A meeting with a three-member contingent (Ms. Silvia Randazzo, Mr. Rizwan Khan, Ms. Anum Shabbir) from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was held at the committee room Punjab Judicial Academy on 27-10-2022. Ms. Silvia Randazzo, Child Care Expert (UNODC) briefed about the UNODC initiative on Technical Assistance Needs Assessment (TANA) on Juvenile Justice System in Punjab. Mr. Rizwan from UNODC briefed regarding the work plan and abstract of the research/study being conducted by UNODC team led by Ms. Silvia Randazzo. He further explained that the purpose of the meeting is to involve the stakeholders of the Judicial System in order to get feedback on the prevailing Laws on Juvenile trial, the difficulties and challenges the stakeholder have to see during the proceedings of the cases and further derive solution for the challenges pertaining the legal proceedings of the Juvenile Courts, amendments and development required in the Law so that it can be incorporated in the said study.
Mr. Ashtar Abbas, Acting Director General PJA, Mr. Tariq Iftikhar Ahmad, Director Training (Distance Learning) PJA, Ch. Muhammad Siddique, Director Program PJA, Ms Bushra Zaman, Director (R&P) Punjab Judicial Academy, Mr. Saboor Ahmad Khan, Additional Director PJA, Syed Mustafa Gardezi, Assistant Director (Accounts) PJA, and Mr. Hanan Asghar Assistant Director (Admin & Accounts) attended the meeting.
During the discussion, the Acting Director General shared his practical experience regarding salient features of Juvenile Act 2018, Juvenile Justice System in Pakistan and the limitation attached with the Act.
The Directors, Punjab Judicial Academy also shared their experience and spoke about the application of the said law in the prospective of Pakistan. While discussing, the Additional Director PJA, appreciating the efforts of UNODC with regard the study on Juvenile Justice System in Pakistan, asked, how UNODC may help in developing the Juvenile Justice System, will UNODC help in establishing the Juvenile correctional facilities centres / re-habilitation centres for minor to avoid locking of the Juveniles with adults which is the main root-cause of creating hardened criminals.
The members of UNODC appreciated the valuable input, views, concerns, remarks and suggestions made by the members of the Punjab Judicial Academy and expressed their gratitude for extending support to further their study and research on Juvenile Justice System.
The meeting ended with the vote of thanks.