PAKISTAN: Unrest leads to evacuation of juvenile offenders

 

[13 November 2007] - An NGO has strongly condemned the evacuation of juvenile inmates from Borstal jail, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

Eighty juveniles have been moved to the Central Jail Bahawqalpur so that Borstal can be used for lawyers arrested from different Punjab Districts accused of plotting against the government. In Central Jail, no juvenile sections exist.

So for more than one hundred lawyers have been transported to Borstal Bahawalpur for confinement. The juveniles will have to share with adults prisoners, in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 37(c)).

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) has condemned the developments and demanded reassurances from the authorities concerning the rights of the children.

SPARC strongly criticises the state of emergency and calls it unconstitutional and illegal.

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