AHORE: Federal Ombudsman Children’s Complaint Office (CCO) has completed
its study report on children’s rights, health, education and
child-labour situation in Pakistan, said CCO head Ejaz Qureshi.
“The report, ‘State of Children’, is the first comprehensive work of its kind. It would be made public within next two months with the collaboration of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),” Qureshi said while talking to reporters during his visit to Lahore.
He said that Children’s Complaint Office had compiled the report with the help of all four provincial governments, Asian Development Bank and World Bank, and it would also give suggestions on how to improve the overall situation on child rights in the country. He said the report would seek to address the problems of children and adolescent under 18, which had a population of 85 million.
Qureshi said that complaint offices for children were functioning in 75 countries in the world. He said the government had constituted the National Commission on Child Rights (NCCR) under supervision of Ministry of Social Welfare, and UNICEF was funding the organisation. When some federal departments were transferred to provincial governments, UNICEF selected the Federal Ombudsman as a supervisory body and constituted Children’s Complaint Office in 2009, he added. “This office has been functioning in all Provincial Mohtasib secretariats. In 2010, Children’s Complaint Office completed a national plan of action, which was an important milestone for child rights,” Qureshi said, adding that UNICEF had given a three-year tenure for Children’s Complaint Office, after which a permanent Children Ombudsman would be appointed.
He revealed that federal ombudsman post had been lying vacant since October 2010 with many cases pending. Federal Ombudsman Office had been receiving around 36,000 applications annually and the office had been considering creating a court to handle the cases, he said.
“The report, ‘State of Children’, is the first comprehensive work of its kind. It would be made public within next two months with the collaboration of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),” Qureshi said while talking to reporters during his visit to Lahore.
He said that Children’s Complaint Office had compiled the report with the help of all four provincial governments, Asian Development Bank and World Bank, and it would also give suggestions on how to improve the overall situation on child rights in the country. He said the report would seek to address the problems of children and adolescent under 18, which had a population of 85 million.
Qureshi said that complaint offices for children were functioning in 75 countries in the world. He said the government had constituted the National Commission on Child Rights (NCCR) under supervision of Ministry of Social Welfare, and UNICEF was funding the organisation. When some federal departments were transferred to provincial governments, UNICEF selected the Federal Ombudsman as a supervisory body and constituted Children’s Complaint Office in 2009, he added. “This office has been functioning in all Provincial Mohtasib secretariats. In 2010, Children’s Complaint Office completed a national plan of action, which was an important milestone for child rights,” Qureshi said, adding that UNICEF had given a three-year tenure for Children’s Complaint Office, after which a permanent Children Ombudsman would be appointed.
He revealed that federal ombudsman post had been lying vacant since October 2010 with many cases pending. Federal Ombudsman Office had been receiving around 36,000 applications annually and the office had been considering creating a court to handle the cases, he said.
