Providing hope to the young

Children’s Complaint Cell established last year now functional in all four provinces of the country.

ISLAMABAD: Around 300 complaints of child rights violations were registered during the year, out of which a majority were related to academic issues. Around 90 per cent of those were resolved.

The Children’s Complaint Cell (CCO) that was established last year in July to protect the rights of the children is now functional in all four provinces of the country.

Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, advisor/head Children Complaint Office, told The Express Tribune that the office served as a dedicated mechanism for receiving and resolving complaints from and about children against maladministration in any federal agency.

Located in the office of Wafaqi Mohtasib, the CCO is now fully operational to deal with and rectify excesses, abuse, or violation of rights of children by any federal agency, he said, adding that in a country of over 170 million people, almost half were 18 years and below, who had no voice nor an institutional mechanism to redress their grievances.

Addressing a media workshop held here on Wednesday, Qureshi briefed that the media had been reporting large scale abuses, whether they were corporal punishments in schools, treatment like common criminals in jails for juvenile offences, or bonded labour in hazardous occupations. “The list is long and painful,” he said. “In such a scenario, the role of CCO becomes crucial,” he added.

The Wafaqi Mohtasib and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have joined hands to evolve an independent and impartial institution on the pattern of a child ombudsman.

One of the primary objectives of the CCO is to ensure accountability of federal agencies charged with violations of child rights. The CCO is facilitating and monitoring the implementation of Pakistan’s National Plan of Action for Children, he said, adding that the CCO also established Child Rights Steering Committee comprising senior officials from all federal agencies responsible for child protection and heads of reputable NGOs.

The complaints are being received through emails, fax and in written forms that take three months time to be processed. The plan of action against any federal department or agency is finalised after the necessary steps have been taken. The CCO institutions entertain complaints at its head office in Islamabad and eight regional offices in different parts of Pakistan. The action is then taken from or on behalf of children against any violations of their rights by a Federal Ministry/Department/Agency.

After the formation of CCO, the Wafaqi Mohtasib, who handles almost 25,000 to 30,000 complaints annually against federal departments, has now started taking action against child right’s violations as well. The CCO undertakes inquiries and produces reports on any aspect of policy or practice affecting children. To analyse the current gaps in the system, the CCO commissioned a ‘Baseline Study on the Status of Compliance of Federal Agencies responsible for Child Protection with UNCRC’. The CCO has also developed another ‘Study on International Best Practices of Child Rights Monitoring’.

Similarly, it has established special reference to Article 12 of the UNCRC, to provide children with a voice in matters relating to them. Besides receiving and resolving complaints from children, the CCO is in the process of establishing a Children’s Advisory Committee that will advise the CCO on its activities and offer input in the policy making process.

By consulting the youth in decision making the CCO will develop confidence and leadership skills in children.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2010.