country, as unchecked cross-border movement affected the immunization drive. This is a major set back for the entire campaign and the goal of the government of a Polio-free Pakistan. Some cases reported in Peshawar included children who are often not vaccinated in Afghanistan and in the process of movement in and out of Pakistan, they miss anti-Polio drops.52
Only Polio-Free Children to Get Saudi Visa The Saudi Arabian government has reportedly banned the travel of Polio- stricken children from Sindh under the age of 15, a media report said on April 27. The Arab government has also apparently made it mandatory for children of this age group to present Polio-free certificate while applying for a visa. The authorities would check this certificate once the child lands in Riyadh. Saudi Arabian Consul General said if the new rules were not followed, the child would not be issued a visa. He asked the Sindh Health Secretary to inform people of the change in guidelines. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No. 47, June 2006
Among some other constraints, the year also saw and heard increased rumors regarding ‘sterility’ caused by Polio vaccine. The people, especially in the NWFP believe that Polio drops are a secret form of birth control. Concerned government departments and donor organizations made a collective effort to remove these suspicions. UNICEF issued a clarification that ‘no anti-fertility agent, including estrogen and progesterone is added at any step of the manufacturing process of the vaccine and no such agent is present in the final product”.53
50 Dawn, January 6, 2007 51 Ibid 52 Ibid 53 The News, September 8, 2006
SPARC 27 Health
Reports from the NWFP have shown fathers unwilling to get children vaccinated against Polio. One case showed two-year-old child not being allowed to get vaccinated with his father vowing to ‘protect’ his yet to be born child, from Polio drops. Clerics play a very important role in changing the mindset of the people in Pakistan. Hence, they can act as agents of change. Unfortunately, in NWFP, local clerics have also advised people not to administer Polio drops to their children. They have termed it a ‘western effort to reduce Muslim population by birth control’. This proves to be a major obstacle and sidelines all efforts made for the cause.
Resistance to Polio Drops on the Rise in NWFP Two women slip into the Polio vaccination center at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, with a baby hidden in a shawl. The women are scared and seem desperate to leave as soon as possible. “My husband doesn’t know we are here. He does not want his children immunized against Polio, because he says this is a western conspiracy to force birth control in a hidden form on people. But I want my son to be safe,” she says. The woman feared anger of her husband too; upon finding she has left the house. She has smuggled her five-month-old son to the vaccination center with her sister, while her husband is away at the shop he runs in the market. Source:[email protected]
The WHO country chief, Dr Khalife Mahmud Bile said that during the last 17 years more than 10 billion doses of Polio vaccines had been provided to more than one billion children globally and “no side effects have been reported during this period and vaccine is made under supervision of UN Agencies.” According to him, rumors were actually meant to harm Muslims and were meant to show to the world that Muslims were actually responsible for the delay in global efforts for eradication of Polio virus.54 Need is to prove this assumption wrong by adopting a positive response to the whole campaign.
In this regard, government also sought help of eminent clerics to clear ambiguities from people’s minds. An edict was issued after a meeting of Ulema and experts brushing aside rumors about any harmful effects of Polio vaccine and urged parents to get their children immunized against the crippling disease.55 Hence, they rejected rumors and reports about adverse effects of Polio vaccine. However, other than eminent clerics, local clerics in places like the NWFP are yet adamant in accepting the efficacy of the vaccine.
The Principal of the Peshawar Medical College in a meeting jointly organized by the WHO, UNICEF and the health department, said that Polio has affected 350,000
54 Dawn, September 4, 2006 55 Ibid
28 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 children annually since 1988 in 125 countries, mostly those inhabited by Muslims. He said that rumors about the drops containing estrogen and progesterone had caused immense damage in Nigeria and India, besides Pakistan.56
The goal of achieving zero prevalence of Polio has not been achieved yet, it is imperative to check factors hindering the campaign, be cross border movement or clarity on efficacy of vaccine. These include more intense public awareness campaign on threat of lifetime crippling of their child, with special focus on clergy. They can make or break public opinion. Their biases directly put a child at stake Source: UNICEF from catching a preventable disease.
PHC Takes up Petition against Polio Vaccine The Peshawar High Court issued a notice to the WHO, federal and provincial health secretaries in a writ petition seeking closure of the Polio Eradication Program in the country because it affected the human reproductive system. An advocate of the high court filed a petition claiming that the Polio vaccine contained a harmful toxic – Estrogen- that had a direct effect on the human reproductive system. He called for suspending the anti-Polio program till disposal of the petition. A bench of the high court issued the notice to the WHO through Dr Ibraham, head of the WHO Polio Eradication Initiative, Federation of Pakistan through the federal health secretary and health secretaries of the four provinces. The petitioner’s counsel said the supply of what he called contaminated vaccine was not only against Articles 4, 9 and 35 of the Constitution, which guaranteed protection of life and family but also violated the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights etc. He wondered why Estrogen, which had nothing to do with eradication of Polio, was included in the vaccine. The judgment of the court is awaited. Source: Dawn, July 7, 2006
56 Ibid
SPARC 29 Health
Malaria Malaria has become a fast spreading disease in Pakistan. According to World Health Organization, global warming and other climatic events play an important role in increasing the risk of various diseases. Quantitative leap in Malaria incidence have been recorded around the world including Pakistan. Here, delay in adopting preventive measures and treatment puts at risks lives of thousands of children.
Source: Health Net International
According to the findings of a survey, Malaria is one of the fastest growing diseases in Pakistan. This is due to the inadequate facilities available to cope with the deadly disease and failure of early diagnosis. WHO stresses that it is a curable disease and only neglect and ignorance makes it an inevitable burden and cause of death. According to the WHO statistics, globally, Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds. In absolute numbers, it kills 3,000 children per day under five years of age. Fatally afflicted children often die in less than 72 hours. About 30 percent child deaths could be avoided if they slept inside bed nets regularly treated with insecticides, which remain effective for a long time.57 More than a dozen vaccines are still under development, some of them are being clinically tried. According to experts, an effective vaccine could be available within next 5 to10 years.
Epilepsy Epilepsy is a recurring mental disorder which is usually associated with the widely held misconception of being possessed by a super natural being. This belief is widely
57 Dawn, July 17, 2006
30 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 accepted among a large number of population, particularly in the rural areas, where illiteracy and superstitions are rife. As a result, instead of acquiring proper medical treatment, visits are paid to ‘spiritual healers’, which further aggravates the patient’s condition.
Epilepsy in children could be broadly divided into two categories. One is focal or partial Epilepsy that affects only one part of the brain. Generalized Epilepsy affects a wider part. A Epilepsy attack may result in loss of activity and or consciousness for a very brief period.
However, of all focal epilepsies, the most common is temporal lobe Epilepsy (or complex partial Epilepsy), which requires detailed medical evaluation. The child may become confused, dizzy, experience spots before his eyes, or hear ringing noises and may often not remember what had happened.58
Three to five percent of an estimated 1.38 million Epileptic patients in Pakistan are children, according to Agha Khan University Hospital. The neurological disorders especially Epilepsy are very common here. “Current data shows that nearly 1.38 million children suffer from this disorder in the country in which highly specialized tests are required for the diagnosis. Seizures or convulsions occur in three to five percent of children. When the brain undergoes an ‘abnormal burst of electrical activity’, the visible physical result is a seizure and if this happens recurrently, the person is said to be suffering from Epilepsy. The condition unfortunately has great deal of social stigma attached to it.59
Malnutrition Malnutrition is one of the major and common public health problems in Pakistan. Malnutrition occurs throughout the life cycle resulting in low birth weight, wasting and stunting. Micro-nutrient deficiency is widespread here and reflects a combination of dietary deficiency, poor maternal health and nutrition that results into high morbidity rates among children. Large family size is another added factor. Persistent malnutrition leads to serious consequences. The extent of progress in MDGs is directly related to the intensity of nutritional problems prevalent in the country. The figures of children facing malnutrition in Pakistan are depressing.
According to United Nations World Food Program (WFP), an estimated 1.85 million children in Pakistan are at the risk of malnutrition and 74 out of 120 districts of the country have been found to be food deficient in terms of its availability at the grass roots level. The figures represent a grim picture of rural Pakistan. Many of these young ones are blighted by malnutrition in the first few months of their life. This adversely
58 The News, July 16, 2006 59 Ibid
SPARC 31 Health affects brain development. Of the 74 child hunger districts, inter and intra provincial disparities exist in terms of food insecurity. 28 percent are in Balochistan, 26 percent in NWFP, 14 percent in Sindh, 13 percent in Punjab, nine percent in FATA, six percent in the Northern Areas and five percent in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.60
Registration of children under five years of age helps in monitoring growth of children. According to National Health Management data pertaining to 2004, percentage of children under one registered for growth monitoring was found to be higher in province of Sindh and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) as compared to other provinces. This status was consistent in the province of Punjab, NWFP and AJK whereas it remained low in Balochistan, Northern Areas (NAs) and FATA. In children under three, the percentage of severely malnourished was found to be greater in Sindh and the Punjab as compared to other provinces.
Districts Showing High Malnutrition Cases District District Shangla Vehari Jhal Magsi Lasbella Nawabshah Hyderabad S Waziristan Agency Awaran Chagai Killa Saifullah Sibi Tharparkar Naushero Feroze Jafferabad Naseerabad Khuzdar Bannu Karak Panjgur Sukkur Rajanpur Orakzai Agency Kharan Sanghar Kalat Kasur Bagh Ghotki Mirpurkhas Loralai
Source: National Feedback Report 2006 (NHMIS) Children in Balochistan on Verge of Malnutrition In 2006, serious and alarming situation of malnutrition among children in Balochistan was reported. The main factor was the political unrest found in the area. The escalating conflict between army and the nationalists led to a ‘nutritional crisis’ among internally displaced people in the area. According to the UN estimates of the 84,000 internally
60 Daily Times, 15 October, 2006
32 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 displaced people, 26,000 were women and 33,000 were children. The issue came to the forefront after one of the UN internal assessments revealed that the survival of several thousand children was in great danger.61
According to WHO standards, the situation was critical. Six percent of the population was in the state of “severe acute malnutrition”. The assessment revealed that 80 percent of deaths among the internally displaced persons were of children under the age of five whom senior UN official Ronald Van Dijk described as “innocent victims”.
Pakistan has sought UN’s help to avert this nutritional crisis which has endangered lives of thousands of children. The Balochistan government allowed the UN agencies to carry out nutritional intervention in districts of Naseerabad, Jaffarabad and Quetta. These districts house majority of the internally displaced people and the remaining are in Sibi and Bolan districts. The relief operations will be carried out through health facilities in the districts and under the supervision of local authorities.62 Since, malnutrition in Balochistan is a grave issue, more needs to be done in improving the situation to help save these women and children, who are paying a heavy price for the political unrest in the province.
Action Plan on Micronutrient Malnutrition The Ministry of Health’s Nutrition Wing has developed and approved a three year National Plan of Action on Micronutrient in collaboration with Micronutrient Initiative (MI) Pakistan. It has developed a National Nutrition Strategic Plan of Action, after consulting National and Provincial health managers and lastly approved by the National Nutrition Technical Committee. First ever PC-1 on nutrition for the 2006- 2010, was initiated in early 2005. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Project, (Iron, wheat, flour fortification).63
The ministry recognizes the challenge that partners/stakeholders are without strategic or formally defined roles and responsibilities. There is no established mechanism for ensuring coordination and interaction among partners. Besides, there is no infrastructure both at the federal and provincial levels who can manage the issue of nutrition.64
Effective large scale interventions are required to properly implement policies or else they will merely remain on the paper. The outcome should reach both urban and rural sectors. As for children in difficult circumstances, Balochistan’s case should be an eye opener for all. 61 Hindustan Times, December 22, 2006 62 Ibid 63 Reviewed Documents Ministry of Health 2003-2005 64 Ibid
SPARC 33 Health
Quake Affected Children and Health More than a year (2005) after the catastrophic earthquake, a large number of children still need health care. Every passing season, especially early arrival of winter season brings more hardships for children’s well being as they are more vulnerable to combat harsh winters.
In quake ridden areas, according to strategy prepared for health sector, all temporary and permanent health facilities need to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA), including those facilities that are almost completed. Although several key issues have not yet been determined, close collaboration between ERRA, Ministry of Health, WHO, and all health partners is assured.
To minimize expected gaps in health services delivery, WHO is compiling a matrix with ‘who is doing what and where’, in which health partners are sharing their plans?65 A draft version of the proposed health projects has been presented as part of the Pakistan Action Plan from Relief to Recovery to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with inputs from many health partners.
Major health concerns in the area include Acute Respiratory Infection (25 percent), Acute Watery Diarrhea (six percent), fever of unexplained origin (four percent) and (four percent) injuries. Acute Respiratory Infection represented 34 percent in less than 5 years old compared to 23 percent in more than 5 years old. Similarly, 10 percent of the total consultations with doctors due to Acute Watery Diarrhea were in less than 5 years old, compared to 4 percent in those 5 years old or more.66
As temporary health facilities in the area have been completed, the Ministry of Health faces the challenge of solving the shortage of medical staff urgently.
Child Amputees: What lies ahead! The requirements of child amputees are feared to be sidelined if one looks at figures of children in need of artificial limbs. More than 2,000 children who lost their limbs, fingers or toes in the earthquake or its aftermath are reportedly said to be waiting for prosthetics, (plastic replacement) with finances and funding scarce and private charities providing most donations to help in changing the lives of elderly individuals.67 One reason is the difficulty in ensuring availability of prosthetics, as childhood is a continuous process of growth. While prosthetic limbs have enabled many quake survivors slowly to rebuild their lives, they are far from cheap and remain largely out of reach for local residents.
65 WHO Response to Pakistan Earthquake, Health Situation Report # 36, March 16-19 66 Ibid 67 http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?Report ID=57266&SelectRegion=Asia
34 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Psychological Trauma of Children Psychological trauma is an emotional or psychological injury, usually resulting from an extremely stressful or life-threatening situation.68 The child affectees of quake will require a lot of time in overcoming what they have been through. Most amputated children fitted with prosthetics, require time in getting over the sorrow of losing their natural limb. However, they are considered relatively fortunate for having received some kind of treatment. Those on crutches or with improper gait are other victims of psychological trauma. Psychological suffering is also associated with those who were orphaned or lost their loved ones. Source: IRIN (A girl been fitted with prosthetic limb)
Sharing views on psychological trauma and physical disability, Executive Director and Chief of Moscow Children Clinical Research Institute of Emergency Surgery and Trauma Center, Professor Lowinda M Rochel, said that quake affected children in Pakistan are suffering from mental disorder and physical disability owing to a lack of psychiatrists and plastic surgeons in the country.69
He expressed fear that thousands of Pakistani children will become abnormal and disabled if government does not establish separate hospitals and start special program for the treatment of quake-affected children. According to his observation, quake-affected children’s limbs were being amputated in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Polyclinic and other hospitals of Rawalpindi as a easy way out and because of a lack of plastic surgeons.
There is a critical need for more psychiatrists to provide proper treatment to the quake affected children. He said about 800 children have been admitted in different hospitals who are in dire need of psychiatric treatment and plastic surgery. He suggested initiating a program for the treatment of quake-stricken children to the ministry.70
To deal with the mental trauma, various national and international NGOs have been carrying out activities in the areas such as street puppet theater and setting up of fun and recreation centers. Fun centers established by SPARC at Balakot not only provide fun and recreation but children are also educated to become better citizens.
68 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma 69 http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=88584 70 Ibid
SPARC 35 Health
However, as for the government, more efforts need to be made in bringing children out of their trauma by employing more psychiatrists in the area and designing and implementing sustainable projects in relieving children of their agonies.
Whether it is the case of child amputees or children suffering from trauma of loss and drastic change in their living conditions, surroundings and diseases; the need of the hour is to ensure sustainable and adequate supplies to meet health care needs of these children. The earthquake of 2005 took away a large population of children; hence it is extremely important and crucial that those living are given a fair chance to a happy, healthy life. The government is duty bound to provide adequate funds, medical experts and fulfill all their needs and more importantly compassion to bring smiles back on their faces.
AIDS AIDS is the result of damage to the immune system after infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and represents the most advanced stages of HIV. The unprotected sexual activity, mother-to-child transmission, intravenous (IV) drug use (via sharing contaminated needles and/or syringes), transfusion of infected blood or blood clotting factors, use of contaminated needles, syringes, or surgical equipment, occupational exposure (needle-stick injuries) are the various means of AIDS’ transmission.71
International Commitments: Millennium Development Goals Pakistan is committed to HIV prevention work with young people in support of the global targets of the UN General Assembly Special Sessions (UNGASS) on HIV and AIDS and Children, as intermediate steps towards the achievement of MDGs, and in particular MDG Six: To halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS BY 2015 In Order to measure progress, three MDG indicators for monitoring Target seven have been developed which are related to adolescents and young people: The third one includes iii. Percentage of population aged 15-24 with a comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV (MDG indicator #19b): This is a determinant indicator, as the level of knowledge about a risk will be a factor influencing an individual’s behavior. National Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys HIV and AIDS
Pakistan is a low prevalence high-risk country for transmission of HIV and AIDS. Here, over 50 percent of the over 160 million population in under 24 years of age. Young population need more awareness on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. The situation analysis in Pakistan indicates all young people in all categories and ages are vulnerable to factors that may lead them to engage in risk behavior.72
71 http://www.pedaids.org/AboutPediatricAIDS/WhatIsAids/WhatisAIDS.aspx 72 HIV Prevention Strategy for Young People in Pakistan, NACP, June 2006
36 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Pakistan Population Tree Group Absolute (estimated 2005) Percentage Total Population 154,000,000 100 percent Senior age 60-80+ 10,900,000 7.0 percent Adult age 24-60 32,300,000 32 percent Youth age 15-24 29,000,000 19 percent Age 10-19 34,200,000 22 percent Children age 0-14 64,300,000 42 percent
Source: HIV Prevention Strategy for Young People in Pakistan, NACP, p 5, June 2006
In Pakistan, of the projected population for 2005 of 160 million, young people aged 0-24, including infants, children, adolescents, and youth comprise 60 percent or 90 million.73 This shows that such a large segment of the population needs to acquire the necessary information related to their health and well being for HIV prevention.
When children enter the stage of mobility, i.e. from house into other social spheres such as school, labor (pushed by elders or circumstances) and onto the streets;
23 Orphan Children need AIDS Test Twenty-three orphaned children in Hangu District and Parachinar Agency are unable to undergo HIV tests because they cannot pay the expenses. “They have lost one or both parents to AIDS. We need to ascertain if these children have been affected by the disease”, said an officer of Roshan Development Society, who has so far registered 53 patients in Hangu and 102 in Orakzai and Kurram Agencies. He said they had recorded 11 children in Hangu and 12 in Parachinar, Kurram Agency. Most of these children need to be tested for AIDS. They are destined to suffer but tests are urgently required, he said. ‘We have their AIDS test in the antiretroviral (ARV) therapy center in Peshawar. All were negative. But they require HIV tests which is not available in Peshawar.” In addition to the children, there are 31 HIV positive women, who need treatment. The HIV test costs about Rs 4,000-5,000. All the children are below four and have no knowledge about the disease. At the same time, the government and the donor agencies are also reluctant to extend help to them. “There may be more such children because most of the people deported from Middle Eastern countries after being tested positive for HIV and AIDS belong to this area”, he said. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue 48, September 2006
73 Ibid
SPARC 37 Health other than parents, the government agencies should take responsibility for the well being and safety of these children such as departments of Health, Education, Labor; Social Welfare and local governments. National AIDS Control Program (NACP) under the Ministry of Health is responsible for research, designing and implementing laws and policies on AIDS.
The child’s first line of HIV prevention is that their rights are met, they are responsibly protected, and that they as young people have adequate knowledge of sexual and reproductive health. However, in our society, different segments of the population hold separate views on educating a child on this aspect. Some groups totally oppose this flow of knowledge to children and term it against modesty. Some have started considering the importance of imparting this knowledge to children, once they acquire puberty.
First Ever Audio Cassette on HIV and AIDS Cathe Foundation has produced a professional audio cassette on HIV & AIDS songs in Urdu language with financial assistance of Actionaid Pakistan. The cassette is entitled, “zindagi jeet lo” which contains ten songs by professionals. All songs give information on how HIV spreads, prevention and what can be done in supporting people living with AIDS. Source: www.cathe.org.pk
Children at home are generally considered safe from external environment and mostly not at risk. However, what is ignored or overlooked by most parents is the fact that their child might be a victim of incest or sexual abuse in hands of relatives or close family members. A child then becomes vulnerable to catching any infection.
Run away children and street children stand every risk of drug and sexual abuse. They are forced to indulge in these activities and beaten if they refuse. Poverty is yet another factor and parents are even renting their young ones in Karachi. Various reports compiled by different child rights organizations suggest that renting children by the parents to gangs is becoming a common practice in the country. These children are forced to beg or indulge into criminal activities and exposed to sexual abuse.74 A report compiled by SPARC (Karachi) and shared with media shows “most children survive by prostituting themselves and stealing, making them vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). 49 percent of them are at high risk of HIV and AIDS”.75
74 Dawn, January 29, 2007 75 Ibid
38 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
International Agencies and HIV and AIDS Overall situation of population, including young ones at risk of this disease has alerted international agencies. UN has warned Pakistan of AIDS outbreak. The Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has estimated that HIV positive people in Pakistan constitute 0.1 percent of the total adult population of the country. The government treated HIV epidemic as a low priority issue till 2004. However, alarming revelations have been carried out through two studies commissioned by the National AIDS Control Program (NACP).76
United States Agency for development (USAID) launched a $ 2.7 million program to support the Government in its fight against HIV and AIDS. The program will educate 27,000 individuals at high risk to HIV and AIDS through community outreach activities, provide treatment to 2,000 cases of sexually transmitted infections and provide care and support to 600 individuals living with HIV and AIDS and their families.77
As far as actual number of cases is concerned, these are under reported due to inaccessibility or societal taboos. Often, men working abroad especially Middle Eastern countries catch the disease due to unsafe sexual practices and infect their wives on return. This infects the children born to the affected couple.
Six of a Family Suffering from AIDS Six people, including two children, of the same family have been diagnosed positive for HIV and AIDS in the Orakzai Agency, a WHO official said. “A 56-year-old man, his wife, 53, son 24, daughter-in-law, 22, and two and three- year-old grandsons have been detected positive for HIV and AIDS in the Orakzai Agency,” the official said, citing a report sent by a Hangu-based NGO, Roshan Development Society. Both father and son had been deported from the UAE a few years ago because of HIV and AIDS, but neither of them had communicated this to their family members and as a result their wives were infected. “Last week, we tested them and found six members of the same family to be HIV and AIDS positive,” said the director . He said that they had detected 31 cases since 2003. “Hundred percent of the infected persons were either deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or other Middle East countries and were relatives of the deportees,” he said, adding that most of them worked abroad in blue-collared jobs, including drivers, mechanics and laborers for years. Being away from their wives, most of them come into contact with professional sex workers, from whom they contract the disease. There are no arrangements at airports to screen these deportees and inform families of such people, to protect them, he said. Source: Dawn, 28 July, 2006
76 Dawn, December 1, 2006 77 Daily Times, July 26, 2006
SPARC 39 Health
The stigma attached to this disease can prove to be another hurdle in providing assistance to children and people living or infected with HIV and AIDS. There are cases where the medical practitioners are apprehensive to touch such people. Society shuns them, and discriminates against them. Instead of sympathizing with them the society isolates them. Children, in particular, are most vulnerable and especially those who have lost their parents to this disease and are also carriers.
Children with HIV and AIDS Die Faster Contribution by Huma Khawar In Pakistan, HIV and AIDS epidemic is considered a young epidemic, meaning the first HIV case was “discovered” later than other countries and that the number of HIV positive persons advancing to the stage of AIDS is still quite low. Due to this, the public knowledge of persons living with HIV and AIDS, as opposed to knowledge of the HIV virus, is almost non-existent. HIV prevalence rates in the general population remains low in Pakistan, estimated at 0.1percent of the population aged 15-49 years. Yet the threat of an escalating epidemic remains due to a number of significant risk factors, such as generalized poverty, limited availability and access to health services, and the high proportion of young people below 25 years: 63 percent of the overall population, 42 percent under the age of 15. Pakistan’s epidemic is now moving towards a concentrated epidemic as the prevalence rates have exceeded five percent in the defined population of Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) in certain cities. These IDUs often have sex with sex workers, sell their blood to raise money for drugs, and are married, thus becoming a bridge for the virus to reach their wives and newly born. There is little information on the number of persons living with HIV and AIDS in Pakistan and statistics to date have not always been disaggregated by age and gender. Most cases of children living with HIV and AIDS are anecdotal. The most accurate statistics for December 2004, however, indicate that between 3 percent and 3.5 percent of the total reported cases of HIV and AIDS are between the ages of 0 and 19 years. The potential for prevalence rates to rise in this concentrated epidemic are explosive. In a recent study conducted by Family Health International (FHI) with groups practicing high risk behaviors in Lahore and Karachi points out the overlapping sexual networks and the ages that people begin to engage in high-risk behaviors. The study showed rates of HIV in IDUs in Karachi at 23percent and 4 percent amongst male sex workers and adolescents engaged in these risk behavior are as young as 13 with male sex workers and 14 with injecting drug users. The main modes of transmission of reported cases are: 37 percent heterosexual and male-to-male sex; 21 percent IDUs; 6.7 percent contaminated blood and blood products; and 1.3 percent mother-to-child transmission. However, given the trend of the epidemic, the majority of the cases including reported and unreported are through IDU. In a third of the reported cases, the mode of transmission is unknown, probably due to stigma and lack of awareness.
40 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Global AIDS Picture Despite the fact that 1,400 children under 15 die of AIDS related illnesses every day, more than 6,000 young people aged 15 to 24 are infected with HIV every day, and 15 million children have been orphaned by AIDS, the world still thinks of HIV and AIDS as something affecting primarily adults. Complacent governments, inadequate health care systems and widespread prejudice are contributing to the spread of AIDS in Asia. In fact HIV is spreading faster in Asia than in Africa. It has reached a critical point in the region and is threatening millions of lives in some of the world’s most populous nations. It is both a cause and consequence of poverty and human rights violations. Unprotected sex, drug abuse and unsafe medical practices are helping the epidemic to spread. Although HIV infection levels in Asia are low compared to some other regions, the populations of many Asian nations are so large that even low national HIV prevalence means large numbers of people living with HIV. Latest estimates show some 8.2 million people were living with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2004 in Asia, including 1.2 million people who became infected in the past year. Among them 2.3 million were adult women living with HIV infection. Everyday 8,500 children and young people around the world are infected with HIV. As of end of 2004, some 2.2 million children under 15 years were living with HIV. If an HIV positive woman becomes pregnant, there is a 35 percent chance that she will transmit the virus to her child if no preventive action is taken. Every year, more than 700,000 children become HIV positive via transmission from their parents. Some 15 to 20 percent are infected during pregnancy, 50 percent during delivery and 33 percent through breastfeeding. Children born with HIV have very high mortality. They are over four times more likely to die by the age of two than children born without HIV. It has contributed to a rise or stagnation in under-5 mortality in several countries, but is not the only factor behind these trends. HIV-infected children in countries with generalized epidemics die of the same things that kill most other children; they just die faster. The number of children affected by HIV and AIDS goes far beyond the number of those infected or orphaned by the disease. All over the world, and especially in Africa, children, especially girls, often have to drop out of school to care for their parents, look after their siblings and go to work. In community’s hard-hit by AIDS, children suffer from the loss of teachers, health professionals, civil servants, police officers and community leaders. They are deprived of education, healthcare and the chance to have a healthy future. They are left unprotected from abuse, exploitation and illness.
Empowering Youth Everyday about 100 children and young people are infected with HIV in South Asia. Everyday about five children under 15 years old die from AIDS in South Asia.
SPARC 41 Health
There are already children and young people becoming infected with HIV and AIDS in Pakistan. The HIV and AIDS epidemic has been a focus of international concern for more than two decades. And yet over 70 percent of the world’s children and adolescents are missing out on basic information that could save their lives. The vast majority of young people have no idea how HIV is transmitted or how to protect themselves from the virus. Nearly 99 percent of the children infected with AIDS are missing out on the medicine that could keep them alive and over 90 percent of infected pregnant women are missing out on the drugs that could prevent their babies from being born HIV-positive. While sexual and reproductive health is a concern for all ages, the earliest part of the sexual life course, adolescence and early adulthood, on the other hand, is of the utmost importance. Protecting the sexual and reproductive health of young people is the keystone to reducing some of the major health risks, and to establishing sexual health habits that will protect them throughout their lives. Unless addressed, the lack of proper education about HIV and AIDS and safe sex among vulnerable groups will enhance the risk of an epidemic across the country. In Pakistan, NGOs and the government are working to empower adolescents and young people in schools, homes, prisons, youth centers and drop-in centers for street children with the knowledge and skills to protect themselves from HIV infection, Sexually Transmitted Illnesses (STI) and drug abuse, and ensure referral mechanisms into other services. Young people have a right to know about sex and their sexuality, know the basic facts on HIV and AIDS and have the necessary life skills to protect themselves and know their HIV status. There is also a need to create an environment in Pakistan where people recognize People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) as members of a collective community to which they themselves belong, recognize them as brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, and as having the same rights as anyone else, including the right to be free from stigmatization. This will result in better understanding of their own relationship and risk to the HIV virus.
Government’s Initiative The Government of Pakistan has taken up the challenge of ensuring that children are put in the forefront of the national response to HIV and AIDS. Though Pakistan is a low prevalence country, it is the government’s priority to protect all children from this virus. The Federal Minister for Health formally launched the Unite for Children, United against AIDS campaign in July 2006. On the day of the launch, for the first time in Pakistan, Nisar, an HIV positive adolescent from Northern Pakistan, shared his story of stigma and discrimination with hundreds of young audience. “Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS is a five-year global campaign to give children the prominent place on the AIDS agenda that they deserve. Bringing
42 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 together government, UN partners, NGOs, religious leaders and civil society partners, the campaign will help mitigate the impact of the epidemic on children and help keep present and future generations safe from HIV,” said Bettina Schunter, HIV and AIDS Project Officer, UNICEF Pakistan. It outlines a child-based approach to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS. It will focus around four urgent imperatives, known as the Four Ps that can make a real difference in the lives and life chances of children affected by HIV and AIDS. The Four Ps is: 1. Primary Prevention, 2. Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission, (PMTCT) 3. Paediatric AIDS Treatment, and 4. Protection of Orphans and Vulnerable Children. They are drawn from the Declaration of Commitment from the UN Special Session on AIDS in 2001 and are in line with the MDGs, both of which Pakistan is a signatory to. The UNGASS Declaration of June 2001 commits States and the international community to reduce mother–to-child HIV transmission by 20 percent and 50 percent by 2005 and 2010 respectively. Giving the government’s perspective, the Minister said that Pakistan is committed to ensuring that children and young people are protected from HIV and AIDS. Through their Life Skills supported programs in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners (primary prevention) through creating an enabling environment through working with religious leaders and media (primary prevention) by ensuring children and young people living with HIV and AIDS receive treatment (paediatric AIDS treatment)by ensuring HIV positive mothers are given medicine to prevent transmission to their children (PMTCT) by ensuring children affected by HIV and AIDS are protected and receive the care and support they need (protection of Orphans and Vulnerable Children).
Children Not on Agenda Children are missing from the AIDS agenda at every level. Their needs are still too often overlooked when strategies on HIV prevention and treatment are drafted, policies made and budgets allocated. Even the pharmaceutical companies do not manufacture HIV and AIDS drugs in pediatric formulations. Now is the time to act. Now is the time to stem the epidemic amongst most-at- risk adolescents and amongst children born to HIV positive mothers. Now is also the time to act to ensure that children already living with HIV and AIDS receive the treatment care and support they need. The spread of HIV and AIDS is also undermining progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. With the increase in the number of such patients the nature and extent of vulnerability is also increasing, leaving more and more children exposed to sexual and economic exploitation, at risk of losing education, and denied access to quality health care. The writer is a free-lance journalist working on HIV and AIDS issues.
SPARC 43 Health
Conclusion The high prevalence of various diseases- including the preventable ones among children does not make a cheery reading. Dismal state of healthcare in early years of life only leads to low productivity in future. A huge number of children remain deprived of what is their birthright, as ‘promised’ by State and the government.
Another grave aspect is the ever widening gap between health care enjoyed by ‘privileged’ strata and their children and health services available to common man. This discrepancy only results in worsening health state of an already vulnerable child. In this context, government should pay more attention to primary healthcare rather than focusing on tertiary healthcare. Rural Health Units need to be upgraded, rather than Photograph by: Fahmina Naz expanding hospitals only. Preventive measures-including strong public awareness campaigns are not given due importance. If designed projects are implemented in true spirit, health indicators may show a positive increase. Attaining health related Millennium Development Goals-almost nine years from now, the progress achieved has been small.
Recommendations The recommendations given below are more or less the same as previous years. The need is not only to make better laws, rather the emphasis on proper and timely enforcement of already existing ones is imperative. Ensuring quality, free and easily accessible health services is a must for effective results.
g Removing the people’s mistrust is a crucial factor in attaining Polio Free Pakistan. Strong public awareness raising campaigns in combating propaganda on Polio vaccination is required. g Reduce infant mortality from tetanus infection through a campaign to vaccinate women, especially in villages where unhygienic conditions during delivery prevail. g Run constant public awareness campaigns to encourage and promote vaccination and breastfeeding. g Increase the regularity and frequency of vaccination awareness campaigns targeted to parents in order to promote complete vaccination coverage of all children in Pakistan.
44 Chapter-1 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Photograph by: Anees Jillani g Doctors placed in urban areas should be paid higher salaries and other benefits to encourage their vital participation in provision of healthcare services. g Undertake with vigor the interventions outlined in the National Plan of Action for the Control of Micronutrient Malnutrition in order to reduce child micronutrient malnutrition. g Improve logistics of immunization delivery, especially cold chains, in order to increase vaccination coverage in poor rural areas. g For global Roll Back Malaria initiative, establish a functioning system that can adequately identify Malaria cases in order to assess how many and which children are most vulnerable. Then, design and implement appropriate preventive measures. g In battling Thalassaemia, need for pre-marriage genetic tests and out of family marriages is critical. However, since its importance is undermined in the country, there is a need for legislation in all provinces. The initiative set by Sindh is exemplary. g Expand and improve public water and sanitation facilities and provide technical support to private citizens building their own pumps and pipes.
SPARC 45 Health g Re-address HIV and AIDS prevention efforts towards the most vulnerable at-risk youth in order to prevent further local concentrated epidemics in major cities g Continue to expand the Lady Health Worker Program until coverage is 100 percent and continue to train the Lady Health Workers so they can bring quality basic health care to the people’s doorsteps g Provide training at district level to local elected representatives so they may advocate for better health care and adequate budgets at the district level g Ensure transparency in health budget so that it is fully utilized and funds are not left unspent g Uplift Basic Health Units and Rural Health Units to increase the accessibility of the public health care syste g Ensure through monitoring and checks that all public health facilities are properly equipped and patients are provided free of cost life saving medicines for their treatment
The writer is working as Promotion Officer at SPARC [email protected]
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46 Chapter-1 Chapter 2
CHILD LABOR
The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
A Vicious Cycle By Qindeel Shujaat
“I can only talk for a few minutes or pay me for the time” said Sajjad, a twelve- year- old boy working as a car cleaner. He was actually irritated because I was taking up his time during his peak working hours. I used to often visit this restaurant for lunch and watched Sajjad cleaning and shining cars. Unlike many other children, he always had a conquering smile and never tired. He is extremely proud of his occupation and earns about Rs. 200-250 daily. Sajjad is financially supporting his family of seven, along with his mother. He is the eldest son and his mother works as a domestic help but Sajjad’s earnings are much more than his mother. “So what does your father do?” I asked Sajjad. He pointed at a man in his mid thirties reasonably healthy standing at a distance and said “You see that man standing there. He is my father”. Sajjad explained that his father’s job was to keep an eye on him and at the end of the day collect the money he had earned. A few days later, I found that Sajjad’s nine-year-old brother had started working as a car cleaner. Sajjad’s father has just destroyed another son’s future. This is true for thousands of families in Pakistan where the father keeps increasing his brood and then grinds the children in the vicious cycle of poverty, child labor and poverty.
Economic exploitation of children or child labor is one of the worst forms of child abuse and neglect in Pakistan. Children are found working in almost every Child Labor economic sector in the country. A large is work that is done by children which population of our children has become restricts or damages their physical, a financial commodity. These children emotional, intellectual, social or live in abject conditions throughout their spiritual growth as children, and which lives chained to poverty and deprivation. denies them their right to fully develop, A large proportion of these children are to play or to go to school. invisible, working in the informal sector. Child Work Many of them are traditionally and includes activities that are not harmful, economically bonded and also working which may contribute to the healthy in hazardous occupations. development of a child.
SPARC 49 Child Labor
The government’s claim that poverty level has declined in recent years appears lacking credibility when you see the increasing number of children employed in all forms of occupations. The employment of children under slave conditions, without pay or minimal pay, locked in employers’ home far from their families is a shocking state of affairs. The government, despite various interventions for eradicating the problem of child labor, has miserably failed in rooting out the problem. National laws and international conventions relating to child labor are also widely violated.
Child labor is the outcome of different economic and social factors. It has roots in poverty, lack of opportunities, high rate of population growth, unemployment, uneven distribution of wealth and social customs, weak implementation of national and international laws, low priority given by policy makers etc. The practice of child labor degenerates socio-economic structures, affects the social infrastructure, causes health hazards and vitiates the ecology of civil welfare.
If we do not ensure that people have a decent childhood, we basically undermine the chances for decent work as adults and thus create inequalities which are hard to change.
Child Labor in Pakistan Pakistan, the sixth most populous country in the world with 155.81 million people is ranked by the World Bank as a low income country. Literacy rate in 2005 stood at 53 percent while infant mortality rate were noted to be highest among South Asian countries. The right to childhood, to education, the Reality Check! chance to play, and opportunities for We are so used to child labor in normal physical development are basic Pakistan that we don’t even notice it. human rights denied to millions of children in Pakistan. It is intolerable that this situation exists even in the 21st century.
It is very difficult to make a precise estimate of the magnitude of child labor in Pakistan on account of numerous limitations basic being a lack of data. The last child labor survey conducted by the government was in 1996. According to the survey, 3.3 million of the 40 million children were found to be economically active on a full-time basis. Of the 3.3 million working children, 73 percent (2.4 million) were boys and 27 percent (0.9 million) were girls. Officially children made up about seven percent of the total work force according to the findings of the survey.
The provincial distribution indicated that the volume of child labor in the Punjab was about 1.9 million; three-fifths (60 percent) of total child labor in the country. The second on the list was NWFP, where about one million children were working. Sindh had a population of 298,000 child laborers. The lowest figure was for Balochistan, 14,000, because of the lesser number of households reporting child labor.
1 World Development Indicators Database April 2006, http://devdata.worldbank.org
50 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
It must be noted that government statistics omitted children those who Ban on Child Labor in India were working in family and small The Indian government has announced businesses that are not registered with a ban on children working as domestic the government. These official figures servants or in roadside food stalls, were released more than ten years teashops, restaurants, hotels, motels, ago and had many loopholes. With resorts, spas or other recreational approximately 23 million children of centers. The order, which applies to school-going age not attending school children under 14, came into effect and population growth of 2% annually, on October 10, 2006. There are an the actual number of child laborers will estimated 12.6 million child workers in be higher than suggested official figures, India, many of whom work as domestic help or in small roadside restaurants. and is expected to be over 10 million throughout the country.
A survey conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan published in June 1999 noted that there are approximately 4,000 children working in auto workshops in the Mardan district of the NWFP. The report stated that most of the children were between the ages of three and eight. During a press conference in February 2000, the President of the Punjab Laborers Front stated that 100,000 children between the ages of 5 and 12 years were working in more than 4,500 brick kilns in Punjab.
National Child Labor Survey 1996
Age All Areas Rural Urban Groups/ Provinces Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls
Pakistan 3,313,420 2,431,992 881,428 2,945,675 2,110,358 835,317 367,745 321,634 46,111
5-9 573,084 333,656 239,428 536,145 302,694 233,451 36,939 30,962 5,977
10-14 2,740,336 2,098,336 642,000 2,409,530 1,807,664 601,866 330,806 290,672 40,134
Punjab 1,943,305 1,414,787 528,518 1,704,577 1,212,330 492,247 238,728 202,457 36,271
5-9 217,817 147,836 69,981 192,973 127,710 65,263 24,844 20,126 4,718
10-14 1,725,488 1,266,951 458,537 1,511,604 1,084,620 426,984 213,884 182,331 31,553
Sindh 298,303 273,350 24,953 208,783 190,798 17,985 89,520 82,552 6,968
5-9 30,099 27,938 2,161 21,995 20,680 1,315 8,104 7,258 846
10-14 268,204 245,412 22,792 186,788 170,118 16,670 81,416 75,294 6,122
NWFP 1,058,089 730,471 327,618 1,021,147 696,207 324,940 36,942 34,264 2,678
5-9 323,201 155,915 167,286 319,375 152,502 166,873 3,826 3,413 413
10-14 734,888 574,556 160,332 701,772 543,705 158,067 33,116 30,851 2,265
Balochistan 13,723 13,384 339 11,168 11,023 145 2,555 2,361 194
5-9 1,967 1,967 - 1,802 1,802 - 165 165 -
10-14 11,756 11,417 339 9,366 9,221 145 2,390 2,196 194
Source: National Federal Bureau of Statistics Survey on Child Labor, 1996
SPARC 51 Child Labor
ILO Report Shows Marked Decline in Child Labor Worldwide ILO Releases Second Global Report on Child Labor The International Labor Organization (ILO) in its report entitled, “The End of Child Labor: Within Reach” launched in 2006, said that for the first time there was a decline in child labor especially in its worst forms across the globe. This is the second report on child labor, following the first released four years ago, in which the ILO issued the most comprehensive report to date on global child labor. Applying the same statistical methodology as in the previous one, ILO reported a significant decline in child labor. The report findings reveal that if decline continues at the current pace and if the global momentum to stop child labor is maintained, ILO believes child labor could be eliminated, in most of its worst forms, in 10 years. “The end of child labor is within our reach,” says Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO. “Though the fight against child labor remains a daunting challenge, we are on the right track. We can end its worst forms in a decade, while not losing sight of the ultimate goal of ending all child labor.” The report says the actual number of child laborers worldwide fell by 11 percent between 2000 and 2004. What’s more, the number of children and youth aged 5-17 trapped in hazardous work decreased by 26 percent. Meanwhile, drop among child laborers aged 5-14 drop was even more pronounced at 33 percent, says the report. The Report attributed the reduction in child labor to increased political will and awareness and action, particularly in the field of poverty reduction and mass education that has led to a “worldwide movement against child labor”. According to the report, Latin America and the Caribbean region have seen the most rapid decline in child labor over the four-year period. The number of children at work in the region has fallen by two-thirds during that time, with just five percent of children now engaged in work. Asia and the Pacific also registered a significant decline in the number of economically active children, according to the report. However, this could also be attributed to a decline in the child population; as such there was a reduction in the percentage of working children. The ILO estimates that the region still has the largest number of child workers in the 5-14 age group “ The report says Asia is a prime example of how political commitment to reduce poverty and expand education has had an important bearing on child labor elimination. However, the progress around the world has been quite uneven.” Despite, considerable progress in the fight against child labor, the report also highlights important challenges, particularly in agriculture, where seven out of ten child laborers work. Other challenges include addressing the impact of HIV and AIDS on child labor, and building stronger links between child labor and youth employment. The report calls for greater national efforts, involving organizations representing employers and workers, as well as governments-the partners that make up the tripartite ILO. It also calls for the strengthening of the worldwide movement to make child labor history. Meeting the UN Millenium Development Goals by 2015 would further help to eradicate child labor, the report says. Source: www.ilo.org
52 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Forms of Child Labor Child labor prevails in many forms in Pakistan. With the formal sector shrinking and informal sector growing, children are seen taking up employment in new occupations. There are many occupations where children’s visibility is high but there are some jobs where children are invisible such as child domestic labor, bonded child labor, agriculture etc.
Of the total number of child laborers in Pakistan, majority of them are employed in agricultural occupations. Their activities include grazing and taking care of animals, collecting firewood, fetching water, spraying fertilizers, cooking and taking care of the siblings etc. According to 1996 child labor survey findings, there were eight times more children working in the rural areas then in urban areas. In urban settings, children are employed in more diversified occupations such as loading and unloading of goods, hotels and restaurants, fishing, auto workshops, rag picking, shoe-shining, begging, etc.
Worst Forms of Child Labor Worst forms of child labor refers to hazardous work that exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse; work underground, underwater, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces; work with dangerous machinery or tools or that includes heavy loads; work in unhealthy environments that may expose children to hazardous substances, temperatures, noise or vibrations; and work under particularly difficult conditions such as long hours, during the night or where a child is confined to the premises of the employer.
During the year 2001 and 2002, the Government of Pakistan carried out a series of consultation with tripartite partners and stakeholders which include relevant government departments (Labor, Social Welfare), Employers, Trade Unions and NGOs. In the process various occupations and categories of work were identified which were considered to be hazardous under the provision of the ILO Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labor No 182. As a result, a list of hazardous occupations was prepared. Initially 29 occupations were listed as hazardous but later more were added. Photograph by: Fahmina Naz
SPARC 53 Child Labor
List of Hazardous Forms of Child Labor Occupations Any occupation connected with: 1. Transport of passengers, goods or mail ; 2. Work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving the movement of a vendor or any other employee of the establishment from one platform to another or into or out of a moving train; 3. Work relating to the construction of a railway station or with any other work where such work is done in close proximity to or between the railway lines; and 4. A port authority within the limits of any port. Processes 1. Work inside underground mines, above ground quarries, including blasting and assisting in blasting; 2. Work with power driven cutting machinery like saws, shears, guillotines and agricultural machines; (thrashers, fodder cutting machines); 3. Work with live electrical wires over 50V; 4. All operations related to leather tanning process e.g. ,soaking, de-hairing, liming, chrome tanning, deliming, pickling, de-fleshing, ink application; 5. Mixing and manufacture of pesticides, insecticides and fumigation; 6. Sandblasting and other work involving exposure to free silica; 7. Work with exposure to all toxic, explosive and carcinogenic chemicals e.g., asbestos, benzene, ammonia, chlorine, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, caustic soda, phosphorus, benzidene dyes, isocyanates, carbon tetrachloride, carbon disulphide, epoxy resins, formaldehyde, metal fumes, heavy metals like nickel, mercury chromium, lead, arsenic, beryllium, fiber glass; 8. Work with exposure to cement dust (cement industry); 9. Work with exposure to coal dust; 10. Manufacture and sale of fireworks explosives; 11. Work at the sites where Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is filled in cylinders; 12. Work on glass and metal furnaces; 13. Work in the cloth weaving, printing, dyeing and finishing sections; 14. Work inside sewer pipelines, pits and storage tanks; 15. Stone crushing ; 16. Lifting and carrying of heavy weight specially in transport industry (15kg and above); 17. Carpet weaving;
54 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
18. Working two meters above the floor; 19. All scavenging including hospital waste; 20. Tobacco processing and manufacturing (including niswar); 21. Deep-sea fishing, commercial fishing and processing of fish and sea-food; 22. Sheep casing and wool industry; 23. Ship breaking; 24. Surgical instrument manufacturing specially in vendors workshops; 25. Glass bangles manufacture and furnaces; 26. Spice grinding; 27. Work in boiler house; 28. Work in cinemas, mini cinemas and cyber clubs; 29. Bidi-making; 30. Manufacture of matches, explosives and fire-works; 31. Mica-cutting and splitting; 32. Shellas manufacturing; 33. Soap manufacture; 34. Tanning; 35. Wool cleaning; 36. Building and construction industry; 37. Manufacture of slate pencils (including packing); 38. Manufacture of products from agate; 39. Manufacturing process using toxic metals and substances such as lead, mercury, manganese, chromium, cadmium, benzene, pesticides and asbestos. Source: Ministry of Labor, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis www.pakistan.gov.pk/ministries/index.isp?MinID=27&cPath=346
Child Labor in Carpet Industry Rugs are among South Asia’s top export product and a high-employment sector for the poor. In Pakistan, young children whose parents take money in advance for their work on carpet looms are victims of a debt-bondage system. Children are paid half the wages of that paid to an adult worker and they are not allowed to leave the premises until the debt is fully paid. Adult workers and employers sexually abuse these children, about a quarter of whom are girls under the age of 15.2
A research commissioned by the ILO, in the Punjab in carpet weaving found that there are over 107,000 children (5-14 age group) in carpet weaving including 59 percent
2 A Rapid Assessment of Bonded Labor in the Carpet Industry of Pakistan, International Labor Office, March 2004
SPARC 55 Child Labor girls.3 Approximately 58,000 children in the 15-17 age group were also working as carpet weavers. Nearly 78 percent of the children weave carpets at home working at an average of 6-8 hours a day. Backache, weak eyesight, joint pains and respiratory disorders are the most common ailments suffered by the carpet weavers. Majority of the families are aware of the health hazards caused due to carpet weaving. Only nine percent of the carpet weaving children attended schools. Over 90 percent said they would send children to school if education was free, and the school timings suited them. More than half of the carpet weaving households reported a monthly income of less than Rs. 2,000 indicating that they were below the national poverty line.
As much as 52 percent of the households were under debt (average debt amounting to about six months of income) and almost half of them borrowed money from carpet contractors to service their accumulated loan. Despite complaints of low wages, two thirds of the households said they would continue weaving carpets. The general opinion of carpet weaving families was that children work to supplement family income was vital. The implication that families would consider combining work and education but not allow withdrawal of children from carpet weaving to pursue full time education was implicitly clear.
According to the survey conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in Mohmand Agency and released in April 2006, it was found that school children were being forced into carpet weaving profession. The survey revealed that low finances had forced tribal school children to work for the local carpet industry in a poverty- ridden area of Mohmand Agency. Half of them have left the only primary school to earn for their families at Aqrab Dag, an area of Yakka Ghund in the Agency’s lower subdivision.
A small-time carpet-weaving unit started working at a place near Yakka Ghund about one and a half years ago. With the passage of time, the number of machines increased to 50 and the business expanded in the area. Over 300 children aged between 7 and 15 work all day in the small carpet factories. These children are not given daily or monthly salaries instead, every child is paid Rs. 200 to Rs 500, according to his age, after a carpet is manufactured. It takes two to three and a half months to make a carpet and two children work on a carpet along with one expert. Every child gets one meal and tea every day.
The children’s parents told the surveyors that unemployment was on the rise in the area and there was no guarantee that their children would find jobs after they completed their education. They said that they asked their children to learn carpet weaving and stopped them from going to school. The parents said that their children did not receive daily or monthly wages, in return for the work they did in the carpet factories. However, they added, the children learnt carpet weaving within two years
3 Research Commissioned by ILO Carpet Punjab Project
56 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 and then they could earn money. Surely the future of hundreds of school-going children is at stake.
Child Labor in Glass Bangle Industry Children in large numbers are employed in the glass bangle making industry. District Hyderabad in Sindh province is known for producing beautiful, creative and high quality glass bangles. Bangles are a much loved ornament worn by women of Pakistan, and in some cultures, bangles is a must for married women. It is a must on festive occasions as well, such as marriages, Eid etc. As such bangles are bought and sold throughout the country and therefore is in high demand.
The glass bangle industry is one of the major economic activity in Hyderabad District and supports close to 30,000 families. Bangle production is concentrated in the urban and semi-urban areas of Hyderabad City. Within the city, the industry is concentrated in Latifabad, Ilayasabad (Nishat Market), Noorani Basti and the old city (Kacha Qila, Makki Shah Road). As most work is carried out in the homes, there are no labor laws applicable in the glass bangle industry and thus there is no labor inspection by the Sindh Labor Department. The wages of young workers are determined by the number of toras (bunch of 300 glass bangles tied together) as opposed to the number of hours worked. In a day an individual may tie together between 25-35 tora, and remuneration for tying one tora amounts to approximately Rs.1.7- Rs 3.4. This means an average salary comes in range of Rs. 1200 to 3500 per month.
The Baseline Survey conducted by ILO during the preparatory phase of the Time Bound Program in 2003 reported deplorable and hazardous working conditions for children working in the glass bangle manufacturing industry in Hyderabad district. These include low wages (approximately Rs. 1,300 per month), long working hours, a high risk of injury, lack of access to medical facilities, inaccessibility to financial resources and alternate employment opportunities. The survey also pointed out that a total of 9, 584 boys and girls below the age of 18 are working in the glass bangle industry in Hyderabad. Children’s involvement in the industry prevents them from accessing their basic human right of acquiring education. The baseline survey also revealed that only 55 percent of the working children surveyed were attending school.
Save the Children UK and Sweden also conducted a study on the prevalence of Child Labor in the glass bangle industry in Hyderabad. Of the total of 509 house surveyed, 255 had two or more children involved in bangle making. Around 117 households had only one child working in bangle work and 137 said none of their children worked in the industry. About 73 percent of the total children were involved in bangle making in one form or another. The survey revealed high percentage of child labor among the communities in Hali Road and Latifabad as opposed to a lower percentage at IIyasabad (56 percent). Children begin work as early as six years of age.
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Children working in bangle industry are mostly exposed to open flame; continuous inhalation of fumes from kerosene or natural gas stoves; extreme heat, as the flame does not allow use of fans; working in confined spaces, as the work cannot be done outside due to the flames; potential injury due to lack of protective gear; eye strain and back and joint pains due to sitting in the same position for long hours.
Child Labor in Surgical Industry The city of Sialkot is famous for the manufacture and export of various items including sports goods, leather apparel and surgical instruments. Surgical industry is one of those industries that require nimble fingers and fast work, only possible from children. Children are involved at different stages of manufacture of surgical instruments. The Baseline Survey during preparatory phase of Time Bound Program in 2003- 054 reported deplorable conditions for children working in the surgical instruments manufacturing industry in Sialkot district. It found that there are 5,800 children working in the surgical industry for long hours (8-10 hours), six days a week and with no protective gear. Approximately 30 percent of the workers in the surgical industry are child laborers whereas according to the Punjab Welfare Department, children constitute about 15 percent of the work force in the surgical instrument industry in Sialkot. According to a report issued by Public Services International June 1999, the average age of children in the surgical instrument industry is 12.
Estimates of Children in Worst Forms of Child Labor in Six Sectors Children Surgical- Tanneries- Coal Glass Rag Deep Sea by Age Sialkot Kasur Mines- Bangles- Pickers- Fishing- Group & Chakwal Hyderabad Islamabad Gwadar Gender WFCL 5-14 Years Boys 2774 333 41 3944 2012 1055 Girls 0 0 0 1504 263 0
WFCL 15-17 Years
Boys 2359 384 316 2834 1225 1423
Girls 0 0 0 1302 0 0
All WFCL 5-17 Years
Boys 5133 717 357 6778 3237 2478
Girls 0 0 0 2806 263 0
Total 5133 717 357 9584 3500 2478
Source: ILO-IPEC Baseline Surveys & Rapid Assessments
4 Baseline Survey during preparatory Phase of Time Bound Program in 2003
58 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Child labor still occurs at rudimentary off-site filing and polishing centers run by subcontractors for low-end items. Almost all children working in the surgical instrument industry are male. The main tasks carried out by young boys include; filing, grinding, polishing fitting, cutting, riveting and electro polishing.
Children in the surgical instrument industry are prone to injuries from machinery and burns from hot metal, as well as respiratory illnesses from inhaling poisonous metal dust. Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) study revealed high exposure to metal dust, very low level of illumination and high noise exposure in certain sectors. Personal protective equipment was not worn anywhere. Majority of the child workers (95 percent) reported disturbed sleep, 40 percent reported physical punishment by parents/elders, and 40 percent disliked the work they did. Bedwetting was reported by two percent of working children but none of the control group children, eight percent of working children while none of control group were smokers. 50 percent of children and 40 percent adults reported injuries during work, which included mainly cuts and eye injuries. The basic health indicators (height, weight, pulmonary functions) when compared across the same age groups, were much poor in the working children than the normal children of same age groups. Child laborers were suffering from various diseases: musculo-skeletal disorders like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (40.6 percent); low back pain (82.2 percent) pain neck and shoulders (84.2 percent) and callosities (8.9 percent); skin problems like cuts/bruises/burns, scabies and boils; ear, nose and throat disorders (Rhinitis, tonsillitis); prevalence of conjunctivitis of the eye (due to irritants in the workplace or poor hygiene).
Child Labor in Rag Picking Business A study conducted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Rag Pickers/Scavengers in 2003 reveals that there are roughly 89,500-106,500 children engaged in scavenging in five major cities of the country i.e. Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad. The survey identifies three types of scavengers: migratory scavengers, roaming scavengers and site based scavengers.
The estimated number of rag pickers is as follows according to the survey findings:
Target City Estimated Number of Rag Pickers Karachi 33,000-40,500 Lahore 35,000-40,000 Peshawar 10,000-12,000 Quetta 8,000-10,000 Islamabad 3,500-4,000 Total 89,500-106,500
Source: SDPI/ILO Rapid Assessment 2003
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The Center for Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment (CIWCE) carried out OSH Study, revealing the hazards associated with the rag picking occupation. The average working hours for children were 11 hours daily. Most of the scavengers (60 percent) said that they lived with other adults and child co-workers at places provided by either the contractor or rented. In some cases, 8-10 laborers (children and adults) slept on one bed or floor of a room. Most of the child laborers (95 percent) reported disturbed sleep, physical punishment (19 percent), and 60 percent disliked their work. A sizeable proportion (21 percent) said that they ate food scavenged from the garbage.
Child Labor in Tanneries During preparatory phase of the Time Bound Program, ILO-IPEC commissioned a Baseline Study in Kasur to determine the extent of child labor in this tanneries sector and to assess options for possible interventions in 2003. The survey identified a total of 717 children, all boys, working in the tanneries in Kasur District. Out of these 333 were in 5-14 years age bracket and 384 in the 15-17 year age group. No girl child was found working in the tanneries in Kasur. The baseline survey also revealed that children start working in the tanneries to help their families. The other significant reason given by the children was the desire to learn a trade. Some children reported that they were pressurized by the family to take up work in tanneries. Other reasons include low performance in schools and the compulsion to work because of father’s death, unemployment or addiction. A significant number of parents reported that their children dropped out of school and started working because they could not afford the cost of schooling.
The CIWCE (Center for Improvement of Working Conditions and Enviroment) and Labor Department Government of Punjab carried out an OSH in collaboration with IPEC in tanneries. The study revealed that children suffer from disturbed sleep and pain in the lower back, neck and shoulders. They have poor personal hygiene and suffer from eye infections, cuts and bruises, skin diseases, and respiratory diseases. They also showed signs of stunted height and weight. Physical punishment in the work place was common. The children were also exposed to chemicals and suffer from dehydration, abdominal pains and ear, nose and throat (ENT) disorders.
Body to Curb Child Labor in Tanneries A district coordination committee has been established for launching an action program to eliminate worst forms of child labor from tanneries. This was stated by the District Coordination Officer on April 17. He said the program would be launched in collaboration with International Labor Organization, Ministry of Labor, the district government and an NGO-Sudhar. The meeting was attended by ILO Time-Bound Program Chief Executive District Officers, Senior Program Officer ILO, government officials, tanneries association president and representatives of NGOs. About 250 centers for children welfare have been set up out of which three were working in Kasur. SOURCE: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 47, June 2006.
60 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Child Labor in Deep Fishing Industry Gwadar is an important district of Balochistan because of its upcoming sea-port. The district has over 1.8 million population. Fishing is the main economic activity here, followed by agriculture, livestock rearing, farming and government and social services. A large number of children are working in deep-sea fishing, boat-making and processing. These children work with either their fathers or some other family members and learn their family craft. Moreover, children are also supposed to fetch water from community tanks/ponds, collect fuel wood etc. All these tasks that are performed by children are considered as help to their families and not as child labor. This has an impact on the overall socio-economic conditions of the local communities, especially their education and health status.
Pakistani Children Head to Sea for a Living A year in an Indian jail hasn’t put 13-year-old Rasool Baksh off returning to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast and going back to sea. He was arrested in 2004 for fishing in Indian territorial waters near the disputed Sir Creek, between India’s Gujarat state and Pakistan’s Sindh Province. Released last year, life for Baksh has not changed. “It was hard in the Indian jail but fishing is our business. It has been passed to us down the generations. We cannot do any other job so we take the risk,” he said. Baksh, is a member of an estimated 50,000-strong force of children working in the fishing industry along Pakistan’s 1,125 km (700 miles) coastline. “I cannot read or write. From childhood I have only seen my father, uncles and brothers catching fish. I like following them,” says Baksh, his teeth stained from chewing a betel nut and tobacco concoction known as gutka (a mixture of tobacco, and betel nut) For any fishing families, children are essential workers in an industry that is being increasingly squeezed by foreign competition. “I am not scared” says Amjad Baloch, 12; he sometimes has to stay out at sea for 40 days to ensure a good catch. Baloch, lives in a village near Karachi with no power, gas, or source of clean drinking water. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 47, June 2006.
Most of the health hazards associated with the trade include Musculo-skeletal problems due to manual handling of heavy loads, long working hours and extremely tough routines. The CIWCE’s OSH study revealed that the children suffered from health issues that included; heat stress; lifting heavy weights; odd and long working hours; sleep deprivation; cuts/bruises from handling of nets and equipment ; biological hazards in the form of fungi; diesel smoke inhalation; fuel and lubricant exposure to skin during operation and repair of boats; uncomfortable posture; drowning at sea; high temperatures, weather extremes and substance abuse.
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Child Labor in Bondage and Forced Labor
There are over 1.7 million people in bondage in Pakistan according to the Women, Kids among 30 Kiln Agricultural Survey of Pakistan and ILO’s Workers Recovered World Labor Report 2005. Majority of A District and Sessions Court bailiff them are landless tillers (Haris) in Sindh raided two brick kilns in Toba Tek Singh working for the provincial feudal lords. and recovered more than 30 unlawfully The wives and children of male laborers confined workers, including women are also captives of the feudal lords and children. In a petition filed by Bhatta Mazdoor Union leaders, District (Waderas) in Sindh. and Sessions Judge ordered the court bailiff to raid the kilns situated in Chak The Human Rights Commission of 307-GB and 342-GB (Chohar Wala). Pakistan expressed concern over the Meanwhile, the freed workers staged increasing number of bonded laborers a demonstration outside the district and the government’s apathy and failure Press Club against the kiln owners and to help in liberating them. Earlier, only raised slogans condemning bonded feudal lords use to have slaves but now labor. Pakistan Bhatta Mazdoor even the mid-range farmers are enslaving Alliance president, SPARC Child Rights people. People become bonded when Committee District coordinator advocate they ask for financial assistance either for Mehr Rab Nawaz and Labor Party livelihood or for an emergency, from their District Secretary General informed journalists at a press conference that employers/landlords, and are unable the kiln owners showed fake entries to pay back. Taking advantage of their of advance payment allegedly made predicament, the landlords keep them in to the workers in their ledgers. The bondage and use their services to pay for owners, they alleged, forced the poor the debt. As the debt keeps multiplying, laborers and their families to work at the laborer and his family’s bondage the kilns for unspecified period. Some keeps growing and as a consequence of the owners even tied the workers generations after generations are found with chains, they added. working and living in jail like conditions and at the mercy of the landlord.
During 2005, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported the release of some 1072 Haris (slaves) from the detention of landlords. Some 181 Haris were released through administrative measures of the provincial government; about 63 Haris managed to get freedom through the orders of the sessions court when their cases were prosecuted by rights activist organizations and 828 bonded laborers escaped from the prison-like centers.
Based on the research study Fading Light carried out by SPARC on the prevalence of child trafficking in Sindh, it can be deduced that between 2001 and 2003 out of the total population of children in Sindh, 41,218 children – 39,157 (95 percent) males and 2,061(5 percent) females – have been trafficked from rural to rural and urban areas
62 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 within and from Sindh, with or without the child’s consent. Forced labor was identified as the main purpose for trafficking.
The study further reveals that an estimated 8,244 boys and girls have been trafficked between 2001 and 2003 by organized mafias/groups with exploitation being the main purpose: 2,061 in 2001, 4,122 in 2002 and 2,061 in 2003. An estimated 32,975 boys have been trafficked between 2001 and 2003 with no mafia involved. In these cases, parents did not realize they were trafficking their children, though all the conditions of trafficking were being met. The number of boys trafficked is estimated at 12,366 in 2001 and 10,304 in both 2002 and 2003. SPARC’s Intervention in Bonded Labor SPARC is carrying out a project on bonded labor with the support from Trócaire, an Irish organization, with an overall objective to facilitate bonded laborers’ access to government and non-governmental agencies providing social services, including but not limited to, provision of National Identity Cards. The project is being carried out in Sindh (Sanghar, Mithi, Umerkot, and Hyderabad) and the Punjab (Muzaffargarh). One of the major objectives of the project was to empower bonded laborers in these districts by facilitating their access to some basic social services and create awareness among them about their rights. For this purpose, focal points were proposed in the form of Child Rights Committees (CRCs) in the project districts. These CRCs were to closely interact with the bonded labor community, local government departments, facilitate the access of bonded laborers to selected social services, including the obtaining of National Identity Cards. The CRCs have facilitated and paid for a significant number of Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC) for the bonded labor community. The CRCs also held consultations, seminars related to bonded labor. The CRC held CNIC facilitation camps, for the bonded laborers. They held meetings with the District Vigilance Committee members, District Manager NADRA, District Labor Officer Muzaffargarh and Pakistan Baitul- Maal to discuss issues regarding bonded laborers. Over 2000 bonded laborers have been facilitated in obtaining NICs (National Identity Cards) by SPARC so far. It must be noted that possession of NIC is the first step to gaining access to public funds and for enlisting on electoral rolls. Some of the bonded laborers, who had received their CNICs, were enlisted on the voter’s list by the CRCs. The NADRA officials have been made aware of the needs and constraints of bonded laborers and they have promised to address them. There is an increased collaboration between CRCs and NADRA officials regarding making of lists, filling out forms and the use of mobile teams to access bonded laborers who do not have the resources to go to the nearest town for initiating the NIC process. The CRCs held consultations for the activation of the DVCs and due to SPARC’s ongoing lobbying; many DVCs which had previously not been activated or were dormant for the past 13 years have been notified in Sindh and Punjab. In the Punjab, SPARC’s lobbying has resulted in the March 3/2005 notification concerning reconstitution of the DVCs as well as increased media coverage.
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Street Theater and Peace Demonstration On December 26, the Child Rights Committee held a peace demonstration cum street theater outside Hyderabad Press Club on “Child Rights are Human Rights”. A team of artists from Indus Valley Theater Hyderabad performed. A large number of children including those of the ex- bonded laborers living in makeshift camps at Kotri and other children from the city, civil society activists and Child Rights Committee members took part in the event. The theatre depicted the problems and issues the children in general as well as the children engaged in labor and bonded labor in particular are facing in an inspiring manner. Later, the participants jointly held a peace demonstration raising slogans relating to child rights issues including child labor, bonded labor, and violation of their rights to education and health. The rally also passed several resolutions demanding the government to end child labor and protect child rights.
According to the research findings children once trafficked; were exploited through forced labor and exposed to exploitative, harmful and hazardous conditions. In some cases children were kept in slave-like conditions and sexually exploited both for commercial and personal gains. Although boys were found to be more vulnerable to trafficking than girls, the condition of and consequences for trafficked girls could be worse.
Child Labor in Makkah The problem of child labor persists in Saudi Arabia, by day or night. It is 3.30 am in central Makkah, about a half-hour stroll from the Grand Mosque. Though it’s still an hour before Fajr (morning) prayers, hundreds of faithful are heading to Islam’s holiest site. On the street, a child sleeps next to a trash bin. Another stands nearby selling miswaks, the sticks used to clean their teeth. A third child is next to him and says he is nine years old and Burmese. The boys, say their father prepares the miswak sticks and sends them to the streets to make money. One of the boys says he arrives in the area after evening prayers and stays until next afternoon prayers the next day selling in the street. The boy says they earn about SR150 a day, SR300 on the Thursday-Friday weekends and more during Ramadan and Haj. They admit that most of the earnings are the product of charity by their customers. The youngest brother, the one sleeping next to the garbage, is still learning from his older brothers the art of selling pity and miswak sticks to passers-by.
Source: www.arabnews.com
64 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Child Labor in Domestic Service Child labor in domestic service is very common and acceptable. It may be paid or unpaid work. It takes place in the home and duties include cleaning, cooking, baby sitting and caring among many other small and big chores. Domestic work is predominantly the domain of female child laborers. These children work long hours, do not go to school and many of them are separated from their parents for long periods of time. They often face the risk of sexual and physical abuse from their employers.
A Rapid Assessment (RA) on child domestic labor by SPARC in Islamabad (Capital) and four provincial capitals based on selected localities covering 2,492 households in 2004; reveals that every fourth household in Pakistan employs children for domestic purposes. Majority of these 62 percent were girls. However, there were distinct provincial variations in the prevalence of Photograph by: Saeeda Syed female child domestic workers. In Peshawar and Quetta, the proportion of girls was lower than in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad/Rawalpindi. The NWFP and Balochistan are relatively conservative regions and do not encourage female mobility and employment.
Many of children interviewed for the research were between ages 6 to10, (27 percent) and 11-14, (42 percent). These children are subject to all forms of abuse; verbal, physical and sexual, many are in debt bondage and many under the camouflage of adoption, deprived of their basic rights. They have no access to education, play and peer interaction. The working hours are long and ill defined with low or no wages. Most of these children are illiterate, and have no alternative livelihood skills; trapped in inter-generational poverty and servitude. These children work under difficult circumstances and are exposed to safety and health hazards. Their jobs are invisible too: domestic work belongs in the informal labor market, is unregistered and does not show up in the national child labor statistics. Domestic child labor adversely impacts on the child’s growth and development. The child suffers from a number of problems that mars her/his personality forever, such as: a. Respect for identity, selfhood and freedom b. Parental nurture and guidance c. Physical well-being d. Educational development
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e. Psycho-social and emotional development f. Gross Abuse and exploitation, including sexual exploitation
Child domestic labor is considered as one of the worst forms of child labor world- wide. Despite some interventions and strong recommendations by civil society groups, the Ministry of Labor has been hesitant in including child domestic labor in the hazardous occupations.
Child Labor in Begging Profession There are two types of child beggars; one who is doing it as a profession and the other is child peddler who begs in order to survive. There is no data that gives the magnitude of the problem. However, there is no doubt that it is huge and growing. One can hardly miss the number of little outstretched hands begging for a rupee or more, boys and girls alike. Time is no constraint, especially for the boys. In many cases, these children are actually working for adults who at times maim and mutilate some of them to get more money from the people. The employer keeps the major portion of the earning. In addition to begging, these children are also easy prey to sexual abuse and exploitation. Children in begging are abused from their childhood, either by parents, members of the family or a third party who hires the child in return for money as a begging tool.
Child Labor on the Streets Street children are a huge problem in Pakistan. They work in variety of trades such as shoe-shiners, newspapers, magazines and flower sellers, rag- pickers, beggars, waiters, etc. The problem of children living on the street is somewhat different from that of children working in factories and workshops who go home at the end of the day, while street children are on their own and at the mercy of their employers.5 An estimated 1.2 million children are on the streets of Pakistan’s major cities and urban centers, constituting the country’s largest and most ostracized social group.6 These include ‘runaway’ children who live or work on the street, as well as the minority that return to their families at the end of the day with their meager earnings. According to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) survey, 72 percent of working children are not in contact with their families and 10 percent have no knowledge of their families.
Factors Contributing to Child Labor Child labor cannot be viewed in isolation because it is a cause and consequence of the country’s socio-economic and political reality. According to the findings of child labor survey 1996, major factors responsible for child labor (which hold true even after almost ten years) were and are: g Large population with higher population growth rate,
5 Child Labor Impact Assessment, NORAD New Delhi 1994, p 10 6 http://meero.worldvision.org/news_article.php?newsID=622&countryID=0
66 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 g Almost three-fourth (70 percent) of the total population living in rural areas, with subsistence on agriculture, g Low productivity and poverty, g Unpaid family helpers especially in agricultural activities, g Discriminating social attitude towards girls and women, and g Inadequate educational facilities.
Working children come from large families in the low income bracket. Household size of working children was found to be eight which is higher than the national average. Higher proportion of economically active girls fall under households of size nine plus. The survey indicates that most cogent reasons given by parents/guardians for making their children work;
1. To assist in house enterprise (69 percent) and 2. To supplement household income (28 percent).
The former is more pronounced in rural households whereas the latter is more significant in urban families.
There are several underlying causes that are contributing to child labor in Pakistan. It can be classified into supply side and demand side:
Supply-Side Causes: Poverty: Constant poverty forces the parents to send their children to work for additional income. Poverty and economic disparity work as push factors for child labor, which may also lead to the worst forms of child labor. However, child labor will not disappear only by eradicating poverty. Children from poor or indebted families, communities, are also vulnerable to the lure of higher income and standards of living.
Cultural Context and Mindset: Our culture has a long tradition of children laboring to help their families at home or in the fields. Children are expected not only to honor and obey their parents and elders, but also assist them financially. This traditional attitude can sometimes result in inadvertent child labor. The magnitude of the problem is dependent on the family and community hierarchies and cultural traditions and values that do not pay due regard to children’s rights. It is regarded as part of a child’s normal socialization even if exploitative conditions exist. Cultural values and mindsets regarding work being the best form of education for children, the importance of girls learning domestic work and the importance of physical labor for male children contribute to high incidence of child labor and places children in exploitative labor from which it is difficult to escape.
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Education: Pakistan’s literacy rate is among the lowest in the South Asian region as well as globally. Children with no or restricted access to education often have little alternative but to look for work at a very early age. In addition, inadequacies of education system in terms of weak infrastructure, poor quality teaching, lack of qualified teachers, teacher absenteeism, corporal punishment and emotional, verbal abuse, strict conditions and lack of learning materials pushes children out of school. Many families have low regard for education, discourage school attendance, and also believe that it is better for a child to work, that will help him learn skills which is better than a low quality education or education that does not guarantee employment. The Government of Pakistan, in line with Education for All (EFA) has announced free education and free books in primary schools. Despite these measures, the government has miserably failed in reaching out to the rural communities where the real problem exists.
SPARC’s study on trafficking of children in Sindh, Fading Light reveals that child labor and trafficking are closely linked to the level of education of the head of the family. According to the findings, half of the trafficked children came from homes with illiterate family heads; 30 percent from families where the head of the house had primary education and 15 percent from homes where the education level of the family head was secondary and beyond. Similarly, based on the principal occupation of the household head, 65 percent of children came from an agricultural background and 35 percent from non-agricultural.
Age: Parents treat children as adults as soon as they show signs of physical maturity and children are burdened with tons of responsibility. In a large number of areas, girls are married off by age 12 and 13 burdening the little girl with the responsibility of house work, child bearing and rearing, taking care of the demanding in-laws and fulfilling family obligations before she has outgrown her own childhood. Similarly with boys too, sons as young as four and above are sent for work, not realizing that this is their time to play and learn Photograph by: Fahmina Naz and not work and earn.
Demand-Side Causes: Cheap Labor: Child labor is a demand driven phenomenon also because it is cheap and easily available in developing countries like Pakistan. There is a market for child
68 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 labor and this is matched by an abundant supply of children. Poverty stricken children are an easy prey for those who seek to make a profit by exploiting their vulnerability.
Regulatory Environment: In Pakistan, the implementation of laws is either weak or totally nonexistent. The minimum age of child laborers is 14 years but children less than eight years are found laboring all over the country. The minimum age in worst forms of child labor is 18, but this is very often ignored both by the employers and the parents. There is a contradiction in Employment of Children Act 1991 which prohibits employment of children less than 14 years in hazardous occupations. Little respect is accorded to the International Conventions to which the government is signatory, as far as its application is concerned or making them a part of the national policy; a prerequisite for ratification. If at all, any measures taken by the government in this regard are due to the international pressure or fear of sanctions and not something which the government wants to do because they are obliged to do so for the betterment of our children.
Globalization: Process of globalization is impacting the national economies particularly in Pakistan where children are working in export industries. This exposes them to a greater risk of exploitation, as their employers strive to gain a competitive edge in the world. At a macro level, globalization contributes to a rapid growth of informal sector implying replacement of secure jobs with more contractual labor.
Reminders!
1. Child labor and education are interrelated. 2. Every child has a right to quality education. 3. Non-formal education should aim at integration with formal education. 4. All forms of child labor are unacceptable, for any child. 5. There is a close link between eradication of child lab labor and realization of labor standards. 6. Child labor causes and sustains poverty. 7. Companies have a responsibility to eradicate child labor in their operations. Source: Child Labor in Developing Countries: Recommendation Report to European Parliament 2005
Consequence of Child Labor on Children Childhood provides children important opportunities to learn from the world around them. Skills that are developed at this age enable them to become social beings and participate fully in family and community life. This early period of life is critical in determining children’s future existence. Child laborers miss out on much of this precious time. Their work gets in the way of childhood activities and becomes an obstacle to their physical, emotional and social development.
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Child labor impacts negatively on children and leaves a lifelong mark on their personality, attitude, behavior, self esteem, confidence etc. which then forms the future adult member of the family and the society as a whole. The various other implications can be divided into cultural, social, economic and political. Some of them are: g Adult employment and depreciation in wages g Perpetuation of poverty and inequalities g Persistence of Child Labor through generations g Increased abuse of children g Limited use of human resources g Malnourished citizens g Political instability g Children unable to contribute and benefit from development
Impact of Child Labor on Children Health: Child labor in general leads to physical, mental and social deprivation of the child, because of a lack of proper environment in the growing years. Most child laborers suffer from malnutrition. Long work hours and un-hygienic work environment are some other factors affecting their health. They are also prone to infections and communicable diseases in work places. Work in agriculture is also characterized by certain hazards, particularly with the introduction of new and advanced farming practices, techniques and chemicals.
Children are particularly at risk from endemic and parasitic diseases, diseases of the respiratory tract, dermatitis and fatal accidents. However, these problems are multiplied in industries. Work may be heavy and intense; it may be mechanized and extremely monotonous; it may use toxic and dangerous chemicals and objects. Heavy loads and awkward body positions can affect physical growth, especially the growth of bones, which are still soft.
Economy: Child labor also has economic consequences such as an increase in poverty. Often employers prefer to hire children because they can extract more work from children at lower wages, in the process bringing down the overall wages for such jobs. Thus child labor decreases adult employment and reduces their income and forces adults to send their children to work to supplement the family income. The poor are caught in a vicious circle. Rather than improving the situation, child labor only worsens the situation.
Political Rights: Children work in environments where they are constantly suppressed. This weakens their ability to think, evaluate and express their views. As adult citizens,
70 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 they continue to find it difficult to actively and meaningfully participate in democratic political processes.
Legal and Regulatory Environment Child labor has been around since the beginning of time. As a policy issue, however, its elimination has taken on much greater importance in recent years. Yet the task of eliminating child labor is not simple, where poverty often makes it necessary and a justification for families. Pakistan has adopted a number of legislative measures to address and eradicate child labor.
Legislation Article 11 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan forbids slavery and states that no law shall permit or facilitate its introduction into Pakistan in any form. Article 11 (2) prohibits all forms of forced labor and traffick in human beings, Article 11 (3) prohibits employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment.
Apart, from specific provision on child The Constitution of Pakistan says, “No labor, the Constitution under article child below the age of fourteen shall 37 establishes the need to protect be engaged in any factory or mine or human dignity and privacy, guarantees in any other hazardous employment.” freedom of movement, ensures freedom Article 11(3) of association and grants freedom of speech. It is the responsibility of the State to “make provision for securing just and human conditions of work, ensuring that children and women are not employed in occupations unsuited to their age and sex”.
National and International Commitments: 1923: Mines Act (1923): Employment of a child below the age of 12 years in mines was prohibited by the British. The 26-A section of the Act says “Young person cannot be employed without certificates of fitness. No person who has not completed his seventeenth year shall be employed in any part of a mine. In 1935, the minimum age was raised to 15 years. Previously this stipulation existed for those young persons only working below ground, but the Mines (Amendment) Act, 1973 has provided that these conditions apply to all young persons in any part of a mine whether above ground of below ground.
1934: The Factories Act (1934): It contains a special chapter titled “special provisions for adolescent and children”. Section 50 of the law prescribes that no child who has not completed his fourteenth year shall be allowed to work in the factory. A “factory” is defined under this Act to mean “any premises, whereon ten or more workers are working. And in any part of which a manufacturing process is being carried out.”
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1957: ILO Forced Labor Convention (No. 29): Ratified by the Government Punjab Industrial Policy 2003 of Pakistan in 1957. Each member of Under the policy, inspections by the the ILO which ratifies this Convention labor department have been done undertakes to suppress the use of forced away with. A self-declaration system for or compulsory labor in all its forms within labor inspection has been introduced which virtually gives free hand to the shortest possible period. Aims at the employers to do anything to safeguard immediate suppression of all forms of their interests. It has become almost forced or compulsory labor. There are impossible to check violations by the five exceptions: certain civic obligations; owners and employers. This policy prison labor resulting from a conviction in negates the Government’s commitment court; work needed during emergencies to protect the rights of workers and such as a war, fires and earthquakes, nullifying the inspection system. The and minor communal services such as Punjab Industrial Policy set the wrong Special Youth Schemes. precedent and as a result, the NWFP and Sindh governments followed and 1960: ILO Abolition of Forced Labor introduced similar policies in their respective provinces. Convention (No.105): This Convention was ratified by Pakistan in 1960. The Convention asks the government for the abolition of all forms of forced or compulsory labor as means of political coercion; as a punishment for the expression of certain political and ideological opinions; as workforce mobilization, as labor discipline; as a punishment for taking part in strikes; as a measure of racial, social, national or religious discrimination.
1961: Road Transport Workers Ordinance (1961): The law that prohibits employment of children below the age of 18 years. This law governs the conditions of employment of road transport workers. As per law, the minimum age is fixed at 21 years for employment of drivers.
1969: The West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance (1969): The employment of children is prohibited under the Ordinance. This law was passed in June 1969. The section 20 of the Ordinance says “No child shall be required or allowed to work in any establishment”. This Law prohibits employment of children below the age of 12 years in any establishment. In 1975 in the Punjab Province, and in 1977, General Zia’s martial law regime for the whole of Pakistan, raised this age to 14 years. The term `establishment’ is defined under this Law to mean a shop, commercial or industrial establishment, private dispensary, hotel, restaurant, cafe, cinema and such other places as are notified by the concerned provincial governments.
1990: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): The Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by Pakistan in 1990. The countries after ratifying the CRC are supposed to implement all its articles, making necessary changes in the
72 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 local laws to promote and protect the rights of the children. The ‘Protection Provision’ of the CRC includes shielding from abuse; right of child to protection from traditional prejudicial practices; protection from torture and all other forms of child exploitation including employment in hazardous work. Article 32 on child labor states that the child has a right to be protected from work that threatens his or her health, education or development.
1991: The Employment of Children Act (1991): The ECA 1991 prohibits the employment of children in certain occupations and regulates their conditions of work. No child is allowed to work over-time or during the night. Section 3 of the Act bans employment of under-14 children in a number of occupations. Part II prohibits employment of children in 13 specific sectors. The prohibition against employing children in hazardous labor, and the regulations governing the working conditions of children under 14 do not apply to family run establishments, and schools (training institutes) established, assisted, or organized by the Government. The ECA’s Section 3 also gives the government the authority to prescribe by rules the maximum number of hours children are required or permitted to work in any specific establishment. These hours are prescribed in the Rules that have been enacted in each of the four provinces; the rules slightly differ from province to province. The National Committee on the Rights of the Child was set up under the Employment of Children Act, 1991. The Committee advises the Government on the addition of certain occupations and activities to the Schedule of the Employment of Children Act, 1991.
1992: The Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act (1992): declares all customs, traditions, practices, contracts or agreements concerning bonded labor, whether entered into or in operation before or after the effective date of the legislation, void and inoperative. Any obligations on the part of the bonded laborer to repay any bonded debt were cancelled and no suit could be brought for the recovery of such a debt. Special provisions in this Act provide for setting up of Vigilance Committees to advise the district administration on matters relating to the effective implementation of freed bonded laborers, application of the Law, and providing the bonded laborers with necessary assistance. The penalties for violating this Law are imprisonment from two to five years and/or a fine of 50,000 rupees. In April 2000, funds were earmarked, with an initial amount of Rs.100 million, for working children’s education and rehabilitation of bonded laborers. In 2001, the Government launched a National Policy and Plan of Action to combat Bonded Labor in Pakistan.
1998: Taskforce on Child Labor: The Government of Pakistan constituted a task force on Child Labor in 1998 with the mandate of formulating policies and strategies for the elimination of child and bonded labor in Pakistan and to prepare plans for the implementation of policies and strategies.
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1998: Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: ILO SPARC Commends ILO adopted the Declaration of Fundamental Convention 138 Ratification Principles and Rights at Work at the by the Government of International Labor Conference in 1998 Pakistan to safeguard and promote respect for SPARC commends ratification of basic workers’ rights. The declaration ILO Convention on Minimum Age of calls for the respect and implementation Employment No 138. Pakistan is now of all core labor standards regardless among those few countries, which of country’s ratification and applicable has ratified all core conventions of the to all member states. The core labor ILO. The ratification of ILO Convention standards are: demands that the Government should strictly enforce the minimum age of employment of 14 in all occupations 1. Right to Freedom of Association and including household as domestic Collective Bargaining; workers. SPARC says ratification is a 2. Elimination of all forms of forced and welcome development but its reflection compulsory labor; in national laws and implementation is 3. Effective abolition of child labor; actually the challenge and the question and of true commitment on Government’s 4. Elimination of discrimination part? In response and for a purpose of in respect of employment and increased awareness on the subject, occupation. SPARC published a brochure on the ILO Convention 138 with background information on the convention and 2000: The National Policy and Plan easy explanation of its articles. It can of Action 2000 on Child Labor: The be downloaded from SPARC NPPA 2000 was the assurance from the www.sparcpk.org Government of Pakistan for progressive elimination of child labor and set ambitious targets for progressive elimination of child labor from all sectors by 2010 and eradication of worst forms of child labor. The major policy measures are provision of primary education and skill training for children withdrawn from labor, prevention of child labor by offering alternative education and implementing a monitoring and inspection system to ensure that workplace remain child labor free and to implement the National Plan of Action. However, the NPPA, which had set the target for eradicating worst forms of child labor by 2005, has failed in meeting its target.
2000: UN Millennium Development Goals: The Millennium Development Goals are an ambitious agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives that world leaders agreed on at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. For each goal one or more targets have been set, most for 2015, using 1990 as a benchmark. The MDGs have been adopted by the Government of Pakistan and integrated in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The goals of the Education Sector Reforms Action Plan are also fully integrated with the relevant Millennium Development Goals.
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2001: ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor (No. 182): The ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor was ratified by Pakistan in 2001. Countries ratifying the Convention are expected to identify worst forms of child labor and develop, implement and monitor action programs in collaboration with employers and workers’ organizations. They will strive to improve education for prevention of entry of children to worst forms of child labor. Free basic education for all including children removed from worst forms of labor will be made available and accessible. Pakistan ratified Convention No.182 in 2001 and has embarked on the ILO supported Time Bound Program to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The success is still beyond reach.
2001: The National Plan of Action (NPA) for Education for All (2001-15) and Education Sector Reforms (ESR) Action Plan 2001-05: The National Plan of Action (NPA 2001-2015) formulated by the Federal Education Ministry has defined national-level targets for key education indicators in three EFA sectors: (1) early childhood education; (2) primary education; and (3) adult literacy; and identified the corresponding physical infrastructure required to achieve these respective targets. The ESR 2001-05 is a clear indication of the government’s responsiveness to the Dakar Declaration. The ESR is an Action Plan to address the delivery gap in the education sector based on a long-term Photograph by: Fahmina Naz framework linked to EFA goals by 2015.
2002: Labor Policy 2002: The Labor Policy 2002 endorses the National Policy and Plan of Action to Combat Child Labor and states that the Government of Pakistan has accepted the responsibility to enhance the age limit to 18 years with respect to the worst forms of child labor, for entry into the labor market after ratification of the ILO Convention No. 182 in 2001.
2002: The Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002: This Ordinance applies to all children aged less than 18 years. It defines exploitative entertainment as all activities in connection with human sports or sexual practices, and related abusive practices. According to the Ordinance, human trafficking means recruiting, buying or selling a person, with or without consent, by use of coercion, abduction, or by giving payment or share for such person’s transportation, for exploitative entertainment. The Ordinance prescribes severe terms of punishment — 7-14 years’ and parents guilty of the crime involving their own children are liable
SPARC 75 Child Labor for the same punishment. The rules of Trafficking Ordinance were notified in 2005. 2003: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-I: The Government of Pakistan, on December 31, 2003, released Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), titled ‘Accelerating economic growth and reducing poverty: The road ahead’. The PRSP gave due consideration to the issue of child labor while setting targets. It outlined its commitment on child labor issues and stated, “Although the government is committed to eliminate child labor as reflected in the National Policy and Plan of Action to Combat Child Labor, it is pursuing a policy of gradual elimination of all forms of child labor and immediate elimination of the hazardous and exploitative forms of child labor.
2005: National Policy and Plan of Action on Human Trafficking 2005: The Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) launched the National Policy on Human Trafficking in December 2005. The policy followed a three pronged Strategy: Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution and was victim-focused with rights-based approach. It focused on private public partnership and international cooperation.
2006: ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138): This Convention was ratified by the Government of Pakistan in 2006. It requires States to pursue national policies which will effectively abolish child labor. It establishes a minimum age for admission to employment or work which shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling, so that young people can develop physically and mentally before entering the workforce.
Challenges and Developments in 2006 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-II Child Labor, which was integrated in Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-I has been “completely” ignored in the PRSP II draft. Unbelievable! This needs reconsideration because any strategy to eradicate poverty cannot be successful in view of the high prevalence of child labor in the country. The Government signed and ratified the ILO Conventions No.182 and No.138, reflecting progress and merit strategic development. No country can deal with poverty unless it addresses the issue of child labor. The civil society representatives working to eradicate this evil have been pressurizing the government and the ministry of labor to include child labor in the PRSP-II and formulate strategies to deal with it effectively. It is estimated that over 10 million children are employed in Pakistan. Poverty cannot be alleviated unless serious efforts are made to totally and completely eliminate child labor from Pakistan.
The ILO Committee Questions the Government7 The ILO Committee has made several observations on the progress of child labor
7 Dawn, March 16, 2006
76 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 in Pakistan and asked the government to provide updated information on the steps taken for elimination of worst forms of child labor. The observations are: g The ILO Committee on the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor No. 182 has pointed out that a child labor survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of statistics with the assistance of ILO/ IPEC in 1996 revealed that about 3.3 million children aged 5 to 14(i.e. 8.3 percent of age group) were working. The Bureau was required to launch a follow-up survey to asses the impact of measures taken by the government under the time-bound program for elimination of worst forms of child labor. The committee has sought updated information, including inspection reports, studies, inquiries and number of children covered by the measures giving effect to the convention and number and nature of infringements and convictions based on the follow-up survey findings. g The committee has pointed out that compulsory recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflicts was considered to be one of the worst forms of child labor, consequently prohibited. The National Service Ordinance 1970 prescribed a minimum age of 18 for compulsory enlistment in armed conflicts. The committee has called upon the government to indicate measures taken to ensure that children under 18 were not compelled to participate in armed conflicts. g The committee has noted that no child or adolescent under 18 could be allowed to work in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment involving contact with dangerous chemicals under the Factories Act of 1934 but employment of Children Act provided that no child or adolescent could be allowed to work in any factory without obtaining a certificate of fitness from a medical practitioner. The adolescent aged 14 to 18 years who had obtained the certificate of fitness was considered an adult for the purpose of Factories Act and was deemed fit for a full day work in factory. The committee also noted that children under 14 could not be employed for night work between 7pm and 8am. g The committee noted that the government had earlier indicated that the Ministry of Labor, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis was currently working on consolidation and rationalization of labor laws which would include amending the definition of a child so as to bring its legislation in line with the Convention. g The committee has requested the government to provide information on activities of inspectors implementing Employment of Children Act indicating the number of workplaces investigated per year and findings with regard to the extent and nature of violations detected. Information regarding mechanisms designed to monitor implementation of the penal provisions giving effect to the Convention should also be provided. g The committee noted that the government signed an Mou with ILO/ IPEC in June, 1994 which was extended thrice till December 2004. About 50 action programs were initiated and about 25,000 children had directly benefited from the programs. The committee has asked the government to provide information on any new program started for the purpose. It has also sought information on any other measures taken for elimination of worst forms of child labor under the Time-Bound Program launched
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in 2003 and impact of National Plan of Action on Education for All on halting children working in the worst forms of children labor. g Referring to the report of the Child Rights Committee published in October 2003 observing that domestic workers were ‘very vulnerable to abuse and completely lacked protection’ the committee has asked the government to provide information about result of the program known as services for children in difficult circumstance launched with the assistance of ILO/ IPEC in 2000. g Referring to rapid assessment studies on bonded labor in different sectors in Pakistan (labor ministry) stated that nearly half of children aged 10-14 employed at brick kilns worked more than 10 hours a day and without any safeguards, lifted and carried heavy burdens, squatted for long periods and were exposed to dust. The committee has asked the government to provide information on measures taken or envisaged to ensure that children under 18 did not undertake the work at kilns that was likely to harm their health, safety or morals. The committee has also asked the government to provide information on measures taken or envisaged to ensure that children under18 working in glass bangle making or tanneries did not perform the work that was likely to harm their health, safety or morals. The committee has also expressed concern at the increasing number of street children and their vulnerability to exploitation owing to lack of a comprehensive strategy for their protection and asked the government to provide information on measures taken or envisaged to protect the street children under 18 years of age from the worst forms of child labor.
Ratification of ILO Minimum Age Convention 1973 (No. 138) The ratification of ILO Convention on Minimum Age is an encouraging step and SPARC commends this move. After ratification of this ILO Convention, Pakistan has now ratified all core conventions. An official in the Ministry of Finance revealed that government had no option but to ratify ILO Convention 138 in order to get subsidies on exports to European countries. If this decision has been taken on economic grounds, it shows the lack of honesty on government’s part. The government must show its commitment to the cause, through appropriate measures to silence its critics.
Employment and Service Conditions Bill 2006: Still on the Table As part of the Government’s commitment under Labor Policy 2002, it was suppose to consolidate all labor laws into six laws. Despite this commitment, made over four years ago, it is sad to see that so far only Industrial Ordinance 2002 has been enacted. The Employment Act known as “Employment and Service Conditions Bill 2006” drafted by the Federal Ministry has still not been tabled in the Cabinet. If enacted, this Act will consolidate all the twelve employment related laws, and old laws will be repealed including the Employment of Children Act 1991. Employment under 14 years of age is completely prohibited and strict penalties are proposed and employers can be imprisoned for one year or fined which may extend to Rs 50.000 or both for each offense.
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Legislating Domestic Work: Confused Progress Child domestic labor is not protected by law in Pakistan. ILO intervention to facilitate a process to help government in introducing legislation made a lot of sense in the context of the prevailing problem. The Employment of Children Act (ECA) 1991 prohibits the employment of children in certain occupations but not domestic work. In 2003, the Ministry of Social Welfare drafted a bill for protection of child domestic labor. The ILO Project “Preventing and Eliminating Exploitative Child Domestic Work through Education and Training” which was concluded in 2006 aimed at refining the drafted bill and to introduce it in the parliament. Unfortunately, the old bill had some lacunas that stakeholders feared would legitimize child domestic labor and the bill was also in conflict with the Government’s Photograph by: Fahmina Naz education goals. All stakeholders agreed that a new bill would be impossible to enact. Even if enacted, it would be difficult to enforce because of the weak institutional capacity of the concerned ministry and budgetary implications of a new legislation. It was, as a result of this development, that the decision to include Child Domestic Labor (CDL) in the ECA 1991 was found to be simpler and procedural. A technical committee formed by the ILO put forward recommendations to Ministry of Labor (MoL) in this regard. The MoL was not keen to integrate CDL in rules of ECA 1991. The MoL maintained that it would not be possible for them to enforce it. The labor inspector cannot inspect “homes” because it comes under private domain and inspectors would require a warrant for inspection. The Ministry of Labor acknowledges the problem and wanted to work on elimination of child domestic labor but through a practical strategy.
On the other hand it was revealed that the Ministry of Women and Development was working separately and was reported legislating on domestic violence against women and children to give them the right to report to police or magistrates in case of violence against them at home, work or school.
According to the proposed Domestic Violence Against Women (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2006, a child or a woman – in case of harm, injury, danger to health, safety, life or well-being, physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and economic abuse – can file a complaint with a police officer of the sub- divisional rank or a magistrate for legal protection.8
8 Daily Times, December 15, 2006
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Police officers and magistrates will be legally bound to tell a victim about his/her rights to free legal services under the law, after receiving a complaint. The magistrate will then fix a date for a hearing that should not exceed three days from the date of the filing of the complaint. After being satisfied that the complainant has been a victim of domestic violence, courts may issue a protection order prohibiting respondents from entering the victim’s place of employment, or if the victim is a child, his/her school.
If the complainant, especially a child, tells the court that he/she cannot live with the person who made him/her a victim of domestic violence, the court will be authorized to hand over custody of the victim to foster parents till a final verdict is given. In NCSW Seeks Law for Domestic Help The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has finalized recommendations for legislation to protect the rights of domestic servants, a commission member said on August 7. The legislation aims at protecting house- servants from financial exploitation and harassment by employers besides seeking industrial-worker status for them, he said. “A survey was conducted in all provinces of the country in targeted and random cases. “Presently, domestic servants are not recognized as workers under the law and they are very vulnerable to financial, physical, mental, psychological and above all sexual exploitation. That is why there is dire need for legislation to protect them and their rights as human beings and workers,” he said. The commission has called for the establishment of a regulatory body, which will register domestic-workers and have the right to initiate prosecution against an offending employer on the complaint from a domestic employee, he said. The commission has also recommended a minimum age for domestic workers to avert child labor, he added. Source: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 48, September 2006 case of a complaint against sexual abuse of a child, if the court is satisfied that the allegations are true, it can grant the child’s custody to the person filing the complaint on his/her behalf, or to a person chosen by the victim.
SPARC strongly condemns the employment of children for domestic work. The government must be sensitive to the fact that child domestic labor is not regularized and therefore open to exploitation and abuse of children both boys and girls.
Agreement between FIFA and ILO The International Football Federation (FIFA) and ILO signed a “Sports Module” on June 9, 2006 to promote physical and mental growth of child laborers working in the football industry. The module is being implemented by FIFA, ILO-IPEC in collaboration with the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Pakistan Sports Goods
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Manufacturers.9 This pilot project will progressively introduce the sport to thousands of children who have benefited from a successful child labor prevention and elimination program in the football stitching industry. The outcome of this project will ultimately benefit child laborers and children at-risk of child labor in ILO-IPEC’s global program.
Mitigating Child Labor through Education in Pakistan In a joint effort, Save the Children UK and the US Department of Labor launched a $4 million project titled Mitigating Child Labor through Education in Pakistan. Funded by the US Department of Labor as part of its global Child Labor Education Initiative, the project aims at withdrawing 15,000 working and at risk children from exploitative work through education and vocational training services in the NWFP, FATA and Balochistan between 2006 and 2009. In addition, the project would also focus on the mobilization and active participation of various stakeholders and support the federal and provincial governments in ensuring implementation of child protection policies and laws.10
Time Bound Program to Eliminate Worst Forms of Child Labor The ILO-IPEC had initiated a Time-Bound Program for elimination of worst forms of child labor in 2005, based on the recommendations made through a series of consultations with the government and civil society partners. Recommendations were made for direct interventions and actions in sectors such as deep sea fishing/ seafood processing and ship breaking (Balochistan), coal mines (Shangla in NWFP Province), and glass bangles (Sindh). In Punjab the two sectors recommended were surgical industry and tanneries. A strong recommendation was also made for direct intervention to address rag pickers. Consensus emerging from provincial and national consultations called for direct interventions in all four provinces.
Subsequently as a follow-up, the IPEC Pakistan conducted baseline studies and rapid assessments in the six sectors for appropriate interventions: g Surgical instruments industry – Sialkot g Leather tanneries – Kasur g Coal mines – Chakwal g Glass bangle industry – Hyderabad g Sea food industry – Five coastal towns of Balochistan province g Rag picking – Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Lahore, Islamabad (urban centers)
9 Dawn , June 6, 2006, 10 Dawn, March 31, 2006
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The six worst forms of child labor sectors selected for priority work by the Ministry of Labor and ILO IPEC.
ILO- IPEC Pakistan Time Bound Program11 Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labor in Six Targeted Sectors 2005-2008
Rag-Pick Sector Surgical Glass Bangle Targeted Sectors Islamabad/ Rwp Sialkot Hyderabad
Planned Interventions Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
NFE WFCL 5-14 Withdrawn 600 200 800 1400 0 1400 1600 1000 2600 years
NFE Siblings 5-14 Prevented 100 100 200 150 200 350 250 400 650 years
Literacy WFCL (15- Withdrawn 400 0 400 800 0 800 750 750 1500 17 years)
Children referred to Withdrawn 80 0 80 100 0 100 100 100 200 education system
Children referred to Prevented 50 25 75 50 25 75 50 25 75 education system
Total 1230 325 1555 2500 225 2725 2750 2275 5025
Deep Sea Fishing Tanneries Coal Mines Targeted Sectors Gwadar Kasur Shangla
Planned Interventions Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
NFE WFCL 5-14 Withdrawn 800 0 800 0 0 0 0 0 0 years
NFE Siblings 5-14 Prevented 50 150 200 0 0 0 0 0 0 years
Literacy WFCL (15- Withdrawn 800 0 800 250 0 250 250 0 250 17 years)
Children referred to Withdrawn 100 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 education system
Children referred to Prevented 50 25 75 0 0 0 0 0 0 education system
Total 1800 175 1975 250 0 250 250 0 250
SPARC National Campaign SPARC held its Child Labor Free Week from November 19 to November 24 in over 40 districts of Punjab, NWFP and Sindh. During the Week, SPARC offices in Sindh, Punjab, NWFP and Islamabad carried out a number of activities to highlight the plight of child laborers in the country. Radio spots were aired throughout the country to create awareness on the issue among the masses. SPARC Child Rights Committees (CRCs) organized press conferences, sent press releases, held walks, theater, banner display and radio programs to bring the issue of child labor on the agenda of 11 http://ipec-pakistan.org/ipec
82 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 the government, civil society and the parents and emphasized on the importance of quality education for every child.
SPARC CRCs organized seminars, talks, and discussions with the district government officials, and other stakeholders to advocate and lobby for progressive elimination of child labor. Speakers said that only education could free children from labor and therefore government should implement in letter and spirit its law on compulsory primary education. Many suggested that parents should be penalized for not sending their children to school.
PBM to Expand Child Support Program The Pakistan Bait-ul- Mal (PBM) decided to extend its Child Support Program across the country for the welfare of needy and deserving children. The PBM will expand the project in phases and during the first phase; project would cover five districts leading to fifteen districts at the end of 2006. According to details “cash incentive will be given to the existing Food Support Program beneficiaries. Rs 200 per month will be given to the families with one school going child and Rs. 350 per month to the families with two or more children going to school.12
Combat Child Labor through Media The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, ILO and the Norwegian Government signed a deal on July 19, 2006 on the second phase of a three-year program to combat child labor in Pakistan. The program is designed to increase public awareness on the issue of child labor, and to create a national environment against child labor. The Federal Secretary of Information expressed his commitment to the implementation of the project by providing free airtime to various media projects, with technical support from the ILO.
Utah Firm Hit with Fine of $10,395 for Child Labor A construction company in Hildale, Utah has been fined $10,395 for using boys, including a 12-year-old, for roofing work. The firm, Paragon Contractors, also failed to pay the boys, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Paragon, owned by Brian Jessop, had two boys, ages 12 and 13, working on residential home construction jobs in 2005. Federal law prohibits youth under age 14 from working in non-agricultural jobs. Those boys and a 15-year-old were found working on a roof, the department said, in violation of a law that sets the minimum age at 18 for such hazardous work. The older boy was also observed operating a table saw, another violation of youth employment regulations. Minors under 18 are not allowed to operate power-driven circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears, the department said in news release. Source: www.sltrib.com/business/ci_3630011
12 The News, July 16, 2006
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Nike Sacks Saga over Child Labor Row Nike, supplier of footballs to Premier League admitted on November 20, 2006 that some of the footballs could have been stitched by children in Pakistani homes. Nike sacked its main manufacturer of hand-stitched balls, a Pakistani company Saga Sports, because of concerns about “significant labor compliance violations”. The American multinational said that a six-month investigation had concluded that Saga was outsourcing many of the balls to casual workers who sew them together in their homes around the city of Sialkot.
A Nike spokesman said home working was unacceptable: “If you have production in homes, it’s very difficult to monitor safe labor conditions. There’s also the potential for underage labor which we obviously do not condone.” In a statement from Nike’s Oregon headquarters, chief executive Mark Parker said: “This contract factory has persistently broken its commitments and irrevocably breached its trust with us. Most importantly, the factory has failed its employees.”13 Negotiations were underway between the Saga and the Nike managements. Other stakeholders such as national and international unions are making efforts to safeguard the interest of workers because it may jeopardize jobs of as many as 5,000 workers.
The Nike Saga Row is a wake-up call for all stakeholders. It is not just that the employers failed in protecting labor rights; it is also the Government whose labor inspection policy is flawed. The Saga Factory Union is also at fault for not being vigilant enough to see the violations and addressing the issue to avert the crisis and threatening the livelihood of thousands of workers.
The ILO also cannot be absolved from its responsibility in this case especially because of its claims that child labor has been completely eradicated from the Sialkot Soccer Ball Industry. ILO should and must now evaluate the work of the monitoring system developed to monitor workers rights violations in Sialkot region.
During a visit to a medium scale soccer manufacturing unit in Sialkot in 2005, I realized outsourcing was common, although in violation of labor rights. The unit was producing 300 footballs daily. From outside everything looked fine. There was no child labor on the premises at least. However, there were only four people working in the stitching department. Each employ can stitch a maximum of five to six balls a day. That means the work was being outsourced to achieve the target of 300.
The management did admit that they were subcontracting stitching work while the union and the company did not have any management controls. Although, it is difficult to conclude that child labor is prevalent in the soccer ball industry but surely labor violations cannot be over looked when outsourcing work. This probably is the case in many factories in Sialkot. 13 SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 49, December 2006
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Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) in collaboration with civil society and government partners ran a campaign on Child Domestic Labor in 2006
Communication Strategy on Child Domestic Labor Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi (ITA) prepared a communication strategy to bring an urgent and required attitudinal, behavioral, social and legal change in general perception and acceptance of domestic child labor among the masses.14 The objectives of the strategy are to: g Adapt the messages from the regional strategy of UNICEF and conceptualize and design new thematic messages on CDL. g Conceptualize and design communication channels to convey the messages. g Identify agents of change and sources for information dissemination. g Develop concepts for a number of tools to raise awareness and prompt behavioral change of employers and parents.
14 http://www.itacec.org/Communication%20Strategy/home.htm
SPARC 85 Child Labor g Encompass national advocacy, community mobilization and evidence-driven social and behavior change actions. g Develop communication materials (posters, leaflets, booklets, calendar etc.) based on the above strategy.
Child Labor: An Impediment to Education for All15 The Education Ministers of E-9 countries; Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan, met in Monterrey, Mexico, from February 14 – 15, 2006 to accelerate the progress and strengthen mutual cooperation in achieving Education for All (EFA). While the meeting made some progress in discussions on improving the quality of basic education and on education for girls, it failed to take note of the situation of child laborers in countries, which is the biggest impediment in the realization of EFA and achieving MDGs. It is ironic that these countries, where child labor is an endemic problem, are making little effort in actual terms to deal with it.
This was a follow up on the Cairo meeting where countries committed to revitalize the E-9 Initiative as a key element of South-South cooperation and to move from intent to action. The meeting recognized the challenges in realization of the EFA goals, particularly within the context of the E-9 countries being home to more than half of the world’s population. Progress in these countries is fundamental to achieving the EFA goals because they account for: g Over 70 percent of the world’s 771 million non-literate adults g 45 percent of the world’s out-of-school children
These countries have some of the highest and most persistent gender and urban/ rural disparities in schooling and adult literacy. In two-thirds of the E-9 countries, the Gross Enrolment Ratio in pre-primary education is still below 40 percent. The meeting recognized that not all countries have met the 2005 gender parity target and committed to redoubling efforts to achieve progress exemplified by other E- 9 countries, such as Bangladesh and India. Participants also shared concern on the persistence of low primary completion rates, high teacher-pupil ratios and the inadequate quality of schooling in some countries; indicators of the enormity and urgency of this issue. The meeting stressed the need to revitalize the crucial South- South cooperation in pursuit of EFA and to move from intention to action in making the EFA/E-9 partnership a force for leadership and innovation in EFA.
Kailash Satyarthi, Chairman, Global March Against Child Labor and President Global Campaign for Education said that the E-9 Education Ministers have failed to draw attention to the progress made at the fifth EFA Meeting in Beijing with the establishment of the Global Task Force on Child Labor and Education, which could provide a boost to the countries committed to achieving EFA and the MDGs. He said
15 Volume- III, Issue-2 February 2006, Youth Network for Children’s Rights, ICCLE
86 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 that the Governments of the rich countries need to consider innovative financing mechanisms for the southern countries that are committed to eliminating child labor in their quest to achieve EFA and the MDGs.
Photograph by: Fahmina Naz
RugMark Campaign in US to End Child Labor in South Asia RugMark initiated a campaign in the United States to mobilize public opinion through a campaign to create consumer demand for child-labor-free handmade rugs and to eradicate illegal child labor in the industry. In a drive to end child labor in the South Asian carpet industry— where the child labor problem is prevalent—the organization RugMark rolled out a beautiful Rug Public Education Campaign. RugMark’s independent certification process and its individually numbered label found on the back of each rug indicates that no child labor was used in the weaving process and that a percentage of the purchase price funds rehabilitation and education for former child laborers. It is the only independent rug certification program.
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The premise of the campaign was simple, said Nina Smith, Executive Director of RugMark, “If US consumer demand rugs made without the use of child labor, manufacturers will stop exploiting children.” Interior designers, rug designers and importers have joined the effort to ensure that all rugs are not only beautiful, but that they were also made by adults and not by exploited children.16
Conclusion Overall, the year 2006 did not prove any different from the previous year and there was no real and tangible progress towards elimination of child labor. Most interventions were project based and cosmetic in nature. It must be understood that child labor cannot be eliminated through project approach. National and international NGOs, as well as the Government of Pakistan is and has been implementing projects and yet, Saga was allegedly found involved in labor rights violations, and the situation on the ground is as a matter of fact getting worse for the children and for the country. Things will only improve when the relevant departments and ministries have the political will, are committed, empowered, and accountable and are in a position to take action through their own resources.
If projects, which are via donors’ money, fail to build sustainable institutions, the outputs will always remain limited and the efforts and the initiative will die after the project is completed. Projects are important but they are a means not an end. It is strongly recommended that Government must commit and ensure that efforts must be continued through Government’s own funding.
Child labor is not a disease that cannot be cured. Although, realistically speaking it may not be totally eradicated, but there is every reason to believe that the figures can be drastically reduced even in the third world countries. The first ingredient required is the political will and the commitment of the government and the second is total unacceptability of working children by the society as a whole. To achieve this objective the first step is to develop a mechanism to put every child in the school, where he/she receives quality, free and compulsory education. The world is replete with examples where this has been done, and when those countries did not enjoy the level of development as of today. European countries in the 18th century, Japan in the 19th century and most recent are Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, and Singapore, who have successfully taken children out of work and put them in schools. The Government of Pakistan must understand that eliminating child labor requires sustained investment both in terms of commitment and resources, if the children of Pakistan are to enjoy a life that is healthy, fulfilled and empowered.
16 http://www.skollfoundation.org/media/grantee_news/rugmark%20-%20furniture%20world.htm
88 Chapter-2 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
$10 Billion could Buy Universal Schooling More than 43 million children living in conflict-affected countries are not able to attend school, according to a new report that called on donor countries and multilateral agencies to commit $5.8 billion a year to address the problem. The 48-page report, entitled “Rewrite the Future” released in the US in September 2006 and in 39 other countries worldwide by the International Save the Children Alliance, said only 30 percent of total foreign aid earmarked for education in the world’s 63 poorest countries––the vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia––went to the 30 countries affected by or emerging from regional or internal conflicts. Among the countries with the highest percentages of non-enrollment are Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan and Uganda. The countries with the largest number of children––nearly eight million in each––out of primary school are Nigeria and Pakistan, both of which have been affected by internal and external conflicts in recent years. Nearly six million children in Ethiopia are out of school, although the report noted that the government in Addis Ababa has devoted increasing resources to primary education since the 1999 war with Eritrea. “Given that most conflicts last for more than 10 years, children are spending their whole childhoods living in fear and without access to education,” according to the report. It also noted that some two million children have been killed in armed conflicts during the past decade, six million more have been injured, and another 20 million displaced from their homes. And because children in conflict-affected countries are unable to start school until they are older, there is often an above- average age school population when peace is restored. After 14 years of conflict in Liberia, for example, some 60 percent of the primary pupils were over age. The report was released before the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which took place in Singapore. Source: www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2942.shtml
“Pakistan is a poor country and poverty is the main contributing factor for child labor in Pakistan.” This is a common justification given by the Government and the society. To some degree, this is true, but the same country despite being poor, invested billions of rupees to become a nuclear power. Today, Pakistan is a nuclear power despite poverty, only because it willed it to do so. If the same commitment (although not the means) is applied here, there is no reason why child labor could actually be a thing of the past. But, this will not happen, because it does not serve the government’s purpose to have educated, enlightened population, how else will it give longevity to its weak and corrupt rule but by increasing poor, illiterate masses. As a result of the growing marginalization among the rural population, landlessness, unemployment and unplanned urbanization, more and more children are being recruited in the army of child laborers.
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Governments, employers, trade unions, international organizations, teachers, social workers, parents, children themselves, experts and other civil society organizations must play an important role in the fight against child labor.17
Recommendations Child Labor is a stigma on the country and the dark side of Pakistan. By putting Recommendation children to work, a society demonstrates All government employees across the little or no value that it attaches to the country should make their homes the child, who is small, defenseless and child-labor free. With a large number of vulnerable. The society must realize government staff engaging children in their homes for domestic work, this will that children are not a commodity, a be a landmark step. This step should property a robot to be exploited, but a be initiated by the Ministry of Labor. human being, who needs love and care, education and recreation, healthcare and emotional, physical and spiritual security to grow and develop into a healthy, informed and confident being. Working children are a constant reminder that adults as parents, civil society members and as rulers have failed in doing their duty to their children. This is a grim reality of Pakistan, who speaks of rights and duties towards children –an important element of their culture and religion—but practically the state of Pakistan children is appalling and in dire need of attention, love, care and compassion and most of all to be treated as a human being.
Major Success in Reducing Child Labor With the help of international funds, Turkey has been able to return thousands of child workers to school. Turkey now ranks as third most successful country in the fight against child labor according to ILO data. Turkey has been able to reduce child labor by 50 percent with the help of projects supported by the World Bank and the European Union and has pledged to completely eliminate child labor within the framework of EU harmonization. Turkey has gradually decreased the number of child workers to around 700,000 out of the previously estimated 1.5 million and has become the third most successful country in fighting child labor, according to ILO. ILO’s Turkey representative Gülay Aslantepe said that from among 80 countries participating in the IPEC, Turkey ranked third after Brazil and Tanzania,” he said. Source: www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=48233
17 Draft Speech, Trade Unions and Child Labor, International Labor Office, p22
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Following are the action points that the government must take on a priority basis to give every child in Pakistan a fair chance to live a life of dignity and free of exploitation. g Government must carry out a national child labor survey immediately to determine current child labor situation in the country. The survey will assist government and civil society organizations in developing policies and programs and most importantly to take appropriate and effective action to eliminate the problem of child labor. Without a clear understanding of how much, how and where child labor occurs, it will not be possible to deal with it effectively. The survey has been delayed because the government refuses to commit funds for it. Photograph by: Fahmina Naz g Enactment of Employment Act at the earliest. The age of the child must be redefined in the law. The Law shall prohibit employment of children in all forms of occupations including domestic child labor (unlike Employment of Children Act 1991). This should be in line with the Government’s commitments of ILO Convention on Minimum Employment Age No 138 and ILO Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labor No 182. Employment of child labor under worst forms of labor should be strictly banned and enforced as agreed in Labor Policy 2002. This law must be tabled in the cabinet and parliament at the earliest. g The Government should start prosecuting employers and rehabilitating child workers to protect children from child labor. g Full-time, free and compulsory education up to 14 years of age is the first and foremost requirement for eradicating child labor. To achieve this objective the government needs to invest and spend the budget allocations fully and expediently and developing an effective social security system in Pakistan. g The quantity and quality of formal education systems should be strengthened in order to reach out to children at high risk of child labor, including girls, children of ethnic minority groups, migrants, minorities, and the rural and urban poor. g Child Domestic Labor should be considered as worst forms of child labor. All government employees across the country should make their homes child-labor free. With a large number of government staff engaging children in their homes for domestic work, this will be a landmark step. This step should be initiated by the Ministry of Labor. g Child labor and worst forms of child labor is prevalent in informal sector and therefore law is urgently needed to regularize it. g Corporations and companies that sub-contract labor through contractors should ensure that labor laws are not violated and that children are not employed through
SPARC 91 Child Labor
strict monitoring of the units. g If the government is serious in tackling the problem of poverty reduction, they must comprehensively define and acknowledge the issue of child labor in the PRSP-II g Government should prioritize on strengthening Child Labor Units at the federal and provincial levels. This can be achieved by developing a clear vision through the support of more technical staff and providing financial resources. g Collective bargaining is a traditional tool of the trade union movements and an unique way that trade unions have of relating to employers. In this respect, no other organization or group can substitute for the trade unions. Trade unions can include clauses in their agreement with the employers that child labor will not be permitted even through the contractors. g Child labor is not only a social issue. Employers should see it as their problem too. Employers can cooperate with other civil society groups, and promote ban on child labor to prevent unfair competition. Employers do not want to see unfair advantage gained by the use of child labor. g Repeal of Punjab Industrial Policy 2003 labor inspection self-regulation policy system which protects employers and promotes labor rights violations including child labor. The Government should revisit the roles and responsibilities of labor inspectors and it should be in line and in conformity with the requirements of the ILO Labor Inspection Convention 1947 (No. 81). g Pakistan is a welfare state and all workers regardless of formal or non-formal sectors must be covered by social safety nets and social protection. This is possible through revision of policies and rules of Workers Welfare Funds, Baitul-Maal, Zakaat and Social Security.
The writer is Executive Director SPARC, [email protected]
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92 Chapter-2 Chapter 3
EDUCATION
The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
An Elusive Goal By Irfan Raza
“Education is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. The world is progressing so rapidly that without requisite advance in education not only shall we be left behind others but may be wiped out all together.” Quaid -e- Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, September 26, 1947, Karachi
“The day will come when nations will be judged not by their military or economic strength, nor by the splendour of their capital cities and public buildings, but by the well-being of their peoples: by their levels of health, nutrition and education; by their opportunities to earn a fair reward for their labor; by their ability to participate in the decisions that affect their lives; by the respect that is shown for their civil and political liberties; by the provision that is made for those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged; and by the protection that is afforded to the growing minds and bodies of their children.” UNICEF’s Progress of Nation, Secretary General Kofi Annan, 1998
Education is the key to development. It opens the mind to the world that exists both inside the human being and outside. It helps people to dream and the ability to realize those dreams. It provides every individual a chance to live his/her life to the fullest. It gives a society the values of tolerance, honesty, integrity and brotherhood. It gives a nation an opportunity to become a power to reckon with. Quaid’s words clearly state the obvious that ‘without education a nation will not only be left behind but wiped out altogether’.
Owing to the deteriorating standards of education in Pakistan, it has been labelled as ‘home to world’s most illiterates’ in Global Monitoring Report for Education 2007. Education in Pakistan suffers from the worst forms of negligence, indifference and apathy. It serves the government to keep huge chunks of its population illiterate so that strong voices are not raised to challenge its weak governance. Illiteracy of the masses is a useful tool for the weak and corrupt governments to remain in power. According to
SPARC 95 Education the figures by UNESCO, almost 50 million of adult population in Pakistan is illiterate, while the drop out rate in primary schools is the highest in the world.. again 50%.
World’s Most Illiterates are in Pakistan Pakistan is at serious risk of not attaining the goal of adult literacy by 2015, warns Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007. The theme of this year’s report is Literacy for Life. Pakistan having over five million illiterates is one of the countries where global illiteracy is concentrated. According to the report, the Gender Parity Index (GPI) of Pakistan is one of the world’s lowest GPI (0.73); India and Nepal have made much progress since 1998 and nearly reached gender parity in 2002 (India’s GPI increased from 0.84 to 0.96 and Nepal’s from 0.78 to 0.92); Bangladesh, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Maldives and Sri Lanka had already reached parity by 1998. The UNESCO data shows that the number of illiterates is increasing in Pakistan. According to the census reports 18.64 million people were illiterate in 1951. In 1961, the number increased to 22.08 million, in 1972 it was 33.59 million, in 1981 it was 42.69 and in 1998 it increased to 50.38 million. Likewise, the percentage of GDP spending on education continued to decline. It was 2.62 percent in 1996-97, 2.34 percent in 1997-98, 2.40 percent in 1998-99, 1.7 percent in 1999-00, 1.6 percent in 2000-01, 1.9 percent in 2001-02, 1.7 percent in 2002-03, 2.1 percent in 2003-04, 2.2 percent in 2004-05 and 2.1 percent in 2005- 06; the UNESCO figures said quoting the census of Pakistan. Pakistan is one of those countries where distance to school is a greater deterrent to schooling for girls than for boys. Economic crises affect education systems. Pakistan along with India and Bangladesh also has the notoriety of being one of the 19 countries that have more than one million out-of-primary schoolchildren. The report said that literacy was a right denied to over 50 million people in Pakistan and had been neglected in the policy agenda of the country. The report proposed a three-pronged strategy to enhance literacy that included universal quality basic education for girls and boys, scaling up youth and adult literacy programs and development of environments conducive to the meaningful use of literacy. Source: SPARC Newsletter issue No 48, September 2006
The greatest challenge facing Pakistan today is creating an environment where every child goes to school. First Education Census 2006, though a flawed exercise also gives an extremely depressing view of the state of education in Pakistan. The system of education has divided the children in Pakistan between the haves and the have-nots. To bridge the gap, not only is it important to provide education to every child but also it should be free, uniform and quality education that opens up equal opportunities for progress and prosperity for everyone. There is no doubt that only education can liberate children from poverty and deprivation and Pakistan from fundamentalism, intolerance, corruption and terrorism and herald an era of progress, enlightened moderation and justice.
96 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
“Pakistan’s education system is regularly cited as one of the most serious impediments preventing the country from achieving its potential. The United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report gives Pakistan the lowest “education index” score for any country outside Africa. According to the International Crisis Group, Pakistan is one of only 12 countries in the world that spends less than 2 percent of its GDP on education. The adult literacy rate in Pakistan is under 50 percent, while less than one-third of adult women have a functional reading ability. Even a short list of the problems Pakistan’s education system faces today would include inadequate government investment, a shortage of qualified teachers and poor teacher training, curricula that promotes intolerance and violence, insufficient number and poor quality of textbooks and other teaching materials, fraud and corruption, and weak institutional capacity at both the 1 central and local levels.” Photograph by: Fahmina Naz
The population of Pakistan makes it the sixth most populous nation and almost half of its total population of over 160 million comprises children less than 18 years of age and women make up almost 50 percent. An estimated 25 million children are not going to school and approximately 10 million are in child labor. About 20 percent children go to private English medium schools, whereas the huge chunk almost, three quarters of the remaining child population study in public schools. Consequently the rest of the children, who are not attending either the private or the public schools are in the madrassah. There is no data quoting the exact number of children attending the madaris. But it is no doubt a substantial number.
In addition, Pakistan also suffers from the malady of serious gender imbalance, which is getting worse with the continued burning and arsonist activities being carried out in some of the areas of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). A number of girls’ schools have been bombed, closed down or threatened with dire consequences. In some schools, girls are being forced to wear Burqas (veils) if they want to continue schooling. The situation has gotten even worse, since the Taliban style extremists threatened the private co-ed schools to either close down or face the consequences.
1 Education Reform in Pakistan Building for the Future Edited by: Robert M. Hathaway ©2005 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC www.wilsoncenter.org
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Khwendo Kor School Attacked A grenade attack on August 6 shook Da Khwendo Kor, or sisters’ home – an education center run by a civil society organization in Landikotal, Khyber Agency – but no one was hurt, the center’s administration said. “Apparently, religious extremists were behind the attack,” Mariam Bibi, the center’s director, said. “Fortunately, there was no one in the center during the time of attack. Only the building is damaged,” she said. Landikotal’s political agent confirmed that the education center had been attacked. This was the second attack in less than two months on the center that teaches development skills to tribal men and women. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue 48, September 2006
Mr Shahid Javed Burki, a well known writer and Economist estimates that in Balochistan, only 15 percent of adult women are literate. Using data from the Ministry of Education, he notes that while more than 83 percent of primary school-age boys attend school, the enrolment rate for girls is less than 63 percent clearly identifying the obvious gender gap. The issue raised by these disparities is not one just of fairness; study after study has shown that gender discrimination retards development and 2 exacts a large toll on both present and future generations.
Photograph by: Zaheer Hassan
2 Ibid
98 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Plight of Six Schools in Sialkot The district educational authorities have failed to improve the lot of six government girls’ primary schools in Bajwat villages in Sialkot which are in deplorable state. The local authorities have not appointed any new teacher in any of these schools and the students have refused to go there for fear of any accident due to run- down buildings. What makes a mockery of education is the plight of these institutes which have been converted into cattle sheds. The students have to cover a good few kilometers daily to study in Sialkot city. They lack even the most basic facilities like potable water, electricity and furniture and boundary walls. The locals use it as grazing fields for cattle. People of Bajwat village have protested against the state of affairs but to no avail. They have requested the President and the Punjab Chief Minister to look into the situation and help save the future of girl students. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue 48, September 2006
The ills that plague education in Pakistan are numerous beginning from the basic flaw of different types of education for children from different economic strata. In addition to a number of problems cited above, education in Pakistan suffers from poor infrastructure i.e. lack of facilities in schools such as clean drinking water, furniture, dilapidated schools, shortage of educational staff and teachers, outdated traditional teaching methods and assessment system, teacher’s absenteeism and irregularity, no or ineffective teacher trainings, teacher’s low salary package and harsh behavior, and low level of parent and community involvement and participation in education system. All this act as push factors and drive the children away from the school.
Meanwhile, successive governments continue to pay tokenistic attention to the improvement of education in Pakistan under international pressure. In 1990, Pakistan participated in the Education For All (EFA) Conference in Jomtien, Thailand and committed to the goal of Universal Primary Education (UPE) by the year 2000. The target was not achieved as is obvious in the ten years period. In the EFA Conference, held in Dakar in 2000, Pakistan moved the target and committed to achieve the UPE goals by 2015. Pakistan is lagging behind in achieving all its targets committed in the international conferences, be it Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), or Universal Primary Education (UPE) or Education for All (EFA). This is, despite the fact that a large amount of American and World Bank aid has been flowing in to improve educational and literacy numbers. What is the current situation, as we enter 2007? Pakistan has already consumed 50 percent of the allocated time as well as funds to achieve 100% UPE by the year 2015. The current education scenario does not appear very promising either, this report will discuss and shed light on the situation as it existed in 2006 and the steps and measures taken by the State to achieve the pledges made in international conferences and more importantly for the well being of children in Pakistan.
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World’s Education Facts and Figures The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, committed the States to: MDG Goal No 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education. Target No 3: Ensure that by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. Facts and Figures on Education Worldwide g 682 million children worldwide are enroled in primary schools. But there are still around 77 million children who are missing out on primary education. g More then half of the world’s out-of-school children are girls, and seven out of 10 live in sub-Saharan Africa or South and West Asia. g More then 18 million extra teachers will be needed over the next decade to provide every child with a quality primary education. g It is estimated that sub- Saharan Africa will require an extra 1.6 million teachers to fill new posts needed to achieve Universal Primary Education by 2015. g It is estimated that up to $10 billion additional aid is needed annually to achieve the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and gender goals alone. g Girls’ Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) in primary school (as a proportion of boys’ NER) has improved from a global average of 88 percent in 1991 to 96 percent in 2004. Gender parity has already been achieved at primary level in 100 countries. g Abolishing primary school user fees in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya has helped more then one million extra children to enrol in primary school, in each country. g The Impact of HIV and AIDS could add nearly $ 1 billion to the annual for achieving UPE. g In 1999 alone, more then one million children in sub-Saharan Africa lost their teachers to HIV and AIDS. Source: DFID Fact sheet November 2006
First National Education Census (NEC) “The State shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period; make technical and professional education generally available…” Constitution of Pakistan – Article 37 (b) & (c) According to the Ministry of Education, “The National Education Census NEC 2005 – 06 has been conducted for the first time in the history of Pakistan. Reliable, accurate and comprehensive database is a prerequisite for any planning. Thus the need for NEC was felt for informed and visionary policy formulation, decision-
100 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 making, efficiency, effective reforms and for improving the quality of education. In the past, incomplete and incorrect database was available which generally lead to debates and controversies among the departments concerned on facts and figures and impacted also on the required expenditure and the budget actually spent on this important sector. However, it may be mentioned here that the NEC is not a perfect document but at least it is a beginning. Planning for education was affected because of the incomplete data, which is clear from the existing gaps between planning and implementation. Even at international level, our ranking among the countries of the world remained low due to non-availability of complete data which sometime caused 3 embarrassment to the authorities.” An Overview of the Major Features of National Education Census
Report Reality NEC is a milestone as its outcomes provide a comprehensive picture of education.
NEC data reveals that out of 26,809 The 23 percent area of urban blocks and urban blocks, 6,149 were without 21 percent villages of the whole country institutions and out of 50,585 villages, are still without educational facilities. 10,908 had no institutions. The total number of covered institutions is 245,682 in which 164,579 are in public sector and 81,103 are in private sector. From the covered institutions 12,737 It is not clear which institutions are being (11,589 schools and 1,148 others; reported as non-functional, primary almost all are in public sector) have schools, middle, high or technical been reported as non-functional. institutions. The Sindh Province has reported It is not mentioned in which areas of the largest share of non-functional Sindh province ? institutions, 7,442 institutions. It is not mentioned which kind of As many as 4,126 about 1.7% of the institutions mostly refused and why? total institutions refused to provide information. There is a huge difference between The overall enrolment in the institutions the enrolment of learners and teaching is recorded as 33,380 million with staff. teaching staff 1,357 million. As compared to the public sector the In 151,744 public institutions enrolment private sector enjoys sufficient teaching is 21, 258 and teaching staff is 0.724 staff. million. But in 76,047 private institutions enrolment is 12,121 and teaching staff is 0.633 million.
Source: National Education Census 2005-06 3 National Education Census, Executive Summary p 1
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From the NEC statement, it is clear that previous facts and figures were not accurate and that it was an impediment for the policy makers to formulate proper strategies and plans that would have helped them achieve the goals as specified in the international declarations and conferences. Does this mean that National Education Census is accurate and fulfils all the necessary and required information? On detailed analysis, the NEC appears to be silent on a number of important information such as drop-out ratio in institutions, details of fee collections and incentives by institutions and details of domestic expenses in each department of education at national, provincial and district levels.
Total Number of Institutions Covered in NEC Out of Data Non- Area Total Public Private Refusal Ref. Collected Functional Period Pakistan 245,682 164,579 81,103 227,791 12,737 4,126 1,028 Punjab 115,311 66,770 48,541 110,459 2,742 1,679 431 Sindh 59,312 46,738 12,574 51,006 7,442 659 205 NWFP 40,706 29,430 11,276 37,761 1,781 1,005 159 Balochistan 11,492 9,742 1,750 10,986 306 181 19 ICT 1,348 598 750 1,189 23 129 7 FATA 5,344 4,704 640 5,145 123 69 7 FANA 4,366 1,505 2,861 3,977 128 80 181 AJK 7,803 5,092 2,711 7,268 192 324 19
Source: National Education Census, Highlights p 7
Total Enrolment by Gender & Level of Institutions in NEC
Level of Institution Total Enrolment Girls Boys
Total Enrolment 33,379,578 14,398,365 18,981,213
Pre-Primary 61,364 30,151 31,213
Mosque Schools 802,904 200,209 602,695
Primary 12,433,240 5,317,576 7,114,664
Middle 6,652,870 3,129,383 3,523,487
Secondary 9,473,525 4,024,174 5,449,351
British System 149,266 61,766 87,500
Source: National Education Census, Highlights p 13
102 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
The NEC does not give a clear picture on the situation existing in the secondary and higher-level education. Besides, the NEC report repudiates the education ministry’s previous claims that it has provided all educational facilities in all the districts of the country. It also exposes why Pakistan has been so far behind in reaching its goals. If the data is inaccurate and flawed, it is not possible for policies and plans to succeed and help achieve the required objective. It is no wonder that another survey may actually rebut what NEC has reported today.
NEC Marred by Unrest in Balochistan and FATA Unrest in several parts of Balochistan and FATA has dampened the federal government’s project on National Education Census. “We have collected the data from 95 percent of the areas marked for the census but it will be complete only when data from the entire country has been gathered,” sources at the Education Ministry said. The ministry hired 1,100 census specialists with the help of Statistic Division and Education Planning Commission, for the Rs. 185 million project, he said. The official said that the data from areas such as Dera Bugti, Sui, Khulo, North and South Waziristan could not be collected due to the security situation. Moreover, data from the quake-hit areas was also pending, the official said. Public and private sector schools were provided a five-page questionnaire with questions about the number of students, teachers and the total income. Source: Daily Times, April 26, 2006
UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007 United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched its Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2007 on October 26, 2006. It began with the following statement: “Time is running out to meet the EFA goals set in 2000. Despite continued overall global progress at the primary level, including for 4 girls, too many children are not in school...
The theme for this report is “Strong Foundations – Early Childhood Care and Education”. In addition to early childhood, this report monitors progress towards the five other EFA goals, with more analysis than in the past on out-of-school children. It records the activities of government in implementing policies to achieve EFA and the extent to which donors support these efforts. The report concludes with a short agenda for action for the global community. The report‘s findings are based on cross- national education statistics, household survey, consultations and literature reviews.
In 2000, “leaders from every country agreed on vision for the future world with less poverty, hunger and disease, greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, better educated children, equal opportunities for women, and healthier environment;
4 UNESCO’s EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007 Facts and Suggestions, February 19, 2007
SPARC 103 Education world in which developed and developing countries worked in partnership for the betterment of all. This vision took the shape of eight Millennium development goals, which are providing countries around the world with a framework for development, and time-bound targets by which progress is measured. The report shows our standing in 2006 in achieving the required goals. The challenges the Goals represent are staggering. But here are clear signs of hope. The data suggests that providing every child with primary school education is within our grasp,” said Mr Jose Antonio 5 Ocampo, UN Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs. UNESCO will publish a report every year till 2015 to measure how far the countries have progressed in achieving their respective targets.
6 UNESCO Education for All (EFA) Goals g Expending and Improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. g Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality. g Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills program. g Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults. g Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. g Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy and essential life skills.
7 Pakistan’s Progress towards EFA Goals Unfortunately, Pakistan is among the countries, which, according to the GMR 2007, will not be able to achieve any of the targets set at the World Education Forum in 2000. Following are the details given in the Report on the situation on education in Pakistan during the year 2006:
Primary Education About 6.463 million children in Pakistan do not go to school, which is the second largest quantity of such children in a country, the Education for All (EFA) global 8 monitoring report 2007 has pointed out.
5 The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006 6 Global Monitoring Report 2007, p 7 7 Global Monitoring Report 2007, pp 13-18 8 Ibid
104 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
In 2004, some 682 million children were enroled in primary schools, a six percent increase since 1999. There was a steep increase in sub-Saharan [27 percent] and South and West Asia [19 percent], and more slowly in Arab States [6 percent]. Girls are benefiting from the global upward trend in enrolments. The gender gap remains particularly large in Afghanistan (44 girls to 100 boys), the Central African Republic, Chad, the Niger, Pakistan and Yemen. However, once in school, girls tend to stay there longer and to do as well as or outperform boys.
How Many Children are out of School? Pakistan and India are among four developing countries where largest number of 23 million children is still out of school but in India, there was a reduction in number due to economic policies.
Administrative data on school enrolment indicates that 77 million children were not in school in 2004 – 21 million less than in 1999, with sharp decreases in South and West Asia (from 31 million to 16 million). Girls account for 57 percent of all out-of-school children, down from 59 Photograph by: Zaheer Hassan percent in 1999. The share is much higher in South and West Asia (69 percent).
Teacher Numbers & Training In Pakistan teacher recruitment and training remain key concerns. This is also true for regions where the primary school pupil population is still expanding. In Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, a combined total of 65,000 additional teachers per year are needed.
Meanwhile, the percentage of trained primary school teachers increased slightly between 1999 and 2004 in about half of the forty-one countries. The improvement was remarkable (rise of more than 60 percent) in Bahamas, Namibia and Rwanda.
Pakistan may not Achieve Literacy Rate Goal Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007 has warned that Pakistan is at a serious risk of not attaining the goal of adult literacy by 2015. UNESCO Representative Jorge Sequeira on July 27, 2006 said this assertion showed that more concerted efforts were required to achieve the target.
SPARC 105 Education
Pakistan having over five million illiterates is one of the countries where global illiteracy is concentrated. Even more problematic is that illiteracy in Pakistan increased since 1990 indicating that progress in improving literacy was insufficient to offset the effect of continuing population growth.
In Pakistan, distance to school is a greater deterrent to schooling for girls than for boys. Economic crises affect education system. Public finances deteriorate and resources for the public funding of education typically decline. Household incomes fall and resources to meet the private costs of education are less available to families, although not all the effects of economic crisis are to education’s detriment: in particular, the lowering of wages in the labor market can reduce the opportunity cost of children attending school rather than working. Hence, an economic and financial crisis often encourages school dropout, but not invariably. In Pakistan, severe reductions in income increased dropout from secondary schools and, to a 9 lesser extent, primary schools.
This dismal performance is a clear reflection of the government’s apathy and indifference towards education sector. This is despite the massive education
Photograph by: Fahmina Naz
9 Dawn, July 27, 2006
106 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 campaign being carried out in various provinces such as Punjab under the slogan of Parha Likha Punjab (educated Punjab) and now Sindh where slogan stresses on imparting education to girl child too. However, the two provinces of NWFP and Balochistan are waiting for their turns to join this campaign. Huge amount of aid has also been flowing in from the World Bank and US Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve literacy and primary enrolment rate in all the provinces of Pakistan. USAID’s education program in Pakistan began in 2002. It includes both basic and higher education, and is geographically concentrated in underserved districts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Currently the program benefits 3,67,555 children 10 and 18,000 teachers. In 2006 education funding was around $64 million. In July 2006, USAID opened its office in Peshawar to oversee the expansion of USAID development programs in education, health, private sector development in the FATA and the NWFP. In FATA, USAID is building and furnishing 65 primary, middle and high schools. It also supports teacher trainings.
4 percent of GDP for Education in Next Budget The government in view of the literacy situation in the country, announced to allocate four percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for education in 2007- 2008. This was announced by the Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi on March 2. Around 2.73 percent of the GDP had been allocated for education in the fiscal year 2005-06. According to the minister, the government had allocated sufficient funds for higher education and now primary education was the major concern. He said that curricula in schools needed a review and that a curriculum review council would be formed to review the curriculum after every five years. Source: Daily Times, March 3, 2006,
Domestic Spending on Education As it is mentioned in Global Monitoring Report, “Spending on education remains inadequate in Pakistan. It spends less than 3 percent of GNP on education…”
Can Literate Punjab Really Help Saima? Saima is a 13- year- old child laborer who works with her mother in the fields. She has never seen the inside of a school. During a meeting with the SPARC team in cotton picking field at Muzaffargarh, this is what she had to say to her government, “While the government claims to provide free education, schooling and food at lunch time and sometimes tin of ghee, the reality is that a huge number of children like me, are still missing from education. I want to request the President of Pakistan and our Zila Nazim to ensure that all the children receive free and quality education, because I am sure if I am given a chance to study, my mother and I will not have to be poor and work in the fields. I don’t like to work in the fields for hours and hours.”
10 www.usaid.gov/pk/education
SPARC 107 Education
Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP is lowest in Pakistan as compared to other countries of the South Asian region. Pakistan spends 2.1 percent of its GDP on education as compared to India, which spends 4.1 percent, Bangladesh 2.4 percent, and Nepal 3.4 percent. The budget allocation is reflective of the priority that the government gives to the education sector. Public expenditure as a percentage of GDP has marginally increased from 1.8 percent in 2000-01 to 2.1 percent in 2003-04. However, it stagnated at approximately 2.0 percent from 2003-04 to 2005-06. The increase per annum in current (recurring) allocation was 16 percent in 2004-05 over the year 2000-01 as compared to the development allocation of 110 percent. The break-up of investments in education by the Federal Government and the Provinces for the year 2005-06 are given in the following table:
Summary of Public Sector Budgetary Allocation for Education 2005-2006 (Million Rs) Federal Government Current Development Total Ministry of Education 2282.813 4520.522 6803.335 Higher Education Commission 10493.412 11700.000 22193.412 Federal Government Education Institution in 1027.697 32.862 1060.559 Cantonments & Garrisons FATA 2079.491 1300.000 3379.491 FANA 656.482 323.840 980.322 Azad Jammu and Kashmir 3362.400 390.000 3752.400 Federal Government Special Education 238.971 782.596 1021.561 Institutions Other Federal Ministries / Divisions / 5443.312 454.379 5897.691 Organizations Total (Federal) 25584.578 19504.199 45088.777
Source: National Economic Survey 2005-06. Chapter 11, p 169
The above table shows that the government has earmarked a huge amount in current and development expenditure in education sector. However, both documents National Economic Survey and National Education Census fail to give budget allocations in the sub-sectors within the Education Ministry and what is the priority area for expenditure? The budget allocation for Higher Education, which is close to 50 percent of the total budget, is highlighted in the above table but there is no clear amount earmarked for primary education. It is also not clear what is meant by development expenditure? Will the amount increase gradually till the year 2015? Has this amount increased since the previous budget? And if it has been raised from the previous budget allocation, the amount still does not count for the four percent of GDP as promised by the Education Minister.
108 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Apart from the internal available funds the government has been continuously receiving external assistance from various multilateral organizations and donor agencies. Government has received US $1527.107 million for education sector but is not mentioned in the National Economic Survey. It does not show any allocation for developing infrastructure at primary and secondary level. According to the NEC data, a large number of institutions are explained as missing facilities.
Donor’s Budgetary Allocation
Donor Agency For the Year of Amount in US$ Million
The World Bank 2004 – 07 650.000 (Credit)
Asian Development Bank 2002 – 09 338.580 (Credit)
Islamic Development Bank 2002 – 06 35.240 (Credit)
USAID 2002 – 06 100.000
European Union 2001 – 08 85.566
CIDA 2002 – 06 75.447
NORAD 2002 – 08 49.600
JICA 1997 – 06 43.700
GTZ 2004 – 08 43.358
DFID 2001 – 04 13.936
AusAid 2003 – 06 2.400
World Food Program 2004 – 08 52.000
UNICEF 2004 – 08 14.600
ILO 1999 – 05 11.427
UNDP 2004 – 08 9.300
UNFPA 2004 – 08 1.600
UNESCO 2005 0.353
TOTAL 1527.107
Source: National Economic Survey 2005-06. Chapter 11, p 170
Pakistan Must Do More for Education It has been mentioned in various international reports and policy documents by the UN and international community that Pakistan should commit to all the International declarations and extend the agenda of providing the basic right of education to all of
SPARC 109 Education its citizens. Government of Pakistan has taken several policies and program initiatives to achieve the international goals since then but half heartedly and therefore we have not been able to achieve the targets for 2005 and the overall situation remains deplorable in the education sector.
Earlier, The National Plan of Action for Education for All was initiated in response to the commitment made at Dakar for World Summit and is still on the papers and the Education Sector Reforms Action Plan (ESR), which has been built upon the National Education Policy 1998-2010, was declared as a long term plan, with three yearly action plans. Pakistan still has to go a long way to reach its targets and until and unless education is given the due priority that it deserves in the policy framework and allocation of financial resources, this sector will continue to show weak performance in the coming years.
Primary and Middle Education It is imperative that primary education should remain high on the global agenda for education. A right to primary education, however, is of no consequence if there is no access to it. Moreover, when there is access to it, if the education provided is of poor quality, then it is unlikely that the goal of education for all will be reached. In all countries of the world there are some children who learn and progress, through the formal education system. They are usually from the more affluent sectors of society, while less fortunate children remain out of school, drop out, or attend irregularly. Therefore, emphasis on the needs of the poorest children should be the priority for improving access to, and improving the quality of, primary education.
The educational system of Pakistan is among the least developed in the world. The system is still based on the British colonial educational system. Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where the ratio of school going children is still stumpy. For every 100 children entering primary schools, less then half complete high school education. Primary education in Pakistan continues to suffer from scarcity of schools, overcrowded classrooms, teacher absenteeism, inadequate facilities, poor management and lack of teacher trainings.
Authorities often say that education and education alone will provide enlightened moderation, promote tolerance and peace and help in developing the potential and the capacity of an individual to contribute optimally to society. It would empower the people in establishing and re-enforcing democracy; reducing poverty, eliminate all types of disparities and lead to a sustainable level of development. However, the question remains that what are the initiatives and good practices at grass roots level regarding quality, beneficial primary education?
With all the rhetoric and tall claims about the need for literacy and education emanating from the highest levels, the movement towards the attainment of the goal of a literate Pakistan is painfully slow. Primary education, particularly, is suffering from
110 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 negligence and lack of political will for the past many years. Surprisingly, the official facts & figures tell us that the Government has been successful in education sector particularly at primary level as given in the following table:
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the Primary Level (Age 5 -9) by Provinces and Region (Excluding kachi (Prep) class)
2001-02 2004-05 Region/Province Total Male Female Total Male Female
Urban Areas 91% 94% 87% 104% 107% 100% Punjab 94 95 93 110 111 108 Sindh 84 91 78 99 103 94 NWFP 93 100 86 92 100 84 Balochistan 88 98 75 94 101 86 Rural Areas 66% 80% 52% 79% 89% 68% Punjab 70 80 61 89 96 82 Sindh 53 69 37 58 70 44 NWFP 74 96 52 78 92 62 Balochistan 57 73 38 61 79 41 Pakistan R / U 72% 83% 61% 86% 94% 77% Punjab 76 84 69 95 100 89 Sindh 63 76 51 75 84 65 NWFP 77 97 56 80 93 65 Balochistan 62 77 44 67 83 49
Source: National Economic Survey 2005-06. Chapter 11, Education p 160 The statistics in the above table indicate that the GER at the primary level in all four provinces, of the 86 percent of Pakistan’s population (of age 5 to 9 years), comprises 94 percent males and 77 percent females. FATA, FANA and AJK areas are missing. The urban areas of Punjab show impressive increases, but the rural areas of Balochistan Province indicate marginal decline. Comparative statistics for the period 2001-02 to 2004-05 show that the overall primary school GER for boys has increased from 72 percent in 2001-02, to 86 percent in 2004-05. For the girls, primary school GER increased from 61 percent in 2001-02, to 77 percent in 2004-05, with Sindh and Punjab provinces displaying large growth but NWFP and Balochistan Provinces showing slow progress.
The government claims that the GER has increased more then three percentage points per annum on an average. The figures may look impressive but considering that 23 percent urban areas and 21 percent villages of the country are without any
SPARC 111 Education educational institutions, then how is it possible and what was the method adopted, by the education authorities, to indicate increase in the GER at the primary level?
In the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 2004, the target for Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) was fixed at 58 percent for the period 2005-06. Moreover, in the Pakistan MDGs report 2004, the target was fixed at 100 percent NER by 2015. But Pakistan seems to have not made a sound progress in NER at the primary level (age 5-9), which increased by 10 percentage points from 42 percent in 2001-02 to 52 percent in 2004- 05. The performance of female NER in rural areas of Punjab is slightly higher. But this has increased the regional disparities, as NER gap between Punjab and Balochistan has increased from 13 percent in 2001-02 to 21 percent in 2004-05. The gap between Punjab and Sindh doubled from five percent to 10 percent in past four years but this is not sufficient progress and these achievements, however, still compare poorly with progress in the rest of South Asia. Moreover, this highlights the need to improve and accelerate the education programs for rural areas of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan. Similarly the situation of Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) at the Middle Level (Age 10- 12) facts & figures show slow movement and fail to reflect government’s claims of success in the following table:
GER at the Middle Level (Age 10-12) by Provinces and Regions
2001-02 2004-05 Region/Province Total Male Female Total Male Female
Urban Areas 63% 58% 68% 64% 63% 64% Punjab 65 56 74 66 64 68 Sindh 59 56 62 61 64 58 NWFP 62 73 49 63 71 54 Balochistan 61 70 50 53 57 49 Rural Areas 32% 41% 21% 38% 46% 29% Punjab 36 42 28 42 47 36 Sindh 21 31 8 25 34 13 NWFP 35 49 19 44 59 27 Balochistan 28 41 11 25 33 14 Pakistan R / U 41% 45% 35% 46% 51% 40% Punjab 45 46 43 49 52 45 Sindh 34 40 28 42 47 35 NWFP 38 52 23 47 61 31 Balochistan 33 45 18 30 37 21
Source: National Education Census 2005-06, Highlights, p 32
112 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Statistics indicates that only 46 percent of Pakistan’s total population (of age 10 to 12 years), comprising 51 percent males and 40 percent females are studying at the middle level in all four provinces of the country (FATA, FANA and AJK areas are missing). There is only one percent increase in the GER in 2004-05 from that of 2001- 02 in the urban areas of Punjab, Sindh and NWFP Provinces, and a marginal decline in both urban and rural areas of Balochistan. Comparative statistics for the period 2001-02 to 2004-05 show that the overall middle school GER for boys increased from 45 percent in 2001-02, to 51 percent in 2004-05, which is only six percent rise. The GER increased in Punjab and Sindh and fell both in Balochistan and NWFP. For the girls, middle school GER increased eight percent in rural areas of all provinces and strangely enough decreased four percent in urban areas. However, the middle school GER increased from 35 percent in 2001-02, to 40 percent in 2004-05. Similarly the NER is much lower than the GER, which shows the actual number of children in these classes. At the Matriculation level, GER is at only 44 percent and NER is 11 percent with wider gender gaps.
Dropout Rates by Grade and Gender at Primary Level for Public Sector Institutions
Dropout Rates Grades Total Male Female
Between Grade I to II 14.1% 16.1% 11.2%
Between Grade II to III 3.7% 8.6% -
Between Grade III to IV 5.0% 7.4% 1.5%
Between Grade IV to V 8.5% 9.9% 6.5%
Overall Dropout Rate from Grade I – V 31.3% 40.2% 19.2%
Source: National Education Census 2005-06, Highlights, p 2
The above table indicates that 31.3 percent of enroled population from class one to five (of age 5 to 9 years), comprising 40.2 percent males and 19.2 percent females drop out from Public sector institutions. But the NEC is silent on the province/ region, urban/ rural and public/ private sector break up for drop out children. Drop out from schools is a serious issue in Pakistan. According to the Global Monitoring Report on the MDGs, Pakistan has a higher number of dropouts as compared to India. The percentage of children that reached grade five in 2005-06 was 61 percent and the drop out rate was 39 percent. This retention rate was low compared to India, where 84 percent of children remained in schools after grade five.
A high drop out rate indicates that there are serious problems, which are pushing children out of the school. According to SPARC’s research, when children are not in schools, they become potential child laborers. An estimated 2.5 million children are
SPARC 113 Education not in schools that include dropouts as well. It is important to note that both NEC and the NES 2005-06 have not given exact data on this vital problem that challenges our education sector. In November 2006, UNESCO in its EFA Report 2007 mentioned that a study of primary schools in many rural areas of the Punjab and the NWFP concluded that economic constraints on households were a key factor in keeping children out-of-school. 130 Schools Closed in Larkana (Sindh)11 As many as 130 schools are closed in Larkana district for a long time. The number of school going age children in the district is 495,684 and 300,432 of them are out of schools. There are 89 school buildings, which have been declared dangerous, but children are studying there. Sources in the education department said on November 14. The Sindh Education Management Information System has prepared ‘Sindh Education Profile’ of each district based on information in the 2005-06 Census. The chief program manager of the reform support unit, asked the Larkana Executive District Officer (education) in October to provide its comment to the unit. But the unit had not received comments from any of the districts. The number of school going children from pre-primary to higher secondary level is estimated at 195,252, the sources said. Strangely enough, the enrolment has increased while the number of teachers has decreased from 5,965 (in year 2002) to 5,842 (in year 2005). No new school has been constructed since then. In the district, 1,069 schools, with the highest number of primary schools (1,016), are running without electricity, 508 are without toilets, 335 has no facility of drinking water and 639 has no boundary walls. In a statement made by the Federal Education Minister on the problem of dropouts in the country he said “Pakistan has become a nation of dropouts”.12 A massive 45 percent of students are quitting school mid-way. The country also has a literacy rate of less than 50 percent. He further said that the government has failed to provide basic facilities at school level, one of the prime reasons for the increasing dropout rate.” In Punjab alone, over 20,000 schools need basic amenities like water, classrooms and sanitation facilities. The lack of schools and poor infrastructure of the existing ones has also deprived 40 percent of the children of their education right.
Gender Disparity Gender disparity in education is a major concern, which has been pointed out in all international donor reports as well underscored by the civil society and human rights activists nationally. Girl child lags far behind the boys where fulfilment of their right to education is concerned. Even the government accepts that gender disparity in literacy and enrolment is one of the key concerns. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s overall record in promoting and delivering gender equality has been weak.
11 SPARC Newsletter, Issue 49, December 2006 12 I. Press Trust of India … Posted online: Wed, May 31, 2006 II. Dawn, May 31, 2006.
114 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Why Children do not Go to School…? g Parents Indifference: It is a common practice that parents do not accord adequate importance to education and take little or no interest in visiting schools to learn how the child is doing, ensuring that homework is done, or even going to school regularly. g Poor Economic Status of Parents: Poverty, adult unemployment, big family is among the major factors that keep children out of school. g Location of Schools: In many areas (both urban and rural) of Pakistan schools are located very far from homes and particularly girls are not allowed to attend. g Boring Education: Unfortunately for children the syllabus as well as the teaching techniques used in public schools is obsolete and rote oriented. It does not encourage children to ask questions and give opinions and views. In addition, extra curricular activities are non-existent. g Poor Quality Teaching Staff: Incompetent and unqualified teachers, low pay scales, poor working environment, over populated classrooms, corporal punishment push children out of school. g Working in Fields, Houses for Money: In rural areas it is quite common for parents to make their children work in the fields or in the homes, instead of sending them to schools. Children pick cotton, potatoes, tomatoes, and other seasonal vegetables. In urban areas a large number of little girls accompany the mothers who work in the homes as domestic help. The child does not go to school but at a young age, is ready to work as domestic help.
The factors that keep girls out of school are more cultural than religious. Islam does not preach illiteracy or unequal treatment in any aspect of life, for girls. It is the male dominated and patriarchal bent of mind that has lead to the belief that girls should not go to school and educate themselves. This is more a clash of power and control. It is a common belief that if a girl is educated she will write letters to her boyfriend.
The situation has worsened in the NWFP with the fundamentalists taking control and extending their own brand of Islam. There has been string of incidents in the Northern Areas of girls’ schools being vandalized, attacked or closed down under threat of dire consequences. Girl students and teachers have been threatened with acid attacks if orders are disobeyed. In early 2007, leading private schools were targeted not only in the NWFP but even in the capital Islamabad, to either discontinue co-education or face the consequences. The situation is frustrating, especially taking into account that millions of dollars are being spent in food for education program, free education etc. to attract parents to send their girls to schools. If such a situation is allowed to gain ground in Pakistan, it will result in a gaping difference between the number of boys and girls accessing education and also have far reaching impact on literacy rate, and Pakistan’s ability to achieve its MDGs and EFA goals despite pledging internationally to give its children their right to education.
SPARC 115 Education
In addition to this very serious problem impeding girls’ education, parents in rural areas are reluctant to send their daughters to schools located far away from their homes for safety reasons and therefore the drop out is quite high in rural areas. Besides, parents also avoid sending their daughters to schools after they reach puberty because they fear for their safety. Another hurdle to increasing gender disparity is lack of facilities in school, especially nonexistence of latrines, especially for girls.
The Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) launched a survey report Sindh Documenting Educational Innovations in December 2006 in Karachi on the condition of schools in Sindh. According to the report there is a 20 to 30 percent gender disparity in the rural areas while it is only a mere 12 to 13 percent in urban areas. Some schools had 10 children, while their building had 20 rooms and there were ample number of teachers. In other cases there were 250 children to one school in only a single room, with only two teachers taking care of them.
Controversy Mars Tawana Program The second part of the multi-billion Tawana Pakistan Program (TPP) appears to be deviating from its original objective of eradicating malnutrition among girl students because the revised program is to provide biscuits and milk instead of medicines and micro-nutrient food supplements, officials associated with the project said on February 28, 2007 Previously, the parliamentary committee had accused the federal government of misappropriating huge amounts of money by supplying substandard or outdated medicines to over 0.5 million girl students of about 4,000 schools in 29 poor districts of the country. “The revised program looks more of just utilization of funds instead of improving health conditions of the girl students of mostly rural parts of the country,” says a senior official. The project was aimed at eradicating malnutrition among girl students through food supplements that common biscuits could not do, the official said. Under the revised PC-1, girls instead of getting freshly prepared mid- day food would now be getting milk and cookies. A story in 2005 revealed that how Rs 8.5 million was siphoned off during the purchase of substandard medicines and micro-nutrients. These substandard medicines and food supplements caused stomach disorder and vomiting among girl students. “The new PC-1 will result in a great loss to the essence of this program i.e. the empowerment of girls, parents and communities. One can only imagine the potential for corruption if the program is to change into a milk and cookies program, as well as the loss of benefits involved from the process of community planning for the nutrition of their own children,” the university official involved in the first phase of the TPP warned. Source, SPARC Newsletter, Issue 50, March 2007
116 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Facts and Figures on Out-of-School Children and Females g There are 115 children out of school; the majority of them (62 million) are girls.
g In Western and Central Africa, 24 million children are out of primary school, 13 million of them are girls.
g In Eastern and Southern Africa, 21 million children are out of primary school, 10.9 million of them are girls.
g In South Asia region, 42.8 million children are not in school, 23.5 million of them are girls.
g In the Middle East and North Africa, 10.3 million children are not in school, 5.8 million of them are girls.
g In developing countries, 75 percent of the children not in primary school have uneducated mothers.
g There are 771 million illiterate adults, 64 percent of them women, worldwide. Only 88 adult women are considered literate for every 100 adult men.
g Women represent 62 percent of the 15 – to – 24 year-olds living with HIV and AIDS globally. Source: United Nations Girls Education Initiative
Statistics show that gender disparity has been declining steadily since 1998-99, however, the recent decline is only marginal from 26 percent to 25 percent in 2004- 05. In all urban areas it is lower at 16 percent, as compared to 29 percent in rural areas in 2004-05. The above table shows a minimum decline in the gender gap in overall literacy, in the GER at the primary level, from 22 percent in 2001- 02 to 17 percent in 2004-05. The government claim that the five percent decline was due to the increase in the female GER rather than in male GER during 2001-05. The gender disparity declined in all provinces except Balochistan where it increased by one percent. Punjab has the lowest gender gap of 11 percent and Balochistan has the highest at 34 percent. In urban areas gender gap remained seven percent during 2001-02 to 2004-05 because the male and female GER increased by same proportion (13 percent).
In the year 2000, data compiled by UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank indicated that only around 40 percent of Pakistani girls are enroled in schools for elementary education. The situation is much the same even in 2006 as it has been mentioned above. This is by far the lowest amongst all South Asian nations, with India maintaining a rate of around 76 percent, Sri Lanka 100 percent, Maldives 100 percent Nepal 46 percent and Bhutan 47 percent respectively according to data from the same independent sources.
SPARC 117 Education
The following table gives a detailed picture of the Gender Gap in overall Literacy in all four province of the country.
Gender Gap in Overall Literacy, GER & NER at the Primary Level (%) 2004-05 Gender Gap in Gender Gap in NER Gender Gap in GER Region / Literacy (%) at the Primary Level at the Primary Level Province 2001-02 2004-05 2001-02 2004-05 2001-02 2004-05 Urban Areas 16% 16% 3% 3% 7% 7% Punjab 11 12 -1 1 2 3 Sindh 20 18 6 5 13 9 NWFP 29 28 8 6 14 16 Balochistan 35 32 14 6 23 15 Rural Areas 30% 29% 10% 11% 28% 21% Punjab 25 24 6 7 19 14 Sindh 37 38 16 16 32 26 NWFP 39 38 16 15 44 30 Balochistan 38 34 15 17 35 38 Pakistan R / U 26% 25% 8% 8% 22% 17% Punjab 21 21 4 5 15 11 Sindh 29 27 12 11 25 19 NWFP 37 38 15 13 41 28 Balochistan 38 33 15 15 33 34
Source: National Economic Survey 2005-06, Chapter-11 p 160
Institutions with Missing Facilities It is stated in the National Education Census that 53,481 institutions are without boundary walls, 46,766 without drinking water, 81,633 without electricity, 57,216 without latrine and 9,776 are without building facilities altogether. These figures are being compared with that of 2000, and 2003 and obviously it gave an impression that from 2000 to 2005 government has done a lot to provide the facilities in infrastructure. A large number of institutions in Sindh, Punjab and even in the capital Islamabad are without facilities. In Islamabad 51 institutions are without boundary walls, 32 without drinking water, 20 without electricity, 39 without latrine and some institutions are even without proper premises.
The accessibility to education is not the only challenge for the children of the poor. Quality is the next big hurdle. As education becomes more commercialized and the market forces come into play, the government has opted to shift the responsibility of educating the children of Pakistan to the private sector. Naturally the profit driven
118 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Students Injured as Classroom Roof Caves in Nine students received injuries when roof of a classroom caved in, in Jacobabad, on February 19, 2007. The incident occurred while the students were studying. Three students were seriously injured, and three received minor injuries. Later, the students of the school took out a procession and raised slogans against the EDO (education) and the district officer (works). The assistant Headmaster alleged that substandard material had been used in the construction of the school building due to which the roof of a classroom caved in. He said that the school building was constructed 10 years ago and its renovation took place a year ago. No senior official of the education department at district level visited the school after the incident. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue 50, March 2007 private schools charge higher fees, which the poor cannot afford. As a result they are consigned to the government institutions. Normally, there should be nothing wrong in studying in public sector schools. But a visit to one will give a pretty clear idea of what awaits the child there.
If the school actually exists on the ground and not just on paper as thousands of ghost schools are known to do, and has a regular school building with toilets, drinking water, electricity and a boundary wall. It is not certain if there will be a teacher to teach the students. It could even be the semi literate youngster from the village to whom the teacher may have outsourced his job for a paltry sum. Of course, he himself would collect the pay packet every month.
Literacy Rate The adult Literacy rate in Pakistan stands at 53 13 percent. Pakistan does not fare well on account of literacy within the region. Sri Lanka and Maldives have almost attained full literacy. The adult literacy rate for India is 61 as compared to 53 percent in Pakistan. According to a recent study done by the World Bank, India has attained 100 percent GER and 90 percent NER at Photograph by: Nazra Jehan the primary level.
13 http://www.nchd.org.pk/ws/pa_edu_al.htm
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Although, the literacy rate has increased at an average of two percent per annum in the past four years but it is still not enough and this calls for major changes in the education policy and implementation framework. Scarcity of funds, weak implementation and monitoring of programs, overlapping and high recurring costs, low access to basic education, static curriculum and minimal public-private partnership in this sector (especially in the rural areas) have impeded the development process in the education sector.
When taking unofficial figures in view, Pakistan’s current literacy rate is estimated at 38.9 percent. The female literacy for rural areas is not more then 8 percent.” However, what is important to note here is what is the criteria or what method is applied to measure literacy rate. Literacy in Pakistan is also measured if a person can simply sign her/his name. This of course helps the government inflate the rate, but the fact remains that the people are for all practical purposes illiterate.
Literacy Rates (10 years and above) for Pakistan and Provinces 2004 – 05 (%) PROVINCE / AREA TOTAL MALE FEMALE Pakistan 53 65 40 Punjab 55 65 44 Sindh 56 68 41 NWFP 45 64 26 Balochistan 37 52 19
Source: National Economic Survey 2005-06. Chapter 11, Education p 161
According to the above statistics the female literacy rate is still under 45 percent. In Balochistan and NWFP, female literacy figures are alarmingly low. Despite the fact that the government is aware of the abysmal situation, it has not initiated any exclusive programs in Balochistan to even improve the situation. Even in Punjab, where the government is spending huge amount of funds to improve the literacy programs, the figures show only 44 percent literacy rate. In Punjab there are a large number of schools at the district and village levels, but there is no centralized system of collecting data on the GER and NER.
Again the figures for literacy are missing for FATA, FANA and AJK in the NEC and other official documents. If the government is allocating budgets for this sector than it is extremely important that progress is also measured and noted. Or else the government should probe whether the funds are being spent or not.
Literacy Rate Falls by 0.4 percent “The literacy rate slightly dropped to 52 percent during the second quarter of 2006 (October-December) period of the current fiscal as against 52.4 percent recorded in
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Literacy Rate Figures Still not Updated According to the Punjab Education Department’s figures, Punjab’s literacy rate was around 44 percent (average) in 2003, which was shown in the government’s report when the education reforms project was launched. Surprisingly, it appears as if the literacy rate figures have not been updated and are based on the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey and Annual Education Census 2002. Education experts said the figures were probably not updated and were at least four years old. The latest literacy-grading statistics are available with the Punjab Literacy Department, but Punjab Education Department officials said they did not have the figures in this regard. “We have established a separate literacy department and the list must be there,” said a senior official, adding that figures were always a bit controversial and it was hard to find the exact literacy rate and normally department relies for data on international organizations like the UNESCO. According to the Punjab Literacy Department’s report in 2006, Punjab’s average literacy rate was 44.09 percent. For people aged ten and above in Punjab, Rawalpindi has the highest rate of literacy. On the other hand, Rajanpur has the lowest literacy rate. The department’s updated data shows that Lahore has the highest female literacy rate 59.68 percent and Rajanpur the lowest.” Source: Daily Times, March 1, 2006 the previous quarter (July-September) of the 2006. The Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) Second Quarterly Report on Labor Force Survey (LFS) claimed that the rate was same for both rural areas and gender. The literacy rate fares higher than that of last annual LFS 2003-04, which stood at 51.6 percent.
Rural-urban divide and male-female disparity seem to be narrowing comparatively, added the report. With slight variation, the participation rate also recorded at 32.7 percent as against the first quarter participation rate of 32.8 percent but more than that of the last annual LFS 2003-04 (30.4 percent). According to the report, nonetheless, participation rate for rural areas and women have improved a bit.14
In Government reports and documents, literacy is often deliberately or mistakenly interchanged with education, which of course is a much broader term, encompassing more then simply reading and writing but producing responsible, thinking human beings, developed to their full potential.
Nonetheless, literacy is a key indicator for measuring the output of primary education. As such, the government aims to raise the literacy rate from 49 percent in 2002 to 60 percent by making 13 million people literate through the national literacy campaign. UNESCO reports that “Some 781 million adults (one in five worldwide) lack minimum literacy skills. Two-thirds are women. Literacy rates remain low in South and West Asia (59 percent), sub-Saharan Africa (61 percent), the Arab States (66 percent) and the
14 Dawn, May 23, 2006
SPARC 121 Education
Caribbean (70 percent). Governments must also focus on building the right environment 15 for improving literacy.
Under international pressure as well as national level advocacy by the NGOs for education for all, the Punjab Government in 2004 declared four model literacy districts; Dera Ghazi Khan (D G Khan), Mandi Bahauddin, Khanewal and Khushab. The project is being carried out by the Punjab Literacy Department, the district government and JICA (Japanese International Coordination Agency) and the project period is 2004 to 2015. The aim of this huge project is to achieve 100 percent literacy rate in these districts by 2015.
Teachers’ Associations can Help Promote Education By Qindeel Shujaat In 2006, the Government of Sindh banned teachers’ associations and curbed teachers’ right of association. Later, teachers’ associations won the court battle at the provincial level, and the ban was lifted by the Sindh High court. However, the Supreme Court ruling supported ban on the teachers and reinstated the decision of the government on the basis that teachers’ associations are doing more harm than good. The author argues that the teachers’ associations and unions have a distinct role to play which can strengthen and promote education system in Pakistan. Pakistan has achieved little success in education sector as compared to other developing nations in recent years. The main challenges for education in Pakistan are identified as: 1. Different education system prevailing in the country for rich and the poor class (i.e. curriculum). 2. Low enrolment rates, especially for girls and the rural population. 3. Poor quality of education leading to low student achievement and poor performance in adult life. 4. Centralized, bureaucratic management and weak technical and administrative capacity. 5. Low level of political support for education and low levels of government financing. 6. Lack of financial controls and accountability systems, causing governance problems. 7. Most important but neglected; shortage of teachers, inadequate teacher trainings, poor recruitment process and low salaries among many other issues. The development of different approaches to improve access to school and quality education received some boost in November 2001, when the Minister for Education announced the educational policies and reforms with its focus on non-
15 UNESCO Global Monitoring Report – 2007, p 27
122 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 formal schools, technical and skills training, teachers’ training, development of school infrastructure and the establishment of public-private partnerships. In January 2002, the Ministry of Education published Education Sector Reforms Action Plan 2002-2004. As part of its educational reform plan, the Government has attached special importance to decentralization of the education sector. Through devolution of administrative authority, local government would undertake educational development. As part of the decentralization and devolution process all provinces will become more active in education planning and implementation. Under Local Government Ordinance 2001, the Province of Punjab has been assigned the responsibility of establishing Citizen Community Boards (CCBs). The function of the CCB is to ensure effective participation at the community level. The boards can form stakeholders associations such as Parent-Teacher Associations or Community Public Partnerships for community involvement in the improvement and maintenance of educational programs. Under this plan the local community will be involved in hiring of local teachers, involvement in the schools’ annual development plan, and management and operation of school-related funds. The government ordinance also calls for the establishment of School Management or Monitoring Committees, which will ensure accountability and transparency at the district level. Total number of teachers both in public and private schools are over six million with 35 percent females employed in the education sector. In Pakistan, teachers are not formally organized. As per industrial relations ordinance, teachers can form unions only in those schools, which are solely established for commercial gains. This means that teachers can form unions only in private schools. Managements in private schools are anti-unions and a small number of teachers find it hard to form unions. It is also worth mentioning that not much efforts and support has been given to teachers to organize unions in private sector. A majority of teachers in Pakistan organize themselves informally in the form of associations. In some cases, a few teachers’ associations have joined national trade union federations but they are non-paying affiliates because teacher’s associations generally do not have any institutionalized structure or systems. This is true for a majority of cases even if it is not in the whole of Pakistan. There are different types of teachers’ associations in Pakistan. Some associations are formed within the boundaries of the colleges, universities and school, whereas in some cases, associations are formed within cities and provinces with common goals. It has also been observed in Pakistan that teachers’ associations come forward only when they are faced with common problems; otherwise their role in the promotion of education is minimal. Some good work has been done by Parent Teacher Associations in Pakistan but those association generally work as NGOs, and the fate of the parent teachers association remain questionable with the change in the management of the association every year and their commitment and interest to the cause. Strengthening the teaching profession should be one of the top priorities for education reforms, in a country where more than half of the population is illiterate. The equation is simple. Children cannot be educated if teachers are not educated.
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Investment in teachers is same as investment in children’s education. Although, government claims that they have started focusing on the teachers, but we have seen that weak planning and controls over systems and structures have failed in sustained implementation of good programs in the past. The idea of establishing Citizen Community Boards is good, but the key to success lies in its sustainability. Therefore, teacher unions or associations can have a distinct and respected role, and more sustainable if properly organized encompassing all the issues concerning education system, children’s problems, school problems, pay and terms of service, providing research and policy evidence on key areas of concern to their communities. Unionism is a tool, which gives a platform to the teachers. No one else can better understand teachers’ problems other than teachers themselves. Experience has shown that activism by teachers’ unions and associations shows much more improved results because teachers take more ownership and are a part of the whole process. Teachers’ Associations constitute structures of civil society and are true representatives of teachers. Although they are still fragile in Pakistan, but they have strong potential to position themselves as guardians of democracy due to their efforts to maintain meaningful dialogue and consultation with all the stakeholders in education: national authorities, teachers and teachers’ associations, development agencies, economic operators and other actors. While local social and economic factors have been a large part of the problem, an innovative education program can be designed by international donors and supporters to work with Teachers’ Associations in Pakistan. Contributing to the potential success of the program is the strength of program foundation: a unique partnership of teachers at village, district and national level. I strongly believe that, by listening to teachers, a real difference can be brought for the betterment of education by providing an opportunity for teachers to shape the development of education policy and to maintain and set the professional standards for teaching. Teachers can influence education policy in areas such as professional accountability, continuing professional development, initial training, retention, and career development, the future of the profession and issues of pedagogy. Teachers’ associations can enhance the status, morale and professionalism of teachers. It can assess the reasons for low enrolments and drop out rates in government schools at local level and provide remedies for the problems. It can help in improving technical and administrative skills and capacities through training programs for teachers. It can contribute in helping government and communities to improve access and quality. It can also play a key role in the formation of a think tank to monitor progress towards education goals and strategies at the international, national, regional and district levels and also build on existing mechanisms to accelerate progress for promoting education in Pakistan. Historically, the relation of teachers’ associations and politics cannot be denied, however, politics within the education system has been a major reason why teachers were not allowed to form unions and also not recognized. The fact remains that without the right of unionism; teachers cannot establish and institutionalize themselves. Teachers’ right to unionism gives them a platform from where they can negotiate with concerned authorities to readdress their grievances
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and problems. Thus, in the absence of this platform, teachers form their own associations and link up with political parties to deal with their problems, such as transfers and appointments, job security, salary packages etc. Teacher’s right to associations can play an important role in the promotion of education system which may well change the future of Pakistan and of its children. The contributor is Executive Director, SPARC.
Case Study of “A Model Literacy District” Dera Ghazi Khan comprises of three Tehsils and is divided into 59 Union Councils. The district has 1,200 Madrassah schools, 2, 496 primary schools, 1,174 middle schools, 1,800 high schools and about 3,500 private institutions. The literacy rate is only 30.6 percent generally and in females it is 18.5 percent.
D G Khan is one of the four districts selected as a model for achieving 100 percent literacy rate by 2015. Executive District Officer Literacy (EDO) is the main implementing authority. 9,000 literacy centers will be established in all 59 union councils in which nearly 300,000 people will be registered. The education provided will be free of cost and then the learners will participate in (primary) class 5 level examinations. The successful learners will be awarded with primary school certificate.
The EDO Literacy Office conducts a need assessment study in collaboration with the local NGOs and CBOs of the respective area. The survey will help the EDO to prepare a map for setting up literacy centers, (preferably a home of a teacher or any community member offering his/her house for the center). The department in collaboration with the district literacy committee, established by the District Nazim, will appoint literacy teachers. The remuneration given is Rs. 2000. The Department will organize 3 to 5 days teacher’s training workshop where they get one center kit and 30 learner kits.
The center kit comprises one chair, one darri (piece of mat), one black board with stand + a packet of chalks and duster, one wall clock, one pitcher + glass, one bell + wood hammer, some record and attendance register and some wall charts regarding literacy. The Learner Kit consists of one polyester bag with the logos of EFA and Literacy Department, one black slate for writing, writing copies, some curriculum books, pencil, eraser and pen.
The teacher is responsible for teaching as well as ensures the enrolment of 25 to 30 learners. The daily class duration is 4 to 5 hours from Monday to Saturday. Non- formal learners complete 42 months primary level course and adult literacy learners complete four months reading / writing course and three months vocational education (life skills) course then these learners participate in examination.
All these centers are run by the local NGOs and CBOs. The representatives of these organizations supervise these centers and check the achievement level of learners
SPARC 125 Education once a month. Every organization gets Rs. 200 supervisory cost per center. It is mandatory for the EDO literacy, supervisors of the literacy department, district literacy committee and its members to monitor the centers by paying surprise visits.
This is the project on paper. The reality unfortunately is quite grim. Going by the project, there is no reason to believe that D G khan will not be able to achieve the target of 100 percent literacy by 2015. But the actual work on the ground clearly shows that only a miracle will make it happen.
In the two years, since the project started, only six hundred centers have been set up, including those which were earlier set up under the Pakistan Literacy Commission. The centers, failed to deliver and there was a huge drop out rate. The literacy centers set up under the new project has not fared any better.
Not even 15 learners out of the 30 have passed their primary examinations yet. Besides, the need assessment carried out by the government officers was substandard, for example in a village of 100 people where two or three centers are enough the government has set up at least five or six. This means that the centers will remain unutilized, teachers will be appointed and will be paid for doing nothing (cases of nepotism will be rife) Photograph by: Fahmina Naz but the numbers will show an achievement of 9,000. The literacy committees established by the district Nazim, is made up of members close to the official, and therefore the committee’s performance is below standard. The committee has come under fire in the media from time to time, but to no avail. As many as 4,000 teachers have received basic teacher’s training. And now they are waiting for the centers to be set up. Only when the department has purchased all the required things, work will start eventually. This is the state of affairs after two years, since the project started.
A Complete Failure It is alleged that the project has been a complete failure in as far as any change in the literacy rate is concerned. However, activity on other fronts has increased, such as Union Council Nazims, who have been made responsible to appoint teachers are preparing lists of candidates, who are not qualified in teaching but can grease palms for the job, the rate is between Rs 5,000 to 10,000.
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The local NGOs and CBOs are bribing literacy staff to allocate more literacy centers (Rs 200 is paid for supervising each center) in their areas. A large number of NGOs and CBOs have been registered for this purpose. The department has yet to buy learner’s kits and it is not known when this will be done. Till that time nothing will be done, and children will be the worst sufferer for this delay and dilly-dallying.
Another important problem that has come to the forefront is that these literacy centers have given rise to child labor. Families, whose homes are being used as a center, employ children attending classes to do their domestic chores, such as cleaning the homes, filling water pitchers and washing clothes and utensils. The government’s Periodic Report is due in 2007 for the Committee on the Rights of the Children. It will not be surprising if the government declares the project a ‘major success’. However, what is actually happening on the ground will soon be apparent when the targets will remain as elusive as it is now.
Dream of a “Literate Punjab” to be Realized To realize the dream of a Parha Likha Punjab (educated Punjab), the Punjab government has established 22,656 adult literacy centers all over the province. Minister for Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education, while giving details of adult literacy program under the department informed that “So far 634,680 adults have been made literate and provided life skill based training.” He said that a number of neighboring countries have already increased literacy rate by using the Non-formal Education System. He further said that by sharing the experience of these countries, we can also increase our literacy rate. The minister said that purpose of these adult literacy centers is to facilitate drop out and out of school children. Source: Pakistan Observer, September 2, 2006
The project is suffering from serious problems. The burden of implementing the entire literacy program has devolved on the districts, and the EDO Literacy to be more precise. These EDOs exist only in the Punjab. In other provinces, District Officers and Additional District Officers have been given this responsibility. These district officers are not trained for the job and have inadequate staff and poor logistical facilities. So, they hand over the task to local NGOs working in this area, and most of whom lack the capacity to run the centers efficiently. No training institutes or resource centers exist (as in India or Bangladesh) with the result that teachers are not properly trained and there is hardly any credible monitoring system. There is thus an urgent need for setting up institutions for training and production of suitable reading material and also resource centers at provincial and district levels. Without professional expertise, effective training and monitoring systems, much of the effort and funds are liable to go down the drain and at the end we will see that Pakistan will continue to rank 16 among the countries with low literacy rates.
16 Literacy Department D. G. Khan, 2006
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Conclusion “If you want to make a plan for one year, cultivate rice. If you want to make a plan for ten years, plant a tree and if you want to make a plan for hundred years, establish a school”, so said Aristotle.
Education has emerged as a force and the vehicle for socio-economic development of a country. Investment in education contributes towards the accumulation of human capital resulting into shift to knowledge-based economy. Education is instrumental in poverty reduction by increasing the productivity of the poor, efficiency of labor, reducing fertility and improving health. This enables people to participate fully in the economic and social development of the country. It also enhances the capacity of nation’s institutions resulting in good governance for planning and implementing national policies.
Education in Pakistan is a result of poor public allocation, experimentation in delivery methods at each level, nationalization followed by privatization and poor management of the sector. Social service delivery for primary education must be seen as a cooperative venture between all levels of government, communities and the private sector, in support of low cost quality education. Priorities at federal level, specifically with regards to basic education, need to be redefined in accordance with the needs at the lower levels.
The only emphasis upon increasing the literacy rate of the country cannot improve productivity of its citizen. The simple question is “where will all the literate go? Will the government provide ways of employment to all? So we should be more realistic towards our policies.
According to the Literacy - A UNESCO Perspective, “Literacy is more than reading and writing. It is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture. Literacy contributes to freedom and equity; it is part of any social project, which aims at a fairer and more just society. Open and democratic systems of governance require open and adequate communication channels; no society in today’s world can function without the written dimension of communication- text on paper, on the computer screen, on the TV, coupled with images and icons of all kinds.” Violence breeds and fuels poverty, deprivation, illiteracy, boredom, unemployment, fanaticism and hatred etc. Education can help deal with all these negatives. It is a route to development, progress, accessibility, enlightenment and tolerance. These are the ingredients for a developed and modern nation where people are happy, content and nationalistic.
It is time to wake up and take seriously the task of developing the education sector in Pakistan. SPARC strongly feels there is a dire need to correct the situation by allocating sufficient funds and improve the infrastructure. There is some light at the
128 Chapter-3 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 end of the tunnel, which is more due to the hard work of the national NGOs with big and small funding by international institutions and NGOs. But the task is so huge and the challenge so daunting that all stakeholders in addition to international agencies like UNESCO, UNICEF, UN CRC, elected representatives like MNAs, Senators, MPAs, Nazims, Councillors the media and the civil society have to play an important role to ensure the availability of funds and expertise at various levels for Pakistan to make up for the lost time and catch up with the rest of the world. However, the fundamental responsibility and duty lies on the government to provide quality education to every child born in the country, whether poor or rich, girl or a boy. And therefore they should be made accountable for neglecting this all important sector. Strangely enough, Pakistan is not only a nuclear power but boasts one of the largest army in the world. And at the same time it has also one of the largest numbers of illiterates in the world. One can well imagine how lop sided our priorities are.
Pakistan is now almost 60 years old, and it is still struggling, mainly due to the failure of successive governments to provide the country with political stability, strong institutions, and visionary leadership. The children are the worst sufferers of all these shortcomings and are paying a heavy price for the failures of their adults. Is it possible for us to turn the tide and strike a new dawn for the coming generations?
Recommendations Education is the only answer to all the ills and problems facing the country today. Poor governance, corruption, autocratic rule, rise of fanatics, and weak institutions are all consequences of illiterate and poverty-ridden masses. They are incapable of making their rulers accountable for the shortcomings and failures to deliver on their promises and pledges.
Following are some of the recommendations on how challenges and obstacles to providing education to every child in Pakistan can be overcome and raise the status of education in order to make meaningful changes in the life of children, the society and the country. g Invest more on education More resource generation and higher budgetary allocation for education is needed. Against the promised 4 percent of GDP for education, education spending still hovers at around 2.1 – 2.3 percent in Pakistan. There is no remarkable improvement in investment in education by the government in the face of increasing defence and debt servicing expenditure. Without increased spending on education, Pakistan will never achieve the goal of Education for All. g Increased Political Will Effective leadership with strong political will, asserted at all levels, is the cornerstone of increased children’s participation in schooling. Federal and provincial governments
SPARC 129 Education must take meaningful steps to ensure effective role and responsibility of the district governments.
g Availability of Data Regarding Education No doubt, the first NEC is a valuable data book but, a proper system must be in place to collect, compile and publish data regarding education and all its various sectors, through a management information system. It would be useful if the scope of National Educational Management Information System (NEMIS) is expanded to collect and compile data on a regular basis.
g Increase Capacity of Education Staff The National and Provincial Education Ministries should develop a permanent capacity building program not only for teachers but also for the ministry’s administrative staff. At school level there is an urgent need to build the capacity of the citizens to effectively participate in governance and management of schools.
g Improve Community Participation in Education As has been already mentioned and observed, the effectiveness and efficiency of School Management Committees (SMCs) is very poor. The SMCs must have effective and real role in the important functions of the schools. Availability of school development plans, training and education of SMCs members and autonomy for the school administration to manage and run its schools are critical elements to change the way schools function.
The writer is Regional Protection Manager, Punjab, SPARC [email protected]
Dawn of Independence by Faiz Ahmad Faiz This leprous daybreak, this night-bitten dawn, This is not the dawn we awaited with longing sighs; This is not the dawn that drew our friends on Believing that, somewhere in the desert of these skies, They would find the resting-place of the stars, Somewhere find where night’s sluggish tides reach shore, Somewhere find the boat of heartache and drop anchor.
www.poets.org/poet.php
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130 Chapter-3 Chapter 4
Juvenile Justice
The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Deadly Deadlock By Rafiq Khan
“The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) welcomes the promulgation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) (2000), but is concerned at its poor implementation and that many of the authorities in charge of its implementation, particularly within provincial governments and tribal areas, are unaware of its existence. The Committee is also deeply concerned at the high number of children in prisons who are detained in poor conditions, often together with adult offenders and thus vulnerable to abuse and ill-treatment. The very low minimum age of criminal responsibility (7 years) is also of concern. Furthermore, the Committee is deeply concerned about reports of juvenile offenders being sentenced to death and executed, which have occurred even after the promulgation of the Ordinance.” 1
The formal system of juvenile justice in Pakistan is still at an infantile stage. The JJSO was promulgated six years ago with the intention of setting up the juvenile justice system in Pakistan. However, Federally and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (FATA and PATA)2 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, still remain under the traditional criminal justice system. Then, there are a number of special legislations, which undermine and override the implementation of the JJSO in all the provinces of Pakistan including Islamabad Capital Territory.
Firstly, juvenile offenders charged under the Anti Terrorism Act (Second Amendment) 1997 (ATA), does not come under the purview of the JJSO, which makes them vulnerable to death penalty. Secondly, the Hudood Laws of 1979, which apply to specific offenses including rape, adultery, use of alcohol and drugs, theft, armed robbery and slander, override both the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 (PPC) and the
1 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention, Thirty-Fourth Session, October 25, 2003, Document CRC/C/15/ADD.217, paragraph 80, 2 The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), also known as tribal agencies, have a quasi-autono- mous status; they are governed by a Political Agent who works directly under the control of the Federal Government. FATA areas do not fall within the jurisdiction of Pakistan’s criminal justice system but have their own system laid down in the Frontier Crimes Regulation of 1901. The JJSO has been extended to tribal areas through a letter by the governor of NWFP Province but in the absence of rules for the tribal areas that letter has virtually no meaning.
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JJSO, including the minimum age provisions.3 Thirdly, under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) 1901, children as young as three years have been charged under its collective responsibility clause.
Nevertheless, Pakistan is among those few countries of the world where children are discriminated against in a codified form. The laws relating to vagrants in Pakistan are discriminatory in nature. The Punjab Vagrancy Ordinance 1958 (PVO) says, “Any police officer may without an order from a magistrate and without a warrant, can arrest and search any person who appears to him to be a vagrant and may seize anything found on or about such a person which he has reason to believe to be liable to confiscation under this Ordinance.”4 This law is used against street children without discrimination and with impunity.
Juvenile Justice System is about fair handling and treatment of youths under the law. It is a philosophy that recognizes the right of the young people to due protections when they are in trouble and personal protection when they are needed.5 The Juvenile Justice procedures are carried out in accordance with the institutions designed for the administration of justice in general, and juvenile justice in particular. The juvenile justice system is composed of institutions that have been organized to manage established procedures as a way to achieve justice for all juveniles.
These institutions include the police, juvenile courts, Borstal Institutions6 or juvenile correction centers or probation services and community based agencies and programs, if any. The ultimate objective of juvenile justice is to get the juvenile offender back to normal life. Societies have three fundamental obligations toward the juveniles; protection of the society from juvenile offenders; protection of the juvenile offenders from being victimized and lastly, provide help to both offenders and victims.7
A comprehensive juvenile justice system should ideally be based on general principles; non-discrimination; best interests of the child; survival and development8 and lastly the child’s opinion contained in Articles 2, 3, 6 and 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) respectively along with the fundamental principles of the juvenile justice system spelled out in the Article 37
3 UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, (2006), Juvenile Justice in South Asia: Improving Protection for Children in Conflict with Law, Kathmandu, Nepal. p 93 4 Section VII, Punjab Vagrancy Ordinance 1958 5 Gus Martin, 2005, Understanding Juvenile Justice: Process and Systems, Sage Publications, New York, p 10 6 Borstal Institution is defined in the JJO as a “place where child offenders may be detained and given education and training for their mental, moral and psychological development.” 7 Gus Martin, 2005, Understanding Juvenile Justice: Process and Systems, p 11 8 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10: Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice, Forty-fourth Session, CRC/C/GC/10 February 9, 2007
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(freedom from torture and deprivation of liberty) and 40 (administration of juvenile justice) of the Convention.9
It is unfortunate that the treatment of juvenile offenders in Pakistan is not in accordance with the international standards on administration of juvenile justice including the Convention and other United Nations standards regarding juvenile justice, namely the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules) and the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (the Riyadh Guidelines), the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty and the Vienna Guidelines for Action on Children in the Criminal Justice System.
The Government of Pakistan is aware that it has failed to implement the JJSO, which has faults of its own. Now the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD)10 has come up with a comprehensive National Child Protection Bill, which will deal with children who come in conflict with law and those who need protection, when passed by the legislature. This piece of legislation has considerable support of the UNICEF.11 However, the Provincial Commission for Child Welfare and Development, Sindh (PCCWD) is working on creating a Child Protection Authority12 in Sindh to deal with children who need protection.
The main objective of this study is to look at the progress and the issues hindering the implementation of the JJSO, with special emphasis on the extent to which the concept of Juvenile Justice System has been accepted in Pakistan. Frequent references will be made to the observations of the Committee toward the poor implementation of the JJSO in Pakistan and to the new guidelines for the implementation of the juvenile justice in the member states in the shape of the General Comment 1013 , which came out in February 2007.
However, the main sources of information are jail visits by SPARC in three provinces of the country---NWFP, Sindh and the Punjab--- and interviews with the government officers who are responsible for implementing the JJSO in the country. Special interviews were conducted in the third week of November 2006 with high-ranking officials in the three provinces by SPARC teams. People interviewed varied from Probation Officers, Superintendents of jails, Assistant Inspector General of Prisons,
9 UN General Assembly, (1989) ‘The Convention on the Rights of the Child’, New York. 10 NCCWD is the body responsible for proposing changes to the domestic laws to bring them in accordance with the Convention. 11 The Draft bill has been prepared by the NCCWD in consultation with the relevant government and NGOs in Pakistan. It was long due since the report of the Committee in 2003. 12 Shared by Mr. Aamir Waheed, Coordinator for the Sindh PCCWD at a meeting with SPARC team in November 2006 in Karachi. 13 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10: Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice, Forty-fourth Session, CRC/C/GC/10 February 9, 2007
SPARC 135 Juvenile Justice to the Advisors to the Chief Ministers, Directors of the Directorate of Human Rights, Directors of the Directorate of the Reclamation and Probation and the Provincial Ombudsman, Sindh.
Arrest, Role of Police and Bail Three years after the Committee’s observations (quoted above) on the poor implementation of the JJSO, nearly 16 years after the ratification of the Convention and more than six years after the promulgation of the JJSO, the situation has not improved even to noticeable degree. On April 18, 2006, Saeed, Asad and Muzamil aged 614 ,11 and 14 respectively were released from Qasimabad Police Station lockup in Hyderabad after the Chief Justice of Pakistan asked the District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) of Hyderabad, Mr. Zaheer Leghari to personally visit the police station and look into the matter which was being aired on a private TV channel15 at that time.
The three juveniles were reportedly kept by the police on the complaint of two traders from Qasimabad. Three children had been handcuffed and fettered by the police in a case under Section 14 of the Offenses against Property (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance 1979 and Section 380 of PPC. Saeed was released before the DSJ could make it to the police station, however, he found Muzamil in shackles and handcuffed. He was released by the DSJ on personal surety while Asad was released from Hyderabad prison later in the day. All this happened despite the provision in the JJSO that no child will be, “handcuffed, put in fetters or subjected to corporal punishment at any time while in custody.16”
Children Kept in Fetters Acting on the orders of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the district and sessions judge, Hyderabad on April 18, freed two children arrested in theft cases. The children were kept in chains after their detention in two cases by the police. Police lodged complaints of two people under section 14 of the Hudood Ordinance and 380 of the Pakistan Penal Code against three brothers, one being only nine years old. The other two were 14 years old. Police released the nine year old after medical examination. According to the police, complainants in both cases caught the boys red-handed in their house and garage stealing sanitary goods, water pumping machines and crockery. A TV network showed the two detained children in chains at the police station which has no lock-up. This prompted the court to take suo moto notice of the matter.17
14 Daily Times, April 24, 2006. 15 Geo TV’s News Team visited the police station on March 12, 2006 16 Gazette of Pakistan, (2000) ‘Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000’, Islamabad. Section 12 (b) 17 SPARC Newsletter Issue 47, June 2006
136 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
This case is merely a reflection of the ordeal that hundreds of children in Pakistan have to face when they are brought to the police stations, in many cases it is not just handcuffs, shackles and bar fetters, they are also subjected to cruel treatment; physically and sexually abused18 and psychologically traumatized. For many, it is their first ever contact with the police. They are kept in overcrowded lockups with adults in police stations. Some have to spend nights in the official’s quarters due to lack of space in the official lockups.
To make matters worse, in special cases, some are kept at a private place near the police station for “investigation”, in complete defiance of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 (the Constitution) which says, “(1) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds of such arrest, nor shall he be denied the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice. (2) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before a magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the nearest magistrate, and no person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate.”19
However, accused are kept in private cells in police stations which are close to the main roads or in the cities. It is done due to the fear of raid from the DSJ or the High Courts.20 This private investigation before the registration of case works like a private court where allegedly the deal is struck or the decision is made about the fate of the child. Twenty six juvenile offenders in District Jail Lahore and District Jail Sheikhupura were interviewed to look into the matter with a simple question, “were you taken to the police station soon after the arrest?”21 It was found that 17 out of 26 children were kept in a private location before being shifted to the police lockup and all of them spent more than 24 hours in the police custody.
Another contentious issue related to the article 10 of the Constitution arises when it is read with the Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 (the Code).
18 Daily Times, October 29, 2006; National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, (2001), Situational Analysis of Juvenile in Jails, Islamabad: Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education. Analysis revealed that 80% of the juveniles interviewed had been handcuffed on arrest, and physical abuse by police during arrest was common. 19 Government of Pakistan, (1973), The Constitution of Pakistan, Islamabad. Article 10. 20 The information was shared by four police officers from Lahore and Sheikhupura Districts. All the police officers had served as Station House Officer. 21 The writer has been a non-official visitor (NOV) for all the 30 jails in Punjab for one year starting January, 2006 to January 2007. The children were interviewed in August in both the jails during a visit which was recorded in the jail visitor’s book as well.
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This Section regulates powers of the magistrate to grant remand: “The Magistrate to whom an accused person is forwarded ... may ... from time to time authorize the detention of the accused in such custody as Magistrate thinks fit, for a term not exceeding 15 days as a whole.” The same applies for the juvenile offender as well, which seems to be quite harsh. It is worse in the case of ATA where the remand may be extended to 30 days. The remand period is too long. It should be reduced to a maximum of seven days for juvenile offenders.
Referring back to the case of the three juveniles-- Saeed, Asad and Muzamil --- who were arrested in Hyderabad and their parents learnt about their arrest through the TV channel. Usually, parents are not even informed when their children are arrested. Since majority of the juvenile offenders are street children, living in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, they have little or no contact with their families.22 In 60 percent cases, families remain unaware of their children’s whereabouts-even months after their arrest.23
Role of Probation Officer An important element, which is crucial at the time of arrest of a juvenile offender, is the role of the probation officer. The JJSO states that it is mandatory for a police officer to inform the probation officer of the area about the arrest of a juvenile offender.24 The in-charge of the Qasimabad Police Station was not aware--- like 94 percent of the police officers in Pakistan ---25 of the role of the probation officer at the time of the arrest of juvenile offenders. The JJSO states that when a child is arrested for the commission of an offense, the officer incharge of the police station should immediately inform the parents and ,26 “the concerned Probation Officer to enable him to obtain such information about the child and other material circumstances which may be of assistance to the juvenile court for making an inquiry.”27
The JJSO emphasizes the role of a probation officer at the time of arrest to make sure that courts do not detain children unnecessarily. Due to a lack of a vibrant probation
22 During the consecutive visits to the Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi jails, SPARC has found that over 60% of the juveniles are arrested without the knowledge of their parents; Wernham, Tufail and Feeny, (2004), ‘Street Children and Juvenile Justice in Pakistan’, London: AMAL and Consortium on Street Children. 23 Ibid,; In three consecutive visits to the juvenile Section in district jail Lahore, it was found that 31, 27 and 46 children claimed that their parents were unaware of their arrest from a total of 89, 113 and 158 children confined at that time. Some wanted to conceal that from their parents. 24 Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, Section 9. 25 The percentages are based on the result of the pre-police training questionnaire distributed by SPARC in Lahore, Rahim Yar Khan, and Rajanpur. Questionnaires were filled by senior police officers including Assistant Superintendent Police, Deputy Superintendent of the Police, Station House Officers, Inspectors from investigation and watches and ward branches of the police, and sub-inspectors. Six percent knew that probation officer has a role to play at the time of arrest but not clear about the extent and nature of the role. 26 The ordinance does not say or, it says and, which means that both parents and Probation Officer should be informed at the time of arrest 27 Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, Section 10 (b)
138 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 department, a large number of these children, whose detention can be avoided end up in prisons. A majority of the children in Pakistan are languishing in jails for offenses relating to property theft and vagrancy.28
International standards on juvenile justice call for the use of detention only as a last resort and for the shortest possible time.29 Yet, in Pakistan, there is evidence of harsh sentencing and detention of juvenile offenders, considered as the only resort. The government lacks non-custodial alternatives such as probation, community service, and drug treatment.30 As a result, custody is often seen as the first, rather than the last resort for juvenile offenders.
The Committee’s GC10 sums up the whole debate of arrest and the need for alternatives to avoid judicial proceedings by asking the State Parties to have “comprehensive policies for juvenile justice”. One of the core elements emphasized by the Committee while listing “core elements of a comprehensive policy on juvenile justice” includes interventions without resorting to judicial proceedings. In the opinion of the Committee, “the obligation of the State Parties to promote measures for dealing with children in conflict with the law without resorting to judicial proceedings applies with respect to, but certainly not limited to, children who commit minor offenses such as shoplifting or other property offenses with limited damage, and first-time child offenders.”31
The Punjab government promulgated Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying (Amendment) Ordinance 2006. Police cracking down on flying kites arrested more than 1,400 people over three days at the Basant festival held across Punjab including more than 500 from Lahore and more than 125 from Rawalpindi. Majority of these were children. Source: Daily Times, April 20, 2006 Photograph by: Daily Times
28 Jail population data sheets of Sindh, Punjab, and NWFP 29 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10, CRC/C/GC/10 February 9, 2007; Article 37 and 40 of the Convention and other international instruments dealing with the juvenile justice 30 Views expressed by Deputy Director, Directorate of Reclamation and Probation Punjab, in meeting in November 2006 in his Bagumpura office 31 The Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10: Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice, Forty-fourth Session, CRC/C/GC/10 February 9, 2007
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Many law enforcement officers whether they are in police, prison service or judiciary, do not consider themselves bound to implement the JJSO because according to them it is an ‘alien’ law.32 One District Session Judge in a meeting with a member of the SPARC Child Rights Committee in August 2006 in a remote district of Punjab said that there was no need for this law. Many believe that the Lahore High Court decision of December 2004, of stricking down the JJSO , was final, thus ignoring the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in February 2005 which declared the JJSO to be the law of the land while listening to two petitions, number 300 and 303, which were filed respectively by SPARC and the Federal Government.
Extensive training sessions for the police department could be of great help to improve handling of juvenile offenders at the first contact stage. The current police training programs all across the country needs to be revitalized.33 However, now more and more NGOs are invited to speak on issues relating to women and children, especially at the National Police Academy located in Sihala, to sensitize the officers.
Training workshops organized by SPARC for the police officers in Sindh, NWFP and the Punjab illustrates that there is a critical need for the government to conduct comprehensive training programs for the law enforcing agencies who are suppose to deal with children. The training program should help change the image of a juvenile offender in the eyes of the police officer and that detention is the last resort for juvenile offenders.34
Who is a Child? In the absence of an effective and reliable birth registration mechanism in Pakistan, the question of determining the age of a juvenile offender is crucial and critical. In this context the first person responsible for this is the police officer. In many cases, the age mentioned by the police officer in the “hullia” or ‘appearance’ form is accepted by the judge and by the accused as well who is unaware of the serious consequences, if there is a discrepancy.35 The “norm” of age recording has two aspects. If there is only one juvenile accused, the incharge of the police station will probably record the age according to the appearance of the accused. But if there are two people accused of a crime, one being an adult and the other a juvenile, the incharge or the
32 The view that JJSO is a product of the west is a favorite topic of the Police Officers at the trainings which SPARC organizes 33 Different organizations are imparting training to the police officers but it is not a regular feature. UNICEF conducted training for the trainers of the Training Academies of the country at the FIA Academy in Islamabad in September 2006 but its effects will be seen in 2007. SPARC runs its own training program for the police officers in three provinces 34 Articles 37(b) of the CRC, see also The Committee on the Rights of the Child, Thirty-Fourth Session, October 25, 2003, recommended to the Government of Pakistan, “consider deprivation of liberty only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time;” Paragraph 81(e) 35 SPARC provides legal aid to children in prison. This provides an opportunity to look at the First Investigation reports of the juveniles. It has been observed in 21 cases out of 97, that SPARC lawyers had to apply for the revision of juvenile’s age
140 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 investigation officer tends to falsify the age and raises it to 19 or 20 in the case of the juvenile. This saves them from submitting two separate challans under Section 173 of the Code if read with Section 536 of the JJSO.
Since the JJSO provides lesser punishments for children in criminal litigation, it lays down a specific procedure to determine the correct age of the accused. One of the major causes for Lahore High Court to strike down the JJSO in December 2004 was the question of the age of the accused. Even after this decision, this Section of the JJSO remains a contentious point among the judiciary. The controversy was laid to rest following the landmark decision, given in this regard, by the Federal Shariat Court on June 15, 2005 by the Chief Justice Ch. Ejaz Yousaf in Ghulam Muhammad vs. the State. The court decided that the age of the accused juvenile will be determined on the report given by the ‘rightly’ constituted medical board.37 But even after this decision, High Courts continue to receive petitions for the revision of decisions by the lower courts, challenging the reports of the medical boards.38
In Sanaullah vs. the State, Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, Lahore High Court reiterated the decision given by the Chief Justice Ch. Ejaz Yousaf and went a little further to comment on the state of awareness of the judiciary about the laws dealing with children who are in conflict with law. He said that the age of an accused remained a debatable issue because the presiding officers and the magistrates were not aware of the rulings of the superior courts in this regard.
He wrote, “I note that the mandatory provisions of the law (JJSO) on the subject and the principles settled by the Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan are being ignored and overlooked by the learned Presiding Officers while deciding a dispute regarding age of an accused. So keeping in view the mandatory provision of Section 7 of the JJSO and following the dictum laid down by the august Supreme Court of Pakistan in Sultan Ahmad’s case (supra), a copy of this order shall be sent to… As the matter is a serious one due to oversight or knowledge of the learned Presiding Officers, the trials of the concerned parties are likely to be affected, therefore, before parting with the matter, a copy of this order may be placed before my Lord Honorable the Chief Justice (Lahore High Court) to seek desirability of sending copies of this order to all the learned District and Sessions Judges in the Punjab for the guidance of the learned Presiding Officers.”39
It should be made obligatory for every judicial magistrate or judge authorized to issue detention warrants for any person to specify the age of the person being detained and make it obligatory on the jail authorities not to accept any warrants of detention unless the age of the detainee has been specified by the court40 according to the procedure laid down in the JJSO. 36 Section 5 of the JJSO prohibits the joint trial of a child and an adult person. 37 2005 P Cr. L J 1805 38 2004 MLD 1526 39 2006 P Cr. LJ 430 [Lahore] Before Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, J (Sanaullah vs the State) 40 Sanjay Suri vs Delhi Administration AIR 1988 SC 415
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Age of Criminal Responsibility One of the observations of the Committee in 2003 related to the (too) low age of criminal responsibility in Pakistan.41 Section 8242 of the PPC sets the age of criminal responsibility at 7 years. Though, Section 83 of the PPC offers some room for those between the ages of 7 and 12 years by stating, “Nothing is an offense which is done by a child above seven years of age and under twelve, who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequence of his conduct on that occasion.” In spite of this Section every year dozens of children below the age of 12 years end up in prisons. Asad (6) was among those charged by the Qasimabad Police Station and was later released. Two children, a boy (7) and a girl (7-8) were charged by the Kot Radha Kishen Police Station in September 2006 in Kasur District on theft charges. The magistrate in Kasur city was kind enough to realize that they were underage. Later, he handed them over to the Probation Officer Kasur.43 But the magistrate failed short of discharging the case and summoning the police officer who charged them.
Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility Afghanistan 12 Brazil 18 Bangladesh 9 Bhutan 10 Canada 12 England and Wales 10 France 13 Germany 14 Holland 13 India 7 Italy 15 Japan 14 Nepal 10 Russia 14 Scotland 8
In August 2006, Ms. Majida Zaidi (Chairperson of the Punjab Chief Minister’s Task Force on Women and Juvenile Prisoners) intervened in a murder case in Faisalabad,
41 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention, Document CRC/C/15/ADD.217, paragraph 80, 42 Section 82 of the PPC reads as, “Nothing is an offense which is done by a child under the seven years of age.” 43 Detail shared by Mr. Tariq Ali, Probation Officer, in his office in Kasur city with the writer in October 2006.
142 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 where a child (7-1/2 years) was accused of murdering his sister (16).44 She met the boy during a visit to the Borstal Institution and Juvenile Jail. She approached the DSJ Faisalabad and started a summary trial of the case and the boy was acquitted. Children as young as seven are kept in the police station lockups and some end up in the prisons. Ms Zaidi, then wrote to the President of Pakistan asking his help in raising the age of criminal responsibility to a reasonable level as 7 was too low. 45
Her letter was forwarded to the NCCWD in Islamabad for comments which strongly supported her request. However, the proposal was still with the Presidency when the Committee issued General Comment 10 on juvenile justice asking the States Parties to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years.46 The Committee appreciated those States that have much higher age of criminal responsibility. SPARC supports efforts to amend the Section 82 of the PPC and raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility as done by other countries of the world
Trial and Juvenile Courts Juveniles accused of infringing the law should be produced before the Juvenile Courts, according to the JJSO. Such courts should not hold adult /child joint trials and prohibit the presence of individuals who are not related to the case. The proceedings of the court should be held in camera.47 The provincial governments should establish one or more juvenile courts in the local area in consultation with the Chief Justices of their respective High Courts. “The High Court may--- (a) confer powers of Juvenile Court on---i) Court of Sessions; or ii) Judicial Magistrate or the First Class; and (b) appoint, from amongst practicing advocates having at least seven years standing at the Bar, Presiding Officers of Juvenile Courts with powers of a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class for the purposes of this Ordinance on such terms and conditions as the High Court may determine.”48
So far not a single exclusive juvenile court has been set up under the JJSO.49 One such exclusive juvenile court was set up in Karachi in 1983 by the order of the Sindh High Court in response to a petition by the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA)50 under the Sindh Children Act 1955. SPARC has written letters to the Chief
44 Revealed by Ms. Majida Zaidi in meeting in her office in Lahore, September 2006 45 Contents of the letter shared by Ms. Majida Zaidi with writer in a series of meeting in September 2006 46 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10, CRC/C/GC/10 February 9, 2007 paragraph 16. 47 Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, Section 5 and 6. 48 Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, Section 4. 49 UNICEF ROSA report on the Juvenile Justice in South Asia (2006) has reported this, “To date, separate Juvenile Courts have only been established in Lahore and Karachi. All other provinces have conferred special powers to hear juvenile cases on senior judicial magistrates of the regular courts.” P. 96. However, it should be kept in mind that no such courts exist anywhere in Pakistan 50 Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA),’ Juvenile Justice’ http://www.lhrla.sdnpk.org/ juvenile.html
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Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan and the President of Pakistan asking for the establishment of Exclusive Juvenile Courts,51 SPARC Is still waiting for their response.
All the provincial governments in consultation with their respective High Courts notified that all the Courts of Sessions and Judicial Magistrates will act like Juvenile Courts and will try all offenses exclusively to be tried by a Session Courts52, under the JJSO.53 These courts have never followed the procedures laid down in the Section 6 of the JJSO. The lack of will and at times hostile attitude54 towards children in conflict with law means that children spend years in needless and damaging confinement even for petty offenses. The absence of exclusive juvenile courts discriminates against juvenile offenders. It is a violation of their rights given under the Constitution55 as well as the CRC. The setting up of exclusive juvenile courts in Pakistan was one of the observations made by the Committee in 2003.56 Exclusive juvenile courts will not only help expedite trials of child offenders, it will also uphold the privacy of the child as given in the JJSO.
Pakistan has a history of over-crowded jails because of sluggish trials and huge back log of cases. Juvenile offenders are the worst sufferers of this serious situation, mainly because of their vulnerability and lack of maturity. This judicial neglect results in juvenile offenders spending long periods of time in jails even when accused of petty crimes.57 By December 2006, only 231 (10 percent) juvenile offenders were convicted while 2,038 (90 percent) were awaiting trial. Since Pakistan has very low conviction rate ranging from 15 to 20%58 , it can be safely said that over 80 percent of the under-trial juveniles are innocent. Majority of them spend months without even being presented in the courts in complete violation of Section 10 of the JJSO. During a visit to the District Jail Kasur in early September 2006, it was found that four juveniles who were in prison since the last five months had not seen their judicial magistrates.59 The courts easily accept bails for juvenile offenders below the age of 15 years as given in the JJSO Section 10 (3) (4) (5) but only if they are produced before the court, which is usually not a straightforward affair. The delay in submitting challans on the part of the prosecution branch of police also adds to the delay in trials.
51 Daily Times, Lahore, September 09, 2006 and October 15, 2006 52 In Punjab it was done through a letter from the Home Department No. 4961/JOB (1)/VI.F-6, dated April 3, 2001 53 Notification No GAZ/Misc/2000 (133)/JCO Karachi, November 20, 2004 54 Lack of training about child related laws 55 Article 25 calls for special legislative measures for women and children 56 The Committee on the Rights of the Child, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 44 of the Convention, Thirty-Fourth Session, October 25, 2003, Document CRC/C/15/ADD.217, paragraph 81 57 Judicial neglect was a contentious issues in 1999 when the Human Rights Watch released it report called, “Prison Bound”, it is still an issue. My visits to the prisons have found that many children end up in prison because they have not been produced before the courts 58 Amnesty International, (2003), Pakistan: Denial of Basic Rights for Child Prisoners, London. 59 Personal visit to the District Jail Kasur by the writer in September 2006
144 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Jibran (15) and Sajid (17) were in the District Jail Lahore for over four months on a theft charge under Section 379/411 of the PPC.60 In an interview the boys said ,“We were taken to the ‘bukhshi khana61 ’ a room outside the court but since we had no money to pay the ‘rent’ for the handcuffs to the police officer on duty; so we had to wait in the bukhshi khana till the court time was over” said Jibran. It is a routine affair Photograph by: Anees Jillani that children are handcuffed62 despite the fact that it is forbidden in the JJSO. Jibran went on to say, “Since we had no lawyer to defend us therefore no one was bothered.” Both of them were released after four month for stealing apples worth Rs. 2000 in April 2006.63
Lack of awareness and proper coordination on JJSO among the police, prison and judiciary is indeed a concern for activists working for children in jails or those who come in contact with the law. This is amply demonstrated in the following judgment passed by Justice Syed Hamid Ali Shah, Honorable Judge of Lahore High Court on January 26, 2006 in Muhammad Ashraf vs. District Coordination Officer Lahore. The case relates to the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004. Child Protection and Welfare Bureau along with Child Protection Institutions is functioning in Lahore city under this Act.
No individual is allowed to take the custody of a child without the prior approval of the Child Protection Court situated at the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau. On the contrary, the honorable judge said on January 26, 2006 that “the custody of a destitute and neglected child under the provisions of Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act, 2004, is either to be entrusted to a suitable person or is to be admitted to a child protection institution. Child Protection Institution as per clause (f) of the Act has not been constituted; therefore, custody of the child is to be entrusted to a
60 Writer interviewed both of them just minutes before their release inside the District Jail Lahore in April 2006 61 Bukhshi Khana is a temporary detention place inside the premises of District Courts where the prisoners are kept. Juveniles are kept with adults 62 National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, (2001), Situational Analysis of Juvenile in Jails, Islamabad: Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education. Analysis revealed that 80% of the juveniles interviewed had been handcuffed on arrest, and physical abuse by police during arrest was common 63 The boys were released with legal aid provided by SPARC
SPARC 145 Juvenile Justice suitable person under provision 28 of the Act. Section 28 of the Act requires that the custody of a destitute or neglected child is to be entrusted to a suitable person who is capable and willing to look after the child. Such person is responsible for the care, education and well-being of the child… 64”
Another flawed judicial process that somehow attempts to make up for the prolonged trials of juvenile offenders is the release orders given by the Judicial Magistrates under Section 382 B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898. In the 200 cases handled by SPARC in Peshawar and Lahore during 2006, 44 juvenile offenders were released by giving them the benefit of Section 382 B. This may appear to be in the interest of the child offender, but this puts a lasting stigma on the child of being a criminal, because he/she has to plead guilty to take advantage of this Section, even if he/she has not committed crime.
Courts in Pakistan have piles of pending cases. A judge in NWFP has to hear 45 cases everyday65 while in Punjab it is about 100 cases daily. This was disclosed by the NWFP Deputy Law Secretary while speaking at a conference in Peshawar on May 30, 2006. He said the NWFP Government was considering setting up of separate courts for juvenile offenders66 but action so far is missing on this “consideration.” Because of this backlog and in the absence of exclusive juvenile courts, child offenders are confined for long periods of time, as mentioned above.
Farman alias Chand was charged in a criminal case under Section 379/411 of the PPC by the Nawan Kot Police Station on July 6, 2005. He was convicted for eight months and released on March 8, 2006. He spent eight months in jail for stealing a mobile phone worth Rs. 2000 (according to the FIR). Earlier Farman was granted bail on February 14, 2006 against the sureties of rupees 20,000 which he could not manage and the judges refused to release him on personal surety though it is allowed under the JJSO. One can cite hundreds of such cases, where child offenders are spending time in jails that is ruining their lives, perhaps forever and for crimes that are not even worth punishments at times.
Three things are imperative to deal with problems discussed above. Firstly, juvenile courts as promised in the JJSO should be established. Secondly, bail should be made obligatory by modifying the relevant clause of Section 10 of the JJSO which discriminates juvenile offender from 16 to 17 years against those below 15 years. Thirdly, judicial officers should be well versed on the laws relating to child offenders and at the same time should be kept abreast with new developments in this regard.
64 PLD 2006 Lahore 219 65 Daily Times, Islamabad, May 31, 2006 66 Ibid
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Terrorism, Juvenile Courts and Death Penalty The JJSO prohibits corporal punishment and death penalty for juveniles.67 However, a few landmark cases have had critical impact on the Juvenile Justice System in Pakistan. Judicial explanation and implementation of the JJSO in relation to two other special laws namely, Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997 (CNSA) and the ATA (which was amended in 2004 and again 2005) dominated the juvenile justice scene in Pakistan. The whole controversy started with a decision given by the Sindh High Courts in February 2006.
On February 15, 2006, in a decision given by the full bench of the Sindh High Court, JJSO saw another turn in its short life.68 This time it was more about the overriding effect of the three special laws. The JJSO, ATA and CNSA have their own special courts for the purpose of their implementation. In Qamar Hussain Shah vs. the State69 five senior judges of the Sindh High Court decided with 3:2, after six years of promulgation of the JJSO, that it had no jurisdiction on the cases under the preview of the ATA and the juvenile offender charged under this law will be prosecuted in the Anti Terrorist Courts (ATC). This decision was a complete reversal of the decision given by the two Justices of the Lahore High Court in Aleem Ashraf vs. the State a year ago in 2005.70
In this case, the Lahore High court, decision revised a judgment where a juvenile was tried in the ATC Multan and the judge of that court decided that since ATCs are courts of sessions, they had the power to decide cases under the JJSO as well. The decision of the ATC of Multan said that “Section 14 of the JJSO had no overriding effect on the existing laws. It was to augment and support the existing laws. The only difference was that juvenile offender had to be tried separately and death sentence could not be awarded to the juvenile accused.”71
Life Term for Juvenile Offenders The Peshawar district and sessions judge, found a juvenile offender guilty of drug pushing and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs100, 000 on May 10.72
The court directed officials to keep Ahsan Noman in a Borstal Institution till the age of 18. The court said that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused. The accused was arrested on September 27, 2005, near the Gulbahar Bus Stand. The
67 JJSO Section12 68 The decision was not a one sided affair. Three Justices went against the JJSO’s Section 14 and upheld the Anti Terrorism Act 1997 while two Justices went in favor of that JJSO. However, they decided that juvenile charged under the Control of Narcotics Substances Act 1997 will be tried in the Juvenile Courts 69 P L D 2006 Karachi 331 70 2005 P. Cr. R 11 71 Aleem Ashraf vs the State, 2005 P. Cr. R 11, paragraph 4(iv) 72 SPARC Newsletter, Issue 47, June 2006
SPARC 147 Juvenile Justice police had recovered 13kg of charas (hash) from his possession. He was charged under section 9(c) of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997. The accused pleaded not guilty and said the police had falsely implicated him in the case.
However, deciding an appeal by Aleem Ashraf, Justice Hakim Ali declared the orders passed by the ATC Multan on March 13, 2004 unlawful and set aside the same and ordered the DSJ Multan to set that case in a designated Juvenile Court for hearing. This ruling of the High Court Lahore in this case meant that juvenile offenders could not be sentenced to death in any way even if they are implicated under the ATA and that Section 1473 had an overriding effect. But several amendments to the ATA in 2005 made it virtually impossible for the JJSO Section 14 to have overriding effect on the ATA. The January 2006 decision of Singh High Court was based on these 2005 amendments.74
Since 1997 when the ATA was promulgated, all the offenses were tried in the ATCs. But the promulgation of the JJSO changed the situation in 2000. However, the parliament was quick to respond and the Section 21-G was inserted in the ATA which said, “All offenses under this Act shall be tried by the Anti Terrorism Court established under the Act.” Since the 21-G was inserted in 2001 and the JJSO was promulgated in 2000, it had an overriding effect on Section 14 of the JJSO. Following this addition, juveniles started making appeals against such decisions. Parliament came up with more changes to the ATA in 2004 and 2005. In 2005 the Section 21-G was again amended by the parliament by inserting the word “exclusively.” Now the Section reads as, “All offenses under this Act shall be tried exclusively by the Anti Terrorism Court established under the Act.”75
This was the basis of the Sindh High Court decision. With this decision in place, juvenile offenders can be charged with life imprisonment and can face death if they are charged under the offenses listed in the paragraph four of the third schedule which includes abduction or kidnapping for ransom; use of fire arms or explosives by any device, including bomb blast in any place of worship, whether or not any hurt or damage is caused thereby; or firing or use of explosives by any device, including bomb blast in the court premises.76 The elimination of the words “exclusively” from the Section 21-G of the ATA by the parliament can reverse the equation in favor of the JJSO.
Legal Aid Over the years it has been found that juvenile offenders in custody need legal aid. JJSO assured that such juveniles will be provided with legal assistance by the State.
73 “The provisions of this Ordinance shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any law for the time being in force.” 74 For details of the Sindh High Court Decision please see PLD 2006 Karachi 331 75 Act No. II of 2005, Anti Terrorism (Second Amendment) Act 1997 76 Ibid
148 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
It calls for the establishment of panel of legal practitioners or lawyers with at least 5 years of bar standing to provide free legal assistance to juvenile inmates at the expense of the State.77 Under the rules of the JJSO the DSJs are empowered to constitute such panels with the help of President of the Bar Association.78
To help over 30 percent child offenders79 who are in need of legal assistance. SPARC launched an extensive campaign in three provinces of Pakistan namely, the Punjab, NWFP and Sindh, through letters to the DSJs, and chiefs of the respective High Courts requesting them to set up panels of lawyers to provide legal assistance to juvenile offenders. In response to the campaign from July 2005 to August 2006, five panels of lawyers were set up in the Punjab80, seven in the NWFP, but there are no such panels in Sindh. In majority of the districts the DSJs were requested in person to form the panels by SPARC’s Child Rights Committees and provincial offices.
The 12 panels of lawyers set up in the various districts of Pakistan have yet to take up a case and thus remain ineffective.81 However, these panels are important for 30 percent of the juvenile offenders who are without legal assistance and could benefit from them. To help the juvenile inmates SPARC established it own panel of lawyers to provide legal aid in 30 districts82 of Pakistan including Lahore and Peshawar. In 2006, SPARC provided legal assistance to 421 children with the help of two lawyers working at Lahore and Peshawar offices and through the panel of volunteer lawyers working in SPARC’s CRCs at the district level.
Year 2006 has seen an increase in the number of NGOs providing legal aid to children all across Pakistan.The, AGHS Child Rights Cell, Project Advocate, Punjab Bar Council, CLAAS, the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau83 and the Department of Social Welfare were quite active along with SPARC in Lahore. In Peshawar, SPARC, Dost Foundation and Aurat Foundation continued to provide legal assistance. In Karachi, hundreds of children in need of legal aid benefited from the services of LHRLA, Project Advocate and Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid‘s organization Legal Aid Office.
77 Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, Section 3 78 Rule 3 (1)(2)(3) of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 79 Rafiq Khan, 2006, Juvenile Justice in Pakistan: An Encounter with Judiciary, available at http://www.oijj. org/documental_ficha.php? home=SI&cod=3821&pags=0&idioma=es. 80 Lahore, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, SPARC Lahore received copies of the letters from the DSJs of the all the five districts. 81 Since SPARC was involved in the formation of the panels, it keeps track of their progress. In some cases, lawyers included in the panel had no information about their inclusion. 82 SPARC started setting up separate panel of lawyers with its Child Rights Committees. The Panels are working in District as far as Rajanpur in Punjab to Dir in NWFP. 83 The Child Protection and Welfare Bureau is the result of the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004. It was set up in 2005 for the rehabilitation of those children who are on the street and are not involved in criminal litigation.
SPARC 149 Juvenile Justice
Photograph by: Anees Jillani
Detention and Rehabilitation Detention, in Pakistan, is considered the only solution to all issues and almost all the detention facilities are overflowing with prisoners. Prisons in Pakistan are overcrowded by 118 percent.84 The prisoners are kept in appalling conditions. Over 90,258 prisoners are kept against the authorized capacity of just 41, 365 prisoners in over 90 jails all across Pakistan including Northern Areas and Kashmir.85 More than 62,788 (69.6 percent) prisoners are under-trial while only 27,470 (30.4 percent) are convicted and condemned.
The day, the accused are brought to the courts they are stigmatized as criminals. The treatment meted out to them by the police, courts and the prison is also based on the premise that they are criminals. (In Pakistan, the general mindset staff is that you are guilty until proven innocent) while the law dictum says, “innocent until proven guilty”. All the offenders and particularly children pay a heavy price for even the shortest period of time that they are forced to spend in prisons.
The table below shows the number of juvenile offenders being detained by authorities all across Pakistan at any given point:
84 Daily Times, Lahore, April 16, 2006 85 Ibid
150 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Province Juvenile Under-trial Convicted Borstal/ Offenders Remand Home Punjab86 1,164 1,003 161 2 NWFP87 318 281 37 0 Sindh88 663 642 21 289 Balochistan90 121 109 12 0 Northern Areas91 03 - (03) - 0 Total 2,269 2,038 231 4
Juvenile inmates constitute just over 2.5 percent (2,269) of all jail population in the country ay any given time.92 Only 231 juvenile offenders are convicted while 2,038 are awaiting trial. It is shocking to note that 90 percent children are under-trial as compared to total percentage of 69.6 percent. Similarly, only 10 percent juveniles in custody are convicted as compared to total percentage of 30.4 percent. Analysis of the data shows that children are discriminated against in the criminal justice system in Pakistan, instead of enjoying the protection as provided in the JJSO.
Apparently, it seems as if the JJSO is concerned only with 2,269 juvenile inmates. But the fact is that the number of children in conflict with the law is much more than what we see in prisons and as mentioned in the above table. Children in detention centers are 2.5 percent (2,269) of all the people detained in Pakistan (90,258). The numbers of people on bail or on the run are estimated to be three times the number of people in custody of the government. That means that nearly 9,000 to 10,000 children remain in the Criminal Justice System including the once who are in detention centers at any given time. Secondly, 10,000 children in conflict with the law influence or disturb the lives of nearly 50,000 to 60,000 people keeping in mind that the family size in Pakistan is considerably big. However, there is no data available to challenge or substantiate the estimate that there are 10,000 children in conflict with the law.
Borstal Institutions The JJSO calls for the establishment of Borstal Institutions for the rehabilitation of juveniles who have been convicted. Rule 4 of the JJSO says, “The provincial government shall immediately establish and maintain a Borstal Institution in the provincial headquarter and subsequently in every district of the province for the juvenile offenders. All arrangements relating to the education and training for their mental,
86 As on January 1, 2007 87 As on November 11, 2006 88 As on December 27, 2006 89 Karachi has one Remand Home and one Youthful Offenders Industrial School Karachi 90 Reported in Daily Times, Lahore, April 16, 2006 91 Reported in Daily Times on April 16, 2006, the status of three juveniles in Northern Areas is unclear 92 Ibid
SPARC 151 Juvenile Justice moral, and psychological development shall be provided within the Institutions.”93 The rules further state that Borstal Institutions shall provide accommodations to juveniles with reasonable facilities of sanitation and hygiene.94
The incharge of the Borstal institution should make sure that children receive moral teaching,95 education, technical education96 and physical trainings97 like sports and recreation. Sufficient arrangement should be made for psychological development98 of the juveniles during their stay at the Borstal Institution. Juvenile offenders should be allowed to see their families at least twice a week99 and reasonable arrangement should be made for the meeting of the juvenile with their legal counsels.
Punjab has two Borstal Institutions one in Faisalabad and the other in Bahawalpur, and Sindh has one Remand Home and a Youthful Offenders Industrial School both in Karachi. There are two Borstal Institutions under construction in the NWFP; one in Haripur and the other in Bannu. And it is possible that at least the one in Haripur will start work in 2007. SPARC has been in the forefront in lobbying for the two institutions and it also has a computer center in the Haripur Borstal Institution. Balochistan, Islamabad Capital Territory and the tribal areas have no separate arrangements for detention and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. There is no separate Borstal Institution or any other set up for the rehabilitation of female juvenile inmates. They are not even separately mentioned in the jail population data. SPARC has been lobbying for separate catalogue for female juvenile inmates in the jail population sheet. Their number varies from 21 in September 2006 to nine in December 2006 all across Pakistan.100 In the NWFP and Balochistan, they are not classified as juveniles while in Sindh and Punjab they are classified as juveniles but they are kept with adult female prisoners.
Two Borstal Institutions in Punjab house over 300 juvenile inmates while the remaining offenders are kept in the adult prisons. These Borstal Institutions, one located in Bahawalpur and the other located “outside”101 Faisalabad, are as hostile to the juvenile prisoners as any prison in Pakistan. Imagine a juvenile offender being kept in Faisalabad Borstal Institution and Juvenile Jail who is a resident of Jhelum or Sialkot or Lahore. The parents will have to travel to Faisalabad to meet their child. It is a problem for parents who do not have money even to bail out their child.
93 Rule 4 (1)(2), the rules of the other provinces and the Capital Territory ask for the same kind of arrangement under the respective rules 94 Rule 5 (1), JJSO Rules Punjab 95 Rule 13 JJSO Rules Punjab 96 Rule 14 JJSO Rules Punjab 97 Rule 15 JJSO Rules Punjab 98 Rule 17 JJSO Rules Punjab 99 Rule 10 JJSO Rules Punjab 100 Jail population data sheets of the respective provinces. 101 The Faisalabad Borstal Institution and Juvenile jail is located about 5 kilometer away from the city and 3 kilometers away from a main road with no public transport operating in the area
152 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Youth Tortured to Death Habibur Rehman, an 18-year-old boy, was allegedly tortured to death in police custody on January 17. The deceased had been arrested on suspicion of car jacking when he was driving his brother’s vehicle in the bazaar in Chitral. The police took him to the lockup where, according to the father of the deceased, he was tortured. When the boy was produced before the judicial magistrate, his condition was critical and the court ordered to send him to the jail. However, the police took him to District Headquarters Hospital after realizing the condition of the accused, where he expired. The doctor on duty said the deceased was in a shock and in critical condition when he was brought to the hospital. The locals after hearing the news protested against the police torture. No senior officer was available for comment over the incident while the junior cops refused to say anything in this regard. Source: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 46, March 2006
Indeed, these Borstal Institutions are not the rehabilitation centers as envisaged in the JJSO. They are detention centers exclusively for children. They are not being governed under the Punjab Borstal Schools Act 1926 and even the name has been changed to Borstal Institution and Juvenile Jail. This was done to bring the two detention centers under the Inspectorate of Prisons. The Government should take effective measures with regard to the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders under the provisions given in the GC10 of the Committee and as promised in the JJSO. Since Pakistan is expected to submit its report to the Committee in December 2007, the Committee should look into these issues and put pressure on the government to make the juvenile justice system a reality in Pakistan. Photograph by: Z. A. Zaidi
Punjab had a rehabilitation institution called Reformatory School in Sahiwal under Punjab Reformatory School Act 1897102 and it was managed under the Punjab Youthful Offenders Ordinance 1983. The Reformatory School had a visiting committee with powers to release any juvenile inmate on probation without the knowledge of the courts. It was a juvenile friendly rehabilitation center.103 This ordinance has been 102 Section 5 of the Act says, “The Provincial Government may establish and maintain Reformatory Schools at such places as it may think fit.” 103 Section 17 of the Punjab Reformatory Schools Act says, “For the control and management of every Reformatory School, the Provincial Government shall appoint either a Superintendent and a Committee of Visitors, or a Board of Management. Every Committee and every Board so appointed must consist of not less than five persons.”
SPARC 153 Juvenile Justice repealed by the Punjab Destitute and Neglected children Act 2004. Though the School was closed well before the repeal of the ordinance, the Reformatory School is still “working” in the financial documents of the Home Department. Employees of the School are still drawing salaries. The Reformatory School was being run by the Department of Reclamation and Probation and which indeed did a great job during the short life of the school from 2001 to 2003.104
The Directorate of Human Rights, PCCWD and the Law Department of the NWFP are keen to have Borstal Institutions in the province. In the middle of 2006, a government delegation along with SPARC representatives was taken to a visit of the Borstal institutions in Bahawalpur and Faisalabad and the Youthful Offenders Industrial School Karachi.105 The law department of the NWFP has prepared the rules for the Borstal School Act but they have not yet made it to the parliament.
Remand Home Karachi established in a private building under the Sindh Children Act 1955 is perhaps the only institution in Pakistan which can be truly called a rehabilitation center for the juvenile offenders. Its incharge is a spirited Probation Officer, Mr. Akhtar Hussain Mangi. During a visit to the Remand Home in November, he informed that the Home had 16 children below the age of 15 as spelled out in the Sindh Children Act 1955.106
He said the number was small because the judicial magistrates in Sindh were not aware of the Remand Home. He also disclosed that Remand Home was not included in the list of detention centers mentioned in the Warrant Form and added that inclusion could make a great difference in the life of juvenile inmates who have not yet attained the age of 15 years. Youthful Offenders Industrial School (YOIS) Karachi is the largest detention center in Sindh that offers technical education and courses with the help of some local organizations in Karachi. But the YOIS has failed, like the Borstal Institutions in Punjab, to help reform juvenile inmates as imagined in the JJSO.
104 The School was closed in 2003 when a juvenile inmate escaped from the school in the night due to security lax. According to some probation officers in Lahore, the school was the target of politics between the Home Department and the Inspectorate of Prisons Punjab on the huge land with the Sahiwal Jail where the school was constructed. 105 Shared by Mr. Jawad Ullah, who was working as Provincial Manager (Child Protection) in SPARC Peshawar and was accompanying the delegation as well. Jawad was also part of the delegation which visited Borstal Institutions. 106 Meeting with Mr. Akhtar Hussain Mangi on November 17, 2006 in the Remand Home
154 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
International Standards Relating to Children in the Criminal Justice System 107 g The Convention on the Rights of the Child g The United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency g United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice g The United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty g The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures g The United Nations Guidelines for Action on Children in the Criminal Justice System g The United Nations Basic Principles on the use of Restorative Justice Programs in Criminal Matters g The United Nations Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime
Lack of Systematic Data The exact number of juvenile offender’s in Pakistan is debatable. Unfortunately, the data collected by the home departments of the respective provinces and the Federal Ministry of Interior, Pakistan, is not reliable. SPARC team visited District Jail Lahore five times in August-September 2006108 to verify the number of detained juvenile inmates as given by the home department in that particular jail. The factor, that Inspectorate of Prison updates data every 15 days, was taken into consideration. It was found on August 22, 2006 that there were 167 children in the Juvenile Section of the District Jail Lahore while only 97 children were reported in the jail population sheet updated till August 15, 2006. Later, during a visit to the District Jail Lahore on September 15, 2006, it was found that juvenile section housed 197 offenders while according to the list obtained from the Inspectorate of Prison, there were 186 juveniles. It was claimed that the list was updated on September 15, 2006. Furthermore, according to the listed data, the numbers of juvenile offenders fluctuated between 2,900 in September 2006 to 2,269 in January 2007 in all the provinces of Pakistan.
The GC10 also talks about the Committee’s deep concern over the lack of systematic data collection by the States Parties while keeping in mind the, “quantity and the nature of offenses committed by children, the use and the average length of
107 Manual for the Measurement of juvenile justice indicators by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna 2006 www.unodc.org/pdf/crimial_justice 108 SPARC team from Lahore office visited Camp Jail Lahore no less than 30 times in 2006. The writer was with the team 10 times.
SPARC 155 Juvenile Justice duration of pre-trial detention, the number of children dealt with by the use of measures without resorting to judicial proceedings, the number of convicted children and the nature of sanctions imposed on them.”109 Besides, there is no data available with the High Courts or the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the total number of children who have come into contact with the Photograph by: Anees Jillani criminal justice system. The judicial statistics released by the Division of Law, Justice and Human Rights and the Federal Bureau of Statistics does include the number of cases registered against the citizens of Pakistan and the number of cases disposed off and number of pending cases. But it has failed to list the number and nature of the cases registered against those who are below the age of 18 years.
There is an urgent need to systematically collect data about the children who come in conflict with the law keeping in mind the 15 key global Juvenile Justice Indicators developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2006.110 The absence such crucial data is an obstacle for researchers working on issues relating to children who come in contact with the law.
Fifteen Juvenile Justice Indicators Following are the fifteen juvenile justice indicators and they have been chosen because they are feasible to measure and because in doing so assists local and national officials to assess the extent to which juvenile justice systems for which they are responsible are in place and functioning. The indicators do this by providing information on what happens to children who come into conflict with the law, as well as by providing a means to assess the policy environment needed to ensure the protection of such children.
109 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10, CRC/C/GC/10 February 9, Par34 110 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (2006), Manual for the Measurement of Juvenile Justice Indicators, New York,
156 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Fifteen Indicators with Definitions Indicators Definition Qualitative Indicators 1. Children in conflict • Number of Children arrested during a 12 months period per 100,000 child population. 2. Children in detention • Number of children in detention per 100,000 child (CORE) population 3. Children in Pre-Sentence • Number of Pre-Sentence detention children per detention (CORE) 100,000 child population. 4. Duration of Pre-Sentence • Time spent in detention by children before detention. sentencing 5. Duration of Sentenced • Time spent in detention by children before detention sentencing 6. Child deaths in detention • Number of child deaths in detention 7. Separation from adults • Percentage of children in detention not wholly separated from adults 8. Contact with parents and • Percentage of children in detention who have been family visited by, or visited, parents, guardian or an adult family member in the last 3 months. 9. Custodial Sentencing • Percentage of children sentenced receiving a (CORE) custodial sentence. 10. Pre-Sentence diversion • Percentage of children diverted or sentenced who (CORE) enter a pre-sentence scheme. 11. Aftercare • Percentage of children released from detention receiving aftercare. Policy Indicators 12. Regular independent • Existence of a system guarantees regular inspection independent inspection of places of detention. • Percentage of places of detention they have visits in the last 2 months. 13. Complaints mechanism • Existence of complaint system for children in detention • Percentage of places of detention operating a complaint system. 14. Specialized Juvenile Justice • Existence of a special Juvenile Justice System System (CORE) 15. Prevention • Existence of national policy for the prevention of child involved in crime.
Source: Manual for the Measurement of Juvenile Justice Jndicators by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna 2006, www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice
SPARC 157 Juvenile Justice
In such a situation any piece of legislation about the juvenile justice is also doomed to fail. No national level research has so far been conducted on the reasons for juvenile delinquency and ways to curb it. Some national level researches have been commissioned by SPARC.111 The Central Jail Staff and Training Institute112 in Lahore also conducted some researches. Students and NGOs should be allowed to conduct research and studies on such critical issues frequently. One of the reasons for a lack of such researches and studies could be the issue of accessibility to the prisons and court rooms where one could meet and talk to the juvenile offenders and verify causes and consequences etc.
Prison Conditions Due to a lack of Borstal Institutions children continue to stay in the adult prisons. The year 2006 was year of relief for the juvenile inmates in the District Jail Sheikhupura and the District Jail Lahore. Sheikhupura jail had the worst living conditions in Punjab. The juvenile offenders have now been transferred to the newly built section of the jail where they have plenty of free space to play.113 The most remarkable improvements have been made in Lahore. Children have tiled floors and beds to sleep on. This was possible because of the good will of the Superintendent of the jail. Children have plenty of space to play.114 They have access to education and vocational training program as well.115
Children in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, are also living in considerably good condition because there are a large number of NGOs working inside the prison. Children are involved in sports activities as well.116 Considerable improvements have been made in Haripur Jail (NWFP) and Karachi Youthful Offenders School (Sindh). SPARC is supporting a education center with computer training for the juvenile inmates in Haripur Jail.
However, in most of the cases, the conditions of detention are hostile and inappropriate. The children are confined to separate cells with limited space. These small cells are unclean, dark and unhygienic. In some cases, juvenile offenders are detained in the shabbiest part of the prison as in the case of Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.117 Children in District Jail Sargodha118 and District Jail Sialkot
111 SPARC published a book on juvenile justice “Waiting for Sunrise” in 2003 112 Recently a research was conducted by Miss Sarwat Inayat Mirza on “Monitoring the Psycho-Social Conditions of the Juveniles: Under Prison & Police Custody.” She is the senior faculty member of Central Jail Staff Training Institute, Lahore and also extending her assistance and guidance on psychological aspects of juvenile delinquents. It has not yet been published. 113 Jail visit by SPARC in December 2006. SPARC donated a TV and other sports goods for the newly built cell in Sheikhupura jail. 114 SPARC donates sports goods to juvenile Sections in three provinces in a move to insure that they also play while they stay in prison. 115 Education and Vocational Training program in Lahore is being run by Rehai, a local organization, while SPARC supports the education program and provides text books and stationary. 116 Sahil started its counseling program for the juveniles in Rawalpindi www.sahil.com 117 The writer visited these three prisons in August 2006. 118 Daily Times, October 9, 2006
158 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 are kept in extremely poor conditions. In both cases, children are kept in small cells meant for the prisoners who are facing death sentence. Six to eight children share a cell which has an open toilet, inside, making it unhygienic and humanly impossible to live in the intense heat of June and July.119
Police Torture Damages Student’s Eyesight Sixteen-year-old Awais suffered severe eye injury after being tortured by the police, without having committed any crime on March 21. Awais was arrested from Beaconhouse School, by Investigation Officer Mian Afzal of Westridge Police Station on the complain of his friend. He then tortured the boy for six hours besides confiscating his mobile phone. The police said that Awais had an argument with the owner of a net-cafe a week ago and the matter had been settled. However, the owner of the net-café, with the help of the station house officer submitted a fake application against Awais. Taking action on this application, the police kept him in detention for six hours and tortured him in front of the complainant. Source: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 46, March 2006
Other harsh measures in the juvenile cell as well as in the Borstal Institutions include the use of corporal and degrading punishments which are prohibited by the JJSO but are used frequently.120 Rules for the JJSO and the Pakistan Prison Rules provide for education, skills development and sports facilities for prisoners but they are hardly understood by the staff responsible for juvenile Section and Borstal Institutions. They have monotonous daily routine.121 The complaint mechanism is flawed giving no option to the juvenile inmate to lodge complaints against the authorities.122 A medical team, which interviewed 200 children in the Youthful Offenders Industrial School in Karachi, found that almost 60 percent of the boys had been subjected to serious torture, including “severe beatings, electric shocks, hanging and ‘cheera’ (forced stretching apart of the legs, sometimes in combination with kicks to the genitals).”123 Children who are kept in the adult prisons are more vulnerable to abuse and ill-treatment by the authorities as well as by the adult prisoners.
Probation Officers The concept of probation service is little known in Pakistan despite its useful contribution in terms of money. The Committee in February 2007 observed and 119 District Jail Sargodha was visited by the writer while the District Jail Sialkot was visited by Ms Fahmina Naz. 120 Wernham, Tufail and Feeny, (2004), ‘Street Children and Juvenile Justice in Pakistan’, London: AMAL and Consortium on Street Children. 121 NCCWD, (2001), ‘Situational Analysis of Juveniles in Jail’, Islamabad: Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education 122 It has been found in many visits to the Juvenile Section that children are afraid of talking about their problems. It is after lots of assurances that they will come up with something critical about the authorities. Juveniles usually don’t talk to the visitors as authorities have informants inside each section. 123 Daily Times, March 29, 2003
SPARC 159 Juvenile Justice applauded the role of probation service in the States Parties.”124 There are 65 probation officers (including three female probation officers, all in Punjab) and 17 parole officers all across Pakistan.125 There are 13 probation officers in NWFP looking after 1,776 offenders including 139 juvenile offenders in 24 districts of the Province while 11 positions are vacant due to a lack of funds.126 The number of juvenile offenders on probation has recently increased in NWFP due to the extensive campaign by SPARC on the role of probation department in rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. The absence of a Borstal Institution in NWFP also provides the presiding officers and judges an option of sending juvenile offenders on probation.
However, there are only 50 juvenile probationers with 46 probation officers in Punjab province out of a total of 7,061 probationers.127 Punjab has 58 probation and parole officers who are responsible to the Director Reclamation and Probation. There are only three probation officers in the whole of Sindh province with one of them being the superintendent of the Remand Home Karachi. The exact number of probation officers in Balochistan is not known, but it is not more than three. The total number of probation officers as compared to the prisoners in need of probation is clearly insufficient.
The Probation Department in Punjab is neglected and it does not have its own Director. Directorate of Reclamation and Probation is the only department in Pakistan, which recruits master’s degree holders in grade 16.128 Proposal for the uplift of the Directorate of Reclamation and Probation NWFP and Punjab have been forwarded to the Home Secretaries129 of both provinces. The proposals call for an increase in the number of probation officers (including the inclusion of female probation officers), increase in the transport budget, and revision of the pay scales to make the probation service an attractive and viable option for the young social workers.
However, it is hoped that all the juvenile offenders’ detention facilities are managed by the Directorate of Reclamation and Probation. Managing of Borstal Institutions by the Prison Department is not viable. The people employed at the Borstal Institutions have served in high security prison long enough to mold their attitude towards
124 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10, CRC/C/GC/10 125 Latest number has declined from the figures in 2005 due to the retirement of the officers and new people have not been recruited in all provinces. UNICEF ROSA report on Juvenile Justice in South Asia 2006 claims the following, “In total, there are 70 probation officers throughout the country and 22 parole officers. Fifty-three probation officers are in Punjab and three in Sindh.” P. 100. 126 As on 11/2006 and stated in a monthly statement showing the performance of the Probation Department in NWFP and released by the Directorate of Reclamation and Probation. 127 As on 09/2006 and stated in a monthly statement showing the performance of the Probation Department in Punjab and released by the Directorate of Reclamation and Probation. 128 For details please see the rules of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 titles as the West Pakistan Probation of Offenders Rules 1961. 129 This was shared by the Director of the Directorate in NWFP and the by the Deputy Director of the Directorate in Punjab in meeting in November and December respectively.
160 Chapter-4 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Security Cameras in Juvenile Wing of Haripur Jail Children’s rights activists have hailed the installation of security cameras in the juvenile wing of the Haripur Jail in NWFP, calling it a step forward in improving conditions for young people in detention facilities.“ These surveillance cameras are the first ever installed in any juvenile jail in the country, which, we think, would greatly improve the number of abuse complaints,” Jawadullah, regional coordinator of SPARC, said in Peshawar, on March 14. The installation of security cameras is a collective initiative by the Juvenile Justice Network – a group of six national and international bodies, including SPARC, Aurat Foundation, the Pakistan Pediatric Association and NWFP’s Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights. While the Swedish branch of the child advocacy group, Save the Children has funded the project. “We came up with the idea of installing security cameras to eliminate the complaints of bullying and abuse of juvenile prisoners,” said deputy director of the provincial human rights ministry. Jail conditions in Pakistan have long been a major concern for rights activists. Complaints of inadequate food, poor sanitation and lack of medical care in overcrowded penal institutions are common. As part of its efforts to improve living conditions for imprisoned children across the country, SPARC has already started improving the country’s main juvenile prison facility in Peshawar. With financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), SPARC intends to provide recreational facilities and improved drinking water and sanitation systems inside the prison. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 46, March 2006 prisoners. They resort to violence to deal with any problems that arise inside the jails. The probation officers are not uniformed people and they can help children at the Borstal Institutions more effectively.
The Government of Pakistan is spending more on constructing new prisons and nothing on an institution which keeps people away from jails. The probation service of two provinces, Punjab and NWFP, has 8,837 probationers. These many people can fill at least three full size prisons like Central Jail Karachi, Central Jail Peshawar and the District Jail Lahore. The amazing thing is that the probation services costs less than the expenses allocated for the running of almost two prisons. The whole budget of all the probation departments in Pakistan is less than the actual budget of what government is spending on the upkeep of Central Jail Peshawar and District Jail Lahore.130
130 Government spends Rs 600 on food for one prisoner in one month. Other expenditures include; salaries, upkeep of the building, utility bills and fuel charges for vehicle taking prisoners to courts. Claimed by the NWFP Department of Reclamation and Probation and figures quoted on the monthly statement
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Children Living with Mothers Behind Bars By Shaista Yasmeen Imprisonment, loss of freedom of movement, thought, expression and violation of basic rights to education, recreation, and healthy environment constitutes life in jail. A night spent in jail is considered worse than living in hell. It is commonly quoted in Pakistan that may God save everyone from police, courts and jails.
Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi is the biggest in South Asia and was built in 1986 under the aegis of the Prison Department Punjab Government. The jail has a capacity of 1,900 prisoners, but it had around 5,300 inmates in 2006. Like any other jail in Pakistan, it is overcrowded. The inmates include murderers, dacoits, rapists, political dissenters, terrorists and juvenile offenders. According to the jail staff, they have little choice in denying entry to any prisoner, even if the jail is already over populated. When the court sends them to the jail, they have to accept and provide them with food and space to sleep.
Although, jails are specifically for people who have committed a crime, but there is a segment of jail population i.e. children who are innocent but paying the price for the crimes committed by their parents. The problem, which exists all over the world, arises from the fact that when the mother is convicted and sent to jail, there is no one in the house to assume responsibility of her child. She has no choice but to take the poor child with her. There are 150 children living with their mothers in various jails of Pakistan.
There is no proper system in Pakistan to deal with such children. Although, under Rule 326 of the Jail Manual women prisoners are allowed to keep their children with them in prison till the age of six years.
There are children above six years of age who are living with their mothers, in various jails, because there is no other government institution where they could be sent after six. However, it is the government’s responsibility to make alternative arrangements to house and feed these helpless victims. Obviously, given the ground realities, the government is in no position to make separate arrangements for these boys and girls. Legal experts have argued that the law does not allow a woman to keep her child in the jail while undergoing imprisonment and activists hope that the government will provide the long overdue solution to this cruel injustice meted out to children.
During my visit to the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, I met 39 (littlle boys/girls) running and playing in the jail compound. Ignorant and uneducated, these children will live with the stigma of being a jail inmate throughout their lives, even though they have committed no offense. The difficulty, however, is that there is no data or study available to give us a clear picture of these unfortunate children. They are not included in the jail population report.
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Life in Captivity Sadia 9, bare footed and without a warm sweater to protect her from the bitter cold is living out her childhood behind bars. She has no idea why she is here, or why she is forced to stay away from her family and siblings, not going to school or playing with her friends? She is not even aware that each day in the jail is causing a world of damage to her personality which will stay with her forever.
Courts have discretionary powers to grant remission in the sentence of a woman who is nursing her baby. This means that a woman who has been jailed will be granted remission of sentence with the discretion of the court and circumstances of the case. Superintendent of Police shared that many of the women, who are sentenced, use this ploy to get their sentence shortened. Their plea is, there is no one to take care of the children in the home and therefore they need to be with their mothers in the jail. The number of children with mothers has risen since I visited the Jail three years back.
The trend raises a troubling and difficult question: What is the future of these children?
Children of convicted mothers face discrimination from their family and from the society. These children are forced to live in congested and unfriendly environment. They are exposed to abusive language, sexual, verbal an emotional abuse. They are denied their basic rights to education, good health care, safe environment, and very importantly their right to live in an environment that allows them to be free in the real sense of the word.
Overcrowded Prisons As mentioned above prisons all over Pakistan suffer from too many prisoners in very little space. In many jails the prisoners are thrice the number permitted. This in itself creates a situation which encourages, abuse and exploitation. For children, the situation is even worse, being young and vulnerable.
To deal with the problem of space versus people, the one important solution is to expedite trials. It is again a difficult task given the poverty in human and financial resources. Another essential element is to strengthen and make functional the system of bail and parole. Releasing women on bail or parole will unite them with their family and children will also be taken care of and at the same time free of stigma and free to enjoy their fundamental rights to education, health, recreation, expression etc. In the current situation, bail, probation and parole suffer from inefficiency and a lack of resources both human and monetary and very importantly from lack of awareness among the law enforcing agencies, itself, of the existence of such laws, that benefit the prisoners.
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How UN CRC Sees Infants! The UN CRC has numerous articles pertinent to the rights and care of children living in prisons. Article 3.1 provides that “in all actions concerning children… the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.” Furthermore, Article 6.2 says, “States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.”
Article 9 of the CRC speaks most directly of the dilemma of children being raised in correctional facilities. Article 9.1 guarantees that children will only be separated from their parents if, under examination by “competent authorities subject to judicial review,” it is deemed necessary. In such cases, all those affected by the ruling have the right to participate in and voice their opinions regarding the decision (Article 9.2). Moreover, according to Article 9.3, a child separated from one or both parents retains the right to maintain a relationship with the parent(s) unless such interaction is detrimental to the child. Finally, Article 9.4 specifically refers to cases in which separation of parent and child results from detention or imprisonment; in these
What will Happen to Salma? By Mehreen Jaswal Salma is five years old. She has beautiful brown eyes and short scruffy hair to match her dirty clothes, She likes to sing and dance and play with the children amongst whom she lives with. She is shy, likes to eat sweets and she passes her time playing with rocks, as for Salma this is the only ‘toy’ she will ever play with. Salma’s mother Nafisa is no longer in jail. She was sent to jail when she was pregnant under the Hudood Ordinance where she gave birth. Shortly after Salma was born Nafisa was released but she did not take the child with her as her parents thought a child out of wedlock would cause many complications. So Salma was abandoned and left in prison in the care of Sadiqa, another prisoner. She took the child under her wings and is using Salma to benefit herself by gaining a shorter sentence and luxuries in prison that are not available to childless women. Sadiqa has also been known to have taken two other girls under her wing and reared them to become prostitutes so she could gain from them monetarily. Salma believes Sadiqa is her mother as she has not told her the truth. She refused to give Salma to a family who wished to adopt her. Sadiqa would rather have the child stay with her in prison without an education than go to a good family in Islamabad. Sadiqa says that she would like to keep Salma in jail with her, and then she will send the girl to live with her husband. The same husband who looked after the other two girls she molded into sex workers. These injustices against children cannot go on. An alternative to mother/child prisons should be introduced. At the least the facilities in the prison should include educational services for these children.
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“I would Like to See the World Outside” Nearly 10 years old, Ayesha a student of KG-2 jail school lives in jail with her mother and brother. The mother was arrested in a narcotics case. “I go to school at 9:00 a.m. We get a paratha (bread) and tea or toast for breakfast. I finish school at 1pm. I take a nap and then I make tea for my mother,” she said. “I don’t have any friends here because all the children are younger than me and the older ones are much older.” Ayesha makes no mention of playtime. She said that the days when her father visits are happy ones. “I’ve forgotten what the outside world is like but I really want to go and discover it all over again,” she said.
Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 48, September 2006 instances, the child or another family member has the right to information about the whereabouts of the imprisoned or detained parent(s), again excluding circumstances in which such information could be harmful to the child.
Under Article 9(1) the Convention requires States Parties to establish rules and procedures that clarify when children can be separated from their parents and that only competent—or legally recognized—authorities make the decision. In addition, all interested parties must have the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process and have their opinions known…. ‘Interested parties’… includes anyone who has information relevant to the decision…. In other words, Article 9 provides specific due process procedures that States Parties must follow before the State may infringe on the right of the child to be cared for by his or her parents…. At a minimum, the procedures must be fair.
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First Glimpse of the Ocean Close to 40 children of women prisoners at the Karachi jail were treated to a special lunch by social worker Jimmy Engineer on July 14. The children, all of whom live with their mothers inside the women’s section of the Central Prison, were exhilarated to catch (for some of them) their first glimpse of the sea. The children were playing in the sand and around the restaurant where they were taken for lunch. Many of the children were extremely well versed with the details of the presidential ordinance and said that their mothers had told them all about it. Some of the children, who were born in jail and are now toddlers, could not believe they were looking at the ocean. This was the first time that Mr Engineer had acquired permission to take these children out of the jail and bring them to the beach. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 48, September 2006
Similarly, Article 3.3 of the CRC works to protect children separated from their parents, but again leaves room for the State to determine the competency of agencies and individuals involved in the child’s care: “States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities particularly in the areas of safety and health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.”
While parents are mainly accountable for their children’s well-being, Article 18.1 reinforces the State’s duty to ensure adequate care and protection of children in unusual circumstances. This includes providing “appropriate assistance” to parents and others raising children, as well as developing childcare facilities and services (Article 18.2). It also includes taking all measures necessary to protect children from abuse and neglect, even going so far as to suggest the establishment of social services to assist children and their caregivers (Articles 19.1 and 19.2). If unable to remain within their “family environment,” the State must not only protect and aid a child, it must also “ensure alternative care” as described in national laws (Articles 20.1 and 20.2); such alternative means of childcare have not been guaranteed to mothers and pregnant inmates or pre-trial detainees.
Of equal importance is Article 27.1, which states “States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
According to Article 27.2, the parent(s) or guardian(s) are primarily responsible for guaranteeing such a standard of living. However, Article 27.3 requires States Parties to “take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement this right and shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programs, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.”
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Also pertinent is CRC Article 2.2, which prohibits discrimination against or punishment of children due to the behavior of their parents, relatives or guardians. In the case of children with incarcerated parents, Article 2.2 attempts to ensure that a child shall not be discriminated against due to a parent’s status as a pre-trial detainee or prisoner. The above discussion of children’s right to protection addresses the implementation of this Article with regards to children living in prisons.
The CRC speaks specifically about A woman (39) has been awarded life children’s health care as well. Article term for the murder of her husband. 24.1 is especially noteworthy: States She requested that her children should Parties recognize the right of the child to be sent to a shelter home. the enjoyment of the highest attainable She has three daughters between the standard of health and to facilities for ages of 14, 12 and 10. Presently, the the treatment of illness and rehabilitation children are with the neighbors. She of health. States Parties shall strive to has been in the jail for over two years ensure that no child is deprived of his or and has met her children only once in her right of access to such health care all this time. services.” Source: SPARC visit to Adiala Jail
As has been shown, children living in prison have not been granted this privilege, nor have they been provided “adequate nutritious food and clean drinking water,” as the CRC requires.
Finally, the CRC recognizes the duty of States Parties to guarantee all children access to education. Article 28.1 stipulates that “States Parties recognize the right’s of the child to education” and that in order to ensure children’s access to education States Parties shall take measures that include “[making] primary education compulsory and available free to all.” Yet children residing in prison have minimal access to schooling and may well receive no primary education.
Nurseries for Children in Jails Government of Punjab has approved the project for setting up nurseries for women prisoners’ children. The Punjab government has planned to make nurseries for children currently living with their imprisoned mothers. The chief minister has approved the proposal and work on the project is likely to begin by the end of this year. Chairperson of Chief Minister’s Task Force on Women and Juvenile Prisoners, Syeda Majida Zaidi, said proper education was vital for children, especially at a time when they learned from their environment and their elders. Women prisoners could keep their children with them until they were six years old, she said. Childhood is an important period of life in which a child’s character is formed. Giving the children a suitable environment is the prime responsibility of the society.132
132 Daily Times, October 25, 2006
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Survival of Newborns Survival of newly born babies of mothers behind bars is of major concern. As expected, “Survival Rights” include the basic right to life. Furthermore, and as a means of protecting the right to life, such rights guarantee access to the highest possible standards of health and medical care. Ensuring the right to survival necessitates prevention of infant and child mortality, which inherently requires adequate health care for newborns and children.
Article 27 of the CRC calls attention to yet another factor in a child’s growth: the need for positive “moral development.” Prisons would rarely be considered ideal places in which to foster children’s moral development. Parental incarceration seriously challenges a child’s formation of values. In spite of words from parent to child about proper attitudes and behaviors, criminal deeds by the parent send a powerfully contradictory message to the child. Prisoners’ children are at risk of manifesting criminal or antisocial activity themselves.
As for physical development, poor nutrition can seriously impede children’s growth. Malnourishment of pregnant women and children can also inhibit cognitive development. Since many pregnant women, nursing mothers and children living in prisons do not receive adequate food or nutrients, children’s rights to physical and mental development are both at risk.
Protection The category of “Protection Rights” includes protection from discrimination, abuse and neglect. It also encompasses the protection of children in especially difficult circumstances, a label that could easily apply to children raised in prisons.
With regards to the protection of children living in prisons, the primary concern is that of preserving their right to enjoy a life free of abuse, neglect or maltreatment. Children, reveal that the prison environment does not adequately protect children from physical harm. Instances of prisoners or prison staff yelling at mothers and/ or children repeatedly could constitute verbal abuse and lead to psychological or emotional trauma in some cases.
Health According to a report, the women prisoners told a judge about the poor sanitation conditions. They said “floors are damp and covered with urine. Rooms have poor lighting system with no ventilation. Prisoners are crammed into tiny cells.” There is no bedding for the children living with their mothers. They sleep on tattered and filthy bits of newspaper and cardboard or on the damp concrete floor. They remain in their overcrowded cells 24 hours a day. If there is any relief it is only on hearing dates and trips to filthy toilet once a day.”133
133 The News, December 4, 2006
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Is it Right for the Children? Is it beneficial that children should live with their mothers in the jail? At the end of the day, the kids enjoy the bond of motherhood even if within prison walls. Those there since birth know of no other life. And after the age of six, the kids must leave the prison for another home on the outside, a hostel, with relatives, or perhaps even on the street. This option is just as difficult perhaps even more in certain circumstances.
Life is certainly not easy for children who suffer incarceration for the crimes allegedly committed by their parents. These children miss out on everything that is considered normal for leading a life. In many cases they are separated from fathers and siblings. They have no understanding of building relationships at family, community and societal levels. They lose out on education, health, proper development, and a good quality life.
Children living in such abnormal circumstances suffer physical and emotional problems, such as trauma, anxiety, guilt and fear and uncertainty. According to research children of jail inmates are five times more likely to end up in prison themselves.
The initial period of a child’s life is very important and has an impact on the child’s entire life. “Proper education, training and attention to children living in prisons, especially in the first five or six years, could make them responsible citizens, and keeping children in a bad environment at such an age would harm their personality.
The contributor is Manager Training and Coordination, SPARC, Islamabad
FCR: A Draconian Law by Mohammad Ijaz Khan The Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR) comprises a set of laws enforced by British colonialists in the Pakhtoon-inhabited areas. They were specially devised to counter the fierce opposition of the Pakhtoons to British rule, and their main objective was to protect the interests of the British. The FCR dates back to the occupation of the six Pakhtoon-inhabited Frontier districts by the British in 1848. The regulation was re-enacted in 1873 and again in 1876, with minor modifications. With the passage of time, the regulation was found to be inadequate and new acts and offenses were added to it to extend its scope. This was done through the promulgation of the Frontier Crime Regulations 1901. The British devised the FCR as an instrument of subjugation. It was meant to discipline the Pakhtoon population and to establish the writ of the colonial authority. In drafting the regulation, the British relied on some of the customs and traditions prevailing in the tribal belt, but these traditions were distorted to suit the government’s plan of securing convictions at will.
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FATA was the most troubled area for British Government until 1947. The Government of Pakistan also launched a number of operations in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) during the last 60 years. In 2006 several hundred Pakistani military personnel died fighting in this area in pursuit of Al-Qaeda. Corrupt Pakistani officials and fugitives also took refuge in this area. FATA is a part of Pakistan. However, they are out of territorial and administrative limits of its four provinces. The region is controlled by the Federal Government of Pakistan. It consists of five areas: Khyber, Kurram, Malakand, Mohmand and Waziristan. The main towns are: Miran Shah, Razmak and Wana. Article 247 (7) of the Constitution bars Pakistani courts from exercising their jurisdiction in the FATA; due to this judicial limitation, tribesmen convicted under the Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR) cannot appeal in superior courts against the judgments passed by the political agent.
Status of Children, Men and Woman under FCR Innocent children, men and women have become victims of the draconian FCR. Children as old as two years and even less have been convicted under this law. FCR is a black law and contrary to the constitution and international human rights and child rights conventions. Under Article 1 of the Constitution, FATA is a part of Pakistan; therefore, no law should be allowed to operate in tribal areas, which is not in conformity with the clauses of the Constitution. JJSO was extended to FATA and adjoining NWFP on November 22, 2004. In the absence of the infrastructure required to enforce this law, its formal extension to FATA remains ineffective. As such juvenile offenders are still charged under the FCR in sheer violation of the JJSO. In various cases, juvenile offenders are still being arrested under the oppressive provisions of the FCR dealing with territorial and collective responsibility. FATA has a separate legal system, the FCR, which recognizes the doctrine of collective responsibility. Authorities are empowered to detain family members of a fugitive’s tribe, or to blockade the fugitive’s village, pending his surrender or punishment by his own tribe in accordance with the local tradition. Majority of the children are handed a jail term for no crime of their own under FCR. Innocent children are sentenced to jail for the alleged crimes of their father, uncle or any of their blood relatives. It is the government that launches operation against these innocent victims if they cannot produce the sought after. Government can raze the houses of criminals and their relatives to ground as a punishment under the FCR.
Some Case Studies Young Muhammad Tariq, son of Awal Mast, resident of Ahoor wal Dera Adam Khail has been languishing in the Kohat District Jail for the last four months without any trial under the ‘collective responsibility clause’ of the FCR. The boy’s father is dead and he recently passed his Matriculation exam and intends to take admission in a college.
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His uncle Jan Mast was charged in a theft case in 1993. Assistant Political Agent (APA), while presiding over a government Jirga on December 2005, decided the case and ordered the accused to pay compensation to the other party. Jan Mast gave his nephew, young Muhammad Tariq to the APA as surety and promised to pay the compensation in three days. So far Jan Mast has not paid the amount and as a result the poor boy is spending his precious time in the Kohat Jail for no crime of his own.134 Convicted under the FCR, two-year-old Zarmina was sentenced to three years imprisonment on May 5, 2004, along with her mother Hukam Jana, seven-year old-sister Wazir Azam, eight-year-old sister Islam Bibi, three-year-old brother Khalil Muhammad and nine-year-old brother Sadiq Muhammad. Zarmina and her family were handed a three years jail term for no crime of their own. They were sentenced for the alleged involvement of their father, Qadir Khan, and uncle, Arsal Khan, in a kidnapping for ransom case.
Current Situation The Federal Minister for Law and Justice Wasi Zafar, once commenting on FCR told the Upper House that the government was reviewing the FCR. It is consulting the tribal elders on this issue because no amendment could be made to the law without the consent of the people of the area. The minister was speaking on a resolution moved by People’s Party Parliamentarian Senator Farhatullah Babar. The resolution demanded the review of the FCR and the way it is administered in the tribal areas. Article 247 (5) of the Constitution clearly states: “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution, the President may, with respect to any matter, make regulations for the peace and good Governance of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas or any part hereof.” Unfortunately, the Federal Minister for Law and Justice was not even aware of this clause. Part XII of the Chapter 3 Tribal Areas (Articles 246 – 247) of the Pakistan Constitution deals with the federally administered areas. According to this Article, the President of Pakistan can cease FATA’s special status. It is time that the President of Pakistan should take lead and suspend tribal areas special status and declare it as part of Pakistan. On a recent visit to San Francisco, former Prime Minster of Pakistan Ms. Benazir Bhutto stated that FATA is part of Pakistan and PPP will, if elected, cease the special status of these areas. She is not the first person to talk about FATA or FCR. Former Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah also questioned the status of the FATA and asked the previous government to clarify the issue. Mr. Afrasiab Khattak, former chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had also expressed his dismay on the FCR. The contributor is Legal Aid Coordinator, SPARC NWFP
134 SPARC jail visit April 18, 2007
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Conclusion Well being of the children that come in contact with the law should be the first priority of the juvenile justice system. The JJSO and other laws dealing with juvenile offenders all promote institutionalizing as the only option available for reforming children as we see in case of orphans and destitute children.135 The new National Child Protection Bill which is due in 2007 will have to face this challenge. The role of the NCCWD is crucial to the development of the new bill for the children. Some positive developments point that future holds something positive for the juvenile offenders in Pakistan. The NCCWD has made it a priority to deal with the children who are in difficult circumstances in general and children in conflict with law in particular.136
Some of the measures that NCCWD need to take are listed in the Report of the Regional Consultation on Violence against Children which was conducted in Islamabad in May 2005. Among other things the report points out that firstly, government should work on closing gaps in present laws and the Convention and other human rights instruments and provide effective implementation and monitoring so that impunity ends.137 Secondly, there is a need to divert children to other services rather than criminalizing them by putting them in the juvenile justice system; whether by setting up separate ‘institutions’ for rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law or by creating community-based structures to provide child-friendly legal aid schemes for children.138
Thirdly, there is a dire need to train government officers at the local and district level and the judiciary on the Convention and any other child related laws.139 The training of the relevant government departments, indeed, could be a panacea for all the juvenile justice ills in Pakistan. “It is essential for the quality of the administration of juvenile justice that all the professionals involved, including law enforcement and judiciary, receive appropriate training to inform them about the content and the meaning of the provisions of the CRC in general and those directly relevant for their daily practice in particular. The training should be organized in a systematic and ongoing manner and not be limited to information about the relevant national and international legal provisions. It should include information inter alia on the social and other causes of juvenile delinquency, the psychological and other aspects of the development of children (with special attention to girls and children belonging to minorities or indigenous peoples), the culture and the trends in the world of young people, the dynamics of group activities, and the available measures to deal with
135 UNICEF report on the Violence against Children in South Asia also points towards this fact and says, “Worryingly, institutionalization is too readily resorted to.” UNICEF, May 2005, Regional Consultation on Violence against Children in South Asia, Islamabad, p 21 136 UNICEF ROSA, 2006, Juvenile Justice in South Asia, p 100 137 UNICEF, May 2005, Regional Consultation on Violence against Children in South Asia, Islamabad. p 35 138 Ibid 139 Ibid
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Photograph by: Saleem Mehmood, (A Juvenile Prisoner) children in conflict with the penal law, in particular measures without resorting to judicial proceedings…”140
When JJSO was promulgated in 2000, it was a landmark in legislation for children. However, it has not shown impressive results on the ground for children. Few things have improved due to the JJSO which include the separation of children from adult in prisons. This has greatly helped to reduce the incidence of sexual abuse of children in prison. There is yet immense room for improvement in the effective implementation of the JJSO
Recommendations Following are some of the recommendations which SPARC believes that could be of great value for the government to take into consideration to improve the working of the JJSO and in turn better the treatment of juvenile offenders and protect them from being criminalized and becoming future criminals or social menace to the society. g A systematic and effective data collection and analysis system should be put in place for the children who come in conflict with law. The system should go down to the Union Council level starting from the Federal level. Such data should be collected while keeping in mind the Fifteen Juvenile Justice Indicators developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime from 2004 to 2006.141 g The draft of the National Child Protection Act which is in circulation should be
140 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, General Comment 10, CRC/C/GC/10 Paragraph 33 141 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (2006), Manual for the Measurement of Juvenile Justice Indicators, New York,
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reviewed while keeping in mind results of the data collected through the Fifteen Juvenile Justice Indicators mentioned above. g The Section 21-G of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997 should be amended to exclude the world “exclusively” after “tried” to avoid death penalty for juveniles. All other laws including Control of Narcotics Substances 1997 and the Hudood Laws 1975 should be amended to make sure all offenses involving children below the age of 18 are tried “exclusively” by the Juvenile Courts. g All such laws which discriminate against children should be set aside like the Punjab Vagrancy Ordinance 1958. g The government should extend all the child related laws in general and the JJSO in particular to FATA, PATA and the AJK in letter and spirit. g The government should take immediate steps for setting up separate and exclusive Juvenile Courts in all the provinces of the country to try cases of juvenile offender according to prescribed procedure as laid down in the JJSO. g Sufficient arrangement should be made to ensure that the Juvenile Courts are assisted by the Probation Officers while deciding the cases of the juvenile offenders. This will require a vibrant probation department in the country. g The minimum age of criminal responsibility should be raised to 12 years and it should be made sure that all children below the age of 18 enjoy the benefits of the juvenile justice with no distinction between the 15 years and 17 years old. g Section 167 (2) of the Code should be amended to decrease the period of remand for juveniles from 14 days to maximum 7 days and no exception should be allowed in any law for the time being in force. g Government should make sure that each police station in the country has at least one Juvenile Protection Officer not below the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector sufficiently trained to handle children who come in conflict with law. g Any institution if needed for the rehabilitation of the juveniles should not be supervised by the Prison department. The control of the Borstal Institutions and the Youthful Offenders Industrial School should be handed over to the Directorate of Reclamation and Probation with effective rehabilitation program for the juvenile. g Government should ensure timely appearance of juvenile offender in the court and that he/she is defended by an experienced lawyer. g To ensure that child offenders are given legal aid at the expense of the State as given in the JJSO. g The prison staff should be taken to task when found guilty of torturing a child offender or case instituted against any official responsible for causing death as a result of such torture in custody. The writer is former Regional Manager SPARC (Punjab) and is currently studying at the Center for Human Rights Education of the Curtin University of Technology, Perth (Australia), [email protected]
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174 Chapter-4 Chapter 5
VIOLENCE
The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Silent Agony By Akhtar Hussain Balouch
iolence against children in Pakistan is a neglected and therefore an accepted phenomenon. It is widespread and justified as a natural consequence of Villiteracy, poverty, population explosion, poor governance; lopsided government priorities, little or no implementation of national laws and international commitments, lack of awareness on child rights and above all not treating or accepting a child as a human being with rights, self respect and dignity.
This being the ground realities, children in Pakistan face abuse in the safety of the home, in schools, where children are sent to learn and to become responsible individuals; on the streets, in place of work and at the hands of the law enforcing agencies, in the name of honor, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. The high prevalence of violence against children can be measured from the fact that each year the number of children murdered, kidnapped, assaulted, sexually abused and exploited is rising. And the number of culprits caught and punished can be counted on the fingers. Who are the abusers is even more heart breaking, this category include parents, siblings, relatives, women, teachers, employers, police, every adult who has the power to control the child. Who are abused children? Any child and every child is vulnerable to abuse and violence. It goes beyond class and economic divide. Age is also no criteria, there are reports of a six month old (unbelievable, and yet true) baby girl being raped by a 20-year-old man and a two-and a half year old girl raped and murdered by a 25-year-old man. Violence against children does not even discriminate gender, boys are as much and in some cases even more vulnerable to abuse than girls, given the fredom culturally allowed to them. Besides, there is no stigma attached to them. This is the reason why, media does not report the rape of a boy as it does about a girl. Teachers and parents are major players in promoting and propagating corporal punishment to discipline the errant child. It is a strange paradox that those responsible to instill values of decency and good behavior are the very same people who create future abusers and miscreants by using cruel methods to inculcate those very principles and morals.
According to Cruel Numbers 2006, a report published by the NGO Sahil, as many as 2,447 that includes 1,794 girls and 653 males were victims of violence throughout Pakistan as reported in the media and cases handled by the NGO directly. Majority of the crimes committed against these children were that of abduction for sexual purposes and sodomy. Regrettably so, the incidents of children committing suicides
SPARC 177 Violence are also on the rise in Pakistan. The factors responsible for this are poverty, frustration, lack of understanding and support from parents, teachers, and a major reason is the criminialization of the society as a whole. The easy access and availability of arms, the rise in the power of fanatics, the threatening posture of these elements and using children for their ulterior motives, and a lack of accountability at any level has also played an important role in the increased violence against children as well as in the society.
Every child has a right to live in an environment that is peaceful, safe, friendly, and free of violence. However, the grim reality is that violence against children is prevalent throughout the world with varying degree. It is all around us, but we prefer to turn a blind eye and let it happen.
Violations of the child’s right to protection are massive, under recognized and under reported barriers to child’s survival and development, in addition to being human rights violations. Children subjected to violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect are at risk of death, poor physical and mental health, HIV and AIDS, educational problems, displacement, homelessness, vagrancy and poor parenting skills later in life.1 UNICEF Facts and Figures g Approximately 26 million children aged 17 are believed to be engaged in hazardous work excluding child domestic labor.
g More than one million children worldwide are detained by law enforcement officials.
g It is estimated that more than 130 million women and girls alive today have undergone some form of female genital mutilation/cutting. Source: Child Protection Fact Sheet 2006
“Much violence against children, whether inside homes, schools, care and justice institutions, the workplace or the community – is implicitly socially condoned and remains invisible,” the Independent Expert for the Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, told the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. He was speaking at a meeting in Geneva in April. He urged the government representatives to intensify national and international efforts to combat violence against children, including sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse.
The expert noted that children can suffer abuse in a variety of settings, including at school or in detention facilities. In addition, an estimated one million children are forced to work in prostitution, child pornography or similar activities each year. “Many are coerced, kidnapped, sold and deceived into these activities, or are victims
1 Child Protection Fact Sheet 2006, www.unicef.org
178 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 of trafficking,” he said. He pointed out that children are also vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation from members of the community. “Sexual violence is more commonly perpetrated by someone known to the child such as family members or adults in positions of trust, but it is also perpetrated by people whom the child does not know.”
Children are at the receiving end of the violence as well as in many cases are also held guilty of being cause for the abuse as in the case of sexual exploitation. They suffer for the crimes committed by their parents as we see in the increased number of cradle babies or newborns strangled or thrown in the rubbish heaps. A child, who witnesses violence from a young age, suffers from a variety of problems that scar his/ her personality forever. It impacts adversely on his emotional and psychological health, academic and social performance and generally ruins him as a human being.
UN CRC Articles The concept of violence is clearly defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC), especially in Articles 19, 34 and 37, other human rights treaties and human rights instruments such as the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
According to the Article 19 of the UN CRC, violence includes; “All forms of physical or mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.”2 It is also underpinned by the general definition of child abuse agreed by the experts participating in the WHO Consultation on Child Abuse Prevention in 1999:
“Child abuse or maltreatment constitutes all forms of physical and/or emotional Photograph by: Anees Jillani ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.”
2 Article 19, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Violence can be divided into three major categories. These categories are as follows.
Physical Violence Physical abuse refers to any behavior that involves the intentional use of force against the body of another person that risks physical injury, harm, and/or pain. Physical abuse includes pushing, hitting, slapping, choking, using an object to hit, twisting of a body part, forcing the ingestion of an unwanted substance, and use of a weapon.
Child physical abuse is often the inadvertent result of physical punishment administered by an angry frustrated parent. Sometimes, however, physical discipline is intended to harm the child.
The fact that our society is now concerned with the problem of child abuse does not mean that parents have suddenly taken to beating their children, but that our tolerance to child maltreatment has declined, and we are now appalled by acts to which our ancestors would have been indifferent.
Sexual Violence Sexual abuse is defined as any unwanted sexual intimacy forced on one individual by another. It may include oral, anal, or vaginal stimulation or penetration, forced nudity, forced exposure to sexually explicit material or activity, or any other unwanted sexual activity.
Sexual abuse includes fondling a child’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials. Many experts believe that sexual abuse is the most under- reported form of child maltreatment because of the secrecy or “conspiracy of silence” that so often characterizes these cases.
Child sexual abuse can take place within the family, by a parent, step-parent, sibling or other relative; or outside the home, for example, by a friend, neighbor, child care person, teacher, or stranger. When sexual abuse has occurred, a child can develop a variety of distressing feelings, thoughts and behaviors.
No child is psychologically prepared to cope with repeated sexual stimulation. The child of five or older who knows and cares for the abuser becomes trapped between affection and loyalty for the person, and the sense that the sexual activities are terribly wrong. If the child tries to break away from the sexual relationship, the abuser may threaten the child with violence or loss of love.
When sexual abuse occurs within the family, the child may fear the anger, jealousy or shame of other family members, or be afraid the family will break up if the secret is
180 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 told. A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self- esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults, and can become suicidal. Personality disorders, such as Disassociative Identity Disorder (also known as Multiple Personality Disorder), have been linked to sexual abuse. Some children who have been sexually abused have difficulty relating to others except on sexual terms. Some sexually abused children turn into child abusers or prostitutes, or have other serious problems of forming relationships, trust and care, when they reach adulthood. Fact Sheet on Child Abuse Family members -- fathers, stepfathers, uncles, older siblings -- commit 47 percent of all reported sexual assaults against children in their own homes. 49 percent of all sexual assaults against children are committed by persons known either by the child or the child’s family -- teachers, coaches, physicians, ministers, clergy, neighbors and youth leaders. 4 percent of sexual assaults against children are by strangers (persons unknown to either the child or the child’s family). 25 percent of exploiters of children are other children. 75 percent of children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation are from middle-class backgrounds. 40 percent of the girls who got engaged in prostitution were sexually abused at home, as were 30 percent of the boys. Source: State of Human Rights in Pakistan 2005, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Psychological Violence Psychological abuse may include derogatory statements or threats of further abuse (e.g., threats of being killed by another individual). It may also involve isolation, economic threats, and emotional abuse. It includes acts or omissions by the parents or other caregivers that have caused, or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. Emotional abuse of children can lead in adulthood to addiction, rage, a severely damaged sense of self, and an inability to truly bond with others.
With repeated exposure to traumatic events, a proportion of children may develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD involves specific patterns of avoidance and hyper-arousal. Individuals with PTSD may begin to organize their lives around their trauma. Although most people who suffer from PTSD (especially, in severe cases) have considerable interpersonal and academic/occupational problems, the degree to which symptoms of PTSD interfere with overall functioning varies a great deal from person to person.3
3 The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; APA, 1994)
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The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders4 stipulates that in order for an individual to be diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, he or she must have experienced or witnessed a life-threatening event and reacted with intense fear, helplessness, or horror. The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced (e.g., distressing recollections), there is persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and the victim experiences some form of hyper-arousal (e.g., exaggerated startle response). These symptoms persist for more than one month and cause clinically significant impairment in daily functioning.
It has been suggested that responses to traumatic experiences can be divided into at least four categories: g Emotional responses include shock, terror, guilt, horror, irritability, anxiety, hostility, and depression. g Cognitive responses are reflected in significant concentration impairment, confusion, self-blame, intrusive thoughts about the traumatic experiences (also referred to as flashbacks), lowered self-efficacy, fears of losing control, and fear of reoccurrence of the trauma. g Biologically based responses involve sleep disturbance (i.e., insomnia), nightmares, an exaggerated startle response, and psychosomatic symptoms. g Behavioral responses include avoidance, social withdrawal, interpersonal stress (decreased intimacy and lowered trust in others), and substance abuse. The process through which the individual has coped prior to the trauma is arrested; consequently, a sense of helplessness is often maintained.
Adverse Impact of Violence Children may exhibit a wide range of reactions to exposure to violence in their home. Younger children (e.g., preschool and kindergarten) often, do not understand the meaning of the abuse they observe and tend to believe that they “must have done something wrong.” Self blame can precipitate feelings of guilt, worry, and anxiety. It is important to consider that children, especially younger children, typically do not have the ability to adequately express their feelings verbally. Consequently, the manifestations of these emotions are often behavioral. Children may become withdrawn, non-verbal, and exhibit regressed behaviors such as clinging and whining. Eating and sleeping difficulty, concentration problems, generalized anxiety, and physical complaints (e.g., headaches) are all common.
Unlike younger children, the pre-adolescent child typically has greater ability to externalize negative emotions (i.e., to verbalize). In addition to symptoms commonly seen with childhood anxiety (e.g., sleep problems, eating disturbance, nightmares), victims within this age group may show a loss of interest in social activities, low self esteem, withdrawal or avoidance of peer relations, rebelliousness and oppositional- 4 Ibid
182 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 defiant behavior in the school setting. It is also common to observe temper tantrums, irritability, frequent fighting at school or between siblings, lashing out at objects, treating pets cruelly or abusively, threatening of peers or siblings with violence, and attempts to gain attention through hitting, kicking, or choking peers and/or family members. Incidentally, girls are more likely to exhibit withdrawal and unfortunately, run the risk of being “missed” as a child in need of support.
Violence in the Home Children are caught in the crossfire of domestic violence and suffer the consequences of a turbulent home life. Violence against children involves physical and psychological abuse and injury, neglect or negligent treatment, exploitation and sexual abuse. The perpetrators may include parents and other close family members.
Children who grow up in a violent home are more likely to suffer abuse compared to children who have a peaceful home life. Studies also indicate a strong correlation between violence against women and violence against children.
The consequences of domestic violence can span generations. The effects of violent behavior tend to stay with children long after they leave the childhood home. Boys who are exposed to their parents’ domestic violence are twice as likely to become abusive men as are the sons of non-violent www.violence.de/prescott/hustler/article.html parents. Furthermore, girls who witness their mothers being abused are more likely to accept violence in a marriage than girls who come from non-violent homes. Although they often lack the means to protect themselves, abused women often provide protection for children who are exposed to domestic violence. But without the legal or economic resources to prosecute abusive spouses, countless women and children remain trapped in harmful situations.
The behavioral and psychological consequences of growing up in a violent home can be just as devastating for children who are not directly abused themselves. Children who are exposed to violence often suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as bed-wetting or nightmares, and are at greater risk than their peers of suffering from allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, depression and
SPARC 183 Violence anxiety. Primary school age children who are exposed to domestic violence may have more trouble with schoolwork and show poor concentration and focus. They are also more likely to attempt suicide and abuse drugs and alcohol.5
Working in someone’s home can also entail the risk of violence. Child domestic workers – often girls under 16 – have indicated severe abuse at the hands of their employers, including physical punishment, sexual harassment and humiliation. Unlike other forms of domestic violence, much of the humiliation and physical punishment is perpetrated by women, although girls in particular are also vulnerable to sexual violence from men living in the household.
Government-led efforts to create protective policies for victims of domestic violence require a parallel effort to change social attitudes that condone such violence. Shattering the silence that surrounds domestic violence is the key to ending violent behavior in the home.
Child Protection Bill The Child protection Bill, which has to be approved by the Cabinet, was sent back to the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) for further clarifications. The concerns put forward were of administrative nature such as how will the government/ Ministry get the required resources to implement the provisions of the bill. The Cabinet Secretary has asked the NCCWD to first prepare the child protection strategy, before the bill can be tabled again. Child Protection Bill was initiated by the government in collaboration with the UNICEF and other partners to develop policies, legislation and programs to protect children from violence, abuse and exploitation, and to empower adolescents with knowledge and life skills so that they can protect themselves and teach other young people and community members how to lead safer and healthier lives. UNICEF provides support to the Social Welfare Ministry and its attached department NCCWD to enforce monitor and protect children, especially those in conflict with the law; in institutional care and those who are sexually exploited and abused. UNICEF supported the NCCWD in drafting of the Child Protection Law and the Child Protection Policy and initiated the establishment of Child Protection Monitoring and Data Collecting System.6 The Child Protection Bill has called for raising the age for criminal responsibility from seven to 12, banning corporal punishment both in the homes and schools. It is important for the promotion and propagation of child rights that Child Protection Bill is passed by the parliament at the earliest ensuring protection for children in Pakistan.
5 Ibid 6 www.unicef.org
184 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
According to LHRLA, the poor and corrupt practices of the law enforcement Violence Balance Sheet 2006 In Pakistan, an increasing ratio of crime and violence against children was witnessed in 2006, according to statistics released by Madadgaar (a helpline and protection service for children and women) of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA).7 4,386 incidents of violence against children were observed. Alarmingly, 704 children were reportedly murdered while 637 were sexually assaulted last year. The incidents of sexual abuse were common among both male and female children and 340 girls were raped while 297 boys were sodomized. The year saw a sudden and sharp increase in suicides among children and 180 children committed suicides. As many as forty-one children were butchered in the name of Karo Kari in 2006. Besides, more than thousand children were kidnapped. In Karachi, 794 children were victimized, of them 66 were sexually abused, 90 murdered, 377 went missing, 16 committed suicide, 90 kidnapped, 13 were tortured by police officials, nine trafficked and 133 were physically tortured. According to LHRLA, the poor and corrupt practices of the law enforcement agencies were one of the major reasons for the rising crime rate against children in the country. Mr Zia Awan, head of LHRLA expressed grief over the situation of the juvenile prisons and shelters in the country. He pointed out that the Sindh Children Act 1955, an offshoot of Bombay Children Act, safeguarded the rights of children. “Police officials are noe even aware of this law, what can you expect from the masses,” he remarked.8
Another Meerwala in Muzaffargarh A twelve-year-old girl was stripped and made to stand in public in a village near Shehr Sultan, Muzaffargarh, by her neighbors to teach her a lesson for the sin she never committed. As in the Meerwala case - the suspicion was same of girl’s brother having illicit relations with a woman of the rival group. Though the area people, union council Nazim and Muzaffargarh district Nazim confirmed that such an incident had taken place on September 22, police said the stripping issue had been concocted by the girl’s family in a bid to neutralize the First Information Report registered against them. Source: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 48, September 2006
Statistics collected by Sahil during 2006 shows a disturbing increase in number of female abettors. This number rose from 123 in 2005 to 351 in 2006.This shows more than 50 percent rise in the cases thus making them the third largest category of
7 Dawn, January 20, 2007 8 Ibid.
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Total Number of Affected Children in Pakistan (Madadgaar) Crime Number Murder 704 Sexual Abuse 637 1) Female 340 2) Male (sodomy) 297 Suicide 180 Karo Kari 41 Kidnapping 1,008 Physical Torture 526 Police Torture 96 abusers.9 Moreover, the data reveals that child sexual abuse is on the rise touching the figure of approximately four children a day. CSA was most rampant in 11 to 15 years age group. Total number of cases reported in 2006 are 2,447, including 1,794 (73 percent) females and 653 (27percent) males. This shows an increase of 17 percent as compared to 2005. Out of 4,953 abusers, most (81 percent) were victim’s acquaintances. And five females were reported as the abuser in the category of abduction and sodomy. Courts sentenced 30 abusers (mainly involved in girls’ sexual abuse) who were given death sentence and life imprisonment.
Male Female
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
800 Source: Sahil, Cruel Numbers 2006
Pakistan is a signatory to the UN CRC and therefore it is duty bound to evolve an effective mechanism for preventing violence against children and providing protection to the survivors, but unfortunately, human rights have not been recognized by the government as an important right and lacks political will to introduce reforms to make the country safe for the children and adults alike.
9 Sahil’s Cruel Numbers 2006
186 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
1000 Age of Sexually Abused Victims
800 Males Females 600
400
200
0 1-5 yrs 6-10 yrs 11-15 yrs 16-18 yrs Age not mentioned
Source: Sahil, Cruel Numbers, 2006 UN Study on Violence against Children Launched UN Study on Violence against Children was launched on November 20, 2006 in Geneva on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day and the 15th anniversary of the Committee on the Rights of the Children. The evidence collected for the Study on Violence against Children,10 suggests that, although violence against children is widespread, it is preventable, and the world has the resources to effect its elimination. Experts, practitioners, and children themselves agree that violence is not an unchanging, inevitable feature of life, and must not be passively accepted as such. Moreover, the Study has documented the progress made by Governments as they begin to acknowledge the scale of the problem and respond to the human rights obligations they have accepted.
The Report represents a crucial step towards unmasking the issue of violence against children. The report’s six guiding principles are clear, none more so than the first: No violence against children is justifiable. Its recommendations are comprehensive, with very arching precepts complemented by specific measures to combat violence against children in the home and family, in schools and other educational settings, in care and justice systems, in the workplace and community.
These measures also include advising governments to establish an ombudsperson or commission for children’s rights in accordance with the ‘Paris Principles’. The report advocates for the establishment of a Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Violence against Children to advocate at the international level, in conjunction with UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the creation of a UN inter-agency group on violence against children, with representation from NGOs and children themselves.
10 UNICEF - Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children - 2006
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Throughout the Study process, and as ever greater numbers of participants had their say, a number of issues were raised repeatedly in region after region. First and foremost were the alarming gaps between States’ obligations and commitments on the one hand, and the reality of children’s lives on the other. As the Study report presented to the UN General Assembly notes,
“Member States have already made commitments to protect children from all forms of violence. However, we must accept – from children’s testimony during the Study process, as well as from the results of research – that these commitments are far from being fulfilled.” Much of this state of affairs stems from a lack of leadership by politicians and other decision makers.
Discussion of the problem has too often remained muted and vague, allowing the threshold of acceptable action to stay at a low level, and the linkages between different forms of violence to be overlooked. For the most part, prohibiting and eliminating violence against children lacks adequate political attention. To become a high priority, the elimination of violence against children requires strong political
Photograph: www.warshooter.com
188 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 leadership and determined advocacy by civil society. Strong mechanisms must be put in place at national, regional and international levels to ensure implementation of the Study’s recommendations.
Governments and a wide range of partners have come forward with useful and concrete actions to prevent violence against children, reduce its multiple impacts, and advocate for change. A growing number of action research projects, prevention strategies and therapeutic responses are being implemented and evaluated; this is providing increasingly solid evidence base for partners to adapt and improve existing interventions, and create new ones. As well as specifically protecting the youngest and most vulnerable members of society from violence, these actions contribute to the wider objective of reducing violence for all, as it is clear that interventions focusing on the young have the greatest potential to reap benefits in society as a whole.
Leadership and coordination are equally important at international, regional and national levels. The implementation of most of the recommendations presented in the introduction to this report depends on the capability of Governments to incorporate all recommendations within current legal instruments and public policies, in a coordinated way. The continuous commitment of human and financial resources to a broad and systematic framework to reduce and respond to violence against children, integrated into national planning processes, is essential for the success of this endeavor. Stopping violence against children requires not only sanctioning perpetrators, but also transformation of the “mindset” of societies and the underlying economic and social conditions that allow violence against children to thrive.11
Father Kills 3 Daughters Mohammad Ashraf, a factory worker from Lahore murdered his three little daughters by slitting their throats, while the family slept. He told the police that two of his daughters, seven-year-old Iqra and five-year-old Sumaira – did not put up any resistance when he placed a pillow on their faces and slit their throats but three-year-old Esha woke up and became frightened when she saw a knife in her father’s hand. Her pleas of mercy fell on deaf ears and Ashraf killed her also. Ashraf’s plea for murdering his daughters was that he was poor and could not look after the three girls. However, neighbors claimed that he always wanted a son and was not happy being a father of three daughters, whom he saw as a burden. The murderer was later shot dead by a police officer, who was stunned by his confession. The report mentioned that the father wanted to have a son and perhaps took revenge from his wife by killings the daughters.12
11 Ibid 12 Monthly Herald, July 2006
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Attempted Suicide/Suicide As mentioned above, cases of children committing or attempting to take their own lives is steadily increasing in Pakistan. It is equally rising among the adults and in most cases poverty or joblessness are the main reasons among many others. According to a study conducted by SPARC, Karachi through media monitoring in 2006, 21 children attempted suicides, while 32 died.13
One of the foremost reasons for the rise in suicides among children was found to be strict parental and older sibling’s behavior. Challenges and stresses of life have increased and as a consequence, children opt for a violent option such as committing suicide or at least attempting it.
It is important for parents and care givers to communicate with their children and wards on one-to-one basis, listen to their point of view and use alternative disciplinary methods to diffuse the conflicts and clashes. To make this effective, parents and caregivers need to be aware of the needs of the children as well.
Minor Kills Himself by Hanging A minor boy committed suicide after being told off by the mother, in Lahore on May 16, 2006. The boy’s father said that his wife scolded their 12-year-old son over a petty issue. The boy was so upset by the scolding that he hanged himself while the mother was out shopping in the market. Source: Dawn, May 16, 2006.
Incest Incest is silent but prevalent in Pakistani society. There are no exact figures to give a statistical idea of the magnitude of the problem, but according to the Sahil report in 2006, of the 4,953 culprits, 81% were acquaintances that include family, friends, relatives, and neighbors and out of this 58 abusers were identified as immediate family members. This gives a fairly good picture of the grim reality that instead of safeguarding our children only from strangers, it is important that they are taught to protect themselves from their own close family members, including fathers, brothers, mothers, stepfathers, grandfathers, cousins and uncles and aunts too.
Incest is defined as “sexual activity between close family members who are forbidden by law or custom from marrying.”14
13 SPARC Newsletter, Issue no 49, December 2006 14 www.wikipedia.org
190 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Father Sexually Abuses Daughter A student of class VIII, resident of a village in Sindh reported to the police that her addict father had been molesting her for the past six years. The case was registered with the intervention of a local political figure. The medical reports confirmed the assault and police conducted raids to apprehend the offender. Source: Kawish, June 11, 2006 A 14-year-old girl resident of Sindh filed a complaint against her step-father for sexually abusing her. She alleged that her 50-year-old step-father Rashid Abro had been sexually abusing her for a long time. She had also spoken to her mother about it but to no avail. Source: Kawish, July 23, 2006 In another case a 16-year-old girl became pregnant after being sexually abused by her father. The father admitted her in the hospital in Khairpur (Sindh) where the baby was born. The girl’s condition became serious after the birth of the baby. Meanwhile, the father took the baby and has since disappeared. It is quite likely that the baby may have been killed. The police are looking for the absconding father. Source: Kawish, April 26, 2006.
Children who become victims of incest live an agonized life in silence and guilt. In most cases the child fails to find support from his/her own immediate family members. In many cases the mothers prefer to keep silent to save their own marriage. On the other hand, according to the Sahil report it is again the mother, who takes up the courage to speak out and tries to save the daughter from the abuser in the family. But, most cases go unreported for fear of humiliation and stigma that haunts the child and her/his family. The abused child is also told by the abuser not to discuss the ‘incident’ with anyone ever and is threatened with dire consequences.
Incest occurs in cases where there is an imbalance of power. Incest and child sexual abuse each represent a betrayal of trust by someone who has power over the child. Children cannot give informed consent to sexual activity because they cannot fully understand adult-child sexual contact and because they cannot predict its consequences. For this reason, incest and child sexual abuse represent serious crimes.
Victims of child sexual abuse and victims of incest are found in all socio-economic backgrounds, all ethnicities, and all races. Those with physical or mental disabilities are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse. Also vulnerable are children with little contact with friends, siblings, or adults whom they can trust; abusers take advantage of children who are already isolated. In the case of incest, the child may feel additional distress because the abuser is a family member.15 Long-term consequences of
15 Ibid
SPARC 191 Violence sexual abuse are worse if force or threat of force was used to coerce the victim or if there were many incidents of abuse over a long period.
Man Accused of Molesting Daughter An eight-year-old girl belonging to the Nowshera district has accused her father, Jamal Shah, of molesting her. A student of class III, the girl said that she had been assaulted almost a month ago in front of her mother. “I want my father to be hanged,” she demanded. The girl’s mother has called upon the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan to order an inquiry into the incident and ensure justice and protection to her children. “I want the police to arrest my husband for abusing our daughter. I want protection for my daughter as my husband has threatened to kill her,” the woman said, complaining that the Nowshera police had not registered the FIR against her ‘influential’ husband. Advocate for the girl, said: “An application has been submitted to the district and sessions judge, Nowshera, under section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code to seek justice for the girl.” Source: Dawn, July 30, 2006
Corporal Punishment Corporal punishment is violent and humiliating disciplinary action against an errant child. It includes physical, emotional, and sexual violence and harassment, and bullying in special schools (including military schools), mainstream schools and religious institutions (madressahs).
The forms of violence found in schools are both physical and psychological, and usually occur together. Forms perpetrated by teachers and other school staff, with or without the overt or tacit approval of education ministries and other authorities that oversee schools include corporal punishment and other cruel and humiliating forms of punishment or treatment, sexual and gender based discrimination.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child defines ‘corporal’ or ‘physical’ punishment as any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light. Most involves hitting (‘smacking’, ‘slapping’, ‘spanking’) children, with the hand or with an implement. But it can also involve, for example, kicking, shaking or throwing children, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears, forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion.
School heads and teachers may apply corporal punishment and other forms of cruel or degrading punishment in different ways, according to the sex of the child, and by so doing convey messages about what is expected of children and adults of each sex.
192 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Article 19 of the CRC states that a child must be “protected from all forms of physical and mental violence while in the care of parents and others.” Article 37 is also pertinent in this respect. “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment.”
Section 89 of the PPC16 empowers parents, teachers and other guardians to use corporal punishment as a means to discipline and correct the behavior of under-12 children. However, such punishment is required to be moderate and reasonable. In case the punishment inflicts serious injuries as defined in section 319 (hurt) and 320 (grievous hurt) of the PPC then the adult can be booked under sections 323 and 325 of the PPC respectively and can be penalized and imprisoned for it.
School Teacher Accused of Beating Same Child Again Gulnaz, a class 6 student from Government Girls High School Dry Port whose complaint of corporal punishment is being investigated, was allegedly beaten up by the same teachers once again on Friday. Gulnaz said she was taking the home economics paper when Ms Robina beat her up in front of all her classmates. She had earlier accused Robina of breaking the metacarpal of her right hand when she beat her up for not wearing correct uniform in October this year. “The teacher came to me and ordered me to stand up and show her my paper,” Gulnaz said. “She then suddenly began to slap me for not writing my name on the answer sheet. She said she had been cleared by the Education Department officials of the previous charges and it was the payback time for me.” Gulnaz said she began to cry and one of her classmates asked the teacher not to hit her. Headmistress Aroosa Begum denied the allegation. She also said the recent visit of the education officer was a routine visit and not related to the matter. Gulnaz’s mother said poor children were as valuable as rich ones and that she could show the x-ray report that showed her daughter’s hand was fractured. A normal enquiry on incidents of corporal punishment took 30 to 35 days to complete, he said, but if the teacher or the headmistress confirmed that the girl had been beaten up, immediate action would be taken. He said he had not received a compliant from the student or her family so far. Source: Daily Times, December 17, 2006
Following a sustained campaign by SPARC, corporal punishment is now prohibited in the government schools in the NWFP (since December 2003), in the Punjab (since September 2005) and Sindh. SPARC has also been lobbying with the concerned government departments to repeal Section 89 of the PPC. Ban on corporal punishment has been also made part of the Child Protection Bill. Besides, the UN Study on Violence against Children has asked the States to ban corporal punishment by 2009.
16 Pakistan Penal Code 1860, (No. XLV)
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The common types of corporal punishments are beating with sticks, “Murgha Banana”, (uncomfortable posture) pulling ears and slapping on the face.
Although there is no significant difference in punishment for boys and girls, but certain types like “blowing/hitting with closed fists” and “kicking with foot” were reported only from boys’ schools. The prevalence in private schools was only marginally lower than in Government Schools. The most common reasons given by school heads in support of corporal punishment were, maintaining discipline, facilitating learning and character building.
Almost 67.4 percent parents consider corporal punishment at schools neither “right” nor “wrong but definitely unavoidable”. These parents also quote the same reasons as the heads of schools, to justify corporal punishment. Although school teachers claim that corporal punishment facilitates learning but they also agree that it is a significant reason for school drop out.17
Teachers Torture Student Eight year old Shahbaz Ali of St. Michaels School was called to the staffroom by two of his teachers and tortured with paper pins. The teachers threatened him with dire consequences if he reported the incident to anyone. The parents lodged a First Information Report with the police. Medical examination proved that the boy was tortured. Source : Jang, December 2, 2006
Corporal punishment is one of the major factors that push children out of school. It seldom disciplines the child rather children become indifferent to punishment. The teachers, on the other hand are not willing to use positive disciplining methods because similar treatment was meted out to them as students, besides they are not trained in using tools that would help them create a student friendly environment in schools.
It is ironic that not only teachers but parents too, believe that corporal punishment is the most effective means of disciplining children. However, studies have proved that it does little to improve the child’s behavior, or academic performance rather the child loses respect for the adult, and becomes an abuser in turn.
Corporal Punishment in Madressahs Corporal punishment in Madressahs is common and children are meted out inhuman treatment. There have been reports in the media of children being chained and fettered for not performing well academically, for misbehavior or for not doing the chores ordered by the madrassah teacher. The children are not only punished but also abused physically, emotionally and sexually.
17 http://www.childviolence.org/studies
194 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Children Kept in Chains in Madressah Mohammad Ammar, 8, and Ahsan Muavia, 10, in a bid to escape from the madrassah jumped from the roof. The two little boys were chained and fettered by the teacher. They told the police that they were not given food to eat while kept in chains all the time. The boys told the court that “they wanted to go home.”
Source: Dawn, January 1, 2006
One of the reasons for rampant corporal punishment in government run schools and seminaries is that the children mainly belong to the middle income to low income groups. Parents are not involved in the process and the teachers are free to deal with the students as they like. Also a large number of children studying in the madressahs are boarders. They are provided with free food and lodgings. Away from the parents, these children are at the mercy of the teachers. The fact is that madressahs are fulfilling an educational vacuum because of the low priority given to this vital sector by the government. And the children are paying a heavy price for it sometimes, with their lives too.
Religious education has been tarnished and marred by the heinous forms of violations against under-age students in the madressahs. The recent increase in the global terrorism, has also given rise to a new form of religious students and institutions. Majority of these institutions carry out paramilitary trainings and a new breed of brain washed youth are being produced- suicide bombers- who are promised glory for killing innocent people. Imam Slits Boy’s Throat on Resisting Rape In Mianwali, a prayer leader of a mosque slit the throat of one of his students, aged 16 when he refused to fulfill the carnal desires of his teacher on August 22. The prayer leader took the boy to a far flung and deserted mosque. Upon resistance, he stabbed the boy and fled. The injured boy dragged himself to the road where a man spotted him. He has been hospitalized in critical condition. The police examined the crime area and found walls and floor of the mosque to be blood stained. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue 49, December 2006
Traditional Violence Pakistan is a country, where traditions and customs play an important part in the life of the people. Many of them are given religious color to blackmail the gullible, illiterate populace into following them. Unfortunately, being predominantly patriarchal, women and girl child are the worst sufferers of these traditions such as Karo Kari, Swara, Vani and child marriages. This traditional violence is promoted and executed through the Jirga (parallel court led by the village elders and the influential).
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The Deadly Decisions of Jirga Despite the ban imposed on Jirgas by the Sindh High Court, over 150 Jirgas were held in Sindh throughout the year. The Jirgas are not only led by the feudal lords but also by the members of the parliament and provincial and district legislatures. This obviously adds authority to the verdict given by the Jirga, and adds to the misery of the poor people who are punished through these Jirgas. Jirga system is prevalent in all the provinces of Pakistan as well as in the tribal areas.
Jirga is an age old custom of resolving issues, disputes, rivalries at the village level. However, with time from an informal, community-based body that was meant to settle small claims, the ‘Jirga’, or council of tribal elders, has in Pakistan been allowed to emerge as a powerful force protecting the interests of the powerful. This all-male body is often called upon to adjudicate on matters pertaining to women — whose views are never sought.18 The case of Mukhtaran Mai in which the Jirga decided that to avenge the brother’s relationship with a girl from the influential family, the sister (Mukhtaran) will be raped by four men. And she was raped. This case was publicized all over the world and brought to the forefront the tyranny of Jirga and its impact on the lives of women in Pakistan, particularly those living in the villages and tribal areas. Another dangerous upshot of this system is the victimization of children and specially the girl child who pays the heaviest price.
Jirga has taken the lives of hundreds of people, and forced little and adult women to be in a relationship that is abusive, exploitative, and inhuman and in complete denial of their rights as free, dignified and self respecting individuals. The worst is the response of the authorities in this case. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs that all that the Chief Minister of Sindh does Photograph by: Anees Jillani in response is ‘take note’. On April 24, 2004, the Sindh High Court (SHC) imposed a ban on holding Jirgas in the province, but government functionaries, ranging from chief ministers to union council Nazims, continue to participate in these meetings.
The icing on the cake is the Sindh government’s incredible step of secretly drafting a back-dated ordinance, the ‘Sindh Amicable Settlement of Disputes Ordinance
18 Jirga Justice by Beena Sarwar, November 15, 2004. www.chowk.com
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2004’ to be effective from April 25, 2004 - obviously to nullify the SHC ruling. The Ordinance was brought to public attention by human rights organizations and was categorically denounced as a parallel judicial system which would only further institutionalize violence and discrimination against the poor and women, as it has historically done.19
The purpose of the ordinance was to provide a safe passage to the different sardar and chiefs who conduct these Jirgas. This could have resulted in the violation of basic human rights and mocked the country’s judiciary system at the higher level.
The Chief Minister of Sindh presided over the famous Shaista Almani case and worse still held the Jirga in the Chief Minister’s House. Such actions by individuals who occupy the highest echelons of power show scant regard for their obligation to the people they serve as well as the rule of law which they must uphold. In order to achieve a healthy state of child rights in Sindh we cannot have a chief minister who is open to accusations, at best, of indifference and at worst, of hypocrisy towards abhorrent child rights violations.
Little Girls Given as Compensation In June 2006, a dispute among two groups of Banglani tribes on Karo Kari was resolved by a Jirga which was headed by a member of the National Assembly. The Jirga’s verdict was to hand over three girls between the ages of 3 to 5 to the rival party to resolve the problem. A Jirga held in Shikarpur, headed by a prominent lawyer and a social figure of the district, decided that since the accused party could not give back the 10 buffaloes or pay the loan in cash; he should give his two daughters as compensation. Yet another Jirga was held in direct violation of the Sindh High Court’s decision involving two girls aged 6 and 8. The Jirga passed a decision that due to the failure of the girl’s father to pay for the buffaloes he had bought from the complainant; he should hand over his daughters as compensation. Fortunately the verdict was overruled by the Sindh High Court. The Chief Minister has recently taken note of a Jirga decision involving four girls aged between 2 and 6 given as compensation over a Karo Kari dispute. Source: Daily Dawn, June 21, 2006
Karo Kari Karo-Kari is a tradition whereby a man can kill a woman, claiming that she brought dishonor to the family, and still expect to be pardoned by her relatives. Although Karo Kari is practiced more in Upper Sindh, yet similar customs are found in other parts of the country. Karo Kari is committed for various reasons such as for marrying a person without the consent of the family, to prevent the division of the land given to
19 Ibid
SPARC 197 Violence the female member of the family, or to avoid going to the jail for a murder, in which case the murderer will kill the female member of his family and make it known that he killed the couple to save the honor of the family. The Jirga and the Court patronizes this practice, calling it ‘a crime of passion’.
“Don’t Kill Your Wives” The practice of killing wives was prevalent during the British Raj. It came to their attention when it was found that a lot of women committed suicide. In this regard the proclamation by the then Governor of Sindh, Sir Charles Napier (1847) to curb the practice of Karo Kari is as follows:
“As Governor of Sindh, Sir Charles Napier labored to put down many abuses, which existed in the province. Pre-eminent among these was the prevalence at that time of what appeared to be female suicide, but which eventually was found to be the murder by hanging of native women by their husbands upon the most frivolous pretexts, the latter pretending that their wives had committed suicide. Sir Charles Napier in 1847 passed very stringent orders to all Magistrates throughout the province to exert them to the utmost in putting a stop to so serious a crime, and his own views on this subject are contained in the sub-joined proclamation which he called to be circulated far and wide among the inhabitants of Sindh.”
“People of Sindh, - the government had forbidden you to murder your wives, a crime commonly committed when the British conquered this country. This crime of women-murder is forbidden by the religion of the English conquerors; who shall dare to oppose their law? Woe be to those who do. But this is not all, ye Sindians, Balochis, and Mohammedans, murder is prohibited by your Prophet. You, who murder your wives, outrage your own religion as much as you outrage ours! This is the Government will not permit. Some foolish men among you believe that the English are easily deceived, and you have, in a vast number of cases, hanged your wives and then pretended that these poor women committed suicide. Do you imagine that Government believes that these women committed suicide? Do you believe that Government can be deceived by such villainy that it will let women be thus murdered? If you do believe this, it becomes necessary to teach you how erroneous is your judgment, and if you persevere your sufferings shall be great. You are therefore thus solemnly warned, that in whatever village a woman is found murdered, a heavy fine shall be imposed on all, and rigidly levied. It will order all her husbands’ relations up to Karachi, and it will cause such danger and trouble to all, that you shall tremble if a woman is said to have committed suicide in your District, for it shall be an evil day for all in that place. You all know that what I say is just, for never was woman known to have committed suicide in Sindh till the law decreed that husbands should not murder their wives, and this year vast numbers of women have been found hanged; gross falsehoods have been put forth by their families that they committed suicide; but woe be to their husbands! For the English Government will
198 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 not be insulted by such felons. The murderers shall be sent to labor far away over the waters, and heard of no more.”20
So far, in 15 reported cases, 12 females under the age of 18 and three innocent boys have lost their lives to Karo Kari. These are just the reported cases; there are many more that remain unheard just like the victims of this inhuman and cruel custom, unheard, un-mourned and not a sign to show where they are buried.
14-year-old ‘Kari’ Shot 5 Times Fourteen-year-old Noor Jehan was shot five times by her paternal cousins after they declared her a ‘Kari’. She was left for dead in a ditch near Baqai hospital, Karachi. She was shot in the arm, both legs and the stomach as a result of which her limbs were fractured and part of her intestine had to be removed. According to Noor Jehan, her cousins tried to kill her after declaring her a Kari. “We have killed the Karo, so what makes you think we will spare you,” she recalls them as saying to her. According to her, she knew since childhood what Karo Kari is. “When I became slightly aware of the world around me I found out that my aunt and cousin had been killed in Karo Kari also,” she said. Noor Jehan helped her father who worked on the lands of a landlord named Ghulam Brohi. He used to visit their house a lot, which apparently her cousins objected to. Two months ago, “they killed Brohi and my father presented them a Quran following which we fled the village,” Noor Jehan claimed. On April 18, the family fled to another place but her cousins found them. They blindfolded her and took her away to a deserted place and now she does not know where her family is. Eventually, the girl succumbed to injuries and died. Source: Daily Times, April 25, 2006
Vani/Swara Vani is a custom of giving away females (minors as well as adults) in marriage by the offending party to the males of the victim party to settle disputes. The tradition had been in vogue since centuries in the NWFP termed Sawara and in Balochistan and some parts of Sindh under the name of Sang-Chatti. Although a large of number Vani cases were reported from District Mianwali in Punjab but it is not the only Vani observing area. Sawara is a Persian word meaning a woman on the horse back who is traveling alone to the enemy camp. In NWFP women are commonly traded off as compensation following the loss of life in tribal feuds. ‘Vani’ is a Pashto word derived from Vanay which means ‘blood’.
This cruel and inhuman tradition started when two ‘Pathan’ tribes of Mianwali fought a bloody war against each other killing almost 800 people. A leading personality the
20 Gazetteer of the Province of Sindh – A.W.Hughes – Second Edition 1996 Safdar Mehdi, Indus Publications Karachi: George Bell & Sons 1876. pp 50-51
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Nawab of Tank called a Jirga and decided that girls will be given as compensation or Qisas. They considered it the only way to resolve this dispute and both families became friends.
Vani is practiced in the case of murder and kidnapping as well as in the case of couples marrying of their own choice. The Jirga indicts the offender and announces punishment. In a murder case, punishments are either revenge i.e. blood for blood or blood money or Vani. A virgin girl, daughter, sister, etc. of the offender is given to the aggrieved family. When deciding the conditions of Vani a number of factors are taken into account, including the number of murders and length of the disputes between the two families, as well as the power balance between them.
Four Unborn Girls made Vani In a case of Vani, four unborn girls have been pledged to this cruel tradition on the orders of a Jirga held in Dera Ghazi Khan on April 7. Eight years ago, three cousins gunned down one Hussain Bakhsh. One of them was given life term while two others were acquitted. However, former Nazim of Fort Munro, and others held the Jirga and decided that the accused party would offer six girls as Vani, Rs 3.5 million and property worth Rs 5.5 million as compensation. These were the terms for reconciliation. According to the decision made by the Jirga, girls that would be born in the house of the father of the murderer and his other family members would be given to the family of the murdered man. The Jirga then reduced the number of girls from six to four. When contacted, District Police Officer said, “It was not in my knowledge nor any complaint or report was received by the police station. However, we would investigate the case because now Vani is a cognizable offense.” Source: Daily Times, April 11, 2006
Since it is a forced marriage between enemies, there is no wedding ceremony. The girl is made to ride a donkey, pony or horse and a third party drives that animal to the other side. The receiving family treats the girl like a slave; she has no rights, no respect, and no voice. In some cases she can never go back to her family ever. She is completely cut off from her own family and becomes the property of the enemy. Not only adult women but infant girls and yet to be born girls are given away to the rivals to a life of ignominy and disgrace for no crime of their own. Can there ever be a more heartless treatment of women?
SPARC has repeatedly condemned the practice of these age-old customs and is lobbying for elimination of the same through the media, and through its publications and conferences and seminars.
200 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Do Women Need Protection or Rights? Human Rights Activists across the country have been dismissive of the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2006, which was passed by both the National Assembly and Senate, and enacted into law on first December 2006. The new bill addresses just two of the five aspects of the oppressive Hudood Ordinances – adultery and rape. Analysts believe the main purpose of the new legislation remains the consolidation of General Musharraf,s “enlightened moderation” credentials on the international stage. Further, that the bill has been orchestrated to dilute memories of the general’s infamous “rape-to-riches” blunder at the 2005 United Nations General Assembly in New York, when he suggested that Pakistani women often alleged rape to secure either financial compensation or fast-track resident status to Western countries. The approach of the Military Government to the plight of Pakistani women, therefore, seems merely cosmetic. The Women Protection Act (WPA), as it is now known, addresses the most controversial aspects of the Hudood Ordinances, a group of laws that date back to 1979 and Zia-ul Haq’s rule – those pertaining to adultery and rape, which the new bill categorizes as two separate offenses. While adultery remains within the purview of Islamic law, the WPA abolishes the death penalty and flogging for those accused of this crime and also reverses its non-bailable status. The WPA’s most significant achievement, however, is the removal of rape from the jurisdiction of Islamic law, under the rationale that the Holy Quran makes no specific mention of this crime. Instead, rape is now in the ambit of Pakistan’s criminal legal system, under the Pakistan Penal Code. That this inclusion abolishes the Hudood prerequisite of four male witnesses is also a significant accomplishment. The Hudood provisions pertaining to adultery and rape made no distinction between consensual and non-consensual unlawful sex. As such, any woman filing a rape charge would automatically find herself open to adultery charges if she were unable to fulfill the eyewitness criterion, since she would have inadvertently admitted to having had unlawful sexual relations. The good thing in the law is therefore, introduction of safeguards to prevent a woman from being liable on adultery charges when, for whatever reason, she fails to prove her case before the courts. The image of general Musharraf’s yielding to the pressure of the cleric was reinforced by the fact that the version of the bill passed by the National Assembly included a last-minute provision, in the form of three amendments, to appease the religious alliance. The criminal offense of ‘lewdness’ (later termed as ‘fornication’) was inserted into the Pakistan Penal Code, and defined as consensual sexual intercourse between any man and woman not married to each other. However, before a charge of fornication can be made, two eyewitnesses must now be produced; furthermore, anyone found guilty of leveling false allegations is liable to the same punishment – up to five years in prison and a fine of Rs10,000. Soon after the women’s bill was approved, an additional bill, the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law) Amendment Bill, was tabled by PML
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President. This legislation addresses such issues as women’s inheritance and divorce rights, as well as the marrying of women to the Holy Quran, a principally tribal custom whereby families and clans coerce their daughters into not marrying to avoid division of family lands.
Pakistan Study Sees No End to Violence against Women There seems to be no end to incidents of violence against women in Pakistan, as statistics of January 2006 suggests. At least 126 cases of violence against women were reported in the national press in January in which 86 women were killed. A majority of the incidences occurred in urban areas, with at least 10 murders in Lahore. Data collected from the AGHS Legal Aid Cell shows that of the women killed in January, 25 were victims of honor killings. The cause of these murders varied from family disputes, domestic violence, kidnappings, rape, honor killings and Vani, to husbands beating wives under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Thirty-five women were raped, 13 of whom were murdered afterwards. In other incidents of violence, 10 women were burned alive and 12 were murdered after being kidnapped. Violence against women can only be stopped by increasing awareness regarding women’s rights, human rights activists said. They said that this is possible only through education, especially in rural areas. Human Right Commission of Pakistan Punjab Chairperson Hina Jillani criticized the government for paying mere “lip-service” to women’s rights. No practical steps have been taken to curb gender violence, she said. “It is easy for the government to introduce a law or policy. The real test is the implementation and monitoring of the law, which is never carried out,” she said. Punjab Deputy Inspector General (Investigations) Rana Muhammad Iqbal said that incidents of gender violence were taken up on a priority by the police. “The norms of society need to be changed,” he said. “We will have to think out of the box and act on our words.” Source: Daily Times South Asian Media Net.
Child Marriages The Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1929. It dictated that minor marriage was a criminal offense. For the purposes of the Act ‘minor’ was defined as anyone below the age of 18. However ‘child’ was defined as either a male of less than 18 years of age or a female of less than 16 years of age. According to Muslim Law ‘any person who has attained puberty is entitled to act in the matter of marriage on attaining the age of 15 years.’ 21
21 Laws Relating to Children on Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000 and Juvenile Rules, 2001 by M. Ilyas Khan Advocate. Pakistan Law House 2004
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Father Sells Daughter to Pay Gambling Debt The mother of a teenage girl, allegedly sold by her (late) father when she was one- year-old after incurring heavy debts in gambling, has threatened to immolate herself if the girl, now 16, is not saved from being handed over to a middle-aged man. The mother said on February 26 that her late husband was a gambler and he had sold their one-year-old daughter for Rs10, 000 after incurring heavy debt in gambling. She said that her parents gave her Rs10, 000 and she returned the money to the man. But now he was pressurizing her to marry off the girls to his son. She said her sons were being threatened. “My husband did not have the money to pay, and instead he told the man that he could take the girl when she grows up,” she said. Despite being paid his money, she said, Lal still insisted the girl should be given to him because of tribal customs. A local councilor, said the decision that the girl should be handed over had been taken at a tribal council. “We know some tribal elders from Balochistan came for the meeting in which the girl’s family was told to give her as per their customs,” he said. Lawyers said the police case registered against Lal and other accused is weak and they would easily obtain bail. Moreover, the police should have also taken action against those who held Jirga as High Court of Sindh has banned Jirga. Source: SPARC Newsletter No 50, March 2007
Child marriage is a curse both for the boy and the girl. More so for the girl, who has to pay a heavy price in terms of her health and violation for her basic rights to education, recreation and most of all her own childhood. She is forced to have sexual relations before her body and mind are ready to accept or even understand it. She becomes pregnant before her body itself is matured and healthy enough to carry a foetus and then deliver it. The girl in most cases is malnourished and suffers complications relating to child bearing. Many of the unfortunate lose their lives, while others live with lifelong problems.
A Death in Vain In Shikarpur, District Sanghar, a 15 year-old girl was married to her 10 year-old cousin. The girl was unhappy because the groom was younger than her. Later, she left her husband’s house and moved back to her parents. Her parents, then, forced her to go back to her husband’s home. Consequently she committed suicide by shooting herself. Source: Kawish, February 3, 2006
Street Children Pakistan has a population of almost over 160 million. It is reported that there are around 1.2 million street children in Pakistan out of which an estimated 25,000 are
SPARC 203 Violence in Karachi. Around 43 percent among the total population are under 15 years of age. About 48 million adults are below the poverty line earning less than two dollars a day.
Over 25,000 Street Children in Karachi Karachi Naib Nazim said that it was the responsibility of both government and the society to provide protection to street children. She was speaking at a seminar on Protection of Street Children organized by the city government in coordination with Malir Town Administration and Social Work Department of the University of Karachi on August 24. She said that the number of street children was increasing and in Karachi alone their number had crossed the figure of 25,000 and it was time that this issue was taken up. She appreciated the establishment of “drop-in centers” for street children by various NGOs with UNICEF’s assistance. Officer working for UNICEF said that it had established a drop-in center in Jamshed Town in collaboration with Azad Foundation, where 600 street children were registered and were provided with necessary facilities and imparted non-formal education. Source: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 48, September 2006.
Population boom, urbanization and poverty are cited as the most common causes for high numbers of street children in Pakistan. Non-implementation of laws relating to children is also to blame. Widespread child labor and poor quality of education further aggravates the situation of poverty, which in turn puts children on the streets to supplement the family’s income, abusive home environment and corporal punishment in schools adds to the number for children on the street. In some cases, simply bad company, the desire of unrestricted freedom, and the pull of the hustle and bustle of cities, prompt them to leave homes in rural areas and low-income localities of our cities, especially belonging to southern Punjab and parts of NWFP. 22
Children on the streets are susceptible to all kinds of violence and easy prey for all types of abusers. Being young, poor, illiterate and defenseless, children are abused and exploited, sexually, verbally, emotionally and psychologically. Violence could range anything between harassment to pedophilia, sexual abuse and sodomy, coerced to join gangs of criminals and used as drug traffickers or turned into beggars by the beggar mafia. The police are also among the leading enemies of street children. Here indiscriminate violations against children are committed with impunity because of no fear of reprisal from the law and the society.
Street children have nowhere to turn to for protection, emotional support and comradeship except the members of their own band in which often a bully — who himself could be a victim of physical and sexual abuse — treats the young or weaker ones as once he was treated as a child. Some limited surveys and interviews
22 December 19, 2006 http://streetkidnews.blogsome.com/category/1/asia-streetkid-news/pakistan- streetkid-news/
204 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 conducted by various NGOs show that an alarming 80 to 90 percent of the street children are victims of sodomy, sexual and physical abuse not just by elders but older children within their own gangs. A majority of them are drug addicts. The most popular and affordable of the drug is glue which these children inhale by putting it on a piece of cloth. One can see young boys sniffing this glue openly on the streets and pavements that according to one user, “tingles nose and makes one slightly drowsy.” The use of other drugs including hashish, and even heroin are also rampant among many of these streets children.23
Children living on the street, start work as early as four, they beg and scavenge around rubbish dumps or industrial waste sites and take on menial jobs as cart- pushers or dishwashers working 12-15 hours a day to earn enough to buy a meal, if they are lucky. Most survive by prostituting themselves and stealing, making them vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as HIV and AIDS. They are also at high risk of health problems such as tuberculosis, jaundice and kidney disorders.
A study by the Pakistan Society estimates that when the population was 10,000 in Karachi 83 percent of street children were sniffing glue between the ages of 8-19. 54 percent left home at age 10-12. 45 percent children living on the street are involved in crimes and 49 percent are at high risk of HIV and AIDS. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) asserts that 72 percent of all street children have no contact with and 10 percent have no knowledge of their family. A large proportion of these children sniff cheap readily available glues to starve off hunger, loneliness and fear.24
There have been 35 laws passed so far which deal specifically with the rights of the child. There were only eight laws passed by the British from the earliest being the
Street Boy Burnt to Death Unidentified attackers poured petrol over a 14-year-old boy and burnt him to death near a shrine in Karachi, on June 25 as told by police. Ayaz Gul was attacked outside the shrine of a famous Sufi saint. Witnesses told police that they had rushed to save the teenager after a gang had set him on fire to him before fleeing the scene. Although the boy, who was living on the street, was rushed to the hospital, his injuries were too severe for him to survive. Police were also investigating complaints that doctors and policemen at the hospital did not act promptly to save his life. “He was given treatment after some four hours, which is criminal and his statement was also not recorded by police, which is mysterious,” police said. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 47, 2006
23 Ibid 24 http://www.unodc.org/english/
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Female Infanticide Prevention Act of 1870 to Factories Act in 1934. And since partition 27 laws have been added to the list. Despite, all this the number of street children is increasing in the country. This not only shows the growing economic disparity in the country but also indicates the poor or non implementation of laws to protect the youngest segment of the society.
Be it economic or social factors, street children leave their homes for an uncertain future. They have no access to basic amenities such as health, education, or food. In the back alleys of Karachi’s bustling areas, the stench of urine pervading the whole place, children as young as five huddle in groups of eight to 10 for warmth and security at night. “My friends are my family now,” one boy, his face blackened by the filth of the street, said timidly. “I feel safe here.” Safe is precisely what he’s not. Street children are easy prey and, as their numbers increase each year, so too do reports of physical and sexual abuse.25
SPARC Drop in Center—Reshaping Lives In October 2006, SPARC started a street children project in collaboration with Save the Children, Sweden and UK in Peshawar (NWFP). The Drop in Center is based in General Bus Area, where a majority of street children are found.
The objective of the project is to raise awareness among street living children about their rights, protection issues and empowering them to protect themselves and other children from abuse and exploitation. Till December 2006, about 85 field visits were conducted by the project staff to different places such as Haji Camp Peshawar Bus Terminal, Qadirabad, Gulbahar and Photograph by: Said Afzal Hashtnagri.
During these visits, SPARC social mobilizers were able to bring at least 150 street children to the SPARC Drop-in Center, out of which 80 children were registered with the Center. As many as 35 were reintegrated with their families who came from Karachi, Charsadda, Malakand and Mardan. SPARC CRCs also helped in the reunification process.
25 www.onlypunjab.com
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The Center provides access to psychosocial support, education, recreation, health facilities and helps to reintegrate street children into their homes and parents. Sometimes, children come on their own to the center for respite from the rigors of street life. It is a day center and there is no facility for overnight stay.
The follow up and monitoring visits of the reintegrated children are conducted to ensure improvement in their condition in the household. This has become possible with a positive change in the attitude of the parents.
Khan Wants Quality Education Mohammad Khan (10) is a regular student at the SPARC Drop-in Center. Khan was brought to the Center by one of the SPARC mobilizers, a safe haven which has changed his life. Khan and his elder brother, who hail from NWFP, were orphaned in a family rivalry. The same rivalry also cost the two brothers their right hands. Now the children are living with their paternal uncle near Ayub Mills Peshawar and work on the street. Khan was provided with the facilities of education, food and recreation. Initially, he felt deprived and sad but after counseling his mental outlook has changed. He insists that now he wants to get quality education and become a productive member of the family and support his siblings who are dependent on him.
Siar Returns Home Siar is an innocent orphan boy who initially lived with his uncle in Shahi Bagh Peshawar. The uncle, being poor himself, behaved harshly with the child and so Siar was compelled to make street his home. SPARC social mobilizers met Siar at Haji Camp Bus Stand. He was brought to the Center and through psychosocial counseling he was able to unburden his problems. SPARC team, with the consent of the boy and after complete investigations took him to District Gujar Khan in Punjab and handed him over to his elder uncle in the presence of an influential of the area.
Child Trafficking According to the Prevention & Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002 “Obtaining, securing, selling, purchasing, recruiting, detaining, harboring or receiving a person notwithstanding his implicit or explicit consent, by the use of coercion, kidnapping, abduction or by giving or receiving any payment or benefit or receiving a share for such person’s subsequent transportation out of or into Pakistan by any means whatsoever for any of the following purposes constitute human trafficking:
1. Attaining Benefits. 2. Exploitative Entertainment. 3. Slavery. 4. Forced Labor.
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5. Adoption. 6. Plans to commit any offense.26
Trafficking of women and children is the third largest global business after arms and drugs. This inhuman and heinous crime preys on the vulnerable and the defenseless and children being the worst off. Fading Light, a study conducted by SPARC on child trafficking in Sindh Province in 2003 defines child trafficking as an act of, “Transporting or recruiting for transport, a child from one place to another within and /or across national borders into exploitative and/or abusive circumstances, with or without the child’s consent, for financial and/or other benefit”.27
The factors that contribute to trafficking of children are economic disparity, social injustice and illiteracy. But this under no situation allows any person to trade away their own children. Child trafficking is also carried out through our local practices and customs in the form of forced and child marriages. A custom that is quite prevalent in society is that of selling daughters for money because of economic problems. Once the girl goes to her husband’s home, she is expected to work in their fields. This amounts to “selling” a girl into servitude for the rest of her life and many assert that this should also be included as a worst form of child labor and forced labor. In the most remote areas of Upper Sindh the practice of child trade is in full swing. Children are exchanged for various gains and ulterior motives.
India, Pakistan Top Traffickers in Women Pakistan has been listed as one of the key source of trafficking of women in a UN report. The report says that India has emerged as a key destination and transit point for global trafficking of women and girls. Besides India, other sources of human trafficking are: Pakistan, Thailand, China and Cambodia. According to the UN Population Fund Report State of World Population, “India and Pakistan are major destinations for trafficked women and girls and also transit points into the Middle East.” In the South Asia, illegal trading of children is “an extension of a serious child labor problem, which includes exploitation of girls for domestic work”, the report says. Southeast Asia and South Asia are home to the largest number of internationally trafficked people, an estimated 2.5 million and 1.5 million respectively. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 48, September 2006
In times of scarcity and in times of plenty, people of Balochistan sell their little girls. Herders, who come from remote areas with sheep buy girls and leave some sheep behind, and go back into the hills. Nomadic Pathans buy girls, or leave them behind, and vanish into the hills. Girls from rural Punjab flee southwards, to Sindh to escape from the vicious contracts through which their lives are pledged. Local Sindhis
26 Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002 – Pakistan Penal Code 27 Fading Light: A Study on Child Trafficking SPARC, p 3
208 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 exchange women and girls across and through generations, pledging even future girls that will be born. Women build their houses, and repair their fallen roofs, after selling their girls. Vast trading networks of girls take place everyday and all the time. Girls are trafficked across provinces and borders, sometimes taken as far out as Quetta, Loralai, Kandahar or brought from here to there. Beautiful young girls from Northern Areas such as Chitral are married off to men from South Punjab, who then sell them off to the brothels or put them into prostitution.28
A huge and intense business of trafficking of girls is taking place across the length and breath of the country with complicity of the family, tribe, and implicitly by the State. A girl child sees her life pledged, negotiated, bartered, sold, long before she knows who she is, and sometimes years before she is born.29 The seriousness of the situation can be seen from cases reported by media, both print and electronic. In Pano Aqil, a laborer, who was unable to settle his debt to a loan shark, gave away his two daughters, aged between 8 and 10, in lieu of the money. The father told reporters that due to mounting interest the debt had increased to Rs.17, 000. He signed over his two daughters via a custom-made contract to settle the debt.30
In another case, A 10 year-old boy, reached the local press club after escaping from a detention camp in District Hala in Sindh. The boy told news reporters that he had been held for the last six months at the camp along with several other children who were made to work in a brick-kiln and were later locked up in a room. The child was handed over to the police who conducted a raid on the said kiln, and started an investigation.31
Two Boys Trafficked to Iran On August 30, Special Anti-Corruption Judge granted bail to two physically handicapped boys who had been trafficked to Iran for begging. The FIA passport circle produced the two boys before the court under Section 17(1) of Immigration Ordinance 1979. The Iranian authorities had arrested the boys and after their trial, jailed them for entering their country illegally. On completion of their term, they were handed over to the FIA authorities in Quetta and later to the FIA Sukkur as they were residents of Ratodero and Shikarpur. The court granted bail for Rs25, 000 each on the ground of their age and disability. The counsel said that he had contacted their families and would hand them over to the relatives. The boys said that a man had taken them to Iran on the pretext of pilgrimage to sacred places. “We were forced into begging through his agent. He used to give us meal but finally we were caught by police there and sent to jail,” one boy claimed. They were both students. Source: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 48, September 2006
28 Dawn, September 3, 2006 29 The News, July 9, 2006 30 Kawish, July 2, 2006 31 Jang, April 3, 2006
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In Pakistan’s context, increasing poverty and large families and lack of adequate education are seen to be an intrinsic cause of child trafficking and children’s premature entry into the work force. Many assert that the onus for providing support system lies on the State’s shoulders rather than the guardians of these children because no parent willingly allows his/her child to be sent to work. Poor quality education and children’s failure to go to schools further compound their vulnerability.
The volume of trafficking has been rising throughout the world because there is a great deal of money to be made by agents and gangs of traffickers. Throughout South Asia, trafficking has been widely reported, especially from Bangladesh and India. The dearth of reporting from Pakistan does not mean that the problem does not exist; it only indicates that reporting mechanisms in Pakistan are weak and need to be improved at the local and national levels, and by different stakeholders such as civil society organizations, the police and the FIA. Furthermore, parents should be encouraged to report runaway children to the police and there should be awareness campaigns against false adoption, which is often used to lure parents to give away their children.
Camel Jockeys As of October 2006, as many as 1,077 underage camel jockeys had been processed through the UAE-UNICEF Program for Repatriating Camel Jockeys.32 “These children work like adults – they lose their childhood. And they have no access to health services and education,” commented UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah.
In a breakthrough agreement the UAE, in consultation with the UNICEF, banned the use of underage camel jockeys. Since November 2004 the government has been sending the boys back to their home countries. Before they travel home the children receive counseling, nutritious meals and new clothes. In accordance with the agreement more than 1,000 camel jockeys – mostly from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sudan – have been sent home so far. And the UAE agrees to support the children financially for two years to help them reintegrate into their families and societies.33
Camel racing is a traditional desert sport of Bedouin tribes in which the camel riders are small boys aged between 5 and 12 years. Soon the traffickers realized the market of poor little boys from underdeveloped countries and thus began the inhuman trafficking of boys to work on the camel farms and to be trained as camel jockeys. These innocent camel jockeys were trafficked from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan to UAE by the human traffickers. They were either kidnapped by these traffickers or poor parents sold their children for financial gains.
Although the practice of using child jockeys has been banned by the UAE government, according to the director of Punjab’s Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, the
32 www.dubaicameljockeys.org 33 Former camel jockeys reclaiming their lost childhood. By Kun Li UNICEF January 6, 2006
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Dubai Governor, Arab Sheikhs Sued for Enslaving Children A lawsuit was filed on September 15 in US district court alleging that the governor of Dubai and his brother enslaved some 30,000 children over the past three decades for use as camel jockeys, the US attorneys announced here. The 56- page suit, bases its case on international laws banning slavery and the use of child labor. Governor of Dubai and his brother are charged with “the alleged abduction” and human trafficking of thousands of young boys “from places like Bangladesh, Sudan, Pakistan, and Southern Asia, according to a press release by the South Carolina –based firm. ‘Once abducted, the children were allegedly sold into slavery to serve as camel jockeys for the entertainment of the Arabian elite,” the statement read. According to the complaint “boys as young as twelve years old have been stolen from their families, trafficked across borders, and kept in brutal camel racing camps throughout the UAE, forced to train camels and perform as jockeys.” The suit also claims some of the boys were sexually abused, injected with hormones to prevent them from growing, and starved to keep their weight low. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 48, September 2006 problem persists elsewhere in the Gulf, including Kuwait. “We have sent a report to UNICEF drawing its attention to the situation in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” the director said. There are fears that some parents and rogue agents will send kids back to places where rules banning child jockeys are lax.34 The trafficking of children for use as camel jockeys is prohibited by the UN CRC and by the ILO Conventions 29, 138 and 182 - all of which have been ratified by the UAE.35
Pakistan’s Efforts in Curbing Human Trafficking The Government of Pakistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; but it is making significant efforts to do so. This year, the government established a national plan of action to combat trafficking in persons; approved a special cell within the Ministry of Interior to coordinate its anti-trafficking response; trained police officers, attorneys and judges on anti-trafficking measures; and made progress in investigating trafficking cases. The Ministry of Interior, with the assistance of IOM, also opened a shelter for trafficking victims stated in the Sixth Annual Trafficking in Persons Report released by the US Department in 2006.
The Government of Pakistan improved its efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases this year. The government reported investigating 765 cases of trafficking, of which 448 were filed for prosecution. During the year, 92 traffickers were convicted for trafficking offenses, but the majority received light sentences ranging from fines to less than six months in jail. Pakistan, in cooperation with International
34 Rescued Gulf camel jockeys become misfits in Pakistan, February 19, 2007, Reuters 35 ILO Study based on rapid assessment of trafficking children for labor and sexual exploitation in Pakistan
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Organization for Migration (IOM), instituted training programs for police officers, attorneys, and judges on methods of investigating and prosecuting trafficking cases. In addition, the government introduced a bill in the National Assembly to expedite trafficking cases through the judicial system.
Despite the establishment of provincial anti-trafficking units, the government did not provide sufficient evidence of serious efforts to investigate and prosecute cases of internal trafficking, including instances of bonded and forced child labor, which are not specifically criminalized by Pakistan’s Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002.
The Bonded Labor System Abolition Act outlaws bonded labor, cancels all existing bonded debts, and forbids lawsuits for the recovery of such debts. The Act establishes penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment and fines of $833 for violating its provisions. Nevertheless, this and other laws criminalizing bonded and child labor were rarely used to sentence violators to jail. Most convicted offenders received fines less than $20. The government similarly failed to vigorously investigate and prosecute government officials facilitating trafficking, arresting only two officials for corruption this year. Sentences given to sex and labor traffickers should be increased so that they are commensurate with the severity of the crime, and law enforcement efforts against internal trafficking and corruption involving trafficking should be improved.
This year, the government took some noticeable steps to improve its protection efforts for victims of trafficking. Pakistan cooperated with IOM to open a model shelter for trafficking victims in Islamabad providing medical, psychological, and legal care. Since its opening, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) referred 12 trafficking victims to this shelter for protection. For victims outside Islamabad, the government provided victim assistance in 276 temporary shelters where victims received medical treatment, limited legal representation, and vocational training. Pakistan also provided training for investigators on methods of identifying and protecting victims of trafficking, although some NGOs report the need for greater sensitivity training at the local level. In Lahore, the Child Protection Welfare Bureau assisted in the repatriation and reintegration of 325 child camel jockeys returned from the UAE.
The Government made some progress in its anti-trafficking prevention initiatives over the year. Following the October 2005 earthquake, the government sent federal Anti- Trafficking Units to earthquake-affected areas of the country to prevent the trafficking of orphaned or otherwise vulnerable children. The government also established an identification system used at airports to monitor immigration patterns for signs of trafficking. Prominent radio and television appearances by the Minister of Overseas Pakistanis raised awareness of the trafficking of Pakistani nationals abroad, and the government, with assistance from IOM and foreign donors, undertook a targeted information campaign to educate people living in the rural areas affected by the earthquake on the dangers of trafficking.36
36 Extracted from U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2006
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Infanticide/ Cradle babies In Germany, at least 23 babies were reported murdered in the first quarter of 2007. This outbreak of infanticide prompted German cities to urge mothers in crisis to leave their unwanted babies in hatches at hospitals in order to save the children’s lives. Many of these infants have been “beaten to death or strangled by their mothers before being dumped on wasteland and in dustbins.” To halt this heinous crime government is encouraging the mothers to use Baby-Klappe hatches. The hatches permit mothers to leave their babies without being identified at the secluded drop-off points, which number more than 90 in Germany. Pakistan and the Philippines also have baby drops.37
In Pakistan an estimated 340 to 37538 unwanted newborn babies are left in the cradles placed all over the country at Edhi centers. Many more are killed or thrown in the garbage dumps or in the fields by the mother or other family members to avoid the stigma.
Infanticide is a major reason for son preference. In many of the south Asian countries such as India, China, Pakistan many people turn to dais, traditional midwives, who offer female de-selection, letting the baby boys live and killing the baby girls by giving them a sharp jerk, that is, turning them upside-down and snapping their spinal cords and then declaring them a stillborn. British Lancet reported in early 2006 that there have been close to 10 million female foetuses aborted in India over the past 20 years.39 Ultra sound facilities have made it easier for families practicing sex selection to abort the foetus if it is a girl child. In 1994 the Government of India passed the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex selection) Act with the aim of preventing female foeticide. It was later amended and replaced in 2002 by the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act. After 12 years India gave its first conviction by giving jail terms to two doctors who were found guilty of carrying out abortions if the foetus was found to be that of a girl child.
In Pakistan there is no data to show the magnitude of the problem. But given the fact that being a patriarchal society, son preference is highly prevalent in Pakistan, therefore the practice of infanticide and foetal killing cannot be ruled out. Such crimes are committed in silence and since both the victims-mother and child- cannot or does not have the power to fight back it remains hidden and unlamented. Since the late 1990s, more than 45 states in the U.S. have passed laws establishing safe havens where newborns can be dropped off by mothers who do not want to keep them.40
37 Life Digest: German infanticide on the rise by Tom Strode - Apr 2, 2007. http://erlc.com/article 38 SPARC Newsletter Issue No 49, December 2006 39 Sex-Selective abortion and infanticide http:// en.wikipedia 40 Life Digest: German infanticide on the rise by Tom Strode - Apr 2, 2007. http://erlc.com/article
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Violence in Jails Extra-judicial treatment of criminals by police is a regular practice. Juvenile offenders are also not spared. Although the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000 comprehensively provides for the protection of the juvenile offender and advocates exclusive treatment, if ever found guilty. Death in police custody is not a rare incident and there are a number of reported cases, where juvenile inmate has died because of police torture. Sexual abuse of juvenile inmates by adults is also widespread.
In some cases children are victimized during police raids and search operations, which results in injuries and sometimes in death of children.
Police in Tando Masti police station, District Khairpur reported a 6 year-old boy, Majeed of being a dacoit and an absconder in an encounter. Police also obtained orders from the Court to arrest the child. The father of the ‘dacoit-cum-absconder’ registered a complaint with higher authorities including the Sindh Interior Minister. The boy was released on bail. The Court summoned the police for hearing.41
In Dadu, police raided the house of Haleem, 14. The boy did not want to work for a local landlord. So to punish the young boy, the police picked up the boy, tortured him and left him outside his house in a critical condition.
Police in District Thatta arrested a 8-year-old boy from a house. The quest was to arrest two criminals but they arrested the boy declaring him as accomplice of the absconding criminals.42
Unsafe Environment The world, including Pakistan has become an extremely unsafe place for children and adults alike. However, for children the problem is worse, because they are the innocent party and paying the price for the negligence, ulterior motives and power play of the adults.
Children are being used as soldiers, fighting adult wars and in turn losing their childhood and life altogether. Children in Madressahs and seminaries are being brain washed and forced to take up arms and kill in the name of religion. Political parties have replaced pen with guns in the hands of children. These children are desensitized, dehumanized and turned into living bombs killing and maiming hundreds of other innocent people.
There is another type of violence that plays havoc with children’s lives, such as open manholes, unattended guns, live wires and kite flying, toxic dumps to name a few.
41 The News, August 11, 2006 42 Jang, February 2, 2006
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Toxic Waste Dumping Kills Boy The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency lodged an FIR with the Site police on May 5 over the dumping of highly toxic industrial waste in an open area, which claimed the life of a nine-year-old boy and caused injuries to 14 other children of Abidabad, SITE Town. The agency has collected samples of the dumped waste, believed to be a strong acidic sludge, for tests. “The results of laboratory tests, which will take a day or so, will give a clue to the industry or factory involved in the criminal dumping of hazardous material in an open area,” SEPA Director said. Nine-year-old Iftikhar died of the injuries, while 10-year-old, Shiraz, who had been admitted to the hospital for treatment of chemical burns, was operated upon for amputation as he had developed gangrene in his foot. According to area people, dumpers had been throwing effluents in their vicinity but due to ignorance they did not notice that it was hazardous waste. SPARC followed the case and filed a petition against the factories responsible for dumping and taking innocent lives. Source: Dawn, May 6, 2006
Scores of children died or were seriously injured in the two or three days of revelry during the kite flying festival in Lahore. Government and the society are responsible for these serious lapses in safety and failing to provide an environment which is child friendly.
Conclusion Violation of child rights and violence against children begins even before the child is born, as we see the rising number of foeticide taking place worldwide and particularly in South Asia including Pakistan. More and more newborns alive and dead are found near garbage dumps and roadsides. The number of cradle babies is increasing.
Born a girl, the child suffers a whole set of abuse ranging from neglect, indifference, to no access to basic rights such as education, recreation, love and care, nourishment or healthcare. An early marriage, procreating before the body is ready for such a rigorous exercise, leaving home before she has outgrown her own childhood is the fate of the little girl. Rape, molestation, acid throwing, assault, trafficking of girls is all too common.
Boys fare no better as far as abuse is concerned. Sexual abuse of boys is culturally accepted in certain parts of Pakistan. Besides, verbal, emotional and physical violence is also part of their life which, if not acceptable is looked upon with indifference. Violence against children cannot be justified.
SPARC 215 Violence
India Today, January 29, 2007
Children are being kidnapped for ransom, and trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation. According to SPARC statistics over 130 children were reportedly kidnapped in Sindh, majority of them being girls. Children are being used as human shields to protect the adult militant. Children are coerced into crime and addiction. The festival of Basant claimed scores of lives of children, following the Punjab Government’s decision to lift the ban on kite flying passed by the Lahore High Court.
Violence against children is rampant as narrated in this chapter. If that is not bad enough, it is committed with impunity. This is, perhaps, why the abuser or the culprits have no remorse, guilt or fear. Children are harmless, defenseless and vulnerable. And committing violence against anyone is all about power and control.
Who will save the children from this vicious cycle of abuse and cruelty? The government of course through stringent laws with effective implementation can make a major difference. Children need protection from every stakeholder in the society, first being the parents, followed by teachers, police, and every adult in the society. But the reality is that all those who are responsible to give the child a safe and healthy environment are actually perpetrating untold miseries and causing pain and sorrow that will mar their life forever. How can we make a difference in our children’s life is a defining question that we, adults, need to answer. As much as these children need us to protect them, we need to bring up children who are both healthy in mind and
216 Chapter-5 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 body for their own well being and for the well being of the society, nation and the world. In providing children with a safe environment today, we have to bring a change in our priorities, our perceptions, culture and most of all a sea change in how we perceive children.
Recommendations Violence against children is a blot on humanity and there is no way any one can justify it or remain indifferent. In many other aspects of children’s lives the government is the main actor, responsible to provide for their basic needs and rights such as education, health, protection, laws and its implementation, safe environment etc. But when we discuss violence against children, the first line of protection is parents, and immediate family, government, teachers, police, employers, and the society.
In its endeavor to protect and promote child rights in Pakistan, SPARC recommends the following measures to achieve the vision of an environment where children are valued and their voices heard and their body and soul are respected and safeguarded. Most of these recommendations are the same as given in SPARC’s State of Pakistan Children 2005. The reason they have been repeated is that nothing has changed since then and therefore the recommendations remain the same. The Child Protection Bill is still not yet approved while the reports of children being raped, murdered, and abused are growing. g The Child Protection Bill must be approved by the government at the earliest and made functional. g Extensive awareness campaigns to tackle issues of physical punishment in family and schools should be launched. g Repeal section 89 of the Penal Code of 1860 and explicitly prohibit all forms of corporal punishment. g In infanticide, lack of certification or autopsy helps fuel the impunity and invisibility of the crime. This needs to be looked into by law makers and police department. The police should increase efforts to register infanticide as a crime. g To combat increasing ratio (trend) of infanticide, the Government should ensure that Family Planning awareness campaigns provide comprehensive information for informed decisions. g More State run programs aimed at upbringing abandoned children should be initiated. Edhi Cradles is a good instance to follow. g The Government should create fast-track children’s courts to deal with all cases involving minors, and the police, judges, prosecutors and other court officials should be given sensitivity training on CSA. g The Government should take steps to educate teachers and parents on recognizing and preventing child sexual abuse and helping children affected by child sexual abuse. g Steps needed to regulate and check widespread internal trafficking are required. Law enforcement agencies should be trained and sensitized.
SPARC 217 Violence g Establishment of support structures such as easily accessible reporting and complaint centers for reporting of suspicious cases/trafficking crimes. g Establishment of special speedy courts to deal exclusively with trafficking related offenses. g Process of rehabilitation of camel jockeys is an encouraging step. It should be further strengthened as a large number of child jockeys are out there, waiting to be reached and rescued. g Direct support to children at risk and their families through income generating activities, financial schemes, skill training and encouraging school enrolment and retention. g Community mobilization and targeted awareness raising campaigns in vulnerable areas to create collective responsibility for protecting potential victims; education through workshops/seminars and other mass media forums; sensitization of key stakeholders such as religious bodies, scholars/clerics, schools and traditional institutions. g Media, both print and electronic (TV and Radio,) must play a proactive role in creating awareness and sensitize masses on violence against children. g Media should make those responsible for protecting children and those who violate their rights accountable for their actions. The writer is Regional Manager Sindh, [email protected]
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218 Chapter-5 Chapter 6
EARTHQUAKE
The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Rebuilding Lives in Hope and Despair By Qindeel Shujaat
hah Murad’s first birthday was on October 8, 2006 but there was no cake and no celebrations, because it was also the anniversary of his father’s death. SShah Murad was born three hours before the 7.6-magnitude quake scythed through northwest Pakistan and Kashmir on Oct 8, 2005, crushing his father beneath the ruins of a shop.1
“My husband died in the bakery, where he worked and his brother also died in our house. We were totally shocked. I was in a critical condition after giving birth. I had to remain under open skies for two days next to a stream. It was raining, I was very sick. The situation was terrible,” said 18-year-old Nusra, mother of Shah Murad. “My son doesn’t weep, he doesn’t shout, he doesn’t make a noise. He’s like a lost child, but obviously I have to be hopeful about his future, like all parents. I think about his education, about his growing up, his fate. But Shah Murad with his mother Nusra Bibi in Muzaffarabad there are going to be big Refugee Camp. Photograph by: AFP problems.”
More than 73,000 people were killed. Of the total casualties, 50 percent were children, 1,28,304 people seriously injured and 3.5 million people were displaced. 42,600 families were deprived of their livelihood. In addition, 600,000 houses, 6,298 schools and 796 health facilities were demolished. The disaster struck just after the Saturday morning school session began. In at least four Districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir
1 Dawn, October 4, 2006
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(AJK) and five in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), public and private housing, social service delivery, governance structures, commerce and communication have been either severely damaged or completely destroyed.
The civil society volunteers rushed into action followed by the army just hours after the earthquake on October 8, countless lives were lost. The people of Pakistan deserve appreciation for rising to the occasion to help their countrymen at such a critical time. Individuals, national and international organizations throughout the world responded immediately and generously providing the necessary fillip to the emergency operation. People from across the country reached out to the disaster areas in NWFP and AJK with food supplies, water, medical assistance, clothing, blankets and other necessities. But because of the scale of the devastation, the support fell short of the needs of the people who had lost everything. Given the difficult terrain of high mountains and broken roads, accessing remote areas also was a major hurdle in getting to the survivors in time.
Damages Caused by October 8, 2005 Earthquake in Pakistan Deaths 73,338 Injured 128,304 Families affected 500,000 Population affected 3.5 Million Area affected 30,000 Sq km Educational institutions destroyed 6,298 Health units destroyed 796 Houses destroyed 600,000 Roads damaged 6,440 km Services such as Telecommunication, Power, Water and Sanitation 50-70%
Source: ERRA/UN Early Recovery Plan, May 2006(Updated by ERRA in September 2006)
As the official relief phase ended in April 2006, the Federal Relief Commission functions were merged with Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA). The Government of Pakistan established ERRA through a notification with the mandate to work on a comprehensive response to devastation caused by the earthquake. ERRA’s agencies were also set up: PERRA at provincial level in NWFP and SERRA at State level in AJK. Currently, ERRA has the overall coordination, planning, financing and monitoring role while PERRA and SERRA act as the Secretariats to the respective Provincial and State Governments. ERRA’s District Reconstruction Units work with the district line departments and NGOs to coordinate the implementation of plans.
Preparedness for Disaster Management The absence of necessary infrastructure, systems and civilian administration to manage and alleviate the effects of the disaster was largely responsible for slow
222 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 and incompetent response. No State institution had paid attention to the needs of seismic reports about the vulnerability of the region to severe earthquakes. A representative of an international NGO in Pakistan said that “a possible natural disaster was a major priority for his organization since 2005” because of the concentration of the population “in geographically unstable Photograph: www.bbc.co.uk areas”. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in its 2003 report concluded that “the situation strongly advocates the need for a disaster management structure, a comprehensive preparedness and mitigation strategy as well as a mitigation policy in order to better manage and coordinate activities of various line ministries and departments and civil society”.
According to the available information, the UNDP Assistant Resident Representative Mr. Zafar Iqbal confirmed that his organization had prepared a disaster response management program and was concerned about the risks of a devastating earthquake in the region. “If the government had responded to these concerns and suggestions and had a disaster management plan in place, the impact of the earthquake would have been minimal,” said Zafar Iqbal. It is a pity but a factual truth that in Pakistan governments tends to be reactive instead of proactive.
The Impact of Earthquake on Children The October 8 Earthquake was the worst ever natural catastrophe to befall Pakistan since its inception in 1947. Children suffered terribly in the earthquake and a whole generation was wiped out. It destroyed not only the livelihoods but deprived the families of their young ones. Women and children had to face and are still facing an uphill task of increased workload, mainly because of deaths of male members of their families and loss of sources of livelihood. “I bring water from the supply tank in the camp. I also bring wood and do any relevant work as my mother and elder sisters cannot go outside the tent due to purdah (veil) and the unfamiliar environment,” a 2 small girl was quoted as saying in the IUCN study.
The after effects of the earthquake has made life even more difficult for women, children and the elderly in the area, who already struggle with gender discrimination, social
2 Dawn, June 8, 2006
SPARC 223 Earthquake exclusion, illiteracy, socio-economic difficulties and low income. It has been particularly hard for women in rural areas, who traditionally stayed at home raising their children while men went out to work. After the disaster, their roles have changed drastically. Now they are often the main breadwinners of the family where the male head of the household has either died or suffered permanent physical disability. Women in camps who are waiting for the government to give them new land to start the reconstruction of their homes are especially vulnerable. According to Save the Children UK (SCFUK) estimates in December 2006, around 40,000 children are still living in tents in regions affected by the earthquake reported on Save the Children UK website.3
Children, in particular those who lost one or both parents, have been made equally vulnerable by the earthquake. In general, children from poorer households are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Children who suffered disabilities and loss of limbs face danger of being marginalized and stigmatized within their immediate social-set up and in schools. They may also face difficulty in attending schools due to travel limitations or due to educational institutions not designed for easy access and lack of specialized trainings among teachers to care for such children.
SPARC fears that child labor has increased in the aftermath of the earthquake. The earthquake affected areas had better school enrolment rates compared to other parts of the country. With many adults and earnings hands dead, children are replacing their fathers in the businesses and work. This was confirmed by the need assessment reports conducted by SPARC in 2006 in various communities of Balakot.
Photograph by: www.emergencyrelieffund.org
3 December 12, 2006, www.savethechildren.org.uk/scuk/jsp/resources
224 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Based on the 1998 Population Census, there were approximately 10,000 full orphans before the earthquake. According to projections from the survey conducted by the Population Council, the earthquake has caused approximately 1,700 full orphans, and close to 18,800 children lost their fathers and 22,000 lost their mothers. Some 500 children were registered in institutional care, of these, 497 children are in institutionalized care (359 in Aashiana and 138 in SOS villages), but the numbers are expected to be higher, given the fact that figures from a number of NGO operated institutions were not included.
Very few children were left unaccompanied, as extended families absorbed the children of their deceased next-of-kin. However, as part of the return process, numerous families who had initially automatically fostered children from their deceased relatives, have, at the time of leaving the camps resorted to handing them over to institutional care, sometimes encouraged by NGOs providing that care. Princess Salima Aga Khan, Ambassador for SOS Children’s Village International announced that her organization would build three SOS villages for earthquake affected children in Pakistan.4 According to SOS Pakistan, they have about 300 children housed in Emergency Shelters in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Mansehra and in the SOS Children’s Villages in Rawalpindi, Dhodial and Sialkot. According to them,5 children are steadily coming in and they are anticipating a huge influx once they have established projects in AJK.
SCUK expressed serious concerns over the future of orphans in institutionalized care. According to the organization, a number of institutions have sprung up claiming to care for orphaned children and have the support of the government. Institutional care should be the last resort and extended families often provide better shelter and care for children. Instead of spending huge amounts of money on constructing institutional care centers, it is better to provide families with assistance that can take care of children in a family environment. Institutionalized children miss out on learning essential life skills, resulting in less resilience and increased vulnerability to abuse and exploitation. Moreover, there is a social stigma and psychological damage which is irreparable.6
Emergency to Reconstruction Phase Majority of the organizations moved from emergency relief to reconstruction phase in the middle of 2006. Also the Government of Pakistan in April 2006 announced an end to the official emergency relief phase. Camps were closed and thousands of people moved back to their villages. This announcement was aimed at encouraging people to start constructing permanent homes, and the ERRA released compensations with further disbursements dependent upon completion of plinth level construction.
4 The Nation, December 15, 2006 5 SOS website, http://www.sos.org.pk/index2.html 6 Dawn, August 3, 2006
SPARC 225 Earthquake
However, the market experienced price-hikes in labor and material, late issuance of government approved housing designs, and high transportation costs for reconstruction materials. Many families were forced to reallocate government housing compensation to meet their family’s immediate needs. Consequently, children and their families, especially those who returned from camps, were still living in inadequate shelters.
As life began to pick up after the devastating earthquake and chilly winter, the new challenge was removing the rubble of schools and hospitals on priority basis. United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) implemented a project with the assistance of UNDP and local governments for speedy removal.7 Others have done it at personal level.
Heavy monsoon rains in the months of June and July 2006 caused floods and mudslides in earthquake affected areas and prompted the relocation of thousands of survivors in a rapid response thus created more problems for the families.
As the government now embarks on three to four years of reconstruction and rehabilitation plan, the absence of civilian oversight and inadequate accountability and transparency could seriously undermine the process. Although, ERRA reported considerable progress, various reports suggest otherwise. ERRA claims that it has distributed Rs 45 billion to earthquake victims but scores of people complain of not having received even the first installment of payment.8 The reconstruction process, which began in April, aimed at completing 600,000 houses before the onset of winter last year has not been achieved. How are the victims going to rebuild their lives in the meantime? The closure of relief camps at the end of March was strongly criticized by civic groups because people were forced to return to their villages where infrastructure was totally destroyed. How they were expected to cope in places where there are no roads, no sanitation, no electricity, no clean water, no schools, no hospitals and means of livelihood is anybody’s guess.
Muzaffarabad in particular has seen many protesters take to the streets against what they say is ERRA’s discrimination in payment of compensation. Many people are still living in rundown tents and unsteady shelters and shacks. The affectees of Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Battagram are faced with several issues including concerns about ERRA’s policies, compensation procedures, irregularities, banking snags, poor compensation amounts, civic and health problems. Other problems are a lack of basic amenities, business community dilemma, women and children’s vulnerability, hopelessness and frustration, interim phase ambiguity, tourism promotion plans, absence of ERRA offices, etc.
7 The Nation, March 8, 2006 8 Dawn July 4, 2006
226 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
A need assessment survey carried out in Balakot by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in partnership with the Regional Institute of Policy Research and Training (RIPORT), showed that 63 percent of the affectees were living in tents a year after the tragedy. The residents of Balakot classified as Red Zone, are confused and worried about their future. On the one hand, they are told the town would be shifted to Bakrial within five years, on the other hand, no tangible civic facilities, no reconstruction of roads in towns, even basic life necessities are being ensured to the affectees. Water became a rare commodity and a cherished dream for the residents. Tourism ministry is planning promotion strategies but so far there is no tangible progress.
The inability to effectively deal with most of the basic recovery issues, such as how the rebuilding scheme works, building designs and standards, the variety of individual benefits and how to access them has created an atmosphere of rumors and half-truths, and has contributed to a widespread loss of confidence in the recovery program at the local level. Working with UN Habitat, ERRA, the agency responsible for disseminating housing reconstruction information, must be more aggressive in ensuring that the likely beneficiaries of the recovery programs are fully aware of their rights, and that those responsible for the implementation of recovery programs are operating effectively.
Photograph by: Anees Jillani The negative economic impacts suffered by communities as a result of rebuilding delays are mounting daily. Family members who prior to the earthquake had worked elsewhere in Pakistan, a year later continue to sit idle in their home villages, awaiting the opportunity to rebuild. Speeding up the rebuilding process will therefore not only get people back into their homes, but allow people to return to their jobs.
Fritz Institute conducted a survey of affected households to assess their perception of the damage, loss, and humanitarian assistance provided. The survey findings suggest that even after one year, it is still not clear whether the country’s relief effort was considered a success, whether there was adequate relief to meet the needs of the affected population, and what are the remaining issues? In order to understand these dynamics, the report outlines the results of a survey of 621 Pakistani households in the five most-affected districts of the NWFP (Abbottabad, Battagram, Kohistan, Mansehra, and Shangla), conducted in August 2006, ten months after the earthquake.
SPARC 227 Earthquake
Key Findings of the Survey: g One year after the earthquake, 60 percent of the people affected by the earthquake remain displaced, unable to return to their homes. People have become much poorer with 63 percent of households suffering from income disruption. g Humanitarian assistance provided was inadequate. Ten months later, large numbers of earthquake-affected people report acute shortage of basic assistance. g The Pakistani government, international NGOs and individuals played a major role in both relief and rehabilitation efforts. National and local NGOs had a relatively small and seemingly subdued presence in the relief and rehabilitation efforts. g Levels of satisfaction were generally high among those who received aid. Aid recipients were most satisfied with the aid provided by the Pakistani government and international NGOs, respectively. g Dissatisfaction with assistance received seems to be associated with problems in the aid distribution process rather than with the aid itself. g Consultation with aid recipients was minimal. The NGOs and independent watchdogs have expressed concern over bureaucratic delays that have hampered the rehabilitation process in the earthquake-devastated areas. A large percentage of the pledges made at the time of the donor conference in November 2005 have not materialized. This might actually be a blessing in disguise given that the majority of these pledges were loans and cashing them would have only increased the country’s debt burden with little chances of the benefits really trickling down to the people.9 Funding Overview of the Early Recovery Plan (as of August 31, 2006 ) Sector Total Cost (S) Available Funds to be Percentage Expenditure Impleme- Delivery Funds (S) Identified (S) funded (S) ntation Rate Rate Education 37,774,1801 29,766,763 8,007,417 79% 14,341,859 48% 38% Health 36,968,496 22,161,683 14,805,813 60% 3,954,667 18% 11% Livelihoods 96,955,073 61,590,917 35,364,156 64% 13,629,595 22% 14% Water and 25,264,600 13,976,610 11,287,990 55% 9,179,472 66% 36% Sanitation Housing 32,015,023 16,865,184 15,229,838 53% 2,932,238 17% 9% Shelter Camp Management Support to 10,081,079 4,634,450 5,349,052 46% 2,469,857 61% 28% Vulnerable Group Governance 8,328,604 6,237,132 2,091,472 75% 3,469,857 56% 42% Common 18,808,564 16,339,560 2,469,004 87% 11,803,560 72% 63% Services and Coordination Total 266,194,619 171,572 299 94,604,742 64% 62,149,823 36% 23% Source: ERRA/UN
9 The News, September 29, 2006
228 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
International NGO, Oxfam, has levelled corruption charges against low-level officials. President Musharraf has refuted these allegations. One can only hope that ERRA and the higher authorities are aware of the crucial responsibility it bears for carrying forward the rehabilitation process is able to meet the challenge with the required efficiency and integrity. According to the Oxfam report, corruption was holding up the rehabilitation work and thus compounding the miseries of the survivors. Chief Justice of Pakistan had also sought a report from Chairman ERRA over the reported discrimination in the compensation package offered to the victims from Murree. It was highlighted by the media that victims of the same earthquake are treated differently and that the authorities are offering discriminatory compensation package in violation of the Constitution.
ERRA Chairman Altaf Mohammad Saleem, however, insists that, by and large, the relief effort has been smooth, methodically conducted and, above all, transparent. According to him the donors have taken their own time in making the pledged funds available. Then, there was the confusion within the government on who would do what and how. No doubt, the ERRA was formed without much loss of time. But manning the organization and framing the rules and regulations for its working took a long time. ERRA is still not fully equipped to deal with the problems of delays and irregularities in payments of compensation or with the demands of uprightness and efficiency of management by individual donors who want to see their funds being used for the right purposes. ERRA has a long list of difficulties in the reconstruction work in the remote regions of Azad Kashmir. But then, it passes the blame for slow work to the implementation agencies and, in the case of the NWFP, to the provincial government.
Education According to the Asian Development Bank/ World Bank (ADB/WB), ‘Pakistan 2005 Earthquake: Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment’ report, the total number of destroyed and damaged education facilities are reported to be 6,298. The earthquake devastated NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s education system in a number of ways. Beside deaths of students, most obvious was the destruction of a significant part of the physical infrastructure which previously delivered educational services – 67 percent of educational institutions were either destroyed or partially damaged. Similarly, the education sector’s cadre of teachers and administrative staff were substantially reduced by the earthquake. 853 teachers and staff in NWFP and AJK lost their lives.
The other challenge which has been reported by the ERRA is building parents and children’s confidence given the fact that over 18,000 students died in the earthquake. Traumatized by aftershocks and stricken by grief, some children were too scared to enter the new classrooms that are rising from the rubble of the earthquake. “I just don’t want to go inside”, says student Mamoona Zahra. Her two best friends were
SPARC 229 Earthquake among the 157 girls who died when the Government Girls’ college in Muzaffarabad collapsed. “I can remember the feelings of the dying girls under me”, says Zina, dabbing her eyes with her headscarf. “I could feel their bodies in the dark. I felt they were alive. Then I felt that they were no longer alive”. School enrolment rates have also plummeted since the earthquake. In Muzaffarabad and Bagh, around 34,000 children who attended school before the earthquake have not returned.
The nature of educational services needed has also changed as a result of the earthquake. On a physical level, the number of disabled students has increased. In order to ensure that these students have access to education, handicapped accessible school designs should be prepared. The psychological and social needs of the student population also need to be addressed. They may potentially face difficulty in attending schools due to travel limitations or due to educational institutions not designed for disability friendly- access and lack of specialized expertise among teachers to care for such children. Teachers, therefore, need to be trained for school based psycho-social support and counseling. Cost of Damages (Rs in Million) District No. Damaged Cost District No. Damaged Cost NWFP AJK Abbottabad 521 3336 MZD & Neelum 1630 7478 Battagram 519 1910 Bagh 920 4672 Kohistan 358 1184 Poonch 540 2777 Mansehra 1157 5682 University 1 2700 Shangla 210 976 University 1 2000 Total 2766 15088 Total 3091 17627 Grand Total = 32,715 (US$ 545.25 Million)
Source: Education Policy, ERRA
According to the ERRA, they have identified 535 educational facilities with sponsors and 854 donors have committed for the construction of schools. These facilities will be constructed over the next three years. Out of 6,298 destroyed education facilities, 25 percent (1,574) are planned for reconstruction during 2006-7, at a cost of Rs. 12 billion. Funding for the first year target has been secured through government and donors/sponsors. 115 PC-1 have been prepared and approved covering 600 schools worth Rs. 4 billion. The remaining PC-I are at various stages of preparations.
The cost estimates of the damages to educational institutions may not be correct as provided by the ERRA. According to the ERRA, the cost is estimated at Rs. 32,715 (million) but this includes only 5,857 schools instead of 6,298 damaged schools. It is not clear whether ERRA has estimated the damages of remaining 491 schools or not.
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No. of Academic Institutions Planned for Reconstruction (2006-2007) Category No. Pledged by Pledged by GOP sponsors donors Primary 1201 374 272 555 Middle 214 73 89 52 Secondary 126 68 - 58 Higher Secondary 18 8 1 9 Colleges 13 11 - 2 Universities 2 1 - 1 TOTAL 1574 535 362 677 IMPLEMENTATION 1574 535 298 741 Souce: Annual Review 2005-2006, ERRA
The education standards and facilities in the affected areas before the earthquake were below standard. Most of the primary schools in rural areas comprised one or two rooms without any provision for a playground, library, staff room, drinking water, and lavatories. Rampant teachers’ absenteeism, poor learning and classroom environment, non-availability of books and learning materials, and overall poor management of schools were common issues.
Now the government has an opportunity to address these issues and develop quality educational setups to improve the learning environment, make available trained teachers, and overall efficient management through community participation. We must remember “education is more important than buildings”. Many local NGOs have started schools in camps and villages. However, they have little experience of education, and most have no experience at all of education in emergencies.
200 Orphans Stopped from Attending Schools More than 200 children in Uri Sector who were orphaned or lost one parent in the earthquake are no longer going to school or college. Liaqat, a resident of Basgran-Uri was in grade 6 before the earthquake. He lost his father in the earthquake and is now living with his grandfather. Having lost everything in the catastrophe, his grandfather is in no position to send him to school and so he is idling away his time. This is the story of almost all the children who survived the earthquake but lost everything else. Young girls and boys are heading families and trying to earn to make ends meet. Most have dropped out of schools. The people here believe that until and unless the government comes to their rescue, things will not improve. It is feared that many of these children may turn to crime and other negative activities to deal with their loss and frustration. Source: The Nation, March 13, 2006
SPARC 231 Earthquake
UNICEF has established 2,500 tents schools in quake hit zone. Children are missing out on proper education because they lack basic amenities such as electricity, which is available only in some areas. Majority of schools that have re-opened do not have adequate shelter and provide a very poor learning environment for children. Tents are not a viable solution. Last summer, in some places children and teachers abandoned the greenhouse-like conditions of their tents and held classes under the blazing sun, which was preferable to being inside the tents. Even where tents have been provided, it cannot cater for the entire school going population. The only way to address this major problem will be to focus on building transitional schools rather than waiting to rebuild permanent structures.
SCFUK estimates that it will take at least seven years to rebuild the education system, meaning some children will never get to attend a real primary school. This is due to bureaucratic hurdles, low priority by the authorities, and insufficient funding for the education sector. In Bagh, 800 schools were destroyed but permanent school structures have not been constructed as yet. In Muzaffarabad, one of the districts worst affected by the earthquake, reconstruction has started at one or two sites.
In addition, many schools are suffering from a shortage of teachers and learning materials. Building schools is useless without ensuring that there are enough trained teachers to teach. Teachers were in short supply even before the earthquake. Many primary schools had just one teacher to meet the needs of up to 100 pupils. It is
Photograph by: www.doubletruckmagazine.com
232 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 impossible to provide quality education with this sort of pupil/teacher ratio. The Ministry of Education estimates that 25,000 teachers are needed in AJK and NWFP combined. This presents an opportunity to train young women as teachers. Children also need to catch up on the schooling they have lost in the months since the earthquake. For this they need a special learning program and crash courses.
Promoting gender equality in education is another critical and important issue that needs serious attention. Many of the factors which limit girls’ participation in education in disaster situations are similar to those which affected them even in the pre-disaster environment. These include domestic chores, taking care of young children, cooking and washing clothes, collecting fuel etc. They are also encouraged to marry young, rather than continue their schooling.
Health Healthy and well-nourished children are best able to learn and develop. The children in earthquake affected areas suffer from a lack of essential vitamins and minerals combined with common ailments. A healthcare assessment carried out by Save the Children Sweden found 40 percent of over 1,000 examined children suffering from US “Donated” Expired Vaccines More than 2.5 million flu vaccines that were rejected last year by the US authorities because their expiry date had elapsed, were donated (as medical-relief material) for the quake-affected areas in Pakistan. Sensing a possible shortage of the vaccine in the US, the state of Illinois had purchased around 256,000 doses in 2005 from British wholesaler, Ecosse Hospital Products Limited. But, the US Food and Drug Administration barred the vaccine’s import to Illinois, saying it couldn’t guarantee its safety. Earlier, when the expired vaccine was offered to South Africa, its government refused to permit its import because it considered the vaccine “unsafe for humans”, it added. According to the paper, the staff of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had been searching for a place to donate the vaccine, which they had ordered for in 2004. Source: www.pakistanpapers.com; International section. in.news.yahoo.com/060104/139/61uhe.html upper respiratory tract infection, 30 percent from scabies and the rest from diarrhea and other seasonal diseases.
Children, who survived the earthquake, may suffer from trauma for the rest of their lives. They have to live with the psychological effects, including witnessing the deaths of close relatives, friends seeing amputations or being orphaned. “People here, especially children, were found to be suffering from what is known as Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder”(PTSD), Dr Mohammed Arif, an official with the NGO Merlin International, said in Muzaffarabad. PTSD occurs when a person is exposed
SPARC 233 Earthquake to an extremely stressful situation - such as the earthquake - in which people have a near-death experience or witness or hear about serious injuries or deaths of family or close friends. A child with stress disorder may be afraid to be alone; become withdrawn; some may display unusual irritability or may be easily angered, while some may easily burst into tears, according to psychiatrists.
Children, who have witnessed a loved one’s death or suffer a disability, needs special help and attention to recover. Children should play or indulge in interactive activities with other children in these places, so that their attention is diverted from the grim realities and pain and trauma.
Children’s Reaction in Post Traumatic Situations By Dr. Mark Lerner Though there is no typical or normal reaction to trauma, there are some common responses seen in children. It is natural for children to first experience some sort of denial. Following trauma, children may become tensed and frightened. Feelings of anger, sadness or guilt may often emerge. Emotional response during traumatic event may include shock, in which the individual may present a highly anxious, active response or perhaps a seemingly stunned, emotionally-numb response. He/she may describe feeling as though he/she is “in a fog.” He/she may exhibit denial, in which there is an inability to acknowledge the impact of the situation or perhaps, that the situation has occurred. He/she may evidence dissociation, in which he/she may seem dazed and apathetic, and he/she may express feelings of unreality. Other frequently observed acute emotional responses may include panic, fear, intense feelings of aloneness, hopelessness, helplessness, emptiness, uncertainty, horror, terror, anger, hostility, irritability, depression, grief and feelings of guilt. Cognitive response to traumatic exposure are often reflected in impaired concentration, confusion, disorientation, difficulty in making a decision, a short attention span, suggestibility, vulnerability, forgetfulness, self-blame, blaming others, lowered self-efficacy, thoughts of losing control, hyper-vigilance, and preservative thoughts of the traumatic event. For example, upon extrication of a survivor from an automobile accident, he/she may cognitively still “be in” the automobile “playing the tape” of the accident over and over in his mind. Behavioral response in the face of a traumatic event may include withdrawal, “spacing-out,” non-communication, changes in speech patterns, regressive behaviors, erratic movements, impulsivity, a reluctance to abandon property, seemingly aimless walking, pacing, an inability to sit still, an exaggerated startle response and antisocial behaviors. Physiological response may include rapid heart beat, elevated blood pressure, difficulty in breathing, shock symptoms, chest pains, cardiac palpitations, muscle tension and pains, fatigue, fainting, flushed face, pale appearance, chills, cold clammy skin, increased sweating, thirst, dizziness, vertigo, hyperventilation, headaches, grinding of teeth, twitches and gastrointestinal upset. Source: www.aaets.org/column5.htm
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According to a report in a daily newspaper children suffering from spinal injuries were worst hit physically and emotionally. “Out of the nearly 130,000 reported injured, about 750 people suffered spinal injuries and 750 more had limbs amputated. A large number of these injured were children,” said Dr Jehanzeb Khan Aurakzai, Director National Institute for Handicapped in Islamabad. A reporter narrated that a 13-year- old Sadaf Bibi, whose legs were crushed when her school collapsed, gave a shy smile as she propped herself up on a walking frame and looked forward to resuming her studies. However, pain was clearly visible on the emaciated face of 15-year-old Shaista Yousuf. The wooden beam that fell on her abdomen as she tried to escape from her home when the earthquake struck has left her crippled for the rest of her life. The youngest patient is Sadaf, who remained unconscious for 12 days after she was dug out of the rubble of her school near Muzaffarabad. She was eventually brought to the hospital, where surgeons fitted small rods and screws into her back to support her damaged spine. She then recovered at a medical facility in Islamabad. She soon learned to sit up and can now shift herself from her bed to the wheelchair.
Progress of Reconstruction in Health Sector District DHQ/ THQ RHU BHU Others Hospital R P R P R P R P R P Mansehra 3 3 3 2 10 10 27 27 1 0 Battagram 1 1 2 1 4 4 27 13 1 1 Shangla 1 1 2 1 3 1 16 2 1 0 Kohistan 0 0 0 0 6 0 16 0 1 0 Abbottabad 2 1 0 0 4 4 17 14 1 0 Muzaffarabad 4 4 1 1 7 7 62 62 2 1 Poonch 1 1 2 2 2 2 30 29 2 2 Bagh 2 2 2 2 9 9 28 28 2 2 Total 14 13 12 9 45 37 223 175 11 6
Source: Annual Review 2005-2006, ERRA
A 100-bed facility and a vocational training facility were setup at the institute in Islamabad two months after the earthquake with UNICEF’s support. Girls in wheelchairs learn sewing and dressmaking; a vocational training that will help them earn their livelihood once they are discharged.
The already existing poor health facilities were also seriously damaged during the earthquake. Out of 796 health facilities in the eight affected districts of NWFP and AJK, approximately 48.7 percent were completely destroyed. 24.8 percent of the health facilities in NWFP and AJK need retrofitting as a result of the earthquake. The remaining 26.5 percent of the health facilities, which have no obvious damage, also need to be assessed for safety and earthquake resilience.
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The health sector is not only vital for the immediate relief of the earthquake affected population; it is also an essential part of the long-term recovery and rehabilitation process for these people. ERRA’s policy is to develop healthcare facilities that are best suited to the special needs of the people. These measures include preparing hospital designs that facilitate the handicapped and training of medical staff for earthquake related injuries. A proposal (PC-I) worth Rs. 750 million has been approved by the ERRA Board for the establishment of rehabilitation network and community based rehabilitation system focused on the disabled and paraplegics.
Out of the 305 health facilities that ERRA plans to rebuild or to rehabilitate, pledges for 221 facilities have been confirmed. This represents 72 percent coverage. In addition, 19 ‘tentative pledges’ are in the process of being confirmed. In AJK, all facilities (99 percent) have been assured funding; however, only 58 percent of health facilities in NWFP have definite funding.
High Infant Death in Earthquake Areas A nutrition survey conducted by the UN shows that twice as many children under five were at risk of death than adults in last October’s earthquake. The findings were part of a survey on the current nutritional status of the surviving population. It shows that while almost 5 percent of the population was killed in the hardest hit areas, children under 5 suffered a disproportionally high toll. “Babies and infants were the most helpless, and thus the most likely to die,” said Unicef’s Pakistan representative. “People in these areas have large families, so while some children could be taken to safety, many simply died.” The nutrition survey was conducted with the objective to collect information regarding the health and nutrition status of children between 6 and 59 months, as well as their mothers. The results will enable the UN missions, government and NGOs in planning health and nutrition interventions for the earthquake-affected population. Four different surveys have been conducted to collect information from representative population from Mansehra and Muzaffarabad communities and NWFP and AJK Camps between November 21 and December 28, 2005. The survey was conducted jointly by UNICEF, the World Food Program and WHO, in collaboration with the Pakistan Federal Ministry of Health. SOURCE: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 46, March 2006
Shortage of clean water is common to almost all the affected districts and a major health issue. The task of collecting water is given to women and children who spend many hours a day trekking between their villages and water sources. Since the earthquake, children like 10-year-old Zahida are forced to work to help struggling families. “We are concerned about children being taken out of school to collect water,” says Rosie Jackson, livelihoods Project Manager with Save the Children.
UNICEF is the lead agency for water and sanitation in northern Pakistan and together with other aid agencies is preparing a water and sanitation strategy for the transition
236 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 period from relief to recovery, scheduled from April 2006 to April 2007. “We are planning to cover pretty much 100 percent of communities in earthquake-affected areas,” said Julian Parker, water and sanitation team leader for UNICEF.
Policies The Early Recovery Plan of the ERRA encompasses a targeted range of concrete activities that will draw on the strengths and resilience of local communities. The eight sectors covered by ERRA are: 1. Education 2. Health 3. Livelihoods 4. Water and Sanitation 5. Housing, Shelter and Camp Management 6. Needs of Vulnerable Groups 7. Governance and Disaster Risk Reduction
The Social Protection Policy 2006-2009 The Social Protection Policy 2006-2009 approved by the ERRA formulates a 3- year plan of action to support the most vulnerable groups. It is designed to ensure their effective protection in the immediate to medium-term and establish linkages with the overall National Social Protection Strategy which integrates national social assistance programs such as the Bait-ul-mal and Zakat, to ensure a continuum of assistance and social protection over the medium and longer term. ERRA’s sectoral strategies are addressing some of the basic aspects of rehabilitation including shelter, livelihoods programs, housing compensation, and the reconstruction of the social and economic infrastructure.
Categories The Social Protection Strategy focuses specifically on the groups which are at greater risk; these include: 1. Children (including separated, unaccompanied and orphaned) 2. Women (including widows and single headed households) 3. Elderly (both women and men) 4. Disabled
Vision The vision of the strategy is to ensure that vulnerable people in the earthquake affected areas are provided basic social services, livelihoods assistance and support for rehabilitation primarily within their own families and communities and to establish linkages with the mainstream social welfare structures and services.
SPARC 237 Earthquake
Vulnerable Children (as defined in the Policy) Orphans: are children up to the age of 18, who have lost both their parents. In some countries, as in Pakistan, a child who has lost one parent is also categorized as an orphan. Separated children: are those separated from both parents or from their previous legal or primary caregiver, but not necessarily from their other relatives. These may therefore, include children accompanied by other adult family members. Unaccompanied children: (also called unaccompanied minors) are children separated from both parents and other relatives and are NOT being cared for by an adult who by law or custom is responsible for doing so. Children with a single male parent: Due to the traditional role of women as the main caregiver these children may be lacking proper care and attention (in other words may be neglected), either because fathers have to earn a living and remain out of the home for longer periods of time, or because they may remarry and may neglect the children from their previous marriage. Children with a disabled parent: These children are also at high risk of poverty and subsequent exploitation and abuse due to the disability of the parent/s; also lack proper care if mother is disabled and if the mother has died and the caregiver father is disabled. Children with Disability: Children who were injured and disabled before and after the earthquake.
Policy Focus Areas (dealing with children) Vulnerable children: g Ensure that property rights of vulnerable children are realized; g Monitor the situation of vulnerable children; g Build capacity for social work services for children; g Provide support for families that are taking care of orphaned, separated and unaccompanied children; g Build the capacity of community protection networks to provide community based monitoring; g Provide free access to education and health care services for vulnerable children; g Establish mechanisms at district level for facilitating and assisting children requiring legal assistance; and g Establish community based grievance review mechanism (Child Protection Committees) and linking up with the relevant authorities The Disabled: g Ensure Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) approach adopted for people with disabilities;
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Children in Quake Areas at Risk of Abuse: UN Report Children in earthquake-hit areas are especially vulnerable to psychological problems, drug use, crime, sexual and economic exploitation and human trafficking, a UN report said on February 13, 2006. Women and children face risks of forced displacement and human rights violations. They don’t have equal access to relief supplies, services and economic opportunities. Marginalized groups in relief camps, such as the disabled, the elderly, ethnic and religious minorities, the illiterate and drug addicts are also vulnerable, the report said. The earthquake may increase crime, social injustice and poverty in the NWFP and AJK, the report said, adding that issues such as human trafficking are a key concern. “As time goes on, some risks evolve while others might disappear. Long- term displacement and poverty make people vulnerable to substance abuse, HIV and AIDS, domestic violence, crime and human trafficking,” the report said. The quake has increased problems for single parents and families accommodating separated or orphaned children, it said, adding that the poor were likely to resort to crime. Displaced or orphaned children were particularly vulnerable to being sexually exploited, the report said.
Source: SPARC Newsletter Issue No 46, March 2006
g Suggest two percent recruitment of people with disabilities in all public sectors, especially in rehabilitation programs; g Mandate education departments to include children with physical disabilities in mainstream education (concept of inclusive education); g Mandate public infrastructure development authorities to include barrier-free/disability friendly plan when formulating PC-1s; and g Ensure barrier-free/disability housing plans available as option under Rural Housing Strategy.
Father Held for Selling 3 Daughters Police have arrested a quake refugee who allegedly sold his three daughters to two couples. The father, from Muzaffarabad, has been living in a relief camp since November. His wife and eight children were killed in the earthquake. The father with the connivance of the camp manager sold his three daughters – Sonia, 3, Ulfat, 5 and Riffat, 8 – to two couples for Rs 300,000. He gave a share to the camp manager and disappeared from the camp along with his two sons. An official of the UNICEF learned about the incident. According to the police the accused was arrested from Muzaffarabad.
Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue No 46, March 2006
SPARC 239 Earthquake
Orphans and other Vulnerable Children The Government recognizes the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and recognizes its responsibility to accord special protection and assistance to vulnerable children, and in particular to those who have lost the protection of one or both parents. In the areas affected by the earthquake, ERRA will be working closely with the Social Welfare Departments in both AJK and NWFP and international and national NGOs to ensure that child protection interventions are safeguarding the interests of the child.
Monitoring through District-Level Child Protection Committees: A monitoring unit will be established in the Department of Social Welfare at district level with support from the ERRA Social Protection Coordinator (SPC). This unit will comprise a registration system of children with extended families, with siblings, single parents and those in care of group homes. The district office of Social Welfare Officers in partnership with the ERRA SPC and relevant NGOs will maintain a database on children. Rapid identification of families whose economic situation is deteriorating would also be updated by the monitoring unit. ERRA will support the establishment of a review mechanism at district level that will asses individual cases of children in need of care to determine the best course of action keeping in mind the best interests of the child.
Orphans (Care Options) 1. Kinship care in extended family/community based care, 2. Placement in institutionalized care such as SOS villages for children, where placement in family- based care is not possible, or not in the best interest of the child. 3. Complete ban on adoption
Cash Grants to Families Supporting Orphans In South Asian region relatives serving as natural guardians for children who are orphaned or in difficult situation are a traditional coping mechanism and it works very well and generally keeps children safe from abuse and exploitation. However, in situations such as a natural catastrophe, when livelihoods and incomes of families are eroded stress and poverty makes it difficult for them to take on extra responsibilities, even if the next of kin would like to help those children.
It is important that such families are strengthened monetarily, so that they are able to take on additional responsibility of separated/orphaned children. This would save the children from being abandoned, abusive behavior, neglect and child labor. ERRA proposes extending a cash grant of Rs. 3,000/month for six months to one year for families supporting one orphan or more. Beyond this, a possible continuation of payment is to be worked out in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Pakistan Bait-ul Mal.
240 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
Establishment of Child Friendly Spaces Psychosocial interventions by NGOs in the form of child friendly spaces as well as provision of education will help children to reconnect and foster social connections and interactions, normalize daily life, promote a sense of well being and restore a sense of control over one’s life; and would enable children to express their views and concerns within a trusted environment.
Needs of Vulnerable Children Compensation/Cash Transfers g Financial compensation/ support for families / households / foster families supporting vulnerable children Livelihood Support g Livelihood support for families / households / foster families supporting vulnerable children through linkage to existing livelihood support programs at local level g Support in family based care. Vulnerable children traced and reunified with immediate or extended family where required Children without Parental Care g Institutionalized care where necessary
Legal Support g Legal support for property rights g Support for birth certification
Protection g From abuse, exploitation and neglect Psycho-Social Support g Psycho social and trauma counseling
Health g Free access to healthcare for vulnerable children
g Free access to education for vulnerable children
Education g Free access to education for vulnerable children
g Inclusive Education for physically disabled children
Monitoring g Monitoring of situation in extended families, Aashiana’s and SOS villages
Implementation ERRA estimates that the cost of its Program for Social Protection will be US $12.83 million, targeting all groups including adults. The budget included in this Strategy reflects both the direct financing of activities by ERRA as well as by other partners. Total funding allocated thus comes to Rs.1, 930,440,000/ US$32,174,000.
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ERRA’s Education Policy The Education Policy approved by the ERRA is the guiding document for multi- dimensional education reforms and is based on the vision of Build Back Better. The key areas of the policy include strategies with focus on the following:
1. Better construction designs 2. Provision of better physical facilities 3. Better classroom support to improve students’ learning achievement level 4. Rationalized provision of schools 5. Better and improved ownership and management of the educational institutions through parents’ participation 6. Better social service delivery
The objective is to restore equitable access to higher quality education, trained teachers and capacity development of the district education offices for improved service delivery. The outcome indicator set under the strategy is, at least 80 percent10 enrolment and retention of the Photograph by: Zaheer Hassan pre-earthquake level.
ERRA’s Health Policy ERRA’s Health Policy aims at ensuring that essential health care services are accessible and available to all. The objectives of the Policy are: 1. To restore health care through rationalized reconstruction/ rehabilitation of seismically safe and user friendly health infrastructure; 2. To ensure availability of an integrated and essential service package at different levels of health care delivery system covering preventive and curative services including rehabilitation program with improved access for the disabled; 3. To strengthen the management and organizational system to revive and sustain health services; and 4. To devise an institutional mechanism in the health sector to make operational a rapid effective emergency and disaster response whenever required.
10 Gross enrolment rates are planned to be brought at higher level than that of pre-earthquake period with consideration that several factors affect the enrolment including deaths of children, migration of population, diminishing of livelihood etc.
242 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006
How to Deal with Children? By Dr. Mark Lerner Earthquakes are traumatic events for everyone. But they are especially frightening for children who may have to leave their homes. A child does not usually understand such events and feels anxious, confused, and frightened. Fear is a normal reaction to any danger which threatens life or well-being. After an earthquake, a child’s fears are those of recurrence, injury, death, or of being alone, separated from the rest of the family. Aftershocks can increase this fear. Parents and adult sometimes ignore the emotional needs of a child once assured of their physical safety. A child’s persistent fears may generate disruptive behavior, surprising and frustrating a parent who is trying to continue with the daily family routine. How a parent or adults can help: g Keep the family together. This provides immediate reassurance to a child; fears of being abandoned and unprotected are alleviated. g Reassure children by words as well as actions. Emphasize the positive: “We are all together and nothing has happened to us,” or “You don’t have to worry, we will look after you.” g Encourage the child to talk. It can also be helpful to include other family members, neighbors, and their children in a talk about reactions to the earthquake. g Include the child in family activities. There will be important concerns and things to do after an earthquake: checking on the damage, cleaning up broken glass and fallen furniture. Whenever possible, a child can and should be included in these activities. g At bedtime, a child may have difficulty falling asleep. The child may wake up during the night, and have nightmares for weeks or months after the earthquake. These situations may be dealt with by allowing the child to move into a room with another child or to sleep on a mattress in the parents’ room, or simply by a parent spending a little extra time in the child’s room giving reassurance.
According to the ERRA, the policy is based on the Humanitarian Charter for Minimum Standards for Health Care, including the right to ‘health for all’ and respect for the dignity of the population affected by the disaster. The strategy identifies and addresses the needs of vulnerable populations, especially women, children, and persons with disabilities and psychological trauma. National Disaster Management Ordinance 2006 In December 2006, the President of Pakistan promulgated National Disaster Management Ordinance paving the way for setting up of National Disaster Management Commission.11 The Commission will formulate policies on disaster management; approve the national plan besides laying down guidelines to be
11 APP December 23, 2006
SPARC 243 Earthquake followed by the federal and provincial authorities. The ordinance also provides for establishment of the National Disaster Management Authority which will act as the implementing, coordinating and monitoring body for disaster management. It will be responsible for preparing the national plan to be approved by the National Commission. Providing necessary technical assistance to the provincial governments and provincial authorities, in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the National Commission, also falls in its ambit. The National Disaster Management Plan, to be reviewed and updated annually, will include measures to be taken for the prevention of disasters or the mitigation of their effects. The National Authority, in cases of disasters of severe magnitude, can give relief in repayment of loans or grant of fresh loans to the person affected by the disaster on concessional terms.
Contributions of Civil Society Organizations The contributions made by the civil society organizations deserve special appreciation. The response was huge and overwhelming. The credit should be given to the civil society organizations for all the progress which has been made so far.12
Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) SPARC was among the first few organizations that were present in Balakot immediately after the earthquake. SPARC’s Child Rights Committee in Abbottabad was quick to relocate itself and took part in the emergency relief work. During the first phase, SPARC was involved in rescue and relief operations. With the help of friends, Child Rights Committees’ contributions, the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, Save the Children (US), SPARC was able to provide emergency relief, including tents, food, clothing, bedding and medicines. For children SPARC provided toys, clothing, books, etc. In Islamabad, SPARC launched its Buddy Pack Project for children who were admitted to the hospital. The project brought school children from Islamabad especially from Froebel’s International School, in close contact with the traumatized, injured and lost children from the Northern Areas. The school children first met with the children and asked what they would like to have. Every student adopted a buddy and prepared a duffle with things of their choice, such as toys, candies, books etc.
SPARC Fun Centers The idea of a Fun Center was proposed by SPARC and the community responded. The first Center was operational on November 18, 2005 and one of the affected families offered their land. This fun center was a major success. In the following months, SPARC with the support from a German organization Kindernothilfe established nine Fun Houses in Shah Ismailabad, Balyani, Garlaat, Madni Mohallah, Bhampora, Shual, Julara, Taranna and Hassa.
12 It was not possible to include contributions made by all civil society actors due to limited space. With due apologies from all organizations who have contributed massively.
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Children, who come to these fun centers; play games, listen to stories, make friends, watch TV and learn life skills in safe environment. In addition, they also receive trauma counseling, and are given some nutritious food at least once daily. Initially these Centers were opened from morning till late evening. After opening of schools, it was reported that children were not going to school and instead spending time in fun centers. So the timings were changed from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The monsoon rains in 2006 created further havoc for residents of Balakot, particularly for those living in tents. SPARC immediately provided iron sheets to over 200 families. SPARC in response to the community needs, set up women sewing center, adult literacy centers, and pre-school for children. At the end of 2006, SPARC also signed agreement with the SCFUK to conduct trainings on Child Protection, Child Protection Framework, Life Skills, Child to Child Methodologies, Child Rights Media Reporting and Child Rights Monitoring in Muzaffarabad and Bagh for the Save the Children and UNICEF staff, Government, NGOs, journalists, social workers, and child protection committees.
SPARC was awarded for volunteerism by the National Volunteer Movement (NVM) affiliated with the Prime Minister’s Secretariat in December 2006 for its contribution for the welfare of children in the relief work, in emergency, post emergency and rehabilitation phases following the devastating Earthquake.
Quake Hit Children Join Workforce According to UNICEF and other agencies working in quake-hit areas, there has been a marked increase in children at work since the disaster. “This increase in child labor is a concern for us and we are trying to assess the situation,” a spokeswoman for UNICEF in Pakistan, said. There have been reports that orphaned children, taken in by relatives, have been put to work, with the families not able to support them. “It’s a cruel situation. Children were taken in immediately after the disaster by members of their extended families, or other villagers. But now these families worry about feeding them, or are simply greedy for more money. Children as young as eight have been put to work,” said an NGO worker working in Balakot. Over the past two months, there has been a visible increase in the number of young children from quake-hit areas working in roadside cafes or small hotels in Lahore. “There are many such children seeking work, and many are willing to work for low wages,” an owner of a tiny tea stall said. So far, aside from the ban placed on adoptions, there is no official policy covering children affected by the quake. Strategies to counter the difficulties families face as a consequence of deaths, injury or instant impoverishment have not been put in place – and the result is that many families, fending largely for themselves, have been forced to send children out to work – either in the quake-affected areas themselves, or in larger cities where they may earn a slightly higher wage. Source: SPARC Newsletter, Issue 46, March 2006
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UNICEF UNICEF was part of the UN consolidated response and was tasked ‘to ensure the survival of children in the affected areas through health and nutritional care, provision of safe drinking water and sanitation, while restoring normalcy to their lives through education, recreation, rehabilitation, reunification and psycho-social support.13
Sectoral component Emergency Response by UNICEF (October 2005-April 2006)
Health and Nutrition • Distributed 150 New Emergency Health Kits to restart health services catering to the needs of 1.5 million people • Supported vaccination of 1.1 million children aged 6 months to 15 years against measles • Re-equipped 99 health facilities with medicine, equipment, supplies and personnel benefiting 1.5 million people
Primary Education • Established 3,100 tented schools serving about 255,000 girls and boys of which about 20,000 children living in IDP camps. • Distributed 9,500 School-in-a-Box Kits and other educational supplies (books, school bags, etc.) • Training of 9,300 teachers in psychosocial skills and teaching in challenging environments Water, Environment and • Provision of safe water and sanitation to some 350,000 people Sanitation in IDP camps, schools and hospitals • Repair of 143 rural water supplies • Helped build 38,400 latrines serving around 700,000 people • Distributed 160,000 hygiene kits • Hygiene messages e.g. ‘hand washing’ to 424,000 people
Child Protection • Distributed 687,000 winter clothing kits, one million blankets and quilts • Registered and monitored 13,400 separated, unaccompanied and orphaned children • Psychosocial support to 27,800 children • Established 3 District Child Protection Monitoring Units in Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Mansehra
13 UNICEF Pakistan Consolidated Emergency Thematic Report October 2005, March 2006
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It joined Government and other partner efforts and led the Water and Sanitation, Protection and Education Clusters and the sub-cluster on Nutrition.
UNICEF’s Emergency Support Program is expected to provide an integrated multi- sectoral approach for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of services to fulfill
UNICEF Support to Recovery and Rehabilitation Objectives and Key Interventions Planned from May 2007 to December 2008 Sectoral Objectives Key Interventions Component Health and To achieve a significant acceleration •Enhance access of at least Nutrition in child and maternal survival by 400,000 families to quality putting into practice interventions primary health care services targeting the most common causes • Reconstruct 55 health centers of child and maternal mortality • Strengthen health management systems
Primary Through community participation, • Achieve 100 percent Education to improve educational access for enrolment of primary school- all children to healthy, protective aged children and 30 percent and inclusive primary education and of children who have never extend the benefits to the community attended school before • Reconstruct 1,500 transitional shelters and 500 permanent primary schools • Improve teaching and learning processes and outcomes Water, To provide access to improved • Provide safe water to 1.5 Environment and and maintained water supply and million people and change Sanitation sanitation facilities and services hygiene behavior of 900,000 to children and women in rural people. communities, small urban centers • Supply safe drinking water and schools and adequate latrines each to 3,474 temporary schools • Reconstruct remaining 857 water supply systems (of 1,000) using earthquake resistant designs • Disseminate hygiene messages to 1.5 million people on safe water consumption, latrine usage and hand washing with soap • Use child-to-child communication to spread hygiene messages to 274,000 students • Support water and sanitation services/facilities in camps for an anticipated 30,000 people
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Child Protection Within an effective policy and legal • Birth registration for 12,000 framework, to protect girls and boys children from abuse, violence, exploitation • 52,000 children given more and neglect and ensure access to knowledge about child inclusive and non-discriminatory protection through peer to services. peer discussions • 6,000 orphaned and vulnerable children identified and provided with protective services • Establish policies, legislation and enforcement systems for the protection of vulnerable children the recovery needs and rights of children in the affected areas of the districts of Abbottabad, Mansehra and Battagram in NWFP and Muzaffarabad, Neelum and Bagh in AJK until December 2008. This includes construction and reconstruction, such as the rebuilding of 500 permanent government primary schools, 55 health centers and 857 water supply schemes and establishing a protective system to assist the government in its commitment to “Build Back Better.” The proposed timeframe for the UNICEF Support for Recovery runs alongside the Government of Pakistan/UNICEF Country Program’s current agreement which will be reviewed by the end of 2008.
USAID The United States government responded to this disaster by pledging $510 million in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. USAID provided more than $70 million in humanitarian assistance and will provide over $200 million in reconstruction assistance. USAID Earthquake Relief includes: g Relief commodities provided for 280,000 people g Shelter assistance for nearly 340,000 people g Improved sanitation facilities for nearly 84,000 people g Economic and livelihoods assistance for almost 43,000 people g Nearly 30,000 jobs creation g Water systems rehabilitated for nearly 45,000 people g Access to health care improved for nearly 80,000 people g Social and psychological support through play areas for nearly 3,700 children g Shelters and furnishings donated for 228 tent schools
USAID Earthquake Future Reconstruction Plan USAID has begun to implement a four-year $200 million Reconstruction Program
248 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 for rebuilding destroyed schools and clinics and the rehabilitation of livelihoods, education and health care delivery systems. g Construction activities will build, furnish and supply schools and health service buildings to internationally recognized earthquake resistant standards and provide access for the handicapped.
Helping Quake Orphaned Children Cope By Salma Majeed Jaffar The October 8 earthquake of 2005 left thousands of children without parental care. One year has passed, and yet these children do not know whether they will grow up in the care and protection of a family or spend their entire childhood in an orphanage. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake the traditional solidarity mechanisms fully played their role, providing care and protection to almost all children who had lost one or both parents, or had become separated from their primary care-givers. Extended families accepted these children, making sure they were provided with a shelter and that their survival needs were being met. While these traditional mechanisms continue to fulfill their functions the government has opted for a policy of institutionalizing these children. Organizations running such institutions in the cover of a false urgency are separating children from their families in violation of the right of the child to live with a family. Such unnecessary institutionalization of children through concerted efforts being made by orphanages to bring children to institutionalized care is not acceptable from a child-rights perspective. After decades of research on children who are institutionalized it has been established that institutionalized care should be the last resort and for the shortest period of time. Long-term institutionalization of children in orphanages is not a desirable solution as it jeopardizes the best interest of the child which Pakistan is committed to through the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Negative Effects The scientific evidence of the negative effects on children brought up in institutions or ‘villages’ isolated from the community, the effects of social stigma, social exclusion, marginalization, emotional isolation and their long-term life in such settings has been overwhelming. We have all seen that a child in an orphanage forms only one perception about him/herself that is of an orphan, which results in irreparable psychological damage. In an artificial environment the child does not develop the resilience and the life skills, entering adulthood unequipped. By contrast evidence shows that care in family-type settings (the child’s natural or extended or adoptive family), is immeasurably better than life in a well organized institution for almost all children. The individual, one-to-one love and attention that only parents (whether birth, or adoptive) can give, is extremely powerful and cannot be bettered by institutional care. A child gets a sense of fulfillment and identity within a family as it offers individual care and love from a parent figure essential for emotional growth and stability. The child learns many skills, cultural heritage through a process of living experience
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and through having responsibilities and different roles within the family and wider community; a family gives the child a sense of belonging and roots in the culture and society. International Favor Keeping children within their own kinship and community has also found international favor in contemporary child welfare practice. Children do not have just material and physical needs; they have emotional, social and spiritual needs which can be met in a family environment. Since the first line of response comes from the extended family, the capacity of families has to be strengthened to protect and care for orphans. When a family is in a crisis it can be supported through practical emotional and material support. This can be in the form of small cash grants, psycho social counseling and livelihoods skills. This can be labor- intensive but a little support can make a huge difference to a family over a period of time. By providing such support to vulnerable families, we can help prevent abandonment or enable the reintegration of children into their birth, extended or adoptive family. After families in our society, communities provide the next level of support. They are a social capital that support, advice, solves problems collectively and play a role in protecting children and overseeing any abuse occurring in the homes. In a community the child retains his or her identity and culture, gets mainstream education, is not socially excluded and learns life-skills through sharing, observing and doing. Therefore community-based responses have to be mobilized and strengthened. While this is being done, access to essential services including education, birth registration, health care and nutrition, psychosocial support, safe water and sanitation and strong and independent justice system have to be in place. At the same time the government can allocate grants for orphaned children. Lift Adoption Ban The decision of the government to continue the ban on adoption is questionable as it propounds the need for institutionalizing children instead of giving them the shadow and warmth of parental care in a good family. The ban on adoption in the wake of the emergency was desirable and demanded to ensure that children did not get trafficked. However, now that the emergency phase is over it is important that the ban is lifted and suitable families through the relevant law are allowed to adopt children. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure proper screening and follow-up of the adoptive family. The institutions that are active do not follow any polices or procedures and do not fulfill legal requirements when taking custody of children. Instead ‘search and rescue teams’ and social mobilization activities are carried out to encourage families to send children into institutional care. Calls for funding are being made to the public in the name of orphaned children to run these institutions, when this type of care is not in the best interest of the child. The same resources can be given as grants for children’s education and health needs within the families. It has been established through research that resources extended to fund institutional care
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for a single child can help out scores of children if used efficiently in a community- based initiative. Adoption should be permissible through the Guardians and Wards Act with proper screening and follow-up. Resources have to be allocated and social welfare systems put in place at the grassroots level. Institutions should not be allowed to search for orphaned children in the communities. Gate keeping procedures to restrict the flow of children into institutions should be there and the institutions should have a mandatory reintegration program for children. Preserving the Family Family preservation should be at the heart of a child protection policy, but unfortunately there is no such policy in Pakistan. Decisions recently made for quake orphans on the assumption that children are abused in extended families is not reasonable, because if there is abuse then its causes have to be countered since parents can also abuse their own children. More often than not it is related to poverty and economic stress the families face. Moreover, the emotional abuse that inevitably occurs in every institution through stigma, exclusion, codes of conduct, deprivation of parental care and lack of contact with the external world result in lifelong scars on the child’s psychological make-up. Pakistan is one of the few countries where traditions and religion place an emphasis on family preservation and community support. The west, too, after its experience of institutionalizing, prefers putting orphaned children through the care of foster families. But, despite having inherited such a system in our traditions and religion, we are opting for institutionalization. This is unforgivable because this policy of convenience is destroying family-care options for children. It is convenient to put children into institutions and not worry about supporting the families, about monitoring and about their welfare. But is this how policies for our children should be made? Unfortunately in our country the matter has not been given serious deliberation and whatever policy we have is based on assumptions rather than research. This will only aggravate the problems of our children. The writer is Technical Director SCUK Source: The News, October 12, 2006
Save the Children Alliance Save the Children Alliance in Pakistan adopted three most affected parts of the devastated belt – Azad Kashmir, districts of Battagram and Mansehra in NWFP. Each Alliance partner took lead in one geographic area to implement a coordinated response.
Save the Children UK (Azad Kashmir) Over the past year, SCFUK has built 174 temporary and semi permanent school shelters, which are quick and efficient to build and are sturdier and safer than tents. It plans to rebuild 600 schools across AJK and NWFP over the next two years, targeting a total of 60,000 children, while UNICEF and its other partners will take on the rest.
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It is replacing tents with earthquake resistant transitional schools. SCFUK is also establishing school management committees, and providing school clearance kits and incentives to clear sites and remove the rubble from collapsed schools. It has distributed over 8,400 sets of children’s clothing - 4,200 in Muzaffarabad and 4,200 in Bagh, the two areas that were worst affected by the disaster. The organization besides engaged in other humantrian and relief work, has also established Child Protection Committees in villages of Muzaffarabad and Bagh and implementing a comprehensive capacity building program of all stakeholders on child protection including government, journalists, social workers, committees, etc.
Save the Children US (Battagram) Save the Children US has provided more than 42,000 families with the material to build shelters and established 137 safe play spaces benefiting an estimated 11,524 displaced children. It has also established 68 temporary schools for more than 5,000 students and supported communities to begin constructing 80 transitional schools. The three schools they have built in the Meira Camp housed 2,000 families during the winter with more than 1,500 students being taught in tented classrooms and 26 teachers on staff. It has partnered with teachers, communities and the government to reopen and support over 130 government primary schools in Battagram District and this has made it possible for more than 5,000 girls and 6,000 boys to attend school.
Save the Children Sweden (Mansehra) Save the Children Sweden adopted Mansehra District. The contributions made by this organization are: g Over 1000 most vulnerable families provided shelter support. g 1,500 families provided blankets; provided warm clothes and over 5,000 children provided shoes and socks. g Set up 20 child friendly spaces. g Eleven sewing centers for skill training to girls and women. g 13 schools were established in areas where schools did not exist before. Eight of the new schools are for girls’ that include a girl’s middle school (established with support from British Council), first facility in the area to provide girls education beyond primary grades. g 372 schools revived. g 88 transitional school buildings constructed. g Approximately 32,500 students were brought back to school. g All children returning to school were provided essential school supplies. g 247 teachers trained in activity based learning.
Save the Children Sweden has also helped form the following committees: g 98 village committees – 60 male and 38 female committees; g 61 youth clubs – 46 boys and 15 girls clubs; g 55 child clubs – 47 boys and 8 girls clubs;
252 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 g 57 villages committees – 42 male and 15 female – registered as Community Based Organizations
World Vision World Vision, a humanitarian organization provided medicine, blankets, household items, food and tents to people. World Vision’s earthquake response program focuses on three pillars: Children (education and child protection), Emergencies (including preparedness, response, and humanitarian protection), and Livelihoods (including agriculture, food security, and micro enterprise development). From October 2005 to September 2006, World Vision responded in many ways. To help children recover, more than12,000 school children were given 3,528 school kits containing exercise books, chalk, pens, class registers and teacher preparation materials, 40 primary and middle emergency schools were established and teachers attended training sessions on new teaching techniques, skills and methodology (32 schools are scheduled to be reconstructed) 4,700 children participated in creative activities in 20 Child Friendly Spaces and 12,000 booklets for children on children’s rights were distributed to children, families, teachers, and communities. 480 teenaged girls and 40 boys were enroled to attend vocational training. Catch-up classes were organized for 140 high school students in Balakot. For a period of three months a weekly radio program was produced and broadcast by children for children targeting child rights and protection, reaching thousands of listeners 17 children’s councils identified 512 quake-disabled children and referred them to partnering agencies. World Vision Emergency and Livelihood programs benefited over 40,000 thousand families.
Plan Pakistan Plan Pakistan distributed emergency supplies to 1,734 families in the Saran Valley. They have also distributed iron sheets, tool kits and quilts to help build temporary shelters for around 3,000 families in Mandeguache. 66 large tents are accommodating school children in 25 schools in Plan-supported communities. Each tent holds around 25 pupils. Plan in collaboration with the UNICEF has helped chlorinate water supply in Daryial camp, in the Saran valley, which is currently sheltering more than 200 families. It is also working with local NGO partner Rasti in training local volunteers in the camp to make “tent to tent” visits and promote good health and hygiene practices. Plan is working with the Mountain Institute of Educational Development (MIED) to provide education and recreational activities for around 600 children in the camp. MIED has also provided teacher training, material and tents for nearly 300 children at other locations in the Saran Valley.
Kindernothilfe (KNH) Kindernothilfe reached over 60,000 people in the disaster area. Kindernothilfe, a German foundation working with the local partners provided support for the care of traumatized children and families in reconstruction. Donations amounting to 4.4 million
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Euros were collected and distributed for the victims. The local partners of Kindernothilfe distributed food, clothes and blankets to more than 20,000 people during the weeks after the disaster. Winterized tents and emergency shelters helped 4,000 families to survive the winter. Child Friendly Centers have been established in several areas and cater to around 2,000 children. KNH is also planning for the construction of schools.
Trócaire Trócaire targeted its emergency relief efforts at isolated rural villages and the most vulnerable households, predominately focusing on the need for shelter. Trócaire is an Irish development agency and it is working in the area through its partners. Trócaire partner CRS took a self-build approach, mobilizing communities to build their own shelters by complimenting local resources (salvaged timber and local expertise) with materials, tools and specific earthquake-safe advice. Thus, the shelter program evolved from an ‘emergency’ shelter program into the beginning of permanent housing. Trócaire working alongside partners Caritas Pakistan and International Blue Crescent, provided medical assistance to 51,273 beneficiaries and winterized tents, blankets, gas heaters, kitchen sets and food packages to another 3,000 survivors. Trócaire strategy is shifting from relief towards rehabilitation. They are now developing projects to ensure safe water, reactivation of agriculture and local economy.
Conclusion The October 8 earthquake not only shook the areas of NWFP and the AJK but was a major jolt to the emergency preparedness of the government. Had it not been for the outpouring of help from the people of Pakistan and international relief and emergency agencies, the death toll could have been much worse. The government and the army’s role came rather late and steadily picked up momentum.
One year later, although the dead have been found and buried, but the survivors are still struggling. They are still homeless, without steady livelihoods, children idling precious time in the absence of proper schools and many learning out of the tents. From recovery, the survivors have entered the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase. And the responsibility to deliver in this phase is on the government and ERRA, the body constituted to help the people of earthquake areas to return to normal or near normal life. Funds are available, international NGOS and national NGOs are willing partners and yet the government is lagging behind. People are not receiving the promised funds to rebuild their homes while the time is running out for children to restart with their education and life to help get over the initial trauma and shock.
Children are the worst off in any catastrophe natural or man made and need immediate assistance. The government must realize that every moment lost is like a lifetime for a child who has gone through death and destruction within seconds. These children lost parents and siblings, friends and relatives, saw their friends calling out for help
254 Chapter-6 The State of Pakistan’s Children 2006 and dying because no help came, and more importantly scores have lost their limbs and mobility, many suffering from injuries that will never heal. These children need help and NOW, because children cannot wait.
Making plans, policies and strategies is important, no doubt, but what is of most important is rapid implementation, which is where the government needs to focus. ERRA’s aim should be and SPARC reaffirms, to help rebuild homes and schools before the next winter sets in so that the already troubled people start to live in the safety of their homes and children begin to go to proper and regular schools.
Recommendations Natural disasters are an inevitable part of human life. One primary way to manage the aftermath of such destruction is to learn from it. There is a consensus among the civil society that the immediate response for humanitarian assistance was inadequate and continues to be so. Many earthquake victims with acute needs are not receiving assistance, even today. The earthquake caused vast destruction in addition rains and landslides caused further damages. Some areas did not receive aid due to their high elevation. Some key action points are as follows: g Organizations working in education sector must focus on the quality of education being provided in the schools to encourage enrolment and check drop-out rate. g To sustain its plans to ‘Build Back Better’ the government must establish more schools, staffed with trained teachers and education must be made compulsory for all. g There should be an accelerated learning program for those children who have missed months of education and allowances made for those who missed exams due to the earthquake. g The ERRA’s commitment under Social Protection Policy, Education Policy and Health Policy must be closely monitored by civil society organizations. g Every child must have access to education so that girls do not miss out. g The ban on adoption must be lifted and adoption should be permitted through the Guardians and Wards Act. The institutional care should be the last resort. g Recreational facilities, sports, education and extra curricular activities should be well integrated into the education curriculum. g The district education departments’ capacity must be enhanced. They should work with professional training institutions and NGOs to develop a mass teacher training program across NWFP and AJK with higher salaries. g All the schools which are opened in tents must build semi-permanent structures. Tents cannot survive rains and not many children can be accommodated. g Housing and transportation for existing teachers and particularly for female teachers. Many teachers cannot make it to the schools because the roads are still broken and transport facilities are negligible. g The government must be made accountable for the huge sums of funds that it has received in pledges and grants under the President’s Relief Fund by private citizens,
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overseas Pakistanis, businessmen, multinationals, banks, etc. There is no detailed information about the grants vs. expenses. There are hundreds of pledges made by the government and political persons. Transparency and monitoring is essential. g As per various reports, tuberculosis can become a major heath problem in quake hit areas and all appropriate measures should be taken well in advance to protect the people here.14 g Effective system for personal protection and social security should be put in place. Existing laws, though weak, should be implemented. g Basic amenities and road infrastructure should be provided for residents of Balakot till such time that they are shifted to the new location in Bakriyal. g Permanent institutional arrangements must be formulated to respond to natural disasters. The National Disaster Management Ordinance does respond to this but this needs to be implemented at the earliest.
Acknowledgements g Edition: 15 March 2006, Policy Briefing by International Crisis Group on Pakistan: Political Impact of the Earthquake g Social Protection Policy by ERRA July 2006-June 2009 http://www.erra.gov.pk g Education Policy Brief by ERRA, http://www.erra.gov.pk g Education Policy by ERRA, http://www.erra.gov.pk g Annual Review 2005 to 2006, Rebuild Revive with Dignity and Hope by ERRA http://www.erra.gov.pk g Health Policy, ERRA, http://www.erra.gov.pk g “Surviving the Pakistan Earthquake: Perceptions of the Affected One Year Later” by Fritz Institute, http:// www.fritzinstitute.org g Rising from the Rubble: Communities Lead the Earthquake Response by Ghulam Qadir, Save the Children Sweden g Issue Brief, Number 3, October 2006, Pakistan Earthquake Response: Educating and Protecting Children in Crisis by Save the Children g Media Briefing, Back to School after Quake by Save the Children g 2006 World Vision Annual Review, Your Global Family, http://www.worldvision.org g USAID Pakistan, http://www.usaid.gov/pakistan g Save the Children UK, http://www.scfuk.org.uk g Save the Children Alliance, http://www.savethechildren.net
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14 Daily Times, March 8, 2006
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