Ideals of human rights and socioeconomic realities: The larger context of Pakistan's child-protection policy

After 25 years of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, millions of children still have their fundamental rights violated every day. It is argued in this article that the realization of the rights of these children is heavily influenced by the socioeconomic context of their countries. Taking Pakistan's child protection policy as a case, the argument is built on primary data collected from in-depth interviews with policymakers. Data analysis revealed that the Pakistani policymakers do consider socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, as a causative factor for various child protection issues, and believe that an increased level of socioeconomic development would improve protection and well-being of all children in that country. However, they lacked an appreciation of the interdependent relationship between children's broader socioeconomic environment and their right to protection in terms of policy responses to various child protection issues.     

Men and Women’s Perceptions of Justifications of Wife Beating: Evidence from Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012–13

Pakistani women are vulnerable to all kinds of violence due to the patriarchal setup of society. We examined the justification of wife beating by women and men of reproductive group that comprised of 15–49 years of age by doing secondary data analysis on nationally representative cross- sectional survey data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, 2012–13. The analysis was conducted on randomly selected 13,558 ever- married women and 3134 ever- married men representing all the four provinces of Pakistan including Gilgit Baltistan and federal capital Islamabad. The data showed that women justified wife beating more as compared to men. The findings of multivariable logistic regression depicted that women living with partners, having no access to information, lacking autonomy, and no control over income were more likely to justify wife beating while men who did not have access to information were more in favor of this acts. These findings may help in devising strategies to change the mindset regarding justification of wife beating in Pakistan.