SPARC Newsletter - February 2007

Discourse
A quarterly English magazine devoted exclusively to issues concerning child rights.

Child Does Not Exist
Birth registration is a fundamental right of every child, but only 20% children are officially registered on birth in Pakistan.
Background
Flyer (English | Urdu)
SPARC Interventions

JJSO Campaign
SPARC makes appeal to the President
Radio Spots (Urdu) 1) | 2) | 3) | 4) | 5) | 6) | 7) | 8) | 9) | 10) | 11) | 12) | 13) | 14)
Poster on JJSO 2000
Poster on Probation System
Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 (English | Urdu)

Brochures
Child Trafficking
Know Your Rights (English | Urdu)

(more views n news)

Basant-the kite flying festival took off in Lahore with kites dotting the blue sky in the day and night. The rich and the influential from all over Pakistan. (more)

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) Karachi on condemned the police in Umerkot district for keeping a 17-year-old girl, the latest victim of the karokari menace, in captivity instead of sending her to women’s shelter, which eventually led to the change in her statement and weakened the case against jirga elders. (more)

Child Labor, which was integrated in Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-I has been “completely” ignored in the PRSP II. This needs reconsideration since the Govt of Pakistan is a signatory to ILO Conventions 182 and also 138 recently, reflecting progress and merits reflecting strategic developments. (more)

Can a girl below 16 years of age marry of her own free will?
:: Feb 26, 2007 :: Teenage girl lost by father in gamble, and family continue facing threats. (more)
:: Feb 25, 2007 :: Eight armed men broke into a man’s house in Ghulam Ali Khuhawar village, and gang raped his wife, daughter and daughter-in-law. (more)
:: Feb 24, 2007 :: Five private English medium schools providing co-education remained closed in the city after law enforcing agencies advised their management to make security arrangements for themselves. (more)
:: Feb 24, 2007 :: At least 141 high schools in Rawalpindi district, out of a total of 226, do not have permanent headmasters or headmistresses and the Rawalpindi education department has failed to fill the seats. (more)
:: Feb 21, 2007 :: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Women Development has suggested a seven to ten year imprisonment in Vanni cases and has called for making it a non-bailable and a non-compoundable offence. (more)