Pakistan’s sixth and seventh periodic review before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), held in Geneva on January 15-16, 2026, marked an important moment of reflection and accountability, examining progress made since the previous review in 2016.
More than a formal reporting obligation, the review provided an opportunity to examine how Pakistan is translating its commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified in 1990, into lived realities for children across the country.
As chairperson of the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC), and as an independent observer to the review, I witnessed a dialogue that was structured, substantive and rigorous. Yet the real measure of this process will not be what was said in Geneva, but what follows at home. The CRC review must be understood not as a starting point for renewed, evidence- and expertise-based national action.
The review of States Parties by the CRC is a structured, multi-stage accountability process established under the convention. It begins with the submission of periodic state reports every five years, outlining legislative, policy and administrative measures taken to implement the convention. This is followed by a pre-sessional review, during which the committee prepares a List of Issues (LOI) identifying priority concerns and information gaps. States then submit written replies, after which a public and constructive country dialogue takes place in Geneva. The process culminates with Concluding Observations: authoritative recommendations accompanied by a follow-up timeline.
Throughout this cycle, civil society organisations, national human rights institutions and children themselves can submit alternative reports that inform the committee’s assessment.
For Pakistan, this review carried a particular weight. It took place after nearly a decade due to various delays in the submission of periodic reports, compounded by a further postponement in May 2025 owing to geopolitical tensions. While states are expected to report every five years, missed deadlines disrupted Pakistan’s regular review cycle.
The CRC review matters because it is anchored in a legally binding treaty, and because it is an expert-led mechanism that examines whether and how children’s rights are realised in practice. The subsequent Concluding Observations serve as practical policy guidance, identifying systemic gaps, strengthening data-based processes and offering child-centric actionable recommendations to improve relevant legal and policy frameworks, as well as budgets and child protection systems
The constructive dialogue reflected both acknowledgement of the progress and concerns over persistent gaps in the promotion and protection of children’s rights in Pakistan. The committee highlighted structural and institutional challenges. These included the high prevalence of violence against children – particularly sexual violence, gender-based violence and harmful practices such as child marriage – the dependency on institutionalisation, inadequate alternative care, the large number of out-of-school children and child labourers, lack of access to services for children with disabilities, low birth registration rates, defective juvenile justice and age determination practices, discrimination against children from minorities, hate speech and allegations of forced conversions, as well as growing risks in digital spaces, including online sexual exploitation. Additionally, the committee insisted on the need to establish a fully independent commission on the rights of the child, fully aligned with the Paris Principles.
The government delegation, led by Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik, approached the dialogue in a learning-oriented and transparent manner. The delegation outlined legislative, policy and institutional measures adopted in recent years, emphasising that children’s rights and upholding their best interests remain a national priority and that the delegation welcomes the CRC committee members’ guidance.
On violence against children, the delegation highlighted the implementation of a national strategic framework centred on prevention, protection, prosecution and rehabilitation. This includes the establishment of district-level child protection mechanisms, specialised courts for gender-based violence and child protection, along with legislative amendments criminalising all forms of child sexual abuse, exploitation and online harm. Specific reference was made to the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act, 2021, and the structures created under it, which have contributed to increased conviction rates for scheduled offences from approximately 3-10 per cent nationwide between 2021 and 2025.
On education, the delegation highlighted the prime minister’s declaration of a nationwide education emergency in September 2024. Measures cited included large-scale investments in education, cash stipends that enabled the enrolment of approximately 800,000 girls, teacher training programmes, the removal of documentation barriers, the reconstruction of schools damaged by floods and efforts to integrate non-formal education and madrassahs into mainstream systems. The delegation further highlighted that federal and provincial governments are institutionalising school meal programmes as part of the education emergency, aimed at encouraging the enrolment and retention of out-of-school children while simultaneously addressing child nutrition and learning outcomes.
Progress in birth registration has been strengthened through fee waivers, interoperability with health, expanded NADRA services, mobile registration vans and harmonisation efforts across provinces. NADRA has also introduced a digital birth notification tool that registers births in real time and sends alerts to parents to collect their birth certificates from their respective Union Councils, improving data accuracy and system interoperability. These combined efforts by NADRA and local governments are driving a positive trajectory in nationwide birth registration rates.
The delegation also highlighted measures to address emerging digital risks, including the enforcement of cybercrime laws, establishment of specialised investigation units and collaboration with the NCRC and Meta on the ‘Take It Down’ platform to remove exploitative and harmful online content involving children. The government has also established the National Cyber Crime Investigation Authority (NCCIA), a specialised agency mandated to investigate, prevent and prosecute cybercrimes, with a particular focus on protecting children.
Health-related responses highlighted progress in polio eradication, nutrition programmes such as the Benazir Nashonuma initiative and targeted interventions for children with disabilities and chronic illnesses. The delegation noted that Pakistan had made substantial progress in reducing polio transmission: cases declined from 74 in 2024 to 31 in 2025, with only one case reported since September 2025.
Lastly, Barrister Malik informed the CRC committee members that a National Coordination Committee had been established under the Federal Ministry of Law and Justice in 2025 to strengthen, coordinate and oversee the implementation of juvenile justice in the country.
The most consistent challenge emerging from the dialogue was implementation and alignment with international best practices. Progress varies across provinces, and systems often struggle with capacity constraints, weak coordination, insufficient resources and limited awareness and accountability. This gap between policy, law and practice remains one of Pakistan’s most pressing child rights challenges.
While Pakistan has made progress in strengthening laws and policies for children, the scale of out-of-school children, gaps in birth registration and limited reach of family-based and child-centric social protection schemes remain deeply interconnected challenges that require urgent expertise and evidence-based coordinated action and remediation. When children are excluded from school, they are far more likely to enter child labour, face child marriage, abuse and exploitation and remain trapped in intergenerational cycles of poverty and harm. In this context, the education gap directly weakens the state’s ability to protect children and uphold their best interests. Closing this gap is a central pillar for building an effective and sustainable multi-sectoral, family-based, gender-responsive and inclusive child protection system.
Similarly, birth registration is the legal gateway to the realisation of all other rights. Without proof of age and legal identity, children remain invisible within administrative systems and are excluded from education, social protection schemes, and justice mechanisms. This invisibility significantly increases exposure to child marriage, forced religious conversion, trafficking, hazardous labour, unlawful detention and overall denial of justice, as age determination becomes discretionary. Strengthening civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems - particularly through integration with education enrolment and social protection databases – is therefore a prerequisite for effective rights enforcement and accountability.
With regard to the independence of the NCRC, it is important to emphasise that the commission functions with operational autonomy: it furnishes reports independently, publicly highlights gaps in law, policy and implementation, and publishes its findings in an open and transparent manner. The commission’s board includes representatives from the executive branch, and the NCRC is actively advocating for legislative amendments to further strengthen its institutional independence in line with international standards.
As Pakistan awaits the CRC’s Concluding Observations, the focus must now shift decisively from reporting to child-centric implementation. These recommendations should not be viewed as criticism, but as a roadmap for strengthening systems that serve children.
For the NCRC, the way forward is clear. The commission will engage closely with federal and provincial governments to support, monitor and advocate for the implementation of the committee’s recommendations. It will continue to identify systemic gaps, exercise its mandate as a watchdog and advisory body and ensure that commitments made in international forums translate into tangible improvements in children’s lives.
The CRC review should not end in Geneva. Its true success will be measured by sustained action at home, and by whether children across Pakistan experience real change in safety, dignity, opportunity and well-being.
The writer is the chairperson of the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC). She tweets/posts @AyeshaRaza13 and can be reached at: [email protected]
