ISLAMABAD: Pakistan joins the world community today in celebrating the Universal Children’s Day 2017, which is an occasion for all to reaffirm commitment to the fundamental principles laid down in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child as well as national obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In their separate messages in connection with the Universal Children’s Day 2017, to be marked on November 20, 2017, President Mamoon Hussain and Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that children are the most precious resource of any nation and the sole guarantee for its future. The government of Pakistan is fully alive to its responsibilities towards the children, and is determinedly striving to ensure that children’s to inclusive development, education, healthcare, participation, dignity and security, as envisaged in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, are fully implemented and protected.
They said, “Recently, we have taken a very significant step towards this objective by promulgating the National Commission on the Rights of the Child Act, 2017, which provides for an effective institutional mechanism not just to monitor implementation of children’s rights, but also to ensure that laws relating to children’s rights and the administrative agencies responsible for implementing these laws are producing the requisite outcomes.” Furthermore, they added, “We are strengthening the existing legislation and introducing new laws to protect the rights of children in areas where they are most vulnerable, such as employment and marriage.”
The president and prime minister said that they have instituted the National Plan of Action (NAP) for human rights, which embodies substantive interventions to address issues relating to, amongst others, child protection, discrimination, labour, and education. The provincial governments have also taken various legislative and programmatic initiatives to safeguard the rights of children, they added.
“There are, of course, many predicaments, including social imperatives and resource constraints, but Pakistan stands resolved not to jeopardise the nation’s future by ignoring our greatest common asset,” they said and added that they are confident that with government organisations, civil society bodies, philanthropist establishments, human rights groups, corporate sector and international development partners all coming together on one platform, no difficulty will be insurmountable, and very soon the children will also enjoy the same care, nurturing, protection and opportunities that are available to children in the more advanced nations of the world.
President Mamnoon Hussain and the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi further said, “On the occasion, we reaffirm our commitment and determination to safeguard the rights of our children. The observance of the day should serve to remind us of our obligation to the children as ordained in the injunctions of our religion and also in the Constitution.” They further added, “Being a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Pakistan remains in the forefront to advocate, protect and promote child rights. For this, the government has undertaken all necessary measures to ensure better livelihood, education, healthcare and protection of children.”
