The document discusses a study on providing psychosocial counseling and physical fitness programs for refugee children detained in Pakistani prisons. It found that implementing these programs significantly reduced recidivism. Of the 350 children who participated in counseling and exercise, only 5% were rearrested compared to higher rearrest rates without such interventions. The study concludes such programs can help rehabilitate at-risk youth even with limited resources and should be replicated in other detention settings.

1. Psychosocial Counseling & Physical Fitness related
Services for Refugee Children in Pakistani Prison
Muhammad Irfan
Sania Amin
Rights Defenders
Pakistan
www.rightsdefenders.com
Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living for All
Children
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Session C1: Inclusion and Access to Services Presentation: 4

2. Introduction
• Karachi is a city where millions of Afghan, Bengali &
Burmese resides and their areas are thickly populated
deprived from basic facilities i.e. food, shelter, water and
sanitation, health-care, education and jobs and due to
such issues the parents of these children are not able
satisfy their basic needs and these children comes on
streets where they become an easy target of antisocial
groups and get involved in all types of crimes.
• These gangs involved them, in addiction, criminal
activities and also abuse them physically and sexually
and they are vulnerable of psychological problems and
sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and all other health
problems. 2
Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

3. Introduction
• Religious extremism is also a big cause of delinquent
behavior; it may be having grudges with other
religion or sect. Unfortunately intolerance between
different religions and sects are at high level and this
religious and sectarian violence spoiling our youths
greatly.
• Pakistani Juvenile Jails to understand the pattern and
dimensions that why children commit crime and what factors
lead them to become a delinquent child and take big risks.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

4. Introduction
• Youthful Offender Industrial School (YOIS)
• Capacity of YOIS
• Refugees in Karachi
• Afghan Refugees
• Indian Children in Detention
• Daily routine of Children in Detention
• Issues and Challenges of Juveniles
• Issues and Challenges of Indian & Afghan Children
• Legal System for Juveniles
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

5. Introduction
• Legal System for Indian and Afghan Children
• Psychosocial counselling
• Physical Fitness related services
• Legal Assistance
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

6. Literature Review
• Adolescents that break the laws and engage in illegal
acts are called as Juvenile delinquents.
• Juvenile delinquency is a broad concept; violation of
law range from littering to murder.
• The major cause of juvenile delinquency are
dysfunctional community system, adverse peers,
disobedience in schools and involvement in such
peers who are involved in deviant behaviors, lower
socio economic class areas, living with scarce
financial resources and unemployment. (Auolakh,
1999)
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

7. Literature Review
• According to Neva R. Deardorff 1926, Juvenile
delinquents are not only those who violate laws, even
those who do not obey moral values are also delinquent
children.
• K. M. Banham Bridges 1927, defined that there are
several factors that lead towards delinquent behavior,
these factors and conditions includes:
• Physical factors
• Mental factors
• Home conditions
• School conditions
• Neighborhood conditions and
• Occupational conditions.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

8. Methodology
• Design: Descriptive study
• Participants: Entire Universe of YOIS (Total:260,
Indian 20 & Afghan 23)
• Procedure: Permission from Prison authorities has
been taken, observe the routine of children in prison,
note down their activities for 2 years in different
intervals, interview children about their cause and
nature of offense, enrolled children in psychosocial
counselling and Physical fitness related programs,
rule out the difference between control and
treatment group.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

9. Methodology
• Analysis: Data analysed through the frequency tables
and find out the difference between treatment and
control group.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

10. Results
• On everyday basis about 60 children get benefit from
the gym and to date there are more than 350
children got registered and get benefit from this
facility. These children are trained through a
professional gym instructor and psychologist, who
help them to engage in healthy activities and assist
them to adapt the socially accepted behaviors
through on-going psychosocial support.
• Refugees’ children response remains remarkable in
such activities
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

11. Results
• From January 2012 to December 2013, 308/ 350
children got released from the detention center on
different occasions and followed to assess the rate of
recidivism. Remarkably, only 5 children were
rearrested in other offences.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

12. Implications for Policy/Practice
• This model shows that recidivism and juvenile
delinquency can be countered through healthy activities
even under limited resources.
• Refugee/alien children can be fit in such
• As well, the model can be replicated and implemented in
other juvenile resource-limited settings, nationally and
internationally.
• National/international laws related to juveniles needs to
be revisited to save children from such prolonged
detention.
• True Implementation on UNCRC and JJSO 2000 is
important. 12
Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

13. Implications for Policy/Practice
• True Implementation on UNCRC and JJSO 2000 is
important.
• Police Training is important to deal with children in
detention.
• Juveniles access to their families/embassies/consulates/
should be done on priority basis as the child got
arrested.
• Physical and psychological health should be on priority
for prison authorities.
• Child labor should be banned where they can be the
victim of juvenile justice system in their ignorance.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

14. Conclusion
• Juvenile delinquency rate can be minimized by
minimizing these factors and enhancing support system,
attachment with family, and provision of basic
requirements to slum areas, effective teaching, and
provision of formal and non-formal education, school
connectedness, and low neighborhood crime rates. And
it is very much important to work on their major causes
i.e. peer pressure and substance abuse to alleviate crime
and save our children form juvenile delinquency.
• Education of children should be done by the state
parities to safeguard from national and international
laws.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

15. Conclusion
• Physical health related initiatives can be effective tool
for behavioral modification.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children

16. Acknowledgment
• We are thankful for all children who taken
part in this study and shared their valuable
inputs for the well being of all children in
similar settings.
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Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia:
Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living
for All Children