July - October 2000
LHRLA is an NGO that works in various capacities for strengthening civil society. That, then, makes us answerable to this civil society. For this accountability we have attempted to forge this LINK.
Editorial
International human right conventions have mandated that children, a particularly vulnerable group, are entitled to special care and protection because they are still developing physically, mentally and emotionally. With this in mind, international human rights documents strongly encourage states to develop specialized laws, procedures, authorities, and institutions for handling the cases of children in conflict with the law.
Conventional wisdom holds that a corrupt and inefficient system of administration has more laws and regulations. Living up to this adage we have a plethora of laws - which are merely procedural - and exist in the law books only for each and every breach of the law. Juvenile delinquency is no exception, the Sindh Children Act 1955, Punjab Youthful Offenders Ordinance of 1985, Child Offenders Act 1995 and the latest Juvenile Justice Ordinance 2000 are enshrined in the law books.
All the said laws were enacted with high sounding words to streamline the juvenile justice system and mitigate the sufferings of the child offenders. But neither is the separate and speedy juvenile justice system in sight nor has the plight of these juvenile delinquents improved.
The situation is going from bad to worse; as the latest figures show the number of children imprisoned in different jails of the country has increased; the less said about the treatment meted out to these unfortunate souls, the better. Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) believe that the imprisonment of a child should always be a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.
The number of juvenile offenders released on bail or probation has declined in the recent past due to non-availability of surety for child offenders and insufficiency of staff at the probation offices. The situation would have become more grave if certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Lawyers for Human rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) had not endeavored to ameliorate the lot of the child.
