Study on children on the move launched

Children on the move (CoM) are neglected by the federal and provincial governments and by the relevant NGOs, so they should understand the sensitivity of the phenomenon and give special room to it in their policies and procedural framework.

This was the crux of a study on drivers and dynamics of CoM in Karachi and Lahore that was launched on Human Rights Day on Monday. Sindh Prisons IG Muzaffar Alam Siddiqui and South SSP Pir Muhammad Shah were among the prominent speakers at the launch.

Karachi’s Initiator Human Development Foundation (IHDF) and Lahore’s Grass-root Organisation for Development of Human-being had conducted the study with the support of Save the Children and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

The study unfolds diverse and complex dynamics of children’s movement. They not only appear as passive victims of migration but also active decision-makers, and their decisions are tightly embedded in social and familial realism. The study also stated that continuous socio-economic transition in the rural landscape of Pakistan and necessitating increasing diversified livelihood are stimulating migration towards metropolises like Karachi and Lahore.

The study observed that reasons behind unaccompanied migration (without consent) of children towards metropolises are abuse and corporal punishment at schools, madrasas and work, unavailability of basic child rights, better opportunities and city charms.

IHDF head Rana Asif Habib told The News that Karachi has the largest number of CoM in Pakistan. “Some of them are runaways or torture survivors. They don’t understand the circumstances that follow with the act.”

He said the conditions under which movement takes place are often treacherous, “putting migrant children, especially unaccompanied and separated children, at an increased risk of economic or sexual exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence”. Regarding the anti-encroachment drive under way in the city, he said that most of the hawkers and workers working with informal economy are the major affectees, as they are migrants.