Pakistan is a young nation of more than 200 million people with 52 per cent of its population under 19 years of age. This very fact makes it imperative to think about them and their problems.
The Helping Hands Foundation is striving to help all these children to bring out best of their potentials for themselves and for the society.
Many children in Pakistan continue to suffer from discrimination, economic exploitation, violence and physical & sexual abuse. Children are victims of unacceptable forms of violence on streets, in jails, in homes and in schools. Quality health care, education, protection, participation and access to rights are not equally accessible to all children. Social exclusion is caused by several factors, including economic disparities, gender inequality, and differences between rural and urban areas. Even today, children die of preventable diseases such as malaria and diarrhea. A large number of children live in abject poverty with limited social protection mechanisms in place to support them.
Some children are at higher risk in Pakistan compared to others, such as children with disabilities, children without parental care and those living in areas affected by war, natural disasters and terrorism.
We plan to establish:
- School Child Protection Committees (School Child PALAN)
- Hospital Child Protection committees (Hospital Child PALAN)
- Community Child Protection Committees (Community Child PALAN) to protect the children at various places.
We have been working on various fronts to achieve our objectives including Schools, Hospital and with various departments.
The children under 18 year constitute more than 50% of our population. By virtue of their immaturity, they are the most vulnerable population of our society. They are prone to face more hazards in our age of modernism than in any age of the history. They are exposed to many types of exploitations and abuses from various corners of society. It is the duty of parents, guardians, pediatricians, teachers, lawyers, journalists, media, NGO’s, social worker and government to safeguard the children against all these odds.
The Child Rights and Abuse Committee of Pakistan Pediatric Association is striving for the protection of children from all types of abuse and their rights. There are many other government and non-government organizations that, too, are working to safeguard the rights of children. Few of them are as follows:
- Child Protection Committee —-under provincial government
- District Child Committee for Child Welfare
- Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
- Labor Department
- Women and social department
- Social Welfare department
- Various NGO’s.
All these organizations are working independently and there is no coordination in their activities to safeguard the rights of children and to protect them from the abuse. The result is that we do not see any significant effect of all these efforts in our society. The simple rule is that ‘one and one joined together make 11’. So the dire need of hour is to integrate the activities of all these organizations. We can defeat the evil of child abuse only when we hit it from all sides.
The other important and known fact that we need to keep in mind is that there are few inherent limitations of the government organizations. There are many steps involved at each step that leads to an unnecessary delay in the delivery of goods. There are many formalities, to make the matters transparent, but it hinders the smooth sailing of plans. They, usually, lack a strong commitment to the goals as they keep transferring from one project to another. On the other hand Non-Government Organizations, usually, have a Goal and Commitment. By virtue of their lesser formalities and steps involved in delivery, they are better equipped to take part in the developmental issues in a better way.
The Schools and the Hospitals are the best place for interventions that will empower the children, teachers and doctors so that the children are better protected.
To integrate all the organizations it is required that a Coordinator be appointed who can coordinate the activities of all the relevant quarters and bring out a joint effort. The person should be a committed Child Rights Activist or a Pediatrician who understands the technical issues involved in the Child Abuse and their Rights. He should be made responsible to take record of the activities of all the concerned organizations and suggest ways to further enhance the proposals. He should also facilitate all the matters regarding different departments and communicate with all the concerned people about the developments and progress taking place in various organizations about Child rights and Abuse.
The coordinator may form a “core group” including a member from all organizations, governmental or non-governmental, and so keep in touch with all of them. They can sit together bimonthly and discuss the progress and next plans.
He should involve the schools for provisions of clean environment, accident free buildings, hygienic canteens, clean toilets, healthy class rooms and good play grounds. He should also ensure the schools are free from Physical and Emotional Abuse. The training workshops for teachers and students can be arranged for such purposes.
He should be responsible for arranging Training workshops for the teachers so that they can recognize the various forms of the Child Abuse and can treat or report the matters to the concerned officials.
He can help to form the “School health Committees” that will take care of all the matters regarding the Child Health, Protection and Abuse.
He can also try to involve the health institutions, doctors, nurses and paramedics in the detection of Child Abuse and reporting such matters. The necessary skill development in the health care providers should also be his responsibility.
Mobilizing all the society including parents, guardians, pediatricians, teachers, lawyers, journalists, media, NGO’s, social worker and government for the sake of children rights and to save them from abuse.
There are four major types of child abuse-Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Sexual Abuse and Neglect. The other areas of Abuse are Child labor, not sending the children to Schools, Commercial sexual exploitation of children, Child trafficking, Street children, Substance Abuse, Children with disabilities, Child marriages and Child beggars. All these areas need to be addressed by the coordinator in order to provide a concept of “Child Friendly City”.
The following steps can help to make Multan as the “Child Friendly City”.
- The district should actively pass the child friendly laws.
- Develop a city wide children’s right strategy based on Child Rights Convention.
- Set a proactive coordinated Children Rights Unit for the District.
- Regular assessments and impact evaluations should be performed.
- A report of the state of the children in the city should be prepared.
- A campaign to disseminate the awareness about child rights.
- The children should be engaged as active participants in different activities.
- Budget may be earmarked for child rights protection.