World Orphans Day
This writer is the former editor of The Express Tribune and can be reached @Tribunian
World Orphans Day, which falls on the second Monday of each November, is a time to remember the millions of children all over the world who have become orphaned for many reasons: war, famine, displacement, disease or poverty. According to a Unicef report, Pakistan is home to 4.2 million orphaned children. Many of these children live on the streets. It is believed that Karachi is home to Pakistan’s biggest community of street children — tens of thousands of victims of domestic violence and broken homes as well as drugs and crime. It is also estimated that more than 170,000 street children live on the streets across the country. The challenge for the government is to try and address their needs. In this it has so far miserably failed.
According to charities which work to protect street children in Pakistan, up to 90 per cent are sexually abused on the first night that they sleep rough and 60 per cent accuse police of sexually abusing them. Illiterate, uneducated and most without family, the children can grow into seasoned criminals, drug addicts or fall prey to militancy. It gets worse. About 3.3 million of Pakistani children are trapped in child labour, depriving them of their childhood, their health and education, and condemning them to a life of poverty and want.
We all know that children in Pakistan are vulnerable to many forms of violence (physical, psychological, sexual) and exploitation, including economic exploitation and child trafficking. Nearly 30 years after Pakistan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), no public coordinated child protection case management and referral system, as aligned with international standards, has been established by the state. What is more worrisome is that only 34% of children under five are registered at birth nationally. This means that most children do not have the necessary documentation needed to address their basic needs.
Birth registration is a fundamental right of all children as legal proof of a child’s existence and identity. As an accurate record of age, it can help prevent child labour and child marriage, and protect children from being treated as adults by the justice system. But the system is faulted and as a result, most street children do not get themselves registered. This deprives them of work or other benefits.
Overall, Pakistan has more than 80 million children. It is struggling to fulfil their needs. This makes it crucial for interventions and policies to champion the rights of children efficiently. We need to understand that only 20 per cent of children live in urban areas and have access to some kind of basic facilities. Children who live in rural areas are usually deprived of various resources such as clean water and food, education, and health services.
For those who want to help orphans, particularly street children, there are few options. To begin with, the government should make it easy for these children to be registered regardless of the fact that the details of their parents may be unknown. More work should also be done in collaboration with various NGOs who are doing tremendous work in addressing the needs of these street children, including their personal safety.
Finally, the process of adopting orphans has to be made easier. The current adoption process in Pakistan, as it stands, discourages the taking in of orphans. They are usually left to the mercy of the state, or private charities. Adoptive parents are only recognised as legal guardians and not as parents, which raises complications when obtaining identification papers from NADRA. This becomes even more complicated in cases where the identity of biological parents is unknown. The rights of adopted children are not clearly defined by law either. An adopted child has no legal right to inherit property and whatever financial security is provided is heavily dependent on the discretion and foresight of adoptive parents.
Due to social taboos and religious beliefs, blood relations are always a priority. Many parents often resort to presenting their adopted children as their biological offspring to avoid social stigma. If this problem can be remedied by law, so that parents who adopt know the state clearly supports adoptions, and the child is also legally considered their heir, the number of unattended children will fall. We need to work to help these children. We cannot continue ignoring them.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2021.
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