The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Call to allow children to speak out freely

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 14, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Call to allow children to speak out freely

Page 4 city must

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI : Youngsters, who took the stage to speak on awareness of human rights on Monday, were unanimous in their opinion: Human rights education must begin at a young age.

Winners of elocution contest held earlier to mark the World Human Rights Day observed on December 10 called for encouragement of youngsters to speak out their mind. Seniors in school and college become models for their juniors and could be used to spread the message, they said.

P. Jegan, first prize winner from Loyola College, called for allowing children to speak freely. Sumithra Surendralal of Women's Christian College and S. Kousalya of Residency College also spoke in a similar vein.

Members of the State Human Rights Commission also endorsed this view when they noted that the rights of the poor and the weak were often violated.

R. Nataraj, Director, Investigation Division of SHRC, said that during his tenure as Police Commissioner he received most complaints from elders, children and women. This section of the population was most affected, he noted. People living in the slums faced intimidation from the police. Children refuse to go to school because of the harsh words they hear at school. For them, life at home is not easy either. The theme for this year's celebration is `poverty alleviation', he said.

K. Venkata Swami, former Supreme Court judge, who launched the Commission's website (www.shrc.tn.nic.in) , explained the provisions in the Human Rights Act and called on media to protect human rights and bring to notice violations. An aggrieved person or anyone supporting the victim can file a petition, he said.

A. S. Venkatchalamoorthy, chairperson, justice S. Thangaraj, A. R. Selvakumar, K. Mariappan, S. Paramasivan, Commission members Mutia Kalaivanan, secretary, and T. Duraisamy, registrar, also spoke.

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