Pakistan: Child prisoners increasing

The Nation

Noted human rights activist Hina Jillani presented the Annual Report on Child Prisoners 2011 at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday. The report reveals the number of under trial child prisoners, their age groups, offences, period of pre-sentence detention, duration of stay in police custody and number of convicted prisoners. On average, 593 children were detained monthly in Punjab prisons in 2011; while the total number of new entries in 2011 was 2,610, the report informs. This figure shows a substantial increase in the number of children detained in Punjab prisons over 2010 when 1,061 children met the same fate. Of the children found in prisons, 0.76 per cent were in the age group of 7-11 years; 31.06 per cent in the age group of 12-15 years; and 68.17 per cent in the age group of 16-18 years. Most of the new entrants were also aged between 16 and 18 years, as was the case in 2010. In 2011, the youngest detainee was an eight-year old boy in Central Jail Sahiwal, charged with the offence of murder. As was the case in the previous year, a downward trend was witnessed in the age group of 7-11 years. It rose slightly in 2009; however, it has declined again in 2011 forming 0.76 percent of the number of children entering the prisons in 2011. Approximately, 7 percent increase was also observed in the children entering the prisons in 2011 in the age groups of 12-15 and 16-18 years.