Over 2.5m street children facing a bleak future in Pakistan

News Desk

More than 2.5 million street children are facing a bleak future in Pakistan. As many as 56 percent of children run away due to domestic violence, 22 percent are out-of-school or other educational facilities and 22 percent are working to support their families.

SPARC calls for enforcing child protection laws for a better future.

These details were shared by Member Board of Directors SPARC Khalida Ahmed on Tuesday. He was speaking at an event held in connection with ‘International Street Children Day’. The event was organized by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) in the Meher Abadi area of Islamabad on Tuesday.

The purpose of the special day was to give voices to the millions of street children and to create awareness about their deleterious state. Khalida Ahmed said globally, around 28 million children are homeless due to ongoing conflicts and account for almost half of the refugee population.

Despite near-universal adaptation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is a considerable lack of effort and visible action internationally and nationally in addressing the plight of street children.

Around 28 million children are homeless due to ongoing conflicts in the world.

SPARC Executive Director Asiya Arif said Pakistan needs to follow four steps of the United Nations General comment on street children: commit to equality, protect every child, provide access to services and create specialized solutions.

These are foundational steps for formulating policies and creating multi-prong institutional responses in tackling the issue of street children in Pakistan, she said.

The organization arranged an event with children of Meherabadi-a slum area in Islamabad to highlight the significance of the day.

Children of the event also shared their views and stories on the occasion and they appreciated SPARC’s role and efforts for their rights. They performed different activities like role-plays and games and highlighted the issues and problems of the street children.

Manager of Child Protection SPARC Farmanullah Khan expressed that all children in the world have special rights and they need their rights to be protected in all respects without any prejudice in any way.

The governments have renewed their commitment to creating a friendly environment for all children, unfortunately, huge challenges remain for them.

Pakistan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 12, 1990, and the successive governments have renewed their commitment to creating a friendly environment for all Pakistani children. Unfortunately, huge challenges remain for them in the country.

There are laws regarding child education, health, nutrition, juvenile justice, violence, neglect, labour, and marriage but unfortunately, these laws have not been fully implemented.

In the end, the SPARC team thanked all the participants of the event and they committed that they will celebrate each year this day with new enthusiasm and spirit so that they make it possible that every child enjoys his rights.