Overview:
The primary international framework for the protection and rights of children is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In addition to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Pakistan has also ratified two of the three Optional Protocols to it. Moreover, Pakistan has also actively legislated on various rights of children in areas such as the juvenile justice system, sexual abuse, harassment, labour, health, education etc.
However, there remain discrepancies in Pakistan’s laws in relation to a child’s age, particularly in the context of the criminal justice system ; the age of criminal culpability, the age at which specific child related offences can be committed against a child, including child marriage, child labour, certain sexual offences, etc. While international standards mandate that eighteen years be the age beyond which a child is considered an adult for most criminal and civil matters, in Pakistan, this age has traditionally been lower. However, the enactment of the Juvenile Justice System Act of 2018 has helped bring some clarity in relation to the criminal justice process.
The State is also making efforts for the protection of children and is in the process of developing an action plan on preventing child abuse and enhancing the implementation of the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018. Moreover, the Government of Pakistan also aims to establish a National Commission on the Rights of the Child at the federal level. Nevertheless, there is still a long list of problems in the legal framework relating to the rights of the child and Pakistan has been subject to grave criticisms by the international community in the past due to the lack of protection and care provided to children.
This Section seeks to explain the international scope of the rights of the child, its correlating constitutional obligations and the jurisprudence on the matter. Furthermore, this Section will focus on the rights of the child in the juvenile justice system to outline the protections that must be available to children within the legal system.