ISLAMABAD, Oct 07 (APP): The Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) through its Human Rights Awareness Programme engaged another child protection committee and representatives of the area Kohsar to create awareness about the rights of children and ways in which children can be protected from child abuse.
A session was conducted at the Islamabad Traffic Police Office, (Media and Public Relations Centre) Kohsar F-7 where the audience of 40 participants comprised of parents, civil society representatives, traffic wardens and community leaders.
Discussion was based around the rights of children in the Constitution of Pakistan, protection of child rights, role of MoHR and its pledge to protect the rights of every child in Pakistan, said a MoHR press release.
The session emphasized on the impact of abuse on children and the role of parents and teachers in sensitizing them and raising awareness on self-protection. Participants were enlightened to encourage children to speak out whenever they feel uncomfortable with anyone whether it is a family member or someone else at school.
In addition to that the members were also informed that the awareness campaign is also aimed to educate parents and guardians about the importance of taking steps to avoid child abuse and secure their children in crowds and rushy areas.
The members were also informed about newly passed bill of domestic labour under Schedule 1 of the Employment of Children Act 1991, in an effort to strengthen legislation pertaining to the issue as child domestic labour causes children physical, psychological, moral and social harm.
The participants were encouraged to report cases on any kind of child abuse on the ministry’s helpline 1,099 which is easily accessible to everyone. Moreover, short videos/clips on child abuse were shown to the participants during the session and the participants were encouraged to ask questions/ queries/ issues if any.
Feedback about the session was asked from the community members. Their views were;
“This was a comprehensive and informative session on the rights of the children conducted by MoHR. All the representatives informed and behaved in a very professional way.
This session should also be conducted in schools as well,” Sajjad Ahmed, assistant sub-inspector, Islamabad Traffic Police said.
“It was a very fruitful session with many concepts that were made easy for me to understand. I hope such events will be held in future as well,” said Dr Javeria Huma, Clinical Psychologist, Islamabad Traffic Police and president child protection committee Kohsar, Islamabad.
Another participant suggested to use media campaigning for awareness of rights of all vulnerable groups and stressed upon the use of radio and television as tools.
