Activists, NGOS kindle a ‘Chirag’ to protect child rights

LUCKNOW: A group of child rights activists and social organisations have come together to form a consolidated forum Chirag to address issues of child protection and abuse in Lucknow.

Designed to act as a pressure group to assert and uphold rights of children in Lucknow, Chirag held its first meeting on Sunday.

The members chalked out a plan of action to build a protective environment for children in the state capital. The initiative for building the forum was taken by a core working group of Chirag, including founder of Human Unity Movement Anshumali Sharma, director Saaksham Foundation Anjali Singh, child rights consultant Manish Singh, representatives from AALI, child rights expert on Juvenile Justice System and Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) Sunil Kumar, Circle For Child and Youth Research Co-operation in India Vinod Chandra and Manu Singh of Amity University, Lucknow.

The forum is planning to expand its membership to include prominent child rights groups and likeminded people.

On Sunday, the core working group also discussed and decided on the main objectives of the forum which include efforts to bring out a social mechanism for child protection issues and check ing abuse, strengthening the existing juvenile justice system, developing sustainable intervention mechanism for child protection and advocacy and awareness about child protection.