LAHORE
The government promulgated the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 (JJSO) that provides protection to children involved in criminal litigation. The most significant aspect of this law was the establishment of separate juvenile courts for the trial of the cases of children in conflict with law.
To highlight this issue a conference was held in Lahore, in which after deliberations on “Gaps in Implementation of Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000” the participants of the conference, involving all important stakeholders, hereby acknowledged the fact that protection of the rights of most vulnerable groups of society does not merely test the strength of a justice system but such a protective legislation and implementation mechanism also strengthens the justice systems at large.
The speakers, including Justice ® Ch Shahid Saeed, Director General Punjab Judicial Academy, Iftikhar Mubarak, Child Rights Movement, Shehram Toqeer, Superintendent, District Jail Lahore, Arshad Mahmood, Director General Probation and Reclamation, Nawaz Ahmed, Advocate, Mamoona Tahir and Nabeela Feroz Bhatti addressed the participants. They said it was the need of the time to uphold the primacy of inviolable fundamental rights of every Pakistani, enunciated in the Constitution of Pakistan and the international guidelines, particularly the convention on the rights of the child.
The speakers reaffirmed and appreciated the steps taken for better protection of the rights of the children in conflict with law, reflected in the recent legislative amendment passed by the Parliament of Pakistan about raising minimum age for criminal responsibility to 10 years and the steps of federal government for a new legislation on Juvenile Justice System in order to harmonise the existing legislation.
