PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded around 365 cases of child sexual abuse last year with four victims of those offences being killed by culprits,said provincial additional inspector general of police Mohammad Ali Babakhel here on Thursday.

Addressing a daylong consultation on the ‘Institutional Framework for Child Protection in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’ here, Mr Babakhel also said the police arrested 329 people on the charge of sexually assaulting children.

He said the most challenging was the arrest of a man suspected of abusing three children in Peshawar before killing two of them.

“The police held the suspected rapist after carrying out investigation along scientific lines, especially through DNA sampling and examination of the footage of CCTV cameras,” he said.

Consultation calls for removal of loopholes from laws on child protection

The AIG also said 283 cases were registered against juvenile offenders last year and 16 of them were of murder and 11 of attempted murder.

The event wasorganised by the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) in collaboration with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef).

Mr Babakhel said KP was the first province to have its own police law (Police Act, 2017), which also included provisions related to the duty of police towards the vulnerable segments of society, including women and children.

He said police formulated standard operating procedures for investigating child abuse cases and was implementing it.

The AIG complained that media was focusing on the reporting of sexual abuse cases but the issues of employing children as combatants, child soldiers and their radicalisation were not part of public discourse for media agenda setting.

NCRC chairperson Afshan Tehseen advocated the cause of child protection and said children had the right to education and a safe environment.

She said Pakistan was a signatory to the UN Child Rights Convention, so it was obligatory for it to set up an independent child rights commission, which was founded through legislation in 2017.

“There’s a need for removing loopholes in the laws for children at federal and provincial levels,” she said.

Ms Tehseen said the NCRC had so far handled more than 260 complaints of child rights violations and provided “direct relief” to the victims of those violations.

Director (labour) Irfan Khan said initial report of the first child labour survey in the province would be available by March this year.

He said the department collected data with the support of the Unicef and was screening it.

“In light of the survey, we’ll prepare an evidence-based child labour policy for the province,” he said.

Provincial chief child protection officerIjaz Mohammad Khan said a comprehensive child protection policy in the works.

He said KP was the first province to come up with an elaborate law on child protection, CPWC Act, in 2010, while its rules were notified in 2015.

Mr Khan said the commission had finalised the draft amendments to the law to check child marriages through the production of computerised national identity cards of couples to solemnise marriages.

He said KP had eight of the country’s 13 exclusive child protection courts.

KP information secretary, Arshad Khan, who was the chief guest on the occasion, highlighted issues and challenges of the education sector and said educational infrastructure was there in both settled and tribal districts, but low enrolment and high dropout rates were a challenge to the cause of formal learning.

He said more than 10,000 Afghan children were enrolled in schools, so the impression about denial of admission to them was wrong.

NCRC member from KP Jawadullah said the commission had issued policy briefs on key areas, including child marriages, child domestic labour and street children.

“Policy briefs examined the issues of vulnerable children from a legal perspective with a focus on the existing laws and enforcement mechanisms, and making recommendations to legislators, policymakers and government agencies.

Chairman of the KP Commission on the Status of Women Riffat Sardar stressed the need for the early passing of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill pending with the provincial assembly.

Civil society activist Qamar Naseem said 4.7 million children didn’t go to school in the province, while the provincial government, in order to implement the constitutional provision on the provision of free education to people, needed 15,000 more schools against its capacity of setting up 300 schools annually.

Child protection specialist of the Unicef Sohail Ahmad highlighted his organisation’s initiatives taken in collaboration with the social welfare department and KP Child Protection and Welfare Commission to strengthen the child protection system in the province.

Published in Dawn, january 6th, 2023