ISLAMABAD: Child rights activists demanded the federal and provincial governments to increase resource allocations to improve the status of child rights in Pakistan.

National Assembly Standing Committee on Law & Justice Chairman Riaz Ahmed Fatyana on Monday said that special measures were required to safeguard the rights of vulnerable children.

He was addressing a “Consultation on Increased Budgetary Allocation and Expenditures on Children.

The consultation was organised by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) and Save the Children Pakistan.

There is a need to increase overall spending on child rights especially the percentage of developmental budgets in education, child health and nutrition, and child protection.

He said inadequate spending was a key reason for Pakistan failing on most of the child related indicators of development goals.

He raised concern that unless adequate budget was allocated for child rights, Pakistan would be unable to meet the requirements of Sustainable Development Goals as well.

He concluded that all political parties would have to unite and make across the board efforts otherwise Pakistani children would continue to suffer.

National Commission on Child Rights (NCRC) Chairperson Afshan Tehseen Bajwa added that the federal and provincial government must ensure that budgets for all children related indicators are released in time and are not subjected to random cuts.

Budget allocations should also include a higher proportion of non-salaried rather than salaried expenditure and there should be increased focus on development budget in order to overcome the challenges in Pakistan.

Furthermore, all programming must respond to the damage caused by Covid-19 pandemic.

Sparc board of directors’ member Khalida Ahmed said that approximately 47pc of Pakistan’s total population comprises under-18 children.

This population group should be our priority however, due to lack of will from policymakers; these children are deprived of their rights to survival, protection and development.

She mentioned low spending on child rights as a key reason for Pakistan not meeting its international and national commitments towards child rights.

She said NCRC should be made functional as soon as possible to ensure Pakistan’s compliance with international commitments.

SPARC programme manager Khalil Ahmed Dogar recalled Prime Minister Imran Khan’s first speech to the nation in which the PM mentioned about the dire state of children health in Pakistan.

He added the despite such big commitment, there was no improvement in child health.

“In budget, there is no special allocation for child health and nutrition,” he added.

He said according to official statistics, Pakistan has 22.84 million out-of-school children (age 05 to 16) which is the 2nd highest figure in the world.

Allocating the salaries of teachers does not equate to working on education, and adequate budget should be allotted to convert primary schools in to middle and secondary schools to curb the drop-out-ratio of children.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2021