Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child - SPARC

Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) was founded in 1992, registered in December 1992 as a society under the Societies Registration Act 1860, by Supreme Court Advocate Anees Jillani. The idea for creating Pakistan’s leading child rights organization came to fruition following a discussion between Anees Jillani and the then UNICEF Program Officer in Islamabad, and an International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) Training Course on Implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes in Penang, Malaysia.

For about three years, Anees Jillani supported all SPARC activities on his own. Later, UNICEF approached SPARC with its first funding wherein the Annual Project Plan of Action was signed. SPARC started to take out a quarterly newsletter in English which was later also published in Urdu and Sindhi. UNICEF and the Royal Netherlands Embassy initially supported the newsletter.

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was the first to support SPARC institutionally and SPARC set up offices in Islamabad. A hallmark publication of SPARC, The State of Pakistan’s Children, was born; supported by Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD). SDC brought SPARC into the national sphere with offices opened n Peshawar and Lahore.

SPARC’s work is guided by international human rights principles and standards which are integrated at policy and program level. The main guiding documents include the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and relevant ILO Conventions.

SPARC has consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) and the United Nations Department of Public Information and is also partnered with Defense for Children International (DCI).