Right of Reply by India under Agenda Item 3 : Interactive Dialogue with Special Representative to the Secretary General on violence against children and Special Representative to the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict at the 44th Session of the Human Rights Council (30 June – 21 July 2020) delivered by Mr. S. Senthil Kumar, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India (Geneva, 02 July 2020)
Mr Vice-President,
India exercises its right of reply in response to the statement made by Pakistan under the ID on violence against children and ID on children and armed conflict.
Mr. Vice-President,
2. Pakistan has yet again chosen to distract the attention of the Council with their deceitful political propaganda by weaving fake narratives, lies, disinformation campaign while making unwarranted references to internal matters of my country.
3. The three-year old boy that the Pakistani delegate referred to was saved by our security personnel while sacrificing the life of one soldier in the process. The grandfather of the three-year old boy was killed by the terrorists whom the Pakistani delegate proudly calls ‘martyrs’.
4. The situation of children in Pakistan is manifested well when it recruits its children for carrying out “suicide bombing” in its neighbouring countries for its so called geo-strategic purposes. Pakistan has been recorded for its failure to protect its children with nearly all their fundamental rights and freedoms infringed or violated. Excessive violence and inadequate legal and social protection, hazardous labour, as well as child marriage are some of the recurring issues faced everyday by children in Pakistan.
5. Child abuse is widespread in Pakistan. Authorities subjected children to harmful international practices, treating girls as chattel to settle disputes and debts. Pakistan’s laws do not prohibit using children for prostitution or pornographic performances and also do not comply with international standards, in particular, criteria set by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
6. It may be recalled that the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed serious concerns on the large number of children falling victim to sexual abuse, exploitation, rape and abduction, in particular in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkwa, parts of the Punjab and Baluchistan. Boys as young as six years old from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are purportedly lured to work in the mines but then subjected to sex trafficking.
7. Pakistan may be well advised to introspect before casting baseless against India, lest it will be drawn into its own created vortex.
Thank you,
Mr. Vice-President.
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