The Children Complaint Office (CCO) of the Punjab Ombudsman on Friday released its first annual report for the year of 2010, with the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) and the police ranked highest for violating the child protection laws.
According to the report, the complaints, against violation of children’s protection and welfare laws, were addressed through the friendly investigation procedures. The report said that the CCO investigated the existence of laws dealing with children and found that 22 laws were present for the protection and welfare of children. The CCO received 274 complaints since its inception, till 2010. Out of the total complaints, 99 were received in the last two months of 2009, while 175 complaints were registered during 2010.
The BISE and Education Department was first amongst the list of provincial agencies against which the complaints were registered. In 2009 and 2010, 22 and 73 complaints were received against BISE, respectively. The Police was second in the list for both 2009 and 2010, with 13 complaints in 2009 and 18 complaints in 2010.
Moreover, the children also complained about the Child Protection & Welfare Bureau, Health agencies, Punjab Education Endowment Fund, City District Governments, NADRA, Parks & Horticulture Authority and other provincial agencies.
The CCO reached 3,500 school children, 150 juveniles, 300 cancer patients, 1,000 teachers, 137 orphan girls and 40 child labourers in 2010.
The report said that CCO, established in the Punjab Ombudsman in 2009 with the collaboration of UNICEF, provided financial and psychological aid to flood affected women and children in 2010.