Chief Justice of the High Court of Sindh (SHC) Justice Mushir Alam has stressed the need for proper legislation to protect the rights of the children. “It is our joint responsibility to work for the welfare of the children,” he said while addressing a seminar on ‘Juvenile Delinquency and Child Abuse’ organised by the Sindh Ombudsman in collaboration with UNICEF here on Wednesday.
The Chief Justice said that there were several hundred cases of various kinds of child abuse and added that only few networks of prominent NGOs were working for the welfare of children. He also said that there exists a menace of child labour involving children mostly of 10 to 14 years age group and called for creation of awareness in the society to prevent it in future.
On the occasion, he also appreciated the Provincial Ombudsman’s Office for setting a complaint centre to deal with cases pertaining to the children. “It is a step in the right direction,” he observed.
The Chief Justice said that influx of Afghan refugees, natural disasters like earthquake and recent floods have also given rise to increasing number of orphans and destitute and street children who were today a social responsibility of the society.
Earlier, Provincial Ombudsman Sindh, Asad Ashraf Malik also presented his paper and spoke about the salient features of the
complaint centre.
