MoHR uses art to launch campaign for child rights

Speakers highlight need to provide girls with equal access to health, education

The rights of all children including the rights of girl children are enshrined in our constitution, the girl child is an equal asset of our nation and it is her right to access equal education, health and all other opportunities. She must be nurtured to reach her full potential. This was said by Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari while addressing a ceremony to commemorate International Day of the Girl Child in Islamabad on Friday.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR), in collaboration with the European Union-funded Huqooq-e-Pakistan Programme. An awareness campaign was launched on the rights of the girl child using truck art as a tool to reach out to people in the rural areas.



Actress Mehwish Hayat, along with the Dr Mazari and the Ambassador-Designate of the European Union to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara joined in the launch of the campaign.

The International Day of Girl Child is celebrated globally on October 11 with the aim to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face in the journey towards an enabling environment for the fulfilment of their basic human rights.

"Up to 22.8 million children are out of school and 56 per cent of these are girls. Let's change the statistics, let us educate, empower and celebrate our daughters to be the best of everything they were born to be," said MoHR Secretary Rabiya Javeri Agha.

Kaminara said, "It is inspiring to see how young Pakistani women are influential and active members in every sphere of life. As a mother and a professional woman, I am convinced that when girls get the opportunities they deserve, the magic starts to happen; they flourish, poverty goes down, economies grow, families get stronger and healthier. So, my message to all girls today is to never give up on your dream not only for yourself but because the world would be a better place because of it."

The campaign will innovatively use truck art, an indigenous art form as mobile billboards to disseminate messages on the rights of the girl child. Under this initiative, 20 trucks will be painted with positive messages on the rights of the girl child including the right to education, the right to play, the right to realise their full potential by ensuring freedom from child marriage and child labour.

“Ensuring the Rights of the Girl Child in Pakistan is a cause which is extremely close to my heart. When girls go to school, they become empowered. They learn to stand on their own feet. They not only empower themselves but they empower an entire family, community and generation," said Goodwill Ambassador for the Rights of the Girl Child Mehwish Hayat. The trucks will carry these messages as they traverse the length and breadth of Pakistan as moving billboards and help in sensitising truck drivers, as well as, the hard to reach population who are exposed to the trucks on these routes. The initiative is spearheaded by renowned anthropologist and filmmaker Samar Minallah Khan.



Girls deserve to be heard, they deserve space and visibility. It is important to challenge the patriarchal mindset and stereotypes. Truck art with positive images of girls along with empowering messages would help in reaching out to the audience that matters, the audience that is unreachable," she said.

In recent years, Pakistan has taken significant steps to advance the rights of children. Article 25-A of the Constitution legislated free and compulsory education for children aged 5-16 whereas Child Protection Laws at national and provincial level provide protection and mechanism to deal with incidents of violence against children. The federal government has made the education of the girl child a national priority.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2019.