Submitted by crinadmin on
The death penalty, corporal punishment and life imprisonment should be explicitly prohibited for child offenders, defined as persons under 18 at the time of the offence, in all areas of Pakistan, under all systems of justice, and without exception. This could be achieved through strengthening the restrictions on sentencing in the JJSO, and clarifying that this overrides all laws to the contrary and applies to all cases involving child offenders. Laws contrary to the prohibition should be amended or repealed, including the Hudood Ordinances, the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Control of Narcotic Substances Act and the Frontier Crimes Regulation.
At a meeting of the South Asia Forum in July 2006, following on from the regional consultation in 2005 of the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, the Government made a commitment to prohibition of corporal punishment in all settings. A number of draft laws are under consideration, including some which address corporal punishment. A Juvenile Justice Working Group established under the auspices of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan is drafting amendments to the JJSO to address its shortcomings and anomalies in other legislation. A Child Protection Bill is under consideration which would raise the minimum age for criminal responsibility.1 As at March 2011, amendments to anti-terrorism legislation were under consideration which do not prohibit the death penalty or life imprisonment for child offenders and which would weaken other legal protections for child offenders.2 The Council of Islamic Ideology has expressed its desire to review the Protection of Women Act 2006 in light of the ruling by the Federal Shariat Court noted above.3
In 2008, the Government informed the Human Rights Council during the Universal Periodic Review that a review of all questions related to capital punishment had been initiated.4 It also defended the death penalty but stated that the Government was working on a proposal to commute it to life imprisonment.5
There have been moves towards reforming the Frontier Crimes Regulation for a number of years, including reports and recommendations by various committees that have not been made public.6 In March 2008, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in his inaugural speech in the National Assembly, pledged to repeal the Frontier Crimes Regulation, and a committee was subsequently formed which made recommendations for changes in the law. More recently, in 2009, President Zardari announced that the Frontier Crimes Regulation would be reformed.7 However, to date no changes have been made to the FCR.
The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) (www.sparcpk.org) currently campaigns on juvenile justice issues in Pakistan, including with regard to inhuman sentencing, as do UNICEF and DCI. In August 2010 a National Juvenile Justice Network (www.sparcpk.org/njjn.org/index.php) was formed, comprising 12 national and some international NGOs working in Pakistan on juvenile justice.
In 2009, as part of the Juvenile Justice Reform project being implemented by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan and UNICEF, a Juvenile Justice Working Group was set up under the chairmanship of the Registrar of the Supreme Court Mr Faqir Hussain. One of its aims is to harmonise Pakistan’s legislation with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.8 A Juvenile Justice Network was established in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2004.9
In 1988, a group of doctors in Islamabad established Voice Against Torture to monitor and campaign against torture, and several times called for an end to corporal punishment.10 Other medical organisations which have engaged in the issue in the past include the Karachi Branch of the Pakistan Medical Association (in 1983) and the Pakistan Junior Doctors’ Association.11
1 CRC/C/PAK/3-4, 19 March 2009, Third/fourth periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, para. 536
2 Information from SPARC-DCI, 2010
3 The Express Tribune, 30 December 2010, http://tribune.com.pk/story/96672/womens-protection-act-2006-top-islamic-body-may-examine-the-law/, accessed 16 May 2011
4 A/HRC/8/42/Add.1, 25 August 2008, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Pakistan. Addendum: Statement by Ambassador Masood Khan, Permanent Representative of Pakistan, on the outcome report of Univrsal Periodic Review of Pakistan, at the Human Rights Council
5 A/HRC/8/42, 4 June 2008 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Pakistan, para. 47
6 Reports not made public include those by the Senate’s Standing Committee on Human Rights Sub-Committee on the FCR in 2005 and a review committee constituted by the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court Judge Mian Mohammad Ajmal in 2006.
7 Amnesty International (2010), op cit.
8 Abdullah Khoso (2009) Chapter Juvenile Justice in the State of Pakistan’s Children 2009; SPARC, Islamabad
9 Arshad Mahmood (2004), Juvenile Justice. In the State of Pakistan’s Children 2004; SPARC, Islamabad. Cited in SPARC's Position Paper on the FCR (unpublished)
10 Amnesty International (1990), Medical Letter-Writing Action: Whipping in Pakistan, AI Index ASA 33/01/90, 23 February 1990. See also Mehdi, M. (1991), op cit., and www.wiserearth.org/organization/view/f5828e08f025bb2b2d0f0415f63084b5/section/main (accessed 14 September 2010)
11 Amnesty International (1990), op cit.
pdf: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=23610