UNICEF offers cooperation for child protection in Punjab

UNICEF has extended an offer of enhanced cooperation to the province of Punjab in the field of child protection.

The offer was extended in a meeting between Minister for Social Welfare Syed Yawar Abbas Bukhari and UNICEF'S deputy representative to Pakistan Dr Tajudeen Oyewale here on Monday. Secretary Social Welfare & Baitul Mal Hassan Iqbal, Director Irfan Gondal and chief of field (UNICEF) Punjab Will Broad Ngembi were also present.

The participants took stock of proposed reforms relating to legislation about child protection in Punjab, social support in the wake of Covid-19, early marriages and issues related to birth registration.

Yawar Bukhari emphasised improvements in child protection laws and maintained that it will be better if one department deals with the child protection issue and the social welfare department should lead in this matter.

He urged that early marriages should be discouraged as it could lead to some sort of social complications, with certain pros and cons.

Secretary Social Welfare Hassan Iqbal recommended that all stakeholders should be taken in the loop before the final decision. The birth registration issue needs more focus in the current situation, he added.

Dr Tajudeen Oyewale expressed the satisfaction over initiatives regarding child protection adding that UNICEF was determined to expand collaboration with the Punjab government. Will Broad urged that the menace of child labour should be discouraged more broadly and added that more steps are required to achieve the target.