The Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Maal Punjab in collaboration with the Child Rights Movement (CRM) on Saturday celebrated the Universal Children's Day to highlight the rights and importance, and efforts being made for children by various sectors, especially the government and non-government organisations NGOs).
The event was held at the Social Welfare Training Institute, Lahore, where a large number of children, abandoned parents living in shelter homes, teachers, government functionaries, civil society activists and others were also present and spoke about their rights. Speaking on the occasion, Director General Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Maal Waheed Akhtar Ansari said his department is making efforts for improving the living standards of persons presently living in the department.
Rejecting the impression that the government's departments are not properly working for protection of children against violence and abuse, Waheed made it clear that such gossips don't carry any weight as the department has finalised the draft of the Child Rights Commission (CRC) which has been forwarded to the federal government for its approval.
"Through this commission, we will educate people and children about their rights and how they can protect themselves," he said. Waheed said they are also working with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for providing them standard educational, living, recreational, vocational and professional training in all their caring centers besides solving their problems. He said their plan of action for its monitoring is under discussion with the UNICEF. "We will be holding a one day workshop in Islamabad next week with the representatives of UNICEF Pakistan for finalising our action plan which is good for the Child Rights Commission," he claimed.