SCP hearing tomorrow FRIDAY, 6 Jan.2017, 9:30 a.m., Courtroom #1

[Tahira Abdullah]

FYI: SCP case is fixed for hearing tomorrow - Friday, 6 Jan. 2017 at 9:30 a.m. in courtroom # 1.

Original CNIC required to enter SCP.

Please fwd to all networks, groups, lists, e.g. CRM, EVAWG, WAF, IHI, PRHN, NHN, HRCP, etc.

Thank you & regards,

Tahira Abdullah

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CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISTS, NETWORKS STRONGLY CONDEMN SO-CALLED “RESOLUTION” 

OF ISLAMABAD ENSLAVED GIRL CHILD TORTURE CASE

 

5 January 2017:  The Child Rights Movement (CRM) is joined by a large number of civil society activists, organizations and networks from all over Pakistan, in protest demonstrations; strongest condemnation of the torture of a minor girl employed by a serving judge of the lower judiciary, and also the so-called “resolution” (sic) of the court case against the accused and his spouse; and demanding long-term solutions to prevent future barbarism against children.

 

This case has yet again highlighted the glaring ills of Pakistani society, its laws and the justice administration system.  We had not yet forgotten the Kasur children’s video atrocity when we are now confronted with a member of the subordinate judiciary accused of breaking several laws of the land – but walking away scot-free, after reaching a so-called “compromise” and “forgiveness” agreement with the girl child’s parents.

 

There is a miscarriage of justice each time the compromise and forgiveness loophole in the law is exploited, as in this case by the perpetrator and his spouse, as a convenient tool, employed mostly against the poor and downtrodden by the rich and powerful in Pakistan.

 

In this case, we strongly condemn the following acts of commission and omission by individuals and by State organs:

1. despite grinding poverty, the girl child’s parents should not have lost their inherent parental love and humanity towards their minor daughter; in addition to being culpable of wilful neglect of their responsibilities as her legal guardians, especially her right to Education under Article 25-A, and her right to be free of child labour and bonded labour;
2. the perpetrator, who knowingly employed a child, in contravention of the laws against child labour and employment, and also the laws providing for mandatory universal compulsory education;
3. the nature of her work demonstrates that the girl child was “pledged” by her parents as “bonded labour” to the perpetrator and his spouse, in contravention of Pakistani laws abolishing bonded labour;
4. the perpetrator and his spouse brutally mistreated the girl child over a long period of time, including chronic starvation and frequent beating – finally torturing and burning her almost to death, in clear contravention of the Constitution, fundamental human rights, several Pakistani laws, as well as the UN CRC, ILO Conventions and others, to which Pakistan is a State Party;
5. the delayed response and subsequent action by the National Centre for Protection of Children (NCPC), Islamabad, is indefensible and it must be held accountable;
6. the many deliberate, mala fide acts of perjury committed at various stages of this case by: the perpetrator and his spouse; the relevant police personnel; and the initial examination report by the PIMS medico-legal staff, all of which came to the fore when the girl child was questioned in camera by the ICT Assistant Commissioner, who deserves commendation for her sensitive handling of this case;
7. the alleged acts of bribery, threat and pressure exerted on the girl’s parents by the perpetrator (i.e. the child’s employer) to accept a compromise and retract their case;
8. the inhuman action of the state organs in immediately returning the girl child to the same parents who sold her into forced/bonded domestic servitude in the first place – instead of placing her under State care in a shelter, and providing protection, physical and mental health care, and holding her parents legally accountable;
9. the attitude and response of some members of the subordinate judiciary, which is widely being perceived as a tacit act of standing in solidarity with a peer;
10. the media’s undesirable polarization, hype and sensationalization of this case (with a few notable exceptions), which might deter concrete positive action in future.

 

We appreciate and commend the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan’s taking suo moto notice of this case and we support Advocate Asma Jahangir’s petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP).

 

Standing in empathy and solidarity with the brave survivor girl child, we reiterate our longstanding demands that the long-pending laws on child protection and against domestic child labour be urgently enacted at the federal level and by the remaining provinces, and be strengthened in the provinces where they are enacted – along with effective monitoring mechanisms for their strict enforcement and implementation; that Child Domestic Labour must be notified and added to the schedule of banned occupations in the Employment of Children Act (ECA 1991) and the Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Act (2016); that child protection state institutions be set up all over Pakistan – and strengthened in the provinces where they exist; that national and provincial Commissions on the Rights of the Child be established;  that national and provincial policies be formulated for child protection, development and participation – e.g. not to return recovered children back to their parents who “pledged” and sold them into modern day slavery (i.e. bonded labour); and that the state must provide such recovered minors not just physical shelter, but also compulsory education, along with health services and psychological rehabilitation as survivors, to prevent them becoming life-long victims.

 

Above all, we hold serving judges to a much higher standard than anyone else in the land – they must uphold the Constitution, the law, morality and humanity in both their public and private lives.  There must be no "forgiveness" (sic) or "compromise" (sic) – the State can and must become the girl child's guardian (wali) and complainant in this and all other cases of child rights violation.  We demand that the accused perpetrator must immediately be suspended from office and tried under the law.

[ends – 755]

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Endorsed by civil society:

 

Advocates: Mr. Aftab Alam, Mr. Anees Jillani, Ms. Hina Jillani, Ms. Namra Gillani, J.(r) Nasira Javed Iqbal, Ms. Rukhshanda Naz,

 

Activists:  Dr. A.H. Nayyar, Ms. Afshan Naz Khan, Ms. Aila Gill, Mr. Aimal Khan Khattak, Mr. Aized Ali, Dr. Ambreen Ahmad, Ms. Anis Haroon, Ms. Aqsa Khan, Mr. Arshad Mahmood, Dr. Asha Bedar, Mr. Asim Siddiqui, Mr. Babar Bashir, Dr. Baela Raza Jamil, Ms. Farhat Parveen, Ms. Farkhanda Ather, Dr. Farzana Bari, Ms. Fauzia Minallah, Ms. Fazela Gulrez, Ms. Hilda Saeed, Mr. Harris Khalique, Mr. Haseeb Khawaja, Mr. Hazer Gul, Ms. Imrana Tiwana, Mr. Javed Akhtar, Mr. Joseph Francis, Ms. Kanwal Qayyum, Mr. Khadim Hussain, Mr. Lala Hassan, Ms. Mahnaz Rahman, Ms. Maryam Bibi, Mr. M. Khan Yusufzai, Ms. Nageen Hyat, Ms. Naheed Aziz, Mr. Naseer Memon, Dr. Nasser Mohiuddin, Ms. Nasreen Azhar, Ms. Naveen Nayyar, Ms. Neelam Hussain, Ms. Noorjehan Bilgrami, Mr. Noor-ul-Islam, Ms. Noshaba Arif, Mr. Peter Jacob, Ms. Qudsia Mehmood, Ms. Rabeea Shah, Ms. Rahal Saeed, Dr. Rakhshinda Parveen, Ms. Romana Bashir, Ms. Sabira Qureshi, Mr. Safdar Choudhry, Dr. S. Salman Ali, Dr. Saman Yazdani Khan, Ms. Samina O.A. Khan, Mr. Sangeen Gichki, Mr. Sarwar Bari, Sarwat Mirza, Ms. Sajeeda Nahid, Ms. Shahida Shah,  Ms. Shazia Shaheen, Ms. Shazreh Hussain, Ms. Sumera Ishfaq, Ms. Tahira Abdullah, Ms. Tahira Jabeen, Mr. Taimur Kamal, Ms. Tasneem Ahmar, Ms. Valerie Khan, Dr. Yasmin Zaidi, Dr. Zarina Salamat, Ms. Zehra Kamal, Ms. Zoya Rehman,

 

Networks/groups/platforms:  AGEHI network, CLAAS, Children’s Literature Festival (CLF), Council of Social Sciences (COSS), Child Rights Movement (CRM), Ending Violence Against Women & Girls Alliance (EVAWG), Fight Against Dowry Network (FADAN), Insaani Huqooq Ittehad network (IHI), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Advocacy Network (KPCAN), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (KPCSN), National Action & Coordinating Group against Violence against Children (NACG), National Humanitarian Network (NHN), Pakistan Paediatric Association/Child Rights Group (PPA/CRG), Pakistan Reproductive Health Network (PRHN), South Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED), Taqrra Qabaili Khwenday network (TQK), Women’s Action Forum (WAF-Peshawar/Islamabad/Karachi)

 

Organizations: Aurat Foundation (APISF), Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), Blue Veins (BV), Bunyad Foundation/BLCC, CDO Pakistan, CHIP, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Ethno Media, Funkor Child Art, GCDO, ICIA, Institute for Professional Learning (IPL), Idara-e-Taaleem-o-Agahi (ITA), Kafe Kaam, Khwendo Kor, Lahore Bachao Tehreek (LBT), Labour Education Foundation (LEF), National Commission for Justice & Peace (NCJP), Nomad Gallery, NOWC, Pattan, Peace & Development PDF, PODA, Rozan, SACHET, Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust (SNPET), Simorgh Women’s Collective, SPARC, SPO, SWWS, Uks

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