There has been an exceptional rise in violence and crime against children, as reported in the last few years
PESHAWAR: This is with reference to an excellent piece: “The taxation system and child rights in Pakistan”, by Arshad Mahmood (September 3). Keeping in view that the country is a guarantor of the UN convention on the rights of the child — it is really alarming whenever we analyse the dismal reports regarding the plight of children in the country on a daily basis, like 70,000-plus first-day deaths in Pakistan, 352,000 children dying of preventable causes before their fifth birthday each year, 45 per cent of under-five deaths directly being linked to inadequate nutrition among children and their mothers, 44 per cent children being malnourished, deteriorating rates of exclusive breastfeeding for six-month-old infants, nearly seven million children of primary school-going age being out of school with high gender disparity in education at all levels, nearly 1.5 million children living and or working on the streets and approximately 10 million children actively involved in child labour.
There has been an exceptional rise in violence and crime against children, as reported in the last few years. Children today, are not only exposed to injustice and discriminatory attitudes at massive scales, but are also found to be involved in unhealthy activities like substance abuse — all, at alarming rates. The state of children in Pakistan, thus, presents a very dismal picture. Are we really making any efforts to plan ahead for this large, ever-growing population of our country? Considering the aftermath of lawlessness, violence, frustration and denial of basic rights of health and education to which we have subjected our children, can we expect a better future for ourselves? Is it not time to confront reality?
Therefore, there is an urgent need to effectively drill pressure on the federal and provincial governments by involving children, civil society, media and other relevant stakeholders to push the authorities into taking steps for improving the situation of our children, and fulfilling Pakistan’s national and international obligations.
Imran Takkar
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2015.
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