Renewed Demand: Call to form commission on child rights bill

CAN Pakistan demanded that the established commission should be give the powers to protect children’s rights

LAHORE: Children Advocacy Network (CAN) Pakistan, a group of child right activists and organisations, reiterated their previous demands from the government for immediate enactment of the National Commission on the Rights of Children Bill.

According to a statement issued on Saturday on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day 2016, the bill was introduced in the National Assembly in March 2015, which was still pending with National Assembly’s standing Committee on Law and Justice. CAN Pakistan urged the federal government to expedite the process of enactment of legislation that embodies the rights of children and for the setting up of an independent commission on the rights of children.

The statement said that Pakistan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child (UNCRC) 26 year ago which demanded serious actions and attention both from the federal and the provincial governments to get implemented. “Despite incidents of violence against children, the provincial governments still could not introduce child protection policies followed by a comprehensive plan of action to ensure protection of children from all forms of abuse and exploitation,” said the statement.

CAN Pakistan demanded that the established commission should be given the powers to monitor and protect children’s rights across the country to ensure minimum standards in light of the constitutional and international obligations and to advocate for policy and systemic improvements including those related to budgetary allocation.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2016.