Pakistan has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Moreover, the country has adopted the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) 2000, which, for example, says that children should face trial in special youth courts, receive free legal aid and, if convicted, be held at special youth care facilities.
The ordinance also forbids the use of the death penalty for people under the age of 18.
Thousands of child prisoners
The problem is that the ordinance has not reached the grass roots of the country’s legal system, which means that thousands of children are still held in prisons in the most difficult conditions imaginable.
For many, crowded conditions, violence and malnutrition are part of everyday life. A significant number of the children have not even been sentenced, but are in prison awaiting trial, according to Mehmood Asgar, head of Save the Children’s Pakistan office.
“The authorities have no system for rolling out changes in legislation to courts, the police and lawyers,” says Mehmood Asgar.
Offering schooling and sport
That’s why Save the Children has chosen to fund and participate in the Juvenile Justice Network. Its aims include improving conditions for child prisoners, for example by offering them schooling, computer training and recreation in the form of reading and sporting activities.
Another part of the project involves educating the police, prison staff and the judiciary about children’s rights.
One of the networks most important aims is for all the country’s provinces to apply the new ordinance.
”It will work eventually,” says Mehmood Asgar. “It’s just a matter of time.”
