|
|
|
| October 27, 2003 | Monday | Sha’aban 30, 1424 |
AI urges govt to implement laws: Juvenile justice system
PESHAWAR, Oct 26: The Amnesty International has expressed concern over the non-implementation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) 2000 and has urged the government to ensure that the law was applied to all the relevant courts in the country.
The international human rights body asked the Pakistan government to protect the basic rights of the children in conflict with the law in the federally and provincially administered tribal areas by extending the JJSO to these areas.
Around 4,500 children are currently in detention in Pakistan. More than 3,000 of them have not been convicted of any offence; their trials have either still yet to start or have not yet been completed, Amnesty International said in its latest report released on Oct 23 on the treatment of children by the justice system in Pakistan.
“Children can sometimes spend several months or even years in detention simply because their families cannot afford to pay their bail. Once they eventually get to trial, conviction rates are as low as 15 to 20 per cent,” the AI said.
Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and introduced domestic measures, such as the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) which came into force in 2000, as part of efforts to fulfil the obligation to protect the rights of the children who come in contact with the law.
“However, a widespread lack of awareness and failure to implement these measures means that the rights of children in police custody or prison in Pakistan are often neglected,” it added.
The JJSO does not allow a court to hear children and adult cases on the same day but this happens regularly. This results in children, including first-time offenders, being transported and held in lock-ups with adults where they are at risk of abuse in violation of the law.
The AI pointed out that the handing down of the death penalty to children is strictly prohibited by both the international human rights law and the JJSO, but children continue to be sentenced to death in Pakistan. The children whose ages are contested remain imprisoned with adults, sometimes on death row, until their age is clarified. According to government officials, in Punjab alone, there are over 300 cases where the age of the children is being contested.
Several children who had their death sentences commuted by President Musharraf during Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Khan’s visit to Pakistan in 2001 remain on death row because the family of the victim has questioned their claim to be children.
“All children who come into contact with the law are entitled to the same rights as adults as well as additional protective measures which take into account their particular vulnerability. Despite this, in Pakistan, children are often the victims of abuse or neglect by the very people who have responsibility for their welfare,” the AI emphasised.
The organization has asked the government to translate juvenile laws and the CRC in local languages and disseminate them widely besides ensuring that juvenile laws include a realistic age of criminal responsibility which takes into account the maturity of the child.
In line with the international standards, which state that children should only be detained as a matter of last resort and for the shortest possible time, the Government of Pakistan should develop non-custodial sentences aimed at rehabilitating juvenile offenders. Ensure that when children are remanded in custody, arrest and detention procedures are followed and that they are given immediate access to relatives, legal counsel and medical care, the Amnesty recommended.
The AI recommended that the government should ensure that the police fulfil their duty to immediately inform parents of the arrest of the child and that children are held in separate police and judicial lock-ups.
Other recommendations included: Protect children in custody from torture and ill-treatment, including rape and sexual abuse, whether by officials or other detainees; ensure that police officials inquire as to the age of any child; and, ensure that there is a systematic registration of all births in all parts of Pakistan including the tribal areas. The Amnesty recommended that the government should ensure that girls are suitably protected against discriminatory laws and practices by abolishing the Zina Ordinance which permits the imprisonment of girls (women) on the grounds of gender.
|
|
|
|
