PESHAWAR: As many as 168 judges and prosecutors, including 31 female judges, have been trained on juvenile justice and child protection related laws in the country in accordance with the decision of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee in wake of global convention on child rights.
Chairing the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC) meeting in June 2019, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Sardar Asif Saeed Khan Khosa had given recommendations to establish juvenile and child protection courts in every district of the country.
Due to paucity of judicial officers, he had recommended establishment of child courts in provincial headquarters and Islamabad as a pilot project in the first instance, saying the high courts will nominate judicial officers for training by the Group Development Pakistan (GDP).
Such recommendations were a consequence to the comprehensive action plan of the GDP’s executive director Valerie Khan Yousafzai which she submitted to NJPMC for assisting the judiciary regarding establishment of the juvenile justice and child courts in Pakistan.
Recently, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy with technical assistance of the GDP organized third training of juvenile and child courts officials judges, prosecutors, probation officers and child protection officers on laws pertaining to juvenile justice and child rights.
Enforcing the decision of the NJPMC, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy with the technical assistance of the GDP recently organized third training of juvenile and child courts officials including judges, prosecutors, probation officers and child protection officers on laws pertaining to juvenile justice and child rights.
While talking to TLTP, legal expert on child rights in Pakistan Advocate Sharafat Ali Chaudhry, who has drafted the country’s recent juvenile justice law, said on Tuesday, “There is dire need to enforce the NJPMC decision and establish exclusive juvenile justice courts and juvenile rehabilitation centers, and notify juvenile justice committees under Section 4 of the Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018 in every district of Pakistan”.
Chaudhry during a presentation before the NJPMC on April 29, 2019 had suggested establishment of juvenile courts in each district of Pakistan under the mandatory legal provision of existing juvenile justice system Act.
Chaudhry on Tuesday was of the view that although many judges and prosecutors have been provided training on recent enacted laws for children in contact and in conflict with law, yet prerequisite infrastructure to enforce the laws including observation homes and juvenile rehabilitation centers needs to be established on priority basis to enforce comprehensively the constitutional and statutory rights of the children.
The writer heads a leading news wire service ‘The Law Today Pakistan’ commonly known as TLTP. He has a special focus on news relating to superior courts adjudication, access to right of information, civil, political, social and economic rights under the approach that existing cyber regime realization ensures procedural fairness in administrative law. He can be reached at editor@tltpnews.com
