The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights on Tuesday passed the much-awaited landmark bills, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Child Protection Bill, 2017 and Juvenile Justice System Bill, 2017, for better care, protection and rehabilitation of children. The committee passed both the bills with a few amendments unanimously after a thorough consideration in the chair of Babar Nawaz Khan.
Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub, member of the committee appreciated the efforts of Ministry of Human Rights for bringing bills which, he termed, would contribute for human rights protection. Earlier, Sahibzada proposed that the both the bills should be comprehensive and effective for the protection of children and to improve juvenile justice system in Pakistan.
Secretary Ministry of Human Rights, Rabiya Javeri Agha introduced the bills, saying that both the bills were drafted after an exhaustive consultation with the relevant stakeholders. She expressed that the Law Reform Committee and Cabinet Committee have also approved the drafts. Legal Consultant for Ministry of Human Rights, Sharafat A Chaudhry while discussing the contents of Juvenile Justice Bill said that for speedy disposal of cases, the concept of diversion has been introduced for the first time in Pakistan's criminal justice system.
Sharafat further explained that the juvenile justice committee will decide the cases of juveniles within one month whereas about determination of age of a juvenile, Sharafat A Chaudhry proposed, the accused should have also been given right for claiming juvenility in case the accused person is aggrieved by the police or the court. The committee accepted the proposal and approved amendment in Section 8 of the Juvenile Justice Bill by adding a clause if the accused "claims to be a juvenile."
Sharafat A Chaudhry, the author of the bills, while introducing salient features of the ICT Child Protection Bill said that a child in need of protection and care shall include a child who has been subjected to or is under serious threat of being subjected to child abuse or child exploitation while in the care of parents, legal guardian or any other person who has custody of the child in any manner. Chaudhry further explained that the law will also protect children who are unattended, victim of an offence, found begging, imprisoned with the mother or live in an immoral environment.
Director General of MoHR Muhammad Hassan Mangi proposed that children engaged in domestic work or any other such places should be given cover of protection under this law. Aliya Kamran Murtaza and Dr Shazia Sobia underscored the need for immediate approval of the bills keeping in view the constitutional rights of every child. After recommendations of the committee, Chairman Babar Nawaz Khan announced to pass the Juvenile Justice System Bill, 2017 and ICT Child Protection Bill, 2017.
The committee discussed the issues of human rights violation in respect of allotment of plots to the affectees of Terbela Dam. The committee was briefed by General Manager Terbela Dam Project and apprised that the affectees who had applied at that time were allotted plots and compensation was also given to them. The committee expressed displeasure on the statement of the GM Tarbela Dam Project and shared its views that 52,000 people have not yet been provided their rights of compensation.
The committee discussed that one Astroturf spread in the area worth Rs 4 billion is also being wasted, while no school facility has yet been provided to the people in that area. The committee remained dissatisfied with the briefing of the general manager and directed the Ministry of Human Rights to direct WAPDA to bring the complete record of all the dams. The committee also invited two special invitees to explain the situation of affectees of Tarbela Dam in the next meeting on the issues of human rights violation in respect of allotment of plots to the affectees of all the dams.
The committee was also given a briefing by the district police officer (DPO) Haripur on investigation into the murder case of Bakhshish Elahi, a journalist of Haripur. The DPO apprised the committee that they have picked up many people to investigate the murder case and it will be a complete merit-based investigation. The committee unanimously decided to move a privilege motion on the issue of wrong propaganda of some newspapers and private TV channels against the honour and dignity of the honourable chairman Standing Committee on the M/o Human Rights. The meeting was attended by MNAs Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub, Sayed Essa Nori, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Phyllis Azeem, Kiran Haider, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Dr Shazia Sobia, Musarat Rafique Mahesar, Sajid Nawaz, Kanwar Naveed Jameel and Aliya Kamran Murtaza, and senior officers from the Ministry of Human Rights and its attached department.