The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Drive to promote children's rights

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 07, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Drive to promote children's rights

Staff Reporter

ICCW organises meeting of stakeholders in the city ICCW organises meeting of stakeholders in the city

CHENNAI : Do you know of someone who employs a child below 14 years of age as domestic help?

Even if you feel strongly against the practice, you may not know where to report it. It is this section of society that the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) aims to sensitise.

Members of ICCW organised a stakeholders' meet here on Saturday, as part of the series of meetings being conducted across Tamil Nadu. Police personnel, representatives of the Social Welfare and Education departments, Corporation councillors, volunteers from non-governmental organisations and activists attended Saturday's meeting.

"Not many know what is considered a violation of Child Protection Right," ICCW vice president Andal Damodaran said. Speaking on the need for networking, she said maintaining a data bank of names and contact information of stakeholders would quicken the process of rehabilitating abused children, as the right person could be contacted without any delay.

Chennai Collector R.Jaya, who inaugurated the meet, said the status report brought out by the National Commission for Children on plight of children was "very shocking".

Speaking on various kinds of abuse that children were subjected to, she said sexual harassment, which was common, traumatised and scarred a child for life. "Teachers harassing adolescent girls has become common. Street children are also more prone to sexual harassment."

Society's tolerance level to violation of Child Protection Rights was rather high. The challenge was to bring down this tolerance bar by sensitising the society, Ms.Jaya said. This could be achieved by involvement of parents, awareness campaigns and sexual education for adolescents, she added.

Details on Web

Ms.Jaya said the website of the Chennai Collectorate would soon have details of members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

ICCW has also been conducting workshops for children to increase awareness levels.

Over 3,600 children have so far attended workshops that were held in all districts of the State. For details, call: 2622 0152 or 26212550.

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