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Summary: Summary of the first day of the Regional
Consultation, 19 May 2005[19 May 2005, ISLAMABAD] - The South Asia consultation opened today
with over 170 participants, including government representatives from the
seven South Asian countries, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, as well as NGO representatives,
UNICEF and 25 children. The aim of this consultation is to look at violence
in the region and work on recommendations for preventing and eliminating
it.
The first speaker this morning was Ms. Zubaida Jalal, Minister for Social
Welfare and Special Education, who commented that one of the main
reasons for violence is ignorance and denial.
Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Independent Expert for the Secretary-
General’s Study on Violence Against children said that “even if most of the
world publicly denies violence against children, it is still present in every
country of the world”. The aim of the study, he explained, is to break the
walls of silence on this issue, “this report will be more than a catalogue of
horrors, it will be policy-oriented, it will look at the root causes of violence
and find ways of preventing violence from occurring”.
The keynote speech was delivered by the First Lady of Pakistan, Mrs
Musharraf, who highlighted the fact that children form 48 per cent of the
total population of South Asia, therefore more needs to be invested in
children. Addressing children, she said “we expect that you will continue to
explore new avenues … to make our society free from violence, and
everyone of us is here to help you in this”. Following her presentation,
children and government representatives were invited by the First Lady to
an inaugural event consisting of a release of Message Balloons, each
balloon symbolising a tear.
Peter Newell, Joint Coordinator of the Global Initiative to End All Corporal
Punishment of Children, who is also on the editorial board for the UN
Study, presented a summary of the Regional Study that summarises the
clear legal obligations to protect all children from all forms of violence –
obligations which all states in the region have accepted, under key
international human rights instruments… “we are not talking about doing
favours to children, but about fulfilling the promises that States have made
to them and to all citizens”. [See South Asia homepage for more details]
Children made their contribution to the consultation through drama,
illustrating their experiences of violence, followed by a declaration
containing recommendations for parents and governments. [see South
Asia page for more details]
The afternoon session was dedicated to country presentations, looking at
the main issues affecting children, government initiatives, gaps, challenges
and plans for improving the situation for children. Baela Raza Jamil, Centre
for Education and Consciousness, Pakistan, commented on the fact that all
the issues discussed were mainstream and did not address the real
issues, “all the discussions about law and justice are still very much
irrelevant for poor people, as taking recourse to law is so slow and
ineffectual that it is not even worth it for them, we still have colonial laws
when it comes to child rights”.
The representative from India explained that India has an excellent
constitution and laws, however results are not there, because
implementers are not as good as ‘frameworkers’. “It’s not enough to frame
the laws”, she continued, “we need to change the mindset of the people.
What is required is advocacy, talking about issues. This is where civil
society participation becomes important, and everyone has to contribute,
that is the biggest challenge”.
Tomorrow morning, participants will break away into three groups, for the
three themes that are the focus of this consultation: Gender related
violence specific to girls, child sexual abuse and physical and psychological
punishment.