The Social Welfare and Women Development Department in collaboration with the Unicef and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) here Saturday inaugurated the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) to protect the rights of street children.
Minister for Social Welfare Sitara Ayaz, Minister for Sports Syed Aqil Shah, SDC Director General Martin Dahinden, Unicef representative Robert Hanawalt and Unicef chief in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pirkoh Heinonen attended the ceremony.
Sitara Ayaz said the goal of the bureau was safe and protective environment for children where they could enjoy their rights to protection and development. She said it would provide food, shelter, education and vocational training particularly to street children. “Children would be provided psychosocial and life skills education for development of their personalities through recreational activities,” she said.
The minister said the child bureau would also be established in other parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She said the initiative to protect the rights of children under the UNCRC and Child Protection and Welfare Act of the provincial government was planned with the assistance from the SDC and Unicef as street children are vulnerable to abuse and violence.
In his address, Robert Hanawalt said the establishment of the bureau was a great achievement of the KP government as other provinces in Pakistan were yet to develop framework on child protection.
He said at the moment there were more than 3,000 unaccompanied children in the city and its close environs with 20 percent on the streets.
He said the Unicef was working in Pakistan since 1964, helping the country in various domains and it was the major partner of the KP Social Welfare Department in protecting the rights of children.
Martin Dahinden, the SDC director general and a veteran diplomat highlighted the vision of the UN Convention on the Rights of Child. He said that in the recent past, Pakistan in general and KP in particular was hit by major calamities such as the earthquake, the displacement crisis and the floods.
Owing to the repeated disasters, he said the children here required more attention, care and assistance to safeguard their rights for a bright future of the country.
Unicef’s Ms Pirkoh Heinonen said it was our duty to protect the rights of the street children who were unaccompanied and exposed to abuse. She added that the Unicef was providing all-out support to the provincial government to protect vulnerable children in Peshawar and areas that suffered during the conflict or recent natural disasters.
Earlier, Minister Sitara Ayaz inaugurated the Child Protection Bureau on Eidgah Road. Aneesur Rehman was appointed as coordinator of the bureau.
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