The three-day landmark meeting of SAARC Countries on protection of Children begins in New Delhi The three-day Technical Meeting & 4th Ministerial Meeting of South Asian Initiative to end Violence against Children (SAIEVAC) began in New Delhi today. Delegates from the governments and civil society organizations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have assembled to assess progress and developments of the past decade of regional effort, set strategies, agree on commitments and identify priorities for SAIEVAC for the next five years. The landmark Ministerial meeting on 11th May is being preceded by a two day technical consultation focusing on critical issues of child protection and violence in the region. Day one of the technical meeting included an inaugural and various business sessions. In his keynote address, Shri V Somasundaran, Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development set the objectives for the next two days of deliberation. While emphasizing on child participation, he stated that ending Violence against Children is a priority and a common goal and commitment of the region. Welcoming the delegates Dr. Rinchen Chopel, Director General, SAIEVAC, thanked the Government of India for hosting this meeting that also marks a decade of SAIEVACs initiatives to counter violence against children. This meeting lays the ground for future advocacy initiatives in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, he said. Ms. Stuti Narain Kacker, Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), highlighted the need for all member countries to act in a concerted, cooperative, coordinated and comprehensive manner to identify and address areas of priority such as cross border trafficking, documentation& sharing of good practices. Closing the inaugural session, Ms Rashmi Saxena Sahni, Joint Secretary, WCD and Governing Board member thanked everyone for the focus on the needs of children which cannot be postponed at any cost. She shared her desire to see doable and impactful recommendations emerge for the 4th Ministerial meeting which was to follow. The technical sessions began with an overview of SAIEVACs progress in the last decade. This was followed by several technical input sessions based on Governing Board recommendations,on Child Sexual Abuse, travelling sex offenders, regional project on cross border trafficking/MCA, TrackChild, the online system of tracking missing children in India and Khoya Paaya, a citizen portal for reporting missing and found children. Presentations were also made on Indias safety net for Children, CHILDLINE 1098 and the legislation covering Child Sexual Abuse in India i.e. POCSO. The delegates were introduced to the editorial team of Balaknama, a unique newspaper written for and by Street Children The day ended with a puppet show by Enactus, a project of Sreeram College of Commerce, depicting the journey of a victim of child sexual abuse and his parents fight for justice.
