Some 50 children on death row may be the immediate...

Some 50 children on death row may be the immediate beneficiaries of the military government's plan to scrap the obsolete juvenile justice system and bring it in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Pakistan is a signatory. The federal cabinet approved a set of recommendations forwarded by the social welfare ministry to improve juvenile laws that had drawn concern from domestic and international human rights organisations. "We hope the President will promulgate the bill into an ordinance in the last week of April," said Shahid Masood, senior bureaucrat and ministry spokesperson. Once in place the new law would ban the death penalty, whipping and the use of handcuffs and fetters on children - all longstanding demands of rights groups. The Lahore-based Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and other child rights groups expect that once capital punishment for children is made illegal there would be automatic relief for children currently facing the death penalty - including a 14-year-old languishing in Bahawalpur Jail. But there are other interpretations to how the new law will apply with government officials saying changes cannot be applied retroactively. "No law can be retroactive. But a reviewing judge would certainly take a compassionate view of the situation." said Masood. An official of the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) said that in fact nobody below the age of 18 years has ever been executed in Pakistan. In 2000 more than 4,000 children were languishing in jails throughout the country. Most of the young prisoners are kept in adult jails since the two special prisons for children in Karachi and Bahawalpur are inadequate. Most young offenders are in for minor offences but face tremendous hardships in jails and are routinely abused by adult inmates, prison guards and other authorities. Other important concerns include the age of criminal responsibility - which rights groups want raised from seven to 15 years - and emphasis on education and training rather than detention and retribution.