The participants at a national consultation urged here on Thursday the stakeholders to work in a systematic approach towards child protection especially in the relevant ministries’ post-devolution scenario. The national consultation “Adapting a system approach to children protection in Pakistan” was jointly organised by Child Rights Legal Centre and Save the Children. The participants said they believed that developing systemic approach to child protection was challenging however it should be done in order to meet national and international standards such as UN Convention on the rights of the child.
Keeping in view the post-devolution scenario, the experts said that systematic approach to child protection demands the attention, commitment and coordination of all levels of government and other sectors including civil society, NGOs, the private sector, academia, families, caregivers and children. The consultation was well attended by the stakeholders from all provinces including Social Welfare, Police, Prison, Reclamation and Probation, Child Protection Units, Child Protection Commission, Remand Home, Child Protection Bureaus, Judicial Academy, National Child Protection Centre. Besides that civil society organizations and national coalitions including National Juvenile Justice Network, Child Rights Movements, Child Protection and Empowerment of Adolescent Network (CPEA) have also participated.
Addressing on the occasion, Save the Children Country Director David Wright said that only systematic approach to child protection could ensure the sustainable solution to the problems.
“It requires a national strategy, a sound legal framework and child friendly judicial system, targeted policies and planning, trained officials, research and public awareness to be able to prevent violence, identify child victims of violence and offer a comprehensive referral system including reporting, care and rehabilitation services,” he said.
Child Rights Legal Centre Director Qandeel Shujaat on the occasion briefed about the working of Child Rights Legal Centre. “There are two major components of Child Rights Legal Centre that include child rights desk and child rights TV. Both of these components are working effectively to advocate child protection and other related aspects,” he said.
He said that the purpose to organize the consultation is to provide an opportunity to identify and highlight some of the existing good practices, discussed the gaps in the laws, which needed amendment to the benefit and in the best interests of children and to discuss at length as how children can be protected from them with the help of the existing laws, policies, plans, international standards, and institutions.
He, on the occasion, shared with audience that United Nation Child Rights Convention has adopted third optional protocol ‘individual grievances reporting’. “Pakistan is the signatory of previous two optional protocols while we can hope that it would become the signatory of third one too,” he added.
It was also shared on the occasion that it was now the Human Rights Ministry that would respond to the UNCRC after devolution of Ministry of Social Welfare. “Previously it was the CADD who was responsible for looking after it but now it is the Human Rights Ministry would respond to international commitments on child rights,” he said. Ministry for Human Rights, National Commission on Children, representative, Hassan Mangi said that the problem with majority of organizations working on child protection is that they don’t identify need and fail to address them in scientific way. “Child protection is a complex phenomenon and needs to be understood in a wider spectrum. It has different level including family level, street level, union council level, provincial level and so on,” he said.
The video clips and short interviews of the children who have been staying at various shelter homes or Child Protection Bureaus were also telecast on the occasion. The heart wrenching stories of children provoked many questions that resulted in heated debate among the participants.
The participants of the consultation had the consensus that there should be a strong collaboration between different organizations and departments working on child protection so as to avoid duplication besides having a better mechanism to address the child protection issues.
Collective efforts needed to safeguard child rights
