Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Summary of the second day of the South Asia
Regional Consultation.
The first day of the children and young people’s forum identified the key
issues affecting children in the region. At the end of the first day, children
were asked to think about three concrete steps that had been taken in
their countries. The aim of the second day is for children to bring some
actions that have been undertaken in their countries and share them with
the whole group, then together, think of some steps they think parents
and governments should take to end violence against children. These will
then be used to draft some recommendations for governments, in the form
of a declaration, to be presented by children at the Regional Consultation
starting tomorrow.
There was a brief presentation about the region generally, looking at what
are the main causes of violence, then looking at international conventions,
such as the CRC, regional mechanisms, and governments' National Plans
of
Action.
Children then shared some of the actions that had been taken in their
countries, by children, such as:
- some countries have what they call ‘child advocates’, who’s activities
include printing newspapers, or making movies.
- National child task forces, they work to find root causes of violence and
how violence can therefore be prevented
- In Nepal, children are working to stop early marriages
- In Bangladesh, children’s groups have been working to stop early
marriages and create awareness
- In Sri Lanka, children now report child labour cases to the authorities
- Groups of children in the Maldives have created awareness campaigns
about violence in general
- In Afghanistan, children have set up a CRC group, where they go to
schools, NGOs, and even government departments to sensitise and inform
them about the CRC
- In Pakistan children have been compiling lists of those children that do
not attend school, then they go and speak to those children's parents
- In Bhutan, children have set up peer counseling between children
In the light of this, children then presented what they thought
governments and parents should be doing to prevent violence against
children. These were:
Governments should:
- set up special taskforces all over each country
- hold regular consultations with children and parents' committees
- governments should create child-related laws that are aimed at stopping
violence against children
- strengthen existing governments, organisations, commissions and
ministries for child welfare and development
- make laws for children that are related to the CRC and make sure they
are implemented
Parents should:
- establish associations in the community to make parents aware of the
CRC and raise voices for violence against children
- parents should make it their responsibility to inform children about their
rights