NA committee approves two bills on child rights

Islamabad :National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights on Tuesday approved two government bills on child rights titled ‘The Islamabad Capital Territory Child Protection Bill 2017’ and ‘The Juvenile Justice System Bill, 2017’.

The committee meeting chaired by Member National Assembly (MNA) Baber Nawaz Khan discussed in detail the basic purpose and amendments introduced through new legislations. The committee was informed that Child Protection law has already been passed in Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan Assemblies. The parliamentarians said that implementation of the law is still a challenge in provinces where the legislation has been passed. They hope that the federal government would be able to implement the law in letter and spirit.

Officials of Ministry of Human Rights told the committee that almost 1.5 million children are on the streets in Pakistan. They said that the Ministry of Human Rights runs National Child Protection Centre (NCPC) where such children are brought by the law enforcers but they don’t have powers to take custody of such children. “The new law gives these powers to Child Protection Officer,” said Director General Ministry of Human Rights Muhammad Hassan Mangi. “Until the child protection officer has the rights of custody, the Child Rights Protection Bill cannot be implemented in later and spirit,” he added.

Talking about a few amendments in the proposed legislation, the legal expert from Ministry of Human Rights Advocate Sharafat A Chaudhry said that the term ‘child domestic labour’ has been added to the definition of ‘child in need.’ In addition, the Advisory Board, to be constituted under the new law, would have the powers to give license to any civil society organizations to run child protection centres.

Sharafat A Chaudhry briefed the parliamentarians about the ‘The Juvenile Justice System Bill, 2017’. The bill which defines less than 18 years old as a child, introduces the concepts of rehabilitation and diversion to informal justice system where the children will be provided with academic training and counselling to make them a responsible citizen rather than turning them into criminals. 

While discussing the issue of Tarbela Dam affectees, the NA body directed WAPDA to produce complete record of land distribution and compensation to those displaced by the construction of dams.

Giving the details of murder of Bakhshish Elahi, Journalist Haripur, District Police Officer Haripur, Shahzad Nadeem briefed the committee about the progress so far. He said that the police are looking at this case through all angles. He said that the murderers will be taken to justice no matter how influential they are.

Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/214447-NA-committee-approves-two-bills-on-child-rights