Abdul Rab

Omar Asghar Khan Centre for Development (OAKCD)

Sungi Development Foundation

Facts about Children in Pakistan (2006)

• Out of 40 million children (5-14 years), 22 million are estimated to be out of school

• Estimated 10 million children are laborers (2 million are under 10 with hazardous conditions)

• 9% die before 1st birthday

• Out of 5000 babies in 2005, edhi foundation found 99% dead or alive (infanticide and abandonment)

Some other Facts

Destination forGirls from Bangladesh, BurmaAfghanistan, Central Asia

Domestic Violence

Child Marriages

3500 in prisonsApart frominfants

Sexual AbuseChild TraffickingDrug Abuse

Beggary

AidsFood Security

Suicide AttacksSuicide Attacks

Camel instigators

CHILDREN ALSO HAVE RIGHTS!!

Many groups of children and adults from all over

the world discussed what children’s concerns are.

Then the United Nations came up with a list of

rights

For all children all over the world in 1989. (30TH year of declaration of child rights and international year off child)

CHILD AND RIGHTS

• CHILD

Any human being up to the age of 18 is considered a child

• RIGHTSA right is something to which

I am entitled solely by virtue of being a person.  It is that which enables me to live with dignity. Moreover, a right can be enforced before the government and entails an obligation on the part of the government to honor it

What is a Right and Need?

• A Right is something to which I am entitled solely by virtue of being a person.  It is that which enables me to live with dignity. Moreover, a right can be enforced before the government and entails an obligation on the part of the government to honor it

• A Need, on the other hand, is an aspiration which can be quite legitimate, but is not necessarily associated with an obligation on the part of the government to cater to it;

• Satisfaction of a need cannot be enforced

Can you tell which of these are RIGHTs and which are not?

Food OR Ice Creams

To be protected from ever getting a cold OR to be protected from ever getting kidnapped

Personal computer OR Education

To share my opinions OR to do whatever I want

Vulnerable Children

VulnerabilityRefers to:•Susceptibility

•Exposure•At Risk•Weak

•Defenseless•Helpless

•In Danger

Physical AbuseEmotional

Neglect Sexual Abuse

hitting, ablaze, caningchildren, punishing by denying food/nutrition, abduction, and kidnapping

inappropriate touching torape, and non-contact sexual abuse, which

is forcing a child to observe sexual acts,and showing pornography to a child

when a child’s parents or carersdeliberately fail to meet the child’s basicneeds, such as food, clothes, warmth and

shelter, hygiene and medical care.

humiliation, uncaringattitudes, absence of praise, ridiculing, discrimination,

compulsive teasing, denying time to play,demoralizing the child rather than focusingon behavior changes. Stigmatizing childrenwith disabilities and withholding affection

Children’s rights are violated throughout the world every day…

Basic Basic Facts Facts (international)(international)

◘ Between 15 and 20 million children are working as slaves at this moment.

◘ An estimated 2 million children worldwide are sexually exploited every year.

◘ 300,000 children around the world are actively participating in more than 20 armed conflicts.

◘ An estimated 25 million children and adolescents are currently uprooted from their homes; they make up nearly half of the refugee population worldwide.

◘ There are an estimated 100 million children living on the streets today.

The Convention on the Rights of the Childrecognizes each one of these practices as a violation of human

rights, and obliges each government to work toward eliminating these practices within their own nation and

throughout the world.

Basic Facts Basic Facts (International)(International)

◘ To establish and support the international system.

◘ To provide legal rules to resolve multi-national disputes.

◘ To help maintain peace internationally.

Why Do We Have Why Do We Have International International Laws?Laws?

A convention is a specific type of international law. It is an agreement or compact, especially among nations, usually created within an international organization such as the United Nations. Countries must..

1. Sign2. Ratify3. Monitor and Enforce the treaty

What is a What is a Convention?Convention?

The CRC is a treaty that lays out the rights of children and the standards to which all

governments must aspire in order to promote these rights.

What is the Convention What is the Convention on the Rights of the on the Rights of the Child?Child?

54 Articles-42 directly related to rights

Basics of Basics of the CRCthe CRC◘ The best interests of the child are always the primary

consideration.

◘ A child should be protected against all forms of discrimination and punishment.

◘ A child has the right to survival and development.

◘ A child should be protected from abuse and neglect.

◘ A child has the right to education, housing, healthcare, and all forms of mental and physical well-being.

◘ Child Labor

◘ Drug Abuse

◘ Sexual Exploitation

◘ Sale, Trafficking and Abduction

◘ Torture and Deprivation of Liberty

◘ Armed Conflicts

Additional Additional Protections Under Protections Under the CRCthe CRC

6. States Parties make rights widely known.

7. Committee proposes special studies etc. to be undertaken in the countries.

8. All countries help each other implement the Convention.

Enforcing Enforcing the CRCthe CRC1. Countries sign the CRC.

2. Countries ratify the CRC.

3. Countries rights widely known.

4. Committee on the Rights of the Child.

5. Committee reviews reports submitted by States Parties two years after ratification, and every 5 years thereafter.

◘ Educate yourself about the CRC.

◘ Contact local, state, and national politicians• Write letters asking them to ratify the CRC.

◘ Talk to your parents about the CRC.• Educate the adults in your life!

◘ Advocate for awareness of the CRC.• Begin a social awareness/ human

rights club.

What Can What Can You Do?You Do?

The Millennium Development Goals:

   Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerAchieve universal primary educationPromote gender equality and empower womenReduce child mortality Improve maternal healthCombat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other

diseasesEnsure environmental sustainabilityDevelop a global partnership for development

Full Text of the CRC

www.unicef.org/crc/fulltext.htm

Campaign for the US Ratification of the CRC

www.childrightscampaign.org

UNICEF

www.unicef.org

UN High Commission on Human Rightswww.unhcr.org

Amnesty Internationalwww.amnesty.org

Youth Advocate Program Internationalwww.yapi.org

For More For More InformationInformation