Bhopal: Child safety is essential to ensure rights of the children. It is being ensured that no child should be missed out from social security and security net. Addressing a three-day training workshop at Hotel Palash on Thursday, Woman and Child Development Minister Imarti Devi said that if a girl is married before 18 years of age, her life is jeopardized. Malnutrition results due to early pregnancy in minor girls. She said ‘we should try to ensure that the orphans coming to the ashrams should be united with their families soon’.
Michael Juma of UNICEF said that we are committed to protect the rights of children. He said that laws and schemes have been made to protect the rights of children in India. It is not only important to implement them, but all officials at the district and block level also need to work for it. He said that UNICEF and Department of Women-Child Development are working to check rising violence against children and providing a safe environment for them. Juma said that it is our responsibility to make the community and the system aware of the legal provisions. He said that to stop child marriages, the Women and Child Development Department and UNICEF are working together to prepare an action plan, in which participation of all the departments will be ensured.
Principal Secretary Woman and Child Development Anupam Rajan said that denying rights to children also fall under the category of violence and all those associated with the system are responsible for this. He said that our success is that when there is no child in the crèches and every child gets a complete family. Rajan said that we all are responsible for creating a capable and protective environment for the overall development of children and making them strong and responsible citizens.
Commissioner Women-Child Development MB Ojha said that knowledge of the work of child protection is essential. Success is not ensured only through inspection. We will get results only from better monitoring of work. This workshop will prove beneficial in preventing anomalies and sexual offences. UNICEF’s Child Protection Specialist Lolichen PJ said that the WCD department and UNICEF will jointly share technical information about child protection laws in the workshop.
Information on ICPS, Pocso and JJ Act will be provided in the training workshop. Officers from Bhopal, Narmadapuram, Rewa, Shahdol, Bhind and Morena district are taking part in the training workshop. Later such workshops will be organized in Indore, Ujjain and Sagar also.