Dawn/Halperin News

49 child prisoners face death sentence

Out of the 4,000 child prisoners in various jails of the country, only 1/2 have been convicted by courts. The rest are still awaiting trial and 49 of them face the death sentence.

This was revealed to the participants of a 1-day training course on "Sensitization Training for Jail Officers, Social Welfare Officers and Others of Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 and Other Laws for the Protection of Children", jointly organized by the Lawyers of Human Rights and Legal Aid LHRA, Jail Department and Social Welfare Department at the Social Welfare Training Institute, here on Monday.

 Addressing the participants, the LHRA president, Zia Awan, emphasized the need for coordination between the institutions of civil society and the government departments. He informed them about the sections of the ordinance and the lacunas in it.

 He said that under the ordinance, every person up to the age of 18 years, accused of the commission of an offence or who is a victim of an offence, has the right of legal assistance at the expense of the state.

 Throwing light on the Sindh Children Act, 1955, he said it was a most comprehensive document which clearly underlined the role of law enforcement agencies and the judicial process in handling juvenile accused.

 The LHRA jail coordinator, Ms Anis Manzoor, and a jail teacher informed the participants of the training course in their presentation on "Impact on Young Girls in Jail Environment". They said that in Karachi prisons, out of the 876 women prisoners, about 25 per cent were young girls. During their stay in a jail, fear of the same diminishes in them to a great extent.

 The LHRA program officer, Amir Murtaza, told the participants about the Convention on the Rights of the Child, unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly which, among many other countries, has been ratified by Pakistan as well.

 He said that the international law makes it obligatory on all the signatory states that they must ensure that all children - without discrimination in any form - benefit from special protection measures and assistance.

 He informed that Pakistan's name shamefully appeared among the 7 countries listed by the Amnesty International among the violators of the RC.

A large number of government officials related with jails and the legal system of the province, including the provincial AIG Prisons, Ashraf Ali Nizamani; DIG Prisons, Hyderabad, Nawaz Hussein; Superintendent, Hyderabad Central Prison, Ahmed Channa and Superintendent, Sukkur Central Prison, Abu Bakar Sheikh, participated in the course.