PESHAWAR, June 19: The World Organization Against Torture, which is known by initials OMCT, has expressed concern over increasing violation of children's rights in tribal areas.

The OMCT, which is a network of 240 human rights organizations across the world, has asked the government to extend the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, to tribal areas of Pakistan.

The JJSO should be implemented in all parts of the country in line with Articles 37 and 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was ratified by Pakistan on Nov 12, 1990, said the OMCT in a press release.

The organization said it regularly received information from local NGOs on the violation of children's rights.

The JJSO was promulgated by the federal government in July 2000 to protect children's rights. The ordinance calls for a ban on labour during imprisonment, on corporal punishment in police custody, on arrest under preventive laws, on trial procedures, on the use of fetters and handcuffs and on death penalty for juveniles.

However, these measures have not been implemented. The JJSO is not applicable to tribal areas. Instead, the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), established by the colonial administration in 1901, applies to these areas.

The FCR gives wide discretionary powers to administrative and political agents and elders to administer justice according to Shariat and tribal custom.

The OMCT condemned any application of the FCR. It pointed out two recent cases; one relating to a 45-year imprisonment awarded to a juvenile offender and the other to the detention of 24 women and children under the FCR.