The welcome address was given by Ms. Afshan Tehseen, Chairperson of the NCRC, who drew attention to the invisibility of street children and shared her own experience of working with them over the years. Madeeha Ansari (Founder, CfC) shared the findings of the policy brief in detail and talked about the importance of ensuring every child has the right to a childhood. Susan Andrew (Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF) applauded the rights-based approach adopted in the policy brief. Other distinguished panelists included representatives from civil society as well as the media.

Madeeha Ansari (CfC Founder)

Click here to read the full policy brief on street-connected children.

The policy brief launch is a huge milestone in our journey towards making sure street-connected children be seen, heard and counted. Our engagement with policy-makers began exactly a year ago on International Day for Street Children, 12 April 2021, when we organized a National Parliamentarians Consultation to start a conversation around adopting a rights-based approach towards street-connected children in Pakistan. Since then, we have been engaging with civil society as well as government to address the pitfalls of the current system and developing policies that best suit the issues on hand.

The next steps involve a call to action on implementing the policy brief and partnering with policymakers to make sure the recommended steps from the brief are turned into policies to bring a real system-wide change.  

Afshan Tehseen (NCRC, Chairperson)

Some of the key recommendations that were pointed out included reviewing and amending relevant federal and provincial legislation affecting street-connected children, removing barriers to formal schooling such as the requirement for B-forms and age-related barriers, expanding the availability of drop-in spaces or non-residential facilities and establishing a case management system.

The post LAUNCH: CfC and NCRC Policy Brief on Street-Connected Children appeared first on Cities for Children.

by Madeeha Ansari

IN February 2021, a landmark bill to ban corporal punishment in all educational and childcare settings was moved in the National Assembly by MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz and passed with cross-party support. The Islamabad Capital Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill 2021 was then sent to the Senate where it was cleared by the Standing Committee on Human Rights — but not without amendments. Two guest senators called in to apply a religious lens had reservations, backing the right of the teacher to apply discretionary force to maintain discipline, and to prevent “moral deterioration of society”.

Whether or not these reservations have actual basis in religion, they certainly point to social and cultural norms that justify violence as a means of teaching a lesson. The validation of the use of corporal punishment “for the benefit” of children formerly lay in the law — in section 89 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which the new legislation overrides. However, it also lies in a tradition in which older people are vested with the power to teach through force — to hit, spank, pinch or use other creatively cruel means to punish a child for ‘not listening’, or ‘not learning’.

Violence as a means of establishing authority is a concept perpetuated across generations, from a time pre-dating the articulation of child rights. The idea of childhood has evolved even since 1860, when the PPC was formulated: no longer is it a time when children are to be seen and not heard, straitjacketed into a mould. The thinking around the effectiveness of corporal punishment has — or should — also change, based on scientific evidence. A comprehensive review of studies published by The Lancet journal in June 2021 presents overwhelming evidence that physical punishment actually makes children’s behaviour worse over time, rather than being linked to positive outcomes.

Fear of pain or humiliation can be a tool for deterring ‘bad behaviour’ as long as the threat is present — but not for self-regulating behaviour when the adult is not present. As for learning, the impact can only be detrimental, pushing children away from the teacher as well as the space of learning. The answer to a question has never magically dawned upon a child after being struck, or while squatting in a ‘rooster’ position, but substantial numbers of children in Pakistan have been driven away from school for fear of physical punishment and non-physical humiliation.

Violence as a means of establishing authority

is a concept perpetuated

across generations.

Learn more here: https://citiesforchildren.co/our-work/positive-caregiving/

The ICT Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill, passed in the joint session of Parliament on Nov 17, is a step towards recognising children’s dignity and human rights, as well as the science that points to the adverse impacts of violence on children. Remarkably, it is rooted in an evidence base that confirms the harmful effects of corporal punishment on the cognitive, social and emotional development of children, and directly addresses the psychosocial effects — including the creation of aggressive behaviour. Children experiencing corporal punishment in childhood are more likely to use violence to resolve conflict with peers, bully others, or to be involved in partner and domestic violence later in life.

The new law is hugely welcome, especially as a blueprint for other provinces where it can be taken forward by the Ministry of Human Rights. Its coverage spans spaces where children access education or protection services, including formal, non-formal and religious schools; childcare institutions, including foster care and rehabilitation centres; and the juvenile justice system. It also lays out varying penalties for violation of the ban — ranging from censure and withholding promotions, to dismissal from service. The call for a complaint system and clear consequences for violation add an important practical dimension, even though the highest level of consequence — disqualifying the offender from future employment — seems to have been removed in Senate deliberations. Presumably, this would have been for the most egregious form of violence or offence, so it can only be hoped that employers hiring people to work with children would carry out some form of background check.

What is essential now is the formulation of rules of business to take things forward. Protocols for implementation will be needed for the designated competent authorities — the Ministry of Education, Wafaqul Madaris and the Ministry of Human Rights. There will need to be greater clarity on the mechanisms for complaint and redress, and on how the penalties are to be applied. In addition, while experiences from all over the world have shown that legal prohibition of corporal punishment works, it is not enough. Teachers, care institution staff and — in the case of juvenile justice systems — the police, will need support in order to change and to embrace new codes of conduct in practice.

To transform a classroom culture that they themselves have known, teachers need to be equipped with alternative tools and strategies to corporal punishment. Another important aspect that will have to be addressed is how parents and caregivers approach the issue. The law is not a blanket ban that covers the private sphere or aims to regulate what happens within the home. However, there is a strong link between the home and the school: when holding workshops with teachers on positive approaches to discipline via Cities for Children, one response that came through was that children ‘did not know how else to learn’, because that’s how they were taught at home. Parents from underprivileged communities, working hard to send their children to school, would themselves tell the teachers to hit their children into submission and learning.

According to the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, “No culture owns corporal punishment, but all have a responsibility to disown it”. Cultural norms can change — as can people. The first step is to declare certain practices as unacceptable, which the bill clearly lays out. The second step is to share, through public campaigns and specialised trainings, the evidence that those practices don’t work; that they actually harm children and affect who they become in the world; and that there are other, better ways of teaching both academic and life lessons. The case for love is powerful, and is ultimately reinforced by science, religion and culture — we just have to adjust our lens.

The post Corporal punishment as culture appeared first on Cities for Children.

Chaired by MNA Ms. Mehnaz Akber Aziz, Convenor of the Special Committee on Child Rights, the event on August 4 also featured Ms. Sarah Ahmed, Chairperson of the Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau and Special Coordinator to the CM Punjab, who shared her ongoing work with unaccompanied and abandoned children as well as those found begging on the streets. Mr. Hassan Mangi, Director General of the Ministry of Human Rights, shared his experience in formulating long term prevention strategies supporting communities to keep children with families off the streets, beyond residential care facilities.

Dr. Rozina Khalid from the Ehsaas programme expressed a commitment to reaching children in urban poverty, and supporting them to access their rights through programmes like “Waseela-e-Taleem.” This was expressed as a priority by all civil society organisations present, who shared that one major obstacle to accessing social protection was a lack of identification documents for urban poor communities. Facilitating access to an identity for the diverse communities that street children come from would be a major step towards guaranteeing their rights, and this may demand creative solutions.

The event on 4 August came after a full day of brainstorming between civil society organisations facilitated by Madeeha Ansari from Cities for Children and hosted by the Society for the Prevention of the Rights of the Child (SPARC). Participating organisations included the Lahore-based Search for Justice Pakistan and Child Rights Movement with extensive advocacy experience; Sahil, with experience in child protection; and the Pehli Kiran Schools that serve children from katchi abadis in Islamabad. Iftikhar Mubarak, from Search for Justice Pakistan, shared experience in terms of child protection and juvenile justice legislation at the provincial and federal level which informed the collective recommendations. He reiterated the need for an action plan at the provincial level so that efforts for the challenges faced by street children could be coordinated and strategized.

The recommendations generated and shared by civil society with policymakers included a review of current laws and practice in light of UN General Comment No. 21 on Children in Street Situations, which offers comprehensive guidance on how to apply a rights-based approach rather than approaches that cast children as either victims or delinquents. In terms of education, there is need to move forward on actual implementation of Article 25-A and notification of laws. Mr. Hassan Mangi stressed that roles and responsibilities needed to be defined at the district, tehsil, provincial and federal level to ensure coordination and accountability of all groups involved. The reccomendation also identified a role for civil society to partner with government in terms of reaching out to communities and working with them to offer tailored services. For protection, there is also a need to move forward with and formulate rules of business for child protection laws e.g. in ICT and Punjab – but also, a need to establish protocols and safeguarding processes for all those involved in a child protection response. Ms. Sarah Ahmed described the Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau’s efforts on this front and stated that the bureau was pushing for child protection policy in Punjab in the next few months. 

Interest in the issues was shown by parliamentarians Mr. Riaz Fatyana and Ms. Nafisa Khattak, and the Ministry of Human Rights has offered support for formulating a plan going forward. Overall, the event helped create a bridge between policy and practice. As Ms. Rizwana Akhtar from Sahil shared, “we now hope that the voices of street children are heard.”

The post Policy Meets Practice – Planning Action for Street Children appeared first on Cities for Children.

On 23 June 2021, Cities for Children facilitated a workshop for civil society organizations in Pakistan entitled “Change Our Story” – Understanding and Implementing UN General Comment No. 21 on Children in Street Situations. 

This was the second in a series of three events to forge a path forward for street-connected children in Pakistan, with support from the Consortium of Street Children. The aims of this session were to promote participants’ understanding of the UNGC 21 as an authoritative international instrument; to discuss real-world challenges faced by organizations in education and protection; and explore how to embed the rights-based approach of the UNGC in practice.

Participants included representatives from a number of organizations who have been working on issues related street children and child protection in Pakistan, including  Dost Foundation, Sahil, Search for Justice, Door of Awareness, National Commission on the Rights of the Child and SPARC. 

The session began with a conversation on who we meant by “children in street situations” or “street-connected children,”  and an exploration of some of the salient features of UNGC 21. The UNGC 21 takes a non-discriminatory, rights based approach towards street-connected children, with an emphasis on children’s participation in matters concerning them. It lays out three kinds of approaches: the welfare approach, taking the lens of rescuing children as victims; the repressive approach, which includes criminalization for survival activities; and the rights-based approach, which considers the child as a rights-holder and the state as the duty-bearer.

UNGC 21 holds guidance for prevention (pre-empting the challenges of poverty and domestic violence) as well as the response that governments can adopt to ensure the rights of street children. It lays out a roadmap for developing comprehensive national strategies related to such children. These include a legislative and policy review to eliminate provisions that discriminate against street children, and the practices that place them at risk including forced eviction. Data collection to gauge the scale of the challenge (while avoiding stigmatising street children or placing them at greater risk) is another national level recommendation, as is the creation of comprehensive child protection systems. Also,  importantly, the General Comment reminds policy makers and civil society organisations to acknowledge the complexity of the issue and to prioritise individual children’s best interests in all situations. As adults, it is easy for policy makers and civil society members to assume that they know what is best for a child. The UNGC 21 emphasizes that children must be given a say in determining their future.

Urgent challenges 

After an initial description of UNGC 21, the workshop participants were asked to share their experiences and identify urgent challenges faced by street children in Pakistan. Five major themes emerged during this brainstorming session: 

• Violence of different kinds including physical, sexual and psychological
• Access to education, impeded by factors like lack of documentation
• Discriminatory laws and policies that criminalise children and families
• Lack of data on the nature and scale of the challenge
• Absence of a national strategy for street children. 

Sexual violence, corporal punishment in schools and domestic settings were identified as major challenges for street-connected children in the country. Azaz from Dost Welfare Foundation emphasized that breaking the cycle of physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse for street-connected children was extremely important as survivors could turn to violence if they did not receive the help and support they need.

Identity documents like B-form and birth certificates were also described as one of the biggest impediments to street children’s access to education. Participants pointed out that since many children were from displaced communities and had been on the move for years, they did not have the required documentation to access public schooling. Sabeen from SPARC emphasized that a national strategy was needed to address the challenges faced by street connected children, to ensure that national and provincial institutions were working towards the same end goals. 

Iqbal Detho from NCRC shared that the present criminalization of street children, their vagrancy and presence in public spaces could be traced back to colonial times. Colonial definitions of vagrancy were designed to prevent people from gathering and protesting, something that could not be extended to street children in the present day and rendered the current legislation problematic. A point of discussion in the group was shared that many organisations were using the pretext of rehabilitation to institutionalize street children, which was against the spirit of UNGC 21 and needed to be rectified. According to the UNGC21, “Deprivation of liberty is never a form of protection”.

Recommendations for action

After a brief introduction to the case study of Uruguay’s participatory national strategy on street-connected children, the discussion moved towards potential solutions for Pakistan. 

Some major takeaways highlighted during the discussion were:

• An urgent need for a national action plan to make progress on street children’s issues, possibly within a larger framework of child protection. Ifitkhar Mubarik from SJFP stressed that the government needed to make its commitment to street children clear before passing any national or provincial legislation to tackle the issue.

• Comprehensive legislative and policy review in line with the rights-based approach and UNGC 21. Iqbal Detho called for the removal of discriminatory laws in particular. 

• A  life skills-based educational approach including vocational opportunities for street children, for learning to be valued. Manizeh Bano from Sahil and Ghazi Taimoor from Doors of Awareness both had insights to share around this, as there is a need to frame education as something that will add practical value to the lives of children who often need to choose between earning or going to school.

• Simplifying the process for obtaining identity documents, especially for children with refugee or displaced community backgrounds. Sajida from SPARC shared that the difficult process of retrospectively obtaining B-form and birth certificates compounded problems by hindering their access to healthcare, public schooling and jobs.

• Strengthening of child protection legislation and systems. Children face multiple risks of violence with little recourse, and working to prevent them from taking to the streets as well as to provide real support in working with families to overcome the challenges of urban poverty will take careful thinking as well as investment. According to the UNGC, interventions moving children into alternative care without consultation don’t work – they won’t stay – so sustainable solutions must be found. There is need to train officials as well as law enforcement agencies and put in place measures to reduce risks of harassment and have transparent systems set up to protect their rights.

Overall, the workshop provided civil society organisations with a chance to share their expertise with each other and gave them an opportunity to use the UNGC 21 framework to discuss the challenges faced by street-connected children. It will be followed by an in-person action-planning session involving a broader swathe of policymakers and civil society representatives, being planned for August 2021.

The post Change our Story: Understanding and Implementing UNGC 21 appeared first on Cities for Children.

“The approach that is taken towards street children is either as victims or delinquents…viewing them as rights-holders is going to take a whole shift in perspective.”

Cities for Children’s work

The first part of the conversation was an introduction to Cities for Children’s work. Cities for Children was set up with a rights-based approach, to support organizations working with street-connected children and build programs around learning and wellbeing.

CfC’s work to support the Right to Childhood knits together three strands of child rights:

• The Right to Read – through programmes like Seekho Sikhao Saathi (Partners in Learning), with Big Partners teaching Little Partners within their communities and forming beautiful bonds, throughout the COVID-19 school closures.
• The Right to Play, especially through structured recreation and community volunteering programmes like Hansti Basti (Happy Hoods). 
• The Right to Feel Safe – psychosocial support and positive mental health. Most recently, CfC’s Maar Nahi Pyaar (Care not Scare) campaign was launched around the time the Anti-Corporal Punishment legislation was being pushed in the Islamabad Capital Territory. Maar Nahi Pyaar resources provide practical alternate strategies and positive caregiving tools that parents can use in place of corporal punishment.

Street Children and COVID-19

“There are some rights that children are entitled to no matter who they are and where they come from.”

The conversation then turned to how pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on communities in urban poverty, leading to an increasing number of children on the streets. There are several great elements to social welfare programmes like Ehsaas, including incentivising parents to send children – especially girls – to school. But when it comes to “street-children,” there is not enough conversation about who they are and the communities they come from, which means they often fall through the cracks.

A dominant narrative is that street children are sent by gangs or mafias – which may be true in some cases, but it is important to understand individual stories and the multiple identities that a child may have. Whether from a refugee, internally displaced, stateless or migrant community, lack of formal documentation often impedes access to rights. Lack of legal rights also makes street children vulnerable to exploitation and harassment.

Madeeha spoke about the massive impact of Covid-19 pandemic and learning losses for children, especially for those on the other side of the digital divide. She emphasized that now is the time to be innovative – benchmarks, especially around assessments, need to shift to give children the support and reassurance they need when they are eventually coming back into schools. 

Policy-making with children

“It’s not just about asking (children and their families) what they want, but saying ‘How can we support you?’”

Article 12 of the UNCRC says that children have a right to be heard in matters concerning them – and in order to make policies that work, it is not only important to consult them but also understand where they come from. Madeeha highlighted the importance of the UN General Comment No. 21 on Children in Street Situations for organisations working in this area, and stressed on the need to incorporate street children’s voices in all discussions about them

“How is it that we can support street children to go to school, and remove the barriers they face? How is it that we can better protect them and their best interests? How can we take this opportunity to build strong child protection systems?”

The Rights Podcast Series explores issues related to human rights in Pakistan. It is an initiative of the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) at the Research Society of International Law, Pakistan (RSIL), an independent, non-partisan think tank based in Pakistan. The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) is a dedicated Centre conducting research on international and domestic human rights issues, raising awareness and building State capacity in Pakistan.

The podcast can be heard on the link given below.

The post Living on the Margins: Street Children in Pakistan – RSIL podcast series appeared first on Cities for Children.

On 12 April 2021 – International Day for Street Children – Cities for Children along with the Special Parliamentary Group on the SDGs in Pakistan held a national consultation to review policies related to street-connected children and how best to support “Access for Street Children.” The event was supported by the Consortium for Street Children, framed with a view to understanding who “street children” are, and how to facilitate access to fundamental rights in particular access to education and justice.

The event was moderated by Hon. MNA and Convenor of the Child Rights Group Ms. Mehnaz Akber Aziz, with keynote speakers being the Hon. Minister for Human Rights, Dr. Shireen Mazari and the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Mr. Hamza Shafqaat.

The spectrum of participants in the roundtable included MNAs from each of the provinces including Kheso Maal Daas from Sindh and Ms. Munawara Bibi from Balochistan; representation from the social protection programme, Ehsaas; Ms. Sarah Ahmed from the  Punjab Child Welfare and Protection Bureau; Iqbal Detho from the National Commission on the Rights of the Child; and practitioners from national and grassroots level organisations including Sahil, Good Development Pakistan, Dost Welfare Foundation (Peshawar) and the Pehli Kiran School System (Islamabad). Importantly, we also worked to interview and incorporate the real voices of street-connected children via a video screened at the event, to truly illustrate the challenges of intergenerational urban poverty; what drives children out of school and into the workforce; and the vulnerability that comes with informality of status.

5 main takeaways:

1. Acknowledging complexity.

What came across very clearly was that “street children” is not a monolithic term. The situation differs in each urban context, with drivers of mobility including conflict and disaster. While some may fall into exploitation by criminal groups, it was shared that this was certainly not always the case. Many children who are seen on the streets are there for survival activities for their families who they do return to – or work around school hours. Understanding communities and children’s constraints as well as their voice and agency will help devise humane policies that are rooted in their reality.

“With or without the local governments our children have suffered. And largely they have suffered because of the War on Terror. So there is a natural corollary… It’s one thing that there are organized gangs but I think to recognize the problem, we need to understand its different types” – MNA Shandana Khan

2. Review of existing laws and their implementation.

One useful framework for shaping policy on street children is UN General Comment No. 21 on Children in Street Situations. We started out with laying out some relevant national laws to do with street-connected children, including the Vagrancy Laws carried on from the 1950s that represent status offenses and provide the rationale for criminalizing activities like begging for alms. In terms of providing education and protection without discrimination, there is Article 25A reinforcing the right to education, and child protection laws that are currently at different stages of development in different provinces. There is an opportunity to shape these protection laws and lay out their implementation so that the best interests of children remain paramount.

3. Cooperation and coordination.

There is need for communication and coordination across parties, legislative bodies, child protection and social welfare departments, law enforcement agencies and civil society. One recommendation that was suggested by Ms. Aziz was the setting up of an “umbrella” like network of organisations working on issues related to street-connected children, to share best practice locally as well as to connect at the international level.

4. Reviewing the role of protection facilities.

Not all children are unaccompanied, so there is a need to review on a case-by-case basis who belongs in a protection home or facility. Shelter and drop-in facilities have a place, and an important role to play in the lives of vulnerable children as safe spaces they can access with opportunities for learning. We need to think about what the state and private organisations can afford to sustain and how to offer, as Azaz from Dost Foundation said, “continuity of care.”

“A multi-stakeholder mechanism proposes a few things. First, how to reach out to children, how to hold parents accountable and also support parents to fulfill their parental responsibilities. This means there is also the need to assess its tailor-made evaluation which is part of what we call case management in terms of child protection.” – Valerie Khan, Good Development Pakistan

5. Casting a wide net.

The Ehsaas programme has several elements offering support and incentivizing education, especially for girls. When it comes specifically to street children, there is a need to recognize the gaps in social protection mechanisms, and see who falls through the cracks in urban spaces especially due to issues like lack of formal documentation and identity documents.

For Cities for Children, this was a first step towards creating a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of street-connected children, and taking a rights-based approach centered on non-discrimination, the best interests of every child and, as Usama Khilji said, “think more with our hearts when it comes to children.”

We would like to extend a special thank you to Ms. Mehnaz Aziz and Mehreen Mubashir from the SDGs Secretariat, for their dedication to child rights and giving this platform to discuss the issues in an open, consultative way.

Press coverage of the event is available here: Minister reiterates commitment to street children

The full video of the event is available on the SDGs Secretariat Youtube channel

The post Key Takeaways from the National Parliamentarians Consultation – International Day for Street Children 2021 appeared first on Cities for Children.