Human Rights Day today: 22.8m out-of-school children in Pakistan, says NCRC

LAHORE:National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) in a press release on Friday said that Pakistan faced severe challenges of human rights at many levels, where women and children are the major sufferers.

NCRC, on the eve of Human Rights Day, which is observed every year on Dec 10 (today), said that the biggest example of human rights violation is that children are not being provided with basic education.

As per NCRC report, Pakistan has 22.8 million children between 5 and 16 years old - world’s second highest number of out-of-school children. This shows that 44 percent of children not attending schools but engaged in labour or begging.

Article 25A of the Constitution gives every child the fundamental right to education. NCRC, which oversaw child rights violations in Pakistan and recommended amendments for better practices and effective implementation of child laws, strongly demanded elimination of child labour across the country and amend Article 11(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan to prohibit the employment of children under 18 years of age and in any hazardous conditions and factories.