Pakistan to be a horrid place for children and minorities

A report from a child protection group has termed Pakistan to be an unpleasant place for kids to grow. The report has been prepared by a child rights organization known as Society for the Protection of the Rights of the child (SPARC). According to their mission statement, “the child advocacy group promotes and protects the rights of children and strives to empower them by using international standards as a yardstick through assistance supported by research, awareness raising, service delivery and human and institutional development.” The report has raised the issue of under age marriage, neonatal deaths and religious discrimination against children. The report states that the country has seen increased maltreatment against children with the passage of time. With Child labor already prevailing at the highest level within the country, the report highlights other issues that have been used to continuously molest children rights. The findings of the report shows a rather awful picture of children rights. According to the report, the infant mortality rate stands at 70 per 1000 live births, with more than half attributed to the neonatal period. The under-five mortality rate stands at is 87 per 1000 live births. The report findings with respect to child abuse cite 2,747 children from different parts of the country being subjected to various forms of violence and abuse. The issue of underage marriage has also been highlighted within the report. According to the report, seven percent of girls were married by the age of 15 years and 24% by the age of 18 years during the period of 2000-2010. This underage marriage has also been highlighted with respect to marriage of underage Hindu girls in order convert them to Islam against their will. The report also features issues of persecution and discrimination against minorities. According to the report, Non Muslim girl children are subjected to forced conversion to Islam via abduction and rape. The report even goes further to state that these forced conversions are carried out at the behest of religious parties.