Strategy stressed to deal with street children issues

LAHORE: Civil society organisations urged the government to devise a comprehensive strategy to deal with the issues of street children in a holistic and sustainable way under guidelines issued by UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in General Comment No 21 on Children in Street Situations.

This was urged during a virtual panel discussion arranged by Search for Justice in collaboration with Consortium for Street Children on the day marked for street children. Iftikhar Mubarik who heads Search for Justice said, “It is important that all provincial governments have child protection policies followed by action plan and strategies to deal with the issues of children.

The government must initiate small scale community-based interventions with the support of civil society organisations having prior experience of working with street children.” Afshan Tehseen Bajwa, Chairperson National Commission on the Rights of the Child, assured that the Commission will push all provincial governments to develop strategies, in consultation with civil society organisations, academia, independent experts, lawyers, and most importantly children on streets themselves.

Arshad Abbasi, assistant professor Social Work Department University of the Punjab, urged the government to invest in good quality initial and in-service basic training on child rights and child protection in the local context of children in street situations.

Sarah Ahmed, Chairperson Child Protection & Welfare Bureau Punjab, acknowledged the significance of strengthening outreach community-based services for street children through establishing a formal coordination mechanism among all those relevant departments and authorities who are direct stakeholders in protecting and empowering children in street situations. She said CPWB is closely working with civil society organisation like Search for Justice.

Rashida Qureshi, Programme Coordinator Search for Justice, highlighted that education, healthcare and protection are right of every child. The government, civil society and other stakeholders must join hands to develop long term programmes for rehabilitation and reintegration of street children in society.