Despite the passage of seven years the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004 could not be enforced through out the province and rules under the Act were yet to be notified. In Punjab there have been reported incidents of forced conversions of minorities children.
This was according to the annual report on the state of Pakistani children by SPARC on Wednesday. Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab Begum Zakia Shahnawaz, Secretary Human Rights Government of Punjab Arshad Bin Ahmed, Nasira Javed Iqbal and Executive Director SPARC Arshad Mahmood shared their views on the occasion.
According to the report the probation system in Punjab has slightly improved as 27 new probation officers have been appointed. About 86 juveniles were released by the court on probation. At least 11 districts in Punjab have been badly affected by the floods destroying around 375,773 households in Punjab.
Education system in Punjab have also been affected by the floods damaging 2817 educational institutions in Punjab. In Punjab the literacy rate stands at 59 percent with the total net enrollment rate of 62 percent where as every year as many as 9 million children get admission in government schools out of which there is a drop out rate of 50 percent due to poor quality of education.
The report said that there is a sharp increase in the kidnapping of children for ransom in the Southern Punjab. Child domestic labour is also widely prevailing in Punjab. During the year 2010, 8 cases of severe torture of young domestic servants have been reported from Punjab.
Speaking on the occasion Begum Zakia Shanwaz said that SPARC's report is a comprehensive, which highlights issues facing children and makes recommendation to authorities and other stake holders that they should work on these recommendations. She also said the clean drinking water should be available to children because most of the children lost their lives due to the non-availability of clean drinking water.
Speaking on the occasion Arshad Bin Ahmed said that we should focus on the protection of the child rights especially on the rights of the girl child. He also said that government of Punjab is focusing to provide education especially technical education adding that government is providing free technical education to the minority children. He also said that we should also focus on the issues like population control and domestic child labour.