Call to implement child rights laws, especially JJSA.

LAHORE -- Representatives of a child rights network in a meeting have urged the government to fully implement child-based laws, focusing on the Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA) 2018.

The meeting was organised by the Child Rights Movement (CRM) and the Good Thinkers Organisation, based in Kasur, at the Lahore Press Club on Monday.

Advocate Waqas Abid, coordinator for the CRM, said the president of Pakistan had approved the JJSA 2018 in May last year, which was earlier passed by the both legislative houses, National Assembly and Senate, with an objective to overcome shortcomings of the previous Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 and to provide a child-friendly justice system as well as opportunities of social reintegration to juvenile offenders.

He said salient features of the JJSA 2018 were the provision of the right of legal assistance to every juvenile or child victim of an offence at the state expense and information to a juvenile about this right of legal assistance within 24 hours after being taken into custody.

Mr Abid said the law proposed establishment of exclusive juvenile courts, observation homes and rehabilitation centres but nothing had been done so far in terms of implementation.

This law introduced a 'diversion mechanism' by referring the petty matters of these young juvenile offenders to a juvenile justice committee, meant to be an alternative process of determining the responsibility and treatment of a juvenile on basis of his/her social...