LAHORE: “Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif must personally supervise the development and formulation of a child protection policy followed by a comprehensive plan to address the issue of violence against children, which would be a right way to ensure justice for Zainab and all other children who suffered cruelties,” said Human Rights expert Advocate Hina Jilani.
Hina accentuated the fact that the chief minister’s action will be a reflection of his seriousness on the matter and that he needs to immediately establish a task force by taking relevant civil society organizations on board. She said that the government has to forego its usual behaviour of illogical excuses now because the civil society wants to see concrete action by the end of 2018.
She had first shown her deep concern for putting together a child protection agenda after serious child sexual exploitation and pornography incidents reported in 2015. “That was the time when the Punjab government was in a position to establish of an efficient child protection system in Kasur which could be replicated in the rest of the province to ensure the protection of every child,” she said.
Human Rights Defender Tanveer Jahan questioned the government’s and Punjab chief minister’s absence and activities during the last almost five years when many children like Zainab were falling victim to sexual and other forms of abuse.
The Punjab government has not been able to bring any policy solution focusing on preventing child abuse through a multi-sectoral strategy. Violence has a devastating impact on children, threatening their survival, development and future. “I would call all stakeholders of the government, media and civil society to work in collaboration and coordination to help end violence against children,” said Tanveer Jahan.
Child Rights Activist Iftikhar Mubarak urged the CM by saying, “This is the time for the Punjab government to ensure the safety of all children by establishing an independent commission concerning children’s rights and approving a child protection policy by the “Child Rights Protection Committee” constituted on the directions of the CM and headed by the former provincial law minister, Rana Sanaullah in 2015 after the Kasur pornography incident.
Mubarak regretted that the recommendations for the child protection policy that were reviewed by Rana Sanaullah but were never sent to the CM office to seek further approval, for which he said the responsible departments and officials must be held responsible for accountability.
“The human dignity of children and their right to protection from violence is not just common sense and basic morality but it is an international legal obligation as defined in Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and target 16.2 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said Mubarak.
It must be a matter of concern for the chief minister that there still isn’t any particular department with a broader mandate of child protection in the province.
Punjab Child Rights Movement Provincial Coordinator, Rashida Qureshi said that the delay in the unknown/unidentified accused’s arrest is still a big question on the performance of the police. She demanded that female police officers be equipped with investigation skills and cases of violence against women, girls and children be handed over to female police investigation officers on a priority basis.
She also urged for establishing a “Child Safety Cells” in all district police offices of Punjab.
The Punjab government must ensure adequate financial resources to carry out mass media awareness campaigns at regular intervals. Besides, child safety messages must be part of children’s curriculum at school and community-based child protection committees comprising of local influential and local government representatives should serve as watchdogs at the grass root level.
Rashida stressed that investing in the prevention of violence against children is not only a human rights issue, in fact, it also makes economic sense as violence causes significant financial losses to households, communities and subsequently the national economies.
Punjab Child Rights Movement Senior Member, Dr Naeem Zafar also highlighted the issue of delay in the establishment of a “Provincial Child Rights Commission” despite Rana Sanaullah’s assurance back in 2015. “Since there is no statuary body, department or authority in Punjab having the holistic mandate to deal with child protection issues in totality, there is a dire need to legislate for establishing a child rights commission on the patron of the National Commission on Children’s Rights 2017,” he said.
“The commission would serve as monitoring body to oversight the violations of child rights in general and child protection in particular. The commission would ensure the collection and management of data of child rights violation, devising capacity building plans of relevant key stakeholders etc,” he added.
Activist Bushra Khaliq said that citizens of Kasur are in psychological fear and trauma; children are confined in their own homes because of the fear of being abducted, abused or murdered.
She urged the provincial government to intervene in the situation by taking relevant non-government organizations on board so that they may provide psychological support services to the people of Kasur, especially those affected and those who live within the 12 Km radius, where these incidents are reported to happen.
