Activists demand implementation of ordinance

Activists demand implementation of ordinance
Activists advocating to defend the rights of children on Friday demanded to the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court (SHC) and the Inspector General Police Sindh to implement the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000.

The activists demanded this while organising a two-day Juvenile Justice System Awareness Camp at the city courts premises, said a press release issued here on Friday. The camp was jointly organised by Karachi Bar Association (KBA), Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) and In-charge of the Child Rights Desk (CRD) established at the women police station New Town Karachi. The presence of police officers at the camp was a great surprise for many of the visitors. A large number of visitors termed the police responsible for increasing crime rate.

For two days, the camp remained a center of debate about the juvenile justice system which is not being implemented. A huge number of visiting lawyers, barristers, relatives of the prisoners, prosecutor generals and police officers shared their experiences and initiated a positive dialogue about a constructive role of all organs of the juvenile justice system. The camp aimed to promote concept of pro-bono among lawyers, so they could voluntarily undertake cases of poor children as public servants without payment.

In-charge child rights desk, police officer Farida Khan while talking to visitors said that all police officers are not bad. There are some good police officers too, who are trying to cultivate positive trends.

Abdullah Khoso, provincial manager juvenile justice, said that the CRD is primarily responsible to deal with the cases of children who come in conflict with the law. It is providing protection and ensuring all the rights are given to a child being alleged for an offence under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) 2000 and Sindh Children Act, 1955. The desk, whenever possible, is also diverting a child for a minor offence from the retributive formal criminal justice system to an informal system of rehabilitation and reintegration. The desk will also deal with children who become victim of any offense like sexual abuse, torture, sale, trafficking, forced begging, forced labour, exploitation etc.

Khoso moreover said that Lawyer fraternity has to jointly play its role to get the juvenile justice system implemented. They should write to the Chief Justice Sindh High Court for establishing Juvenile Courts and solving issues of bail and surety for poor children. He added that 20th November is Universal Children Day because on this day United Nations Assembly had adopted Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The article 40 of the CRC says that a child in conflict with the laws has right to treatment which promotes the Child’s Sense of dignity and reintegration into society, which is hardly seen in practice.

Naeem Qureshi, General Secretary Karachi Bar Council (KBC), said that KBC will write to the Chief Justice Sindh High Court for the establishment of Juvenile Courts and implementation of the JJSO 2000 in its true spirit.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=209669
Saturday, November 21, 2009
By By our correspondent
Karachi