Documentary on Juvenile Justice launched

Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child on Thursday launched a documentary video on juvenile justice system in Pakistan. The 25-minute video entitled "Detention as a Last Resort" is directed by Nukhbat Malik, an Islamabad-based journalist, her first on child rights.

In Pakistan there are about up to 10,000 juvenile offenders, while at any given time as many as 2,500 children are languishing in different jails of Pakistan, according to SPARC. A large number of them are released on bail but they remain in contact with the criminal justice system of the country. The majority of the children have committed minor offences but are being made to pay a heavy price.

"This was the first time that I was making a film on children and with children," Malik told the audience. "What I realised was that once the children felt that they are being recognised as an entity, my work became easy. I feel that if we recognise the children and respect them, their issues and problems can be dealt with effectively," she said.

SPARC's national programme manager for juvenile justice Rafiq Khan said the documentary covered the issues like the determination of minimum age for criminal responsibility,  juvenile courts and free legal assistance, diversion mechanisms such as probation, borstal institutions, conditions in jails, punishments and the issue of death penalty.

"Each part has been looked at from three different angles. What is the legal framework? How is it being implemented? And finally, what should be the done?" Khan said.

Anees Jillani, the founder of SPARC and currently a director on its board said that efforts should be made to save the children from getting into conflict with the law and for petty offenses police officials at police station should try to resolve the case by issuing warnings or calling the parents or guardians and asking them to pay attention to their child so that he does not commit any offense again.

"It is a fact that detention either in the judicial lockup, police station, jails or any other detention centres further exacerbates the situation by exposing children to multiple forms of abuse including sexual violence, psycho-social damage and death through murder and extra-judicial killing," Jillani said.

SPARC's executive director Qindeel Shujaat said that the main aim objective of the documentary is to raise awareness among the stakeholders such as police and prison staff and the judiciary on how to handle children who come in contact and conflict with the law and end up in the criminal justice system."

The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance was enacted on July 1, 2000. The ordinance provides for the protection of the rights of the children involved in criminal litigation. It provides for separate courts and prisons for children and prohibits death penalty for convicts under the age of 18 years.