Protecting our children

The world had long ago recognised the rights of children and young persons. The very first article of the first Declaration on the Rights of the Child, drafted by Eglantyne Jebb and endorsed by the League of Nations, stipulated: “Mankind owes to the child the best that he has to give… the child must be given the means needed for his normal development, both materially and spiritually”.

These fundamental rights and principles for protection of children have since been set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Quite apart from Pakistan’s international legal obligations, under these instruments, the State of Pakistan, its Government, Judiciary and society as a whole, has a moral duty, as a civilised people, to ensure promotion of these guaranteed child rights, and give full and assured protection to its child citizens from any abuse and harm. Under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan too, the Government is required to safeguard the physical, economic, cultural and social well-being of its children. In fact, Article 11 specifically states that all forms of forced labour and traffic in human beings are prohibited while Article 35 provides that the state “shall protect… the child”.

Yet, sadly the ground realities present a different picture. The Tayyaba case, where a girl child was inducted as domestic help and then physically abused in a most horrific manner, allegedly by the wife of a judge, has once again brought to light the rampant evil practice of young, school-going children being forced into domestic slavery. The manner in which an attempt was made to hush up the crime by some members of the judiciary requires a separate investigation. The crimes that have been charged all carry minor punishments and are bailable. There is no specific law in fact which specifically treats such domestic violence against children as a heinous crime. Many reports and surveys by various NGOs operating within the country suggest the prevalence of similar violence against children in Pakistan, including sexual abuse at home and forced labour, whilst also stating that there are no adequate checks against the same.

Grossly inadequate safeguards for the protection of juvenile offenders within the jails of Pakistan, too, are an example of the sorry plight of children. Pakistan has even failed to meet its target, set under the Millennium Development Goals, Goal 2, to achieve universal primary education. The State of Pakistan’s Children 2014, a report released by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, recorded over 70,000 cases of violence against children in 2014. According to estimates of the ILO, Unicef and the Child Rights Movement, there are 12 million, 10 million and 9.89 million child workers in the country. Street children and children with disabilities are another serious concern that have not been addressed.

One of the reasons for the massive failure of successive governments, in protecting our children, lies in the fact that we do not want to believe that the menace of child abuse and violence against children exists in our midst. Issues of child rights or exploitation of children are brushed under the carpet in Pakistan: family members and neighbours do not complain, and there is discomfort and a general reluctance to acknowledge the existence of such problems, let alone work towards resolving them.

Laws are useless if not implemented, and one cannot implement laws unless there is a high degree of understanding and acceptance on the part of the citizenry that there exists a social evil and that they must begin from their own homes to redress it. Indeed there can be no solution without acknowledging the problem. Awareness is a first step towards identifying a solution to a problem, followed by criminalising the act, not only in law but also in the minds of the people, to an extent where they look down upon others violating the law. Apart from the Executive and Judiciary, it is the media and civil society that have a key role to play in shaping the narrative against exploitation of children. One such illustration of the powerful and constructive role the media can play in this situation can be seen through the example of Udaari, a pioneer artistic effort to open up discussion on child sexual abuse through the medium of television.

Now that the Supreme Court has taken suo-motu notice of the Tayyaba case, from the perspective of the children of Pakistan, this is a golden opportunity to bring the broader social issue i.e. hiring children as domestic help and the social evil of child exploitation, whether mental, social or economic, to the forefront. The Supreme Court has a duty under the Constitution to enforce fundamental rights and I am sure it will play its due role. It is hoped that the Supreme Court will not only ensure collection of data and statistics on the violation of child rights, but also call upon the Federal and Provincial Governments to provide details of what is intended to be done to redress any violations. This is the time that the Supreme Court can galvanise the state machinery to conduct gap analysis, identify vacuums and legal lacunae that allow for these exploitative practices to go unpunished and to suggest ways and means on how effective measures can be taken. At this juncture, the role of Federal and Provincial Governments, as well as Parliament, must not be of an adversarial nature but rather all institutions should work in cohesion with each other for public interest. A monitoring cell should be set up, with the aid of Governments, NGOs and civil society to engage in developing understanding of the importance of the CRC and ICESCR.

The practical problem in tackling this social evil of domestic slavery of children is that this practice is largely perceived as normal and necessary. Many who employ children in their homes actually argue that they are rescuing these children’s families from extreme poverty by making underage children breadwinners. Others suggest that there is an element of benefit surrounding the hiring of domestic help i.e., that these children employed by them are also being educated and groomed. This reasoning points to the underlying and unresolved issue of poverty — many of these children belong to extremely poor families and have no source of livelihood apart from being engaged in this kind of employment.

The ultimate responsibility, therefore, falls on the Government. We are fortunate that there is an example of how the matter of poverty can be addressed. In order to tackle the plight of the children who were forced to work with their parents in brick kilns, the Provincial Assembly of Punjab passed the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2014, and the Chief Minister made it part and parcel of its mandate to personally monitor and ensure that children from brick kilns were sent to schools instead of being sent to work. Each family was then monetarily compensated while all transportation, school supplies and even the children’s uniforms were paid for by the Government of Punjab. This has proved effective. There is also the Employment of Children Act 1991 which, if specifically enforced or improved, can outlaw the hiring of children as domestic help

Kofi Annan aptly stated: “There is no trust more sacred than one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace”. It is aptly stated that if our society fails a child, it fails us all. I hope that the Tayyaba case will be a turning point. Tayabba has suffered, but let us ensure that her suffering does not go in vain.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2017.

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