ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Friday unanimously approved the Juvenile Justice System (Amendment) Bill 2021, the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Protection (Amendment) Bill 2021 and the National Commission on the Rights of the Child (Amendment) Bill 2021 after a few amendments.

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights about the nature of the amendments that were minor and introduced to replace the word “government” with “concerned department” in order to avoid delays and bring clarity. She said these amendments would ensure timeliness as issues would be dealt by the ministry concerned rather than the cabinet.

Headed by Senator Walid Iqbal, senior officers of the Ministry of Human Rights along with its attached departments and agencies were part of the proceedings.

The agenda of the meeting also entailed consideration of the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill 2021. All the bills were presented in the Senate on November 19, 2021, and referred to the committee.

Taking up the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill, members of the committee stressed the need for a detailed deliberation that would entail spending more time on the reviewing the drafted law.

The members asserted that there were numerous loopholes in the legislation that would have to be carefully addressed.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Walid Iqbal, recommended that women rights groups and other human rights organisations should be consulted.

The committee decided to conduct a public hearing on December 6.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2021