LAHORE: The Children Advocacy Network (CAN) has condemned torture and abuse of child domestic workers in Punjab and urged the chief minister to ban child domestic labour in the province.

In a statement issued on Thursday, CAN spokesperson Rashida Qureshi said torture of 10-year-old Ansara by her employers on Jan 27 and torture of 15-year-old Shakeela on Jan 28 by her employers in Lahore were the only cases highlighted in the media.

“Otherwise, every third and fourth house in posh areas in Punjab have child domestic workers, who are abused, raped, sodomised, exploited, tortured and even are murdered but federal and Punjab governments have not come up with necessary legal, administrative, financial and other measures to prevent and respond to this kind of violence in the province,” she said.

She said employment of children in households was also totally against the spirit of Article 25-A of the Constitution, and the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2014 which emphasised and guaranteed free and compulsory education to children from 5 to 16 years of age. The slave children are not only deprived of right to education but of the right to health services, right to survival, right to food, right to proper care, right to development, right to have friends, right to play, right to enjoy free time and right to protection from abuse, violence and exploitation. She urged the government for immediate ban on child domestic labour in the province by issuing a notification under the Schedule of Banned Occupation given in the Employment of Children (Amendment) Act, 2011, Punjab.

SHELTERS: Participants in a provincial advocacy forum said the Punjab government must implement its women empowerment package allocating considerable funds for the shelters or Darul Amans.

The discussion titled “Effective Citizenship and Responsive Governance: Pro-Woman Laws and Implementations” was organised here at a local hotel by SAP-Pakistan on Thursday.

SAP Deputy Director Irfan Mufti said there was taboo on women living in shelter homes. He said the government needed to remove such impressions of women shelters. He expressed deep concerns over the pathetic situation of the women they faced at homes and in protection institutes in Punjab due to gaps in the implementation of procedures and mechanism of governance.

SAP Coordinator Sultan Mahmood presented a research study on pro-women laws and implementation gaps in protection institutions at district level. Yousaf Araeen, Muzzafagarh Darul Aman in charge, gave an overview of women’s social safety net and responsiveness of legal services.

Regional Director of the Ministry of Human Rights Lubna Manzoor said women protection was a very sensitive but due to the criminal negligence of their families, society and gaps in the implementation of pro-women laws and policies, women were suffering everywhere in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2015

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