Ideals of human rights and socioeconomic realities: The larger context of Pakistan's child-protection policy

abstract

After 25 years of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, millions of children still have their fundamental rights violated every day. It is argued in this article that the realization of the rights of these children is heavily influenced by the socioeconomic context of their countries. Taking Pakistan's child protection policy as a case, the argument is built on primary data collected from in-depth interviews with policymakers. Data analysis revealed that the Pakistani policymakers do consider socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, as a causative factor for various child protection issues, and believe that an increased level of socioeconomic development would improve protection and well-being of all children in that country. However, they lacked an appreciation of the interdependent relationship between children's broader socioeconomic environment and their right to protection in terms of policy responses to various child protection issues.

Notes

1. The Bristol Study measures child poverty as deprivation of their basic rights to adequate nutrition, safe drinking water, decent sanitation facilities, good health, shelter, education, and information (Gordon et al. 2003).

2. The other two elements are the following: (a) a child's immediate environment, that is, these factors include a child's own characteristics and situation, such as, age, sex, literacy, caste or class, ethnicity, and emotional and physical maturity. These influences also include the characteristics and economic situation of their families, peers, teachers, and employers. Where this immediate environment is positive, it serves to mitigate risk, is protective and reduces children's vulnerability, even in situations of poverty and natural disasters; (b) the prevention and response system, that is, educating the public in the desired behavioral norms, enabling legislative and regulatory measures, and providing prevention and response services.

3. This fieldwork, January–August 2010, was carried out for the first author's PhD dissertation (2008–2012), submitted to the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and accepted the same year; the degree was awarded in 2013. Parts of the data analysis were included in a chapter in the first author's PhD thesis.

4. Rahimyar Khan is one of the poorest districts adjacent to Cholistan desert in southern Punjab, Pakistan. For a detailed account of the district Rahimyar Khan as a source of camel jockeys, see “Camel Jockeys of Rahimyar Khan: Findings of a Participatory Research on the Life and Situation of Child Camel Jockeys” (Save the Children, Sweden 2005).

5. Since General Zia's Islamization policy in the 1970s, there are separate schools for boys and girls in public sector education in Pakistan.

6. According to Greg Mortenson, more girls died than did boys due to their cultural orientation of purdah (staying covered and/or inside the walls), as they did not run out of collapsing buildings but rather tried to take shelter under furniture (2009: 156).

7. For a detailed review of labor laws in Pakistan, see Shafi and Shafi (2007).

8. The Pakistan Labour Protection Policy 2005 and Labour Inspection Policy 2006 propose to introduce a “labour extension service” to provide a range of advisory and information services to persons in the informal economy that, traditionally, have fallen outside the coverage of labor protection. However, this proposal has yet to be implemented.

9. According to the Islamic law of inheritance, a female child is entitled to half the share of a male child in her father's property, and the constitution of Pakistan provides for ownership of property by both men and women. However, big land-owning families do not approve of the division of land, especially when there is a chance that it would go outside of the immediate family. Either a woman's dowry is considered compensation for landed property or women forgo their share in favor of their brother as insurance for the future because, in the absence of formal protective measures, women generally turn to their parental home in time of need, for example, in the case of a bad marriage (Mumtaz and Nosherwani 2006).

10. It may be worth noting that a new law has been implemented in the province of Sindh — The Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013 — that makes the marriage of any child — either male or female — below the age of 16 a crime. Punjab is in the process of enacting a similar law. This is a step in perhaps the right direction as far as equality in the implementation of rights is concerned but could be argued that it again fails to address the basic socioeconomic problems that are prevalent in society.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tahira Jabeen

Notes on contributors

Tahira Jabeen joined the University of the Punjab in 1996 as a lecturer and is now working as an Assistant Professor. She has a PhD in social policy, focusing on “Child Protection Policy in Pakistan” (2008–2012) from the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. She has published scholarly articles in reputed national and international journals. Dr. Jabeen has worked as a research consultant and trainer with international organizations including the Department of International Development (DFID, UK), UNICEF, the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ), and the United Nation's Development Program (UNDP). Currently, she is a consultant to UNICEF, Pakistan, developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for child protection units, and curriculum and training materials for staff in the formal child protection system in Pakistan.

Sumera Jabeen

Sumera Jabeen joined World Vision Australia in August 2014 on completion of her PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her PhD dissertation is about the unintended outcomes of development intervention, based on a poverty-reduction project in Pakistan. Dr. Jabeen has 15 years of experience in the field of international development specializing in monitoring and evaluation, gender and development, and social development interventions in the literacy, education, and health sectors.