Asia Times: New hope for children on death row


	April 18, 2000	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

New hope for children on death row
By Muddassir Rizvi

ISLAMABAD - Some 50 children on death row may be the immediate beneficiaries of Pakistan's military government's plan to reform the obsolete juvenile justice system to bring it in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The federal cabinet has already approved a set of recommendations forwarded by the social welfare ministry to improve juvenile laws that have drawn concern from domestic and international human rights organizations. ''We hope the president will promulgate the bill into an ordinance in the last week of April,'' said Shahid Masood, senior bureaucrat and ministry spokesperson.

Once in place the new law would ban the death penalty, whipping and the use of handcuffs and fetters on children - all longstanding demands of rights groups. Juvenile courts are also to be set up by the provincial governments augmenting the grossly inadequate existing ones at Karachi in southern Sindh and Sahiwal in eastern Punjab.

The Lahore-based Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and other child rights groups expect that once capital punishment for children is made illegal there would be automatic relief for children currently facing the death penalty - including a 14-year-old languishing in Bahawalpur Jail.

But there are other interpretations to how the new law will apply with government officials saying changes cannot be applied retrospectively. ''No law can be retrospective. But a reviewing judge would certainly take a compassionate view of the situation.'' said Masood.

An official of the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) said the fact was that nobody below the age of 18 years has ever been executed in Pakistan.

Many of the proposed changes in the juvenile laws were put forward in the Child Offender Bill moved in the senate while the government of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif was in power. The bill was still pending when the senate was suspended as a result of the military coup on October 12 last year. After the military take-over, the NCCWD moved to make revisions to the bill including redefining ''child'' to cover again anyone below 18 rather than 16 years of age.

''The name of the bill has also been changed to the Juvenile Justice System Bill, which is more appropriate and suitable,'' the official said. He added that the bill would be in line with Pakistan's obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including those specified under Age of Definition, Juvenile Justice and Best Interests of the Child.

''Pakistan accorded high priority to the programs for the survival, protection and development of children and making efforts to ensure that no child is subjected to torture, cruel treatment, unlawful arrest and deprived of liberty as enunciated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Pakistan is a signatory,'' the official said.

While officials claim that the juvenile justice system was being reformed after a consultative process, major child rights groups in the country claim that they have not been involved in the review process. ''We haven't seen the proposed bill, so I really can't comment on whether the changes are sufficient or not,'' said Anushay Hussain, who heads Sahil, an Islamabad-based group dealing with child rights.

The HRCP said they were consulted several years ago when the then government was preparing an initial draft, but complained that the recent changes had not been shared with them. ''At that time we put forward an alternative draft as the government draft just didn' t go far enough,'' said Aziz Siddiqui, Director of HRCP.

''We aren't aware of the specific changes being proposed, but we would welcome reforms provided they go far enough to protect the interests of the child. We would be pleased for example if the age defining ''child'' is below 18 years.''

Siddiqui said children should be taken into custody only as a last resort and that there should be separate courts to handle their cases. ''There should be proper hostels for when custody is necessary; children shouldn't be in jails. Every attempt should be made for rehabilitation. And there should definitely not be capital punishment for anyone under 18 years of age,'' he said.

Currently, more than 4,000 children are languishing in jails throughout the country. Most of the young prisoners are kept in adult jails since the two special prisons for children in Karachi and Bahawalpur are inadequate.

Most young offenders are in for minor offenses but face tremendous hardships in jails and are routinely abused by adult inmates, prison guards and other authorities.

Other important concerns include the age of criminal responsibility - which rights groups want raised from seven to 15 years - and emphasis on education and training rather than detention and retribution.

(Inter Press Service)

back to the top

�1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.

asian sex gazette