Walk Held To Highlight Rights Of Children

Participants at a walk organized here Tuesday by Tiflee Education Pakistan in connection with the World Children's Day highlighted the rights of children and demanded the government to effectively implement children-specific laws already enacted in the country.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Nov, 2018 ) :Participants at a walk organized here Tuesday by Tiflee Education Pakistan in connection with the World Children's Day highlighted the rights of children and demanded the government to effectively implement children-specific laws already enacted in the country.

Students from different schools of Rawalpindi and Islamabad along with their teachers, civil society members and people from different walks of life participated in the walk, which was led by young Professor Zidane Hamid and Zonal Head of Tiflee Education Abdus Salam.

Holding banners and placards to highlight rights of children, they marched from Super Market to the National Press Club.

Speaking on the occasion, Zidane Hamid stressed the need of structured and strengthened coordination among relevant government departments, which were key stakeholders in promotion and protection of children's rights to get positive results of the programmes initiated by them.

He said the main problem faced by children in Pakistan was poverty. About 24 per cent of the country was below poverty line, residing mostly in rural areas, he added. The first victims of poverty, he said, were children, who witnessed complete deprivation of their rights, including lack of education and poor access to health services etc.

Zidane said one child in six died before the age of five. The nutritional status of children was very poor as 35% of them were underweight, more than 50% suffered from stunted growth and around 9% from emaciation.

Every day, around 1,100 Pakistani children under five years of age died of diarrhoea and illnesses related to water, sanitation, and hygiene, he claimed.

Zidane said access to healthcare facilities was a challenge in rural areas where many families could not afford even basic medical treatment facilities. Furthermore, recurring natural disasters had a strong impact on the health of people as well as infrastructures across the country, he added.

He said there were around 11 million children performing domestic tasks and working in agriculture sector, while others workd in textile industry (specifically making carpets), construction, or even automotive industry. "Children in carpet factories have to work up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week. They are forced to sleep, eat and work at the same place. This puts a considerable strain on their health as they work in very cramped conditions and in places detrimental to their health." Abdus Salam, in his brief address, said free education was right of every child, but only 71% of children in Pakistan attended Primary school, which meant 23 million were deprived of education. Moreover, ratio of boys getting education was higher than than girls.

He urged the media to support child rights campaigns and asked the government to include child laws in the educational curricula.

He said Pakistan was a key stakeholder in regional action plan for prevention and elimination of child labour.

The government should ensure child rights under recommendations of the United Nations and improve labour inspection system, he added.