KARACHI, Jan 22: Large majority of juvenile prisoners in different jails of the country are in their late teens - most of them (98.9 per cent) are boys and only 13 girls. Dr Farah Iqbal, a senior researcher presenting her report on the issue of ‘Juvenile Justice’, as part of study conducted by the Unicef, further mentioned that 61 per cent of these juveniles belonged to poor families.

“Again 60 per cent of them had no schooling,” the researcher said giving details of the report also included in the UN Global Study on violence against children.

Dr Iqbal also referred to PAVHNA report showing 51 per cent of the street children with a criminal record of one time arrest.

These juvenile prisoners besides suffering from different medical conditions also were noticed afflicted with anxiety (67 per cent) and depression (55 per cent).

There were around 15,000 street children in Karachi, 14,000 in Lahore, 15,000 in Quetta and 5,000 in Peshawar, she informed

Referring to a coordinated report compiled by the Consortium for Street Children and AMAL Human Development Network on the Street Children Juvenile Justice in the country, she said most vulnerable age for leaving home was around seven to 12 years.

Reasons for leaving homes were cited to be multiple ranging from poverty (26 per cent), domestic violence (91.7 per cent) and parental attitude (13 per cent).

Basic source of income mentioned by them is car washing (40 per cent), garbage picking (23 per cent) and begging (11 per cent) - with an average income of Rs76 to Rs100 daily.

A large majority of the street children were said to have a criminal record (52 per cent). 31 per cent of them were arrested for theft and 29 per cent for drug addiction and some even without any established crime.

Respiratory infections were identified as the most common health problems among the street children.

“Almost all street children sniff glue in Karachi (95 per cent) with multiple substances like thinner or petrol and on an average spend Rs47 on such substances a day,” Dr Iqbal said adding that 63 per cent of these children also are frequently exploited or abused.

The researcher stressed the need for strong networking among all stakeholders including government officials, family, law implementing organisations, CBOs and NGOs.—APP