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According to available UNICEF statistics, only 27 percent of total births in
Pakistan between 2000 and 2009 were registered. As per UNICEF’s 2011
State of the World’s Children report, the figures for birth registration provincially
were: Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (20 percent); and Azad Kashmir (24
percent); while Punjab had a higher rate (77 percent) and was closest to
universal registration. The situation was the worst in Balochistan and FATA,
where only one percent of children were registered at birth. The National
Database and Registration Authority Ordinance, 2000, aimed to register all
people but the law failed to address the registration of refugee children,
abandoned children and children of unidentified parents. In April 2010, an
amendment in the ordinance seeking addition of a clause asking for registration
of children whose parents were not identified had been proposed. No progress
in that respect had been reported since then.
Corporal punishment
The 2012 global report on ending legalised violence against children by
the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children has identified
Pakistan as one of the 26 states in the world where corporal punishment is not
fully prohibited while the government of the country has made a public
commitment for enacting prohibition in all settings.
The Right to Free and
Compulsory Education Act
2012 for Islamabad Capital
Territory, introduced this
year, prohibited corporal
punishment in government
schools for 5-16 year old.
However, specific legislation
completely banning corporal
punishment in both public
and private institutions for all
children, the Prohibition of
Corporal Punishment Bill,
2010, remained pending in
the National Assembly
throughout 2012 while
corporal punishment was
inflicted with much the same
rigour as before. Balochistan
Prohibition of Corporal
Punishment Bill has been at
the drafting stage since 2011 Lessons that led to a high dropout rate.
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State of Human Rights in 2012