Committed to eradicating all forms of child labour: India

India underscored its strong commitment to eradicating all forms of child labour and making secondary education more accessible to girls, as UN diplomats saluted Nobel Peace Prize winners Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their tireless efforts to defend rights of children.
The General Assembly's Third Committee, which focusses on social, humanitarian and cultural issues, unanimously adopted a draft resolution yesterday on the elimination of violence against children, strongly condemning all acts of violence against children and reaffirming the duty of nations to protect children from all forms of violence in both public and private settings.
Mayank Joshi, First Secretary in the Indian Mission to the UN, said India remains strongly committed to the eradication of all forms of child labour, noting recent amendments to law prescribed stringent punishment to combat human trafficking, including the sale of children.

Joshi said that India was home to nearly 472 million children, 20 per cent of all the world's children and the government's current focus is on the expansion of secondary education and its accessibility to girls.
The government has also undertaken legislative and policy measures to ban sex-selective abortion and child marriage, he told the UNGA committee.
Joshi pointed out that the "innovative Mother and Child" tracking system leveraged information technology for ensuring the delivery of a full spectrum of health care services to pregnant women and immunization services to children up to age five.

Taking the floor, Norway's representative May-Elin Stener said the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Yousafzai and Satyarthi sent an important message of support and recognition to those individuals around the world who worked tirelessly to defend the rights of children.

Despite efforts to create safe surroundings for all children, violence and abuse was taking place, she said calling for engagement of community leaders and men to end violence against children as well as child marriage.
Brazil's Antonio De Aguiar Patriota saluted the Nobel Peace Prize winners saying "the award honoured many more Malalas who exist in all our countries but have not been visible or received the recognition they deserve".
The UNGA resolution called for the elimination of impunity, including by investigating and prosecuting, and punishing all perpetrators who commit violence against children.
The 193-member UN body urged Member States to take all necessary and effective measures to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children.