CHILD RIGHTS

Child rights are inherited from UN bodies such as UNICEF in 1946 by the general assembly
in order to protect rights and interest of the children across the globe as children are
considered as the most vulnerable and interdependent humans therefore their rights must be
codified and protected in order for their better living and enjoyment in the society. Article 25
and 26 of UDHR talks about special care and assistance towards the children and their right
to education but however their has been no explicit treaty that talks about the protection of
children rights. The CRC 1989 became the most influential treaty on the protection on the
fundamental rights of the children which even covers the treatment towards children in
situation such as armed conflict. The CRC is mostly ratified in all countries across the globe
except US and South Sudan.
The objective of CRC is to protect the rights of children under 18 (article 1) while article 2
prohibits any discrimination against the children and in order to protect the rights of children
its parents rights must be protected. Article 3 sets out that the best interest of the child should
be protected. Further CRC creates new rights such as right to life, nationality and education
(article 6&7&28) and many countries fail to implement such laws e.g Syria in 2016 UNICEF
reported that 2.1 million children do not have access to education and according to UNICEF
Pakistan is the 2nd highest country in the world where 22.8 million children’s don’t receive
the right and facilities of education covering 44% of population and about 67000 children in
sub-Saharan African region are dying due to hunger. Further article 34 deals with the
prohibition of sexual abuse, now a days the issue of child abuse is an uprising threat to
Pakistan, in a more recent case a 6 year old girl Zainab was raped and killed which lead to the
out cry of public hanging for such criminals in Pakistan. Further in 2016 the IRISH TIMES
published that a father was life imprisoned for raping his own son which was the prohibition
of article 19, moreover in a recent case reported by BBC in Pakistan where a couple tortured
their domestic worker Zehra (minor) to death for letting his parrot escape from the cage.
Therefore if CRC really needs to protect the rights of children it needs to implement its laws
effectively with the state this treaty has been ratified. According to the findings of UNICEF
in 2009 in Pakistan the reports of sexual abuse is the least reported cases in Pakistan. More
recently a video circulated across the social media in Pakistan where a child was sexually
harassed by his teacher(Molvi) in Massjid which is the place of worship for Muslims. Further
article 24 provides the right of health care to minors. A documentary by Muhammad Naqvi
was published in 2014 “Pakistan’s Hidden Shame” which exploits the sexual abuse and
harassment of young male children’s in KP province of Pakistan and are not even reported.
Such incidents leads to a highly result in STD among the children reducing their enjoyment
in life, making them survivors.
Further there are such customs that has been adopted by the people through the centuries and
such customs goes against the rights of children under CRC and such customs should be
abolished such as the custom of FGM (article 24).
further more the optional protocol (the communication protocol) enforced by CRC give the
child the right to bring an action against an individual if any article of CRC is violated, such
violations must be visible written and consent from the victim.
The STP protocol prohibits any kind of sex trafficking among the children's. The objective of
CRC is to prohibit such acts under article 34 and 35. many children especially young girls are
at the risk of getting sexually abuse. According to a recent report by UNICEF around 120
million girls aged under 20 are sexually abused world wide. Secondly customs such as child
marriage should be abolished as it destroys the enjoyment and innocence of a child resulting
in non education of young girls and an increase rate in HIV. Further under STP child
prostitution and child pornography is prohibited and such crimes should be dealt strictly with
in the jurisdiction of the country. And state parties should adopt appropriate measure to
ensure the compatibility of the treaty( article 8) and compensation should be given to the
victims (article 9(4)).
the child soldier protocol prohibits the recruitment of children in armed forces, the minimum
age for recruitment should be 18 not less than that(article 38). it prohibits the recruitment of
under 18 in any military or rebel forces prohibiting such action. The CRC clearly prohibit the
recruitment of under 18 while in Pakistan the recruitment in Military is 17 where they had
argued that they are only for training purpose and are not involved in any armed practices
until 18.
Although CRC protects the rights of children but in some situation fails to do justice due to
cultural religious or any other social or governmental issue. According to a recent study more
than 130 million girls and women has faced gentile mutilation which is a custom in Africa in
order for the girl to be pure but such customs should be prohibited and stops CRC in
implementing the law. Child education is necessary but in countries in a conflict/war state
such issues are dis-functioned and the right of minors are compromised resulting in a high
rate of un education among children especially girls. Example of Pakistan can be taken where
in 2010 the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan imposed a prohibition on education of girls in region
of Swat where girls were not allowed to be educated but latter this ban was lifted by the
efforts of Malala Yousafzai.
The issue of child labor is not prohibited but extreme child labor has been prohibited under
article 32(1). according to ILO around 250 million children are founded as a full time labors.
Child labor arises due to poverty and around 15 million child laborer are in INDIA working
in tobacco factories, brick manufacturing factories and carpet weaving factories earning a
very less amount of salary which is a discrimination. Working in such factories 24/7 causes
diseases like tuberculosis and still growth of children. Many issues of child burn cases has
raised from brick factories but the government has failed to support such children’s. In the
civil war of Sierra Leone more than 10000 children soldiers were used while in Syrian war
more than 300 children called cubs of caliphate were slaughter when ISIS send them to the
battle field. However there are such issues which the CRC is silent about now as in the
modern world children has the access to technology and child abuse take place on social
media which is also known as Cyber bullying and many suicide has taken place among
children as a result.