More
of the same
By Arshad Mahmmod,
Published in Daily
Dawn
LAST year, former prime
minister Raja Pervez Ashraf declared 2013 as the year of the rights of the
child in Pakistan.
Unfortunately, the PPP-led
government couldn’t take any tangible steps on this front in the few months it
remained in power since the announcement last November, achieving little except
for the last-minute approval of the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill
2013 by the National Assembly and the approval of the Criminal Law Amendment
(Child Protection) Bill 2013 by the federal cabinet.
This is an election year in
Pakistan and political parties have begun to share their programmes and
manifestos with the masses. Is there enough concentration on the right of
children to health and protection?
Referring to health in its 2013
manifesto, the PPP has declared it a high priority subject. The PTI has plans
to revamp and upgrade the public healthcare system in Pakistan by putting in
place reforms such as establishing basic health units at the post office level
and increasing the annual budgetary allocation for health to 1.5 per cent of
GDP.
The PML-Q is committed to
advancing maternal and child health programmes and addressing infant mortality.
The PML-N had previously
highlighted the importance of modernising the main teaching hospitals both in
the federal capital and the provinces. The party has now committed to
increasing overall expenditure on health to 2pc of GDP, achieving 100pc
vaccination for children and 50pc reduction in maternal and infant mortality by
2018.
The MQM has committed to
increased public expenditure on health from 0.6pc to 5pc of GDP. It has further
pledged to ensure full coverage of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation and
to establish hospitals in every district and healthcare centre in every
village. In its manifesto, the MQM also commits to effective legislation
against social ailments like gender discrimination, sexual harassment, domestic
violence, child abuse, etc.
The ANP has pledged to strive
for the provision of health facilities to all citizens. The party aims to
allocate at least 6pc of GDP to health. It has emphasised child and maternal
care, provision of clean drinking water and preventive medicine.
The ANP has vowed to review,
legislate and implement child labour laws to ensure that labour under the age
of 16 years is prohibited in all sectors. It has also committed to reforming
the juvenile justice system.
While reviewing the manifestos
of the political parties it was observed that the content of most manifestos
has minor changes from the manifestos of the 2008 elections.
Also, most of the commitments
made regarding the right to health are of a general nature and there has been
not enough emphasis linking large-scale health reforms to our international
commitments such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights.
Some parties have made specific
recommendations related to budgetary allocation for health. However, one fails
to understand what steps parties like the ANP and MQM took to increase
budgetary allocation for health during their time in power.
Malnutrition has become a key
concern for the country. According to estimates, approximately 400,000 children
die in Pakistan every year before their fifth birthday and 35pc of these deaths
are attributed to malnutrition. What eludes us is how the various political
parties are going to address this important issue.
Similarly, no specific agenda
has been shared about what steps they would take to orient Pakistan or their
respective provinces in the right direction towards achieving the MDGs.
Health workers and immunisation
are of immense importance towards achieving the MDGs. However, these important
areas do not find much space on the agendas of political parties except for a
couple of them.
It has emerged from the review
that hardly any political party appears to have a solid plan about how to go
about ensuring the right of protection to children.
Millions of children are
working as child labourers in Pakistan, including in the homes of politicians,
while the number of children living and/or working on the streets is
increasing.
Child marriage is still common,
corporal punishment is widespread, internal trafficking of children, the use of
children as child soldiers and suicide bombers and a poor criminal justice
system for children are also some of the issues faced by minors.
The political parties in
Pakistan need to come up with far firmer commitments to child rights,
particularly children’s right to health and protection, than what they have
indicated so far.
The focus should be on areas
which can bring solid changes in key indicators like child and maternal
mortality, the vaccination ratio, nutrition indicators, health workers’
coverage, protection of children from abuse, exploitation and violence against
children, and above all policy, legislation and budgetary allocation for children.
The
writer is a child rights activist.
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