Legislating against child pornography

0
127

The government’s responsibility

Finally the National Assembly has passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2015 and moved to protect children from mental and physical abuse, a step that was long overdue. The older provisions were no longer suitable since they did not cover serious offense like ‘child pornography, exposure to seduction, abuse, cruelty to a child and trafficking in human beings within Pakistan’. The Pakistani government is not only under obligation to the UN – where it ratified the Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990 – to harmonise policies and legislation with it, but more importantly owes it to the public, which has watched helplessly as child abuse has increased over the years.

However, commendable as the legislation is, the government’s responsibility only begins, not ends, here. Introducing laws is one thing; getting them implemented is quite another. And this is one particular are of concern that human rights organisations have been crying hoarse about for decades. Even laws that are in place have hardly been enforced. What is more, there have been too many reports to number over the years of law enforcement agencies like police actually aiding and abetting such crime, instead of controlling it. Unless the legislation translates into quantifiable, meaningful action, it will be of little good.

Human rights are a very important and touchy subject in most working democracies. Since the government depends directly on public goodwill, the ruled, not the rulers, are looked after. And children are the most important segment of any society. They are the future. For a country like Pakistan particularly, where an inequitable social system enforces a harsh life on most of the population, it is even more important to invest in the future by protecting and nourishing the children. Hopefully the government will be up to the mark in following this issue through all the way.