January 01, 2019

In this issue:

1. International News 1

2. Local News 2

3. Dastak CRU News 3-5

4. Child Rights in Media 6

5. Important Links 7

Dear Readers,

Wishing you all a very happy new year!

2018 was a busy year for the Dastak Child

Rights Unit. Throughout the year we worked

tirelessly facilitating information-sharing,

building capacity, raising awareness,

promoting child rights, enhancing reach

and impact, and expanding our network.

CRU‟s work ranged from working for the

rights of children in conflict with law, those

living in alternative care homes and victims

of abuse and neglect. A social learning

program was implemented in different

juvenile prisons in Punjab in collaboration

with the Inspectorate of Prisons Punjab. We

also revived the Children Association (CA)

which is a platform for children from

different parts of the country to learn and

advocate about their rights.

The first activity of the new CA was the

running an Environmental campaign

“Chotay Qadam Saaf Watan”. CRU

worked with more than 300 children from

different schools, promoting their right to

participation and their right to a healthy

and clean environment.

Lawyers were trained on international

and domestic juvenile justice laws. 2018‟s

community awareness programs

focused on the rights of the girl child

particularly child marriage and over 150

people in communities of Lahore and

Kasur were sensitized on the issue.

Overall, this year did not fare well for

child rights in Pakistan. From famine in

Tharparkar to forced child marriages in

interior Sindh, children faced immense

suffering and human rights violations.

Pakistan lagged behind in most of its

national and international commitments

to protecting its children.

In this newsletter, we will be sharing some

of our achievements for 2018 and how

child rights fared overall in the country

and globally. We will try to focus on the

developments so that we can build on

them in 2019.

We look forward to a productive 2019.

We would also like to take this

opportunity thank all our partners and

supporters!

Dastak Child Rights Unit

Child Rights E-Newsletter 2018

International News 1

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım declared 2018 as the

year to act against child labor. Unofficial estimates are

that almost 2 million children are currently subjected to

child labor in Turkey, most of them unregistered and in

non-secure jobs.

A national program covering 2017 to 2023 to act

against child labor had been prepared in coordination

with Labor and Social Security Ministry. The program will

aim to develop fundamental strategies and activities to

prevent child labor and set timelines for activities to be

carried out by cooperating with institutions and

organizations. The program will also try to build social

awareness of the plight of child laborers and the

government will provide all types of support and

assistance to public institutions.

Source: Daily Sabah

Turkey Declares 2018 ‘Year of the Battle against

Child Labor’

More than 260 million children worldwide are out of

school, yet more than half of those in education are not

learning, the World Bank has warned.

The global push to ensure free primary and secondary

education by 2030 has helped fuel a “trade-off of

quality for quantity”, whereby children are spending

several years in school yet remain unable to read, write

or do basic sums according to Jaime Saavedra, who

leads the global education practice at the bank.

Poor countries urged to increase domestic spending on

education as World Bank sounds alarm bell over

„learning crisis‟. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/global-

development/2018/feb/02/hundreds-of-millions-of-children-in-school-

but-not-learning-world-bank

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2019/01/22/pass-

or-fail-how-can-the-world-do-its-homework

Global Pledges on Child Rights

UNICEF GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF CHILD

MARRIAGE 2018

Following the validation of several large

scale national surveys in early 2018

The global number of child brides is now

estimated at 650 million.

12 million girls

married in childhood each year,

according to the latest prevalence and

population figures.

10 October 2018: UN General Assembly Third

Committee speakers declared children‟s

wellbeing „a distant dream‟ without

renewed respect for their rights, notably

protection. Major issues raised by the

delegates that were impacting child rights

today included cyber bullying child marriage,

corporal punishment, children’s voices in

policymaking and children in conflict situation

(Iraq).

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's Ambassador to the

United Nations, said achievement of the goals

set during the 1990 World Summit for Children

remains a distant dream. Children living in

areas affected by conflict and foreign

occupation are more at risk than ever.

Pakistan has established a National

Commission for Child Welfare and

Development to assess and promote children‟s

rights. In February, Parliament unanimously

adopted a child protection bill, envisaging the

establishment of national bodies to protect

children from abuse, maltreatment, neglect

and other forms of violence.

Source:

https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/gashc4232.doc.htm

Births of around one fourth of children under

the age of five worldwide have never been

recorded. This means that a child is unable

to obtain a birth certificate. As a result, he

or she may be denied health care or

education. In the long run, it can mean that

a child may enter into marriage or be

employed, before the legal age. In Pakistan

the BR rate stands at 34 percent. Source: UNCEF Birth Registration Data December 2017

1 in 4 Births not Registered Globally

The Education Crisis:

Being in School Is Not the Same as Learning (World Bank)

Universal Children’s Day 2018: UNICEF

Announces Youngest Goodwill

Ambassador

A popular American science-fiction

television series star Millie Bobby Brown,

14, was named as the United Nations

Children's Fund‟s (UNICEF) newest and

youngest ever goodwill ambassador.

“It‟s a dream come true to become a

UNICEF goodwill ambassador." the

young actress said. "It‟s a huge honor

to join such an impressive list of people

who have supported UNICEF over the

years.”

Source: https://www.unicef.org/rosa/press-

releases/millie-bobby-brown-named-unicefs-

youngest-ever-goodwill-ambassador

Local News 2

The report quoting newspaper

articles stated that the major crime

categories of the reported cases

from the first half of 2018 are

abduction (542), sodomy (381), rape

(360), missing children (236), attempt

of rape (224), gang sodomy (167),

attempt of sodomy (112), gang

rape (92) and 53 cases of child

marriages.

The data also revealed that children

in the age brackets of 6-10 and 11-

15 are most vulnerable to abuse

Source: Express Tribune

Child Sexual Abuse Cases Surge in 2018 In Pakistan

On May 18 2018, the President

of Pakistan approved the

Juvenile Justice System Act

(JJSA) 2018, which was passed

by the Parliament earlier this

year. JJSA 2018 overcomes the

shortcomings which were

present in Juvenile Justice

System Ordinance 2000, and

strengthens the criminal justice

and social reintegration for

juvenile offenders.

Source: Daily Times

At the launch of Society for the

Protection of the Rights of the

Child‟s (SPARC) Annual Report,

the State of Pakistan‟s Children

– 2017, it was reported that 22.6

million children of Pakistan are

out of school at present

whereas the budgetary

allocation for education is total

2.5 percent of the total Gross

Domestic Product of Pakistan.

Source: Daily Times

22.6 Million Children are Out of School in Pakistan

The Lahore High Court ordered the

Punjab government to implement the

Domestic Workers Bill, 2018, which

criminalizes the employment of

children under the age of 15 as

domestic help.

Additionally, this new legislature states

that the domestic workforce shall not

work over the mandatory eight hours

a day, except out of free will, or be

paid overtime for their labor. It

enforces employers to provide a

„dignified‟ work environment, keeping

in mind workers‟ health and safety

concerns. It forbids the use of the

word „servant‟ as a reference to

domestic staff.

The Juvenile Justice System Act of 2018

The total count of polio

cases in the country

reached nine in 2018.

The official website of the

polio programme shows

that in 2018 as many as

three cases each were

reported from tribal

districts of Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa and

Balochistan. Two cases

were reported from KP

and one from Sindh. No

polio case was reported

from Punjab, Islamabad,

Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad

Jammu and Kashmir in

2018.

Source:

http://www.endpolio.com.pk/

Pakistan executed Imran Ali, the man

convicted of the killing a six-year-old

girl in a murder that sparked outrage

around the world earlier this year.

The body of six-year-old Zainab Ansari

was found in a garbage dump in

Kasur, Pakistan in January, days after

her parents reported her missing.

Police said she had been raped and

strangled.

Ali, 24, was arrested in January after

confessing to the crime. His DNA was

also found at the scene according to

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Zainab‟s case was the latest among a

spate of attacks and abductions

targeting children in the city of Kasur,

outside of Lahore. Police had

recorded 12 child murders in the city in

two years, which they believed to be

linked, according to the BBC. Ali was

later convicted of similar crimes

against six other girls.

Zainab Ansari: A Six Year Old Girl Raped and Murdered

9 Cases of Polio Found in

Pakistan

Hayat Khan paints portraits of

school-going girls on trucks

with messages against child

marriages and promotes girl‟s

education. Renowned

activist Samar Minallah

assigned Hayat Khan to paint

portraits of school-going girls

on trucks with the message,

Education is Power and

Education is Light in Urdu.

A Truck Artist Promoting Girl’s Education

SINDH GOVERNMENT

ESTABLISHES CHILD HELPLINE 1121

Sindh government, assisted by Pakistan

Telecommunication Authority, has

established a 24/7 helpline for children,

1121, that aims to provide them with

social safety. It is hoped that it will be

able to put a check on incidents of rape,

child marriages, kidnapping and

disappearances and bring the involved

parties into the net of law.

Punjab Government Passed the

Domestic Workers Bill, 2018

Dastak CRU News 3

18 December 2018: Dastak CRU conducted a celebratory event to commemorate Universal

Children's Day in Lahore on December 18, 2018 at Alhamra Cultural Complex. CRU has been

holding these events for the past many years to facilitate and support activities to advance

children‟s right to participation and create an interactive atmosphere conducive to children freely

expressing themselves. The event was attended by over 300 children from eleven different schools

and institutions of of Punjab. The schools and alternative care institutions in attendance included

Najaf Grammar School, Lahore, Lahore Education Society Lahore, Bali Memorial Trust School Lahore,

SOS Herman Gmeiner School Lahore, SOS Villages of Faisalabad, Sargodha, Sialkot, Multan, Pakistan

Society for Rehabilitation for the Disabled (PSRD), Bunyad Foundation and Dastak Informal School.

Art work created by residents of SOS during the art competitions held at their institutions by the CRU

was exhibited at the event. The performances included national songs, plays on social issues such as

child abuse, child marriages and child labor. Information on an environmental issues run by CA

members was also shared with audience. There was a special performance by Lal Band for children.

A Annual Event for Children 2018

Dastak CRU organized street theatre in Lahore. Performing arts is

an extremely effective way to engage people and strongly

convey a social message.

A group of your theatre actors presented a story of a family of

two - a young girl, 13, and her father living a village. The father

forcibly marries her to an influential person from the village to

settle a debt. The girl performs a thought-provoking monologue

in which she explains her plight and of hundreds of other girls who

have the same fate as her.

The play aimed to show to the community that marriage is not a

solution to a problem. It is matter of responsibility which requires

mental and physical

Street Theatre: Raising Awareness in Communities

Posters on Child Marriage and Child Domestic Labor

Dastak CRU Organizes Provincial Consultations in Sindh and Balochistan – Child Rights Agenda 2018

Dastak Child Rights Unit organized provincial consultations on 24

April 2018 in Karachi, Sindh and in Balochistan on 17 August 2018.

The aim of the consultations was to frame an effective action

plan at the provincial level for the elimination of four core issues:

Child domestic labor, child sexual abuse and commercial

exploitation, corporal punishment and child marriages

Different stakeholders and members of the community were

brought together to build a province-wide campaign on these

core issues and to ensure that the best interest of the child

becomes a predominant factor in all policies of the state.

Chotay Qadam Saaf Watan – Children Association Campaign on Environmental Rights 2018

In 2018, Dastak CRU started an Environmental Campaign “Chotay Qadam Saaf Watan” with

members of Children Association. The main objective of this campaign was to raise awareness

regarding environmental issues in Pakistan and motivate children to stand up for a cleaner Pakistan.

Every child is entitled to a clean and healthy environment and this campaign was aimed at

promoting this right and educating children on how to participate and contribute to matters

affecting them.

The campaign goals:

The Sindh cabinet banned the use of polythene and plastic

bags in the province in November 2018 which set an

excellent precedent for other provinces to emulate. CA

members will use the Sabz Bag experience to advocate for

the prohibition of plastic bags in Punjab and to promote such

a ban in Punjab.

The Sabz Bag is made

from durable uncolored

fabric which could

carry up to 10 kilograms

weight. The Bag comes

with four small pouches

to separately carry

different kinds of items.

Goal 2: Tree Plantation Drive

Children started a tree plantation drive in their schools. Different

schools volunteered space inside the school premises where

children planted trees. Over 50 trees were planted by the

members in their schools.

Goal 1: Reducing the Use of Plastic Bags - Introducing the Sabz

Bag (Reusable Bag)

The children designed and prepared reusable cloth bags and

distributed them in their communities. They took the Sabz bag to

different markets, vendors and raised awareness about the

elimination of plastic bags. Children recorded small videos sharing

the benefits of the Sabz bag and their experience of promoting it

on their streets.

Sindh Bans Polythene Bags

Dastak CRU News 4

Dastak CRU Promoting Child Rights in Schools of Lahore

A series of orientation sessions were organized in all CA members‟

schools. During these sessions children were informed about their rights

enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Children and

Constitution of Pakistan and given practical examples of how these

rights come into play.

Highlights from Talent Shows around Punjab 2018 – (Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Multan)

Discovering Talent

A series of competitions were organized in four different SOS

children homes of Punjab and winners were given a chance

to showcase their talent at the CRU‟s Annual Event 2018 in

Lahore. The objectives of these activities were to:

- Promote inclusiveness

- Give access to equal opportunities

- Provide platforms for self-expression, talent and creativity - Be recognized 80+ children from these intuitions participated in the

competitions and nearly 300 children attended these

activities as audience.

Such collective activities are known to increase self-

confidence and motivate children to nurture their talents.

Dastak CRU News 5

Child Rights in Media 6

Human Rights Watch: Pakistan Girls Deprived of Education

12 November 2018 - Human

Rights Watch Pakistan

captures in this video the

situation of girls‟ education

in the country.

It shows the story of Shazia

Ishaq, a teacher and

founder of school where

she gives free education to

children in Lyari, Karachi

since 2014.

Human Rights Watch

lawyer in Pakistan Saroop

Ijaz also talks about the

barriers to girls‟ education

in Pakistan.

Watch here:

https://youtu.be/MMv0pAzDKyU

Lahore International Children’s Film Festival 2018

The Little Art, non-profit arts education organization,

organized the 10th Lahore International Children‟s Film

Festival in Lahore, Karachi, Jamshoro and Faisalabad,

The festival showcased 72 films presented from 29

countries including Afghanistan, Antigua, Australia,

Argentina, Bermuda, Bangladesh, Canada, Czech

Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana,

India, Iran, Italy, Jordan, Netherlands, Pakistan,

Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain,

Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and

United States of America.

Children from the different strata of society were

invited to watch the films.

These diverse range of films, that included all genres

like animation, fiction, short and feature films, and

documentaries, revolved around issues related to

education, creativity, relationships, values, dreams,

our environment etc., a selection of films made by

children themselves and even films made by young

children of Pakistan.

Source: http://lahorechildrenfilm.com/festival/seasons-report-10th-

lahore-international-childrens-film-festival-2018

What Adults can Learn from Kids

A TED talk by Adora Svitak says the

world needs "childish" thinking: bold

ideas, wild creativity and especially

optimism and that grownups'

should be willing to learn from kids

in addition to teaching them. Source:

https://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak?refe

rrer=playlist-ted_under_20

Documentary - Voices of Children Invisiable Hands – Exposing Global Child Labor and Child Trafficking

The film Voice of Children provides insight

into the words and actions of young

children in four languages in eight diverse

sites in Brazil, India, Kenya, Singapore,

and the United States. The film also

expands on the UN Convention on the

Rights of the Child by advocating for a

more inclusive and participatory view of

children‟s rights from the perspective of

the children themselves.

Watch the film here:

https://worldforumfoundation.org/workin

ggroups/childrens-rights/voc-

documentary/

Source:

https://www.childinthecity.org/2018/12/10/new-

documentary-on-childrens-perspectives-on-their-

rights/

Invisible Hands is the first feature documentary on

child labor and child trafficking. It is directed and

produced by Shraysi Tandon and released on 23

November 2018.

Synopsis:

The documentary exposes child labor and

trafficking within the supply chains of the world‟s

biggest corporations, which produce some of our

most loved items.

Filmed across six countries, the documentary

offers a harrowing account of children as young

as five years old making the products we buy

and consume every day.

Chilling undercover footage shows children

being sold like animals to the highest bidder and

others being abused by this pervasive slave

labor.

The film digs deep into a modern slavery system

quietly supported by some of the world‟s largest

companies, demanding to know why top

stakeholders continue to engage in this unlawful

and deadly practice.

Source: http://www.invisiblehandsmovie.com

Child Rights E-Newsletter 2018

Dastak Child Rights Unit Phone: 00 92 42 3529 4834-35,

00 92 333 4169696

Fax: 00 92 42 3529 4836

Website: www.dastak.org.pk

Email: cru@dastak.org.pk

Child Protection Useful Numbers

Punjab Child Helpline 042-1121

Sindh Child Helpline 021-1121

Madadgar National Helpline 1098

Sahil Child Abuse Counseling Toll Free # 0800-13518

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan 042 35864994

Chief Provincial Commissioner for Children (Punjab) 042 99212425

SOS Children‟s Homes, National Office, Lahore 042 35918035

Child Rights Resources and Reports

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

UNICEF - The State of World’s Children 2017

https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_101992.html

SPARC State of Children in Pakistan 2017

http://www.sparcpk.org/2015/SOPC2017.html

HRCP State of Human Rights in Pakistan

Rights of the Disadvantaged – Children (Pg 77)

http://hrcp-web.org/publication/book/state-of-human-rights-in-2017/

UNICEF Press Center

https://www.unicef.org/media/press-centre

World Risk Report 2018 Focusing on Child Protection and Child Rights

https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WorldRiskReport-2018.pdf

Girls Not Brides

A global partnership of more than 1000 civil society organisations committed to ending

child marriage

https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/

Human Rights Watch Pakistan

https://www.hrw.org/asia/pakistan

Important Links 7