Duty to report

Duty to Report

Pakistan could have a sea change impact on improving child protection by declaring that the police, professionals and all citizens have a mandatory ‘duty to report’ any instance of child abuse and neglect. This is the only way and the only hope a change is possible.

When any police, professional or citizen observes, knows or suspects an occurrence of child abuse or neglect at any location, he / she is obligated to immediately report to the Child Protection Helpline 1121. ‘Duty to Report’ is obligatory in the following situations of child abuse and neglect.

1. When a child is found begging on streets or abandoned;
2. When a child is observed or known or suspected to be undergoing physical / sexual abuse at any domestic, public, commercial, educational or institutional location;
3. When a child is employed as domestic help;
4. When a child is found working in any industrial or commercial establishment
5. When there is evidence of child marriage (below the age of 18).

Reporting to 1121 Helpline is a meaningless exercise, regardless of all the ads and hype created about it, UNLESS, the DG Child Protection can define, resource and effectively operationalize the following actions:

1. A defined set of actions that the Helpline 1121 must execute on receiving each phone call – which ought to be far more than merely recording the received info in a register.
2. A defined set of actions / procedures that the Child Protection Officer must execute, on immediately receiving information through Helpline 1121 or any other source and subsequent follow up.
3. A defined set of actions / procedures that the Police must execute, on immediate direct observation, receiving information from 1121 or from any other source and subsequent follow up.
4. A defined set of actions that the DG Child Protection is personally responsible for to ensure that the processes defined above ACTUALLY WORK

Naeem Sadiq