Protecting Childhood in Pakistan: An Overview of Laws Protecting Children by Abira Ashfaq

Abira Ishfaq in this article reviews child protection laws that seek to prevent exploitative child labor and violence against children, enable their constitutional right to education and shield them in the criminal justice system. My focus will be to provide constructive analysis of these laws and how these can be strengthened substantively if inconsistencies and conflicts are reduced. For example, multiple provisions in the criminal laws refer to various age and gender criteria which are not related to practical protection of children; all provinces do not prohibit child marriage, and this further hinders child protection; and laws mandating education of children between the ages of five and sixteen run contrary to labor laws that permit the employment of children above fourteen. This article posits that child protection, in general, can also be enhanced if laws prohibiting child labor and marriage and making education compulsory are implemented effectively and holistically along with other laws protecting children from crime and violence. It begins with an evaluative overview of the new ZARRA law of 2020 which aims to improve recovery of missing and kidnapped children and leads into other interconnected criminal laws, juvenile justice, institutional arrangement for protection, right to education, and labor laws.

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