The Founding Law of Pakistan’s National Commission on the Rights of the Child: Legal Challenges, Bureaucratic Barriers, and Vague Opportunities

Abstract

This chapter concentrates on child rights institutions’ founding or organic laws that provide independence and powers to the national or local child rights institutions. This chapter analyzes the National Commission on the Rights of the Child Act (NCRCA, 2017) of Pakistan as a case. It employs the Paris Principles of 1993 and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 2 as a yardstick. This chapter also compares the NCRCA with the National Commission on Human Rights Act (NCHRA, 2012). It presents results from interviews of three Child Rights Movement Pakistan (CRM) members and a member of the National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC). The analysis finds that the NCRC faces serious challenges in performing its duties and functions, which were already limited within the organic law. The NCRC is an advisory body whose only role is to suggest the federal bureaucracy when and if required. The NCRC has not been provided with funds and adequate resources. Even the NCRC members were not paid their salaries for many months. The analysis finds that the NCRC’s affairs are governed through the bureaucracy¹ (senior officials) within the Ministry of Human Rights, and the Human Rights Division. Rather than direct responsibility to the Parliament, the NCRC’s independence is undermined as its legislation directs. In the future, the NCRC will face challenges in advancing and protecting children’s rights because it does not have suo-motu (on its own) powers to intervene in matters affecting children. Therefore, it is indispensable to amend the NCRCA in consideration of the GC2 and the Paris Principles to bolster the institution’s independence and functions. These changes are essential to addressing violations of children’s rights and bringing about changes in the structures that affect children.

Citation

Khoso, A. and Kousar, U. (2022), "The Founding Law of Pakistan’s National Commission on the Rights of the Child: Legal Challenges, Bureaucratic Barriers, and Vague Opportunities", Lux, A., Gran, B. and Bass, L.E. (Ed.) The Roles of Independent Children's Rights Institutions in Advancing Human Rights of Children (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 28), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120220000028009