Children are Pakistan’s asset, says Aziz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday stressed the need to resist and curb all forms of violence against children.

He said children were an asset to the country and every possible step should be taken to ensure that they got good education, health and the environment for spiritual, moral and social development. Addressing the participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, he said existing laws on children were being assessed and legislation for child protection was in its final stages.

He said the government was also establishing child protection centers at the federal level which would provide measures for identification, reporting, investigation, treatment and follow up of child abuse.

The Prime Minister said the Child Welfare and Protection Bureau was already in place in Punjab and would be replicated in various provinces and districts. He said children were the most "vulnerable group" in society and faced numerous challenges like violence, sexual abuse and harassment that, he added, were mainly caused by poverty and illiteracy. He said despite the almost universal ratification of the ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, millions of children were still subject to violence, child labour and trafficking. He said South Asian countries could share experiences and learn from each other on how to eliminate the menace of child abuse. app

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