Workshop on Advocacy and Networking for ‘Violence against Girl Child’
April 21, 2005, Chittorgarh
“The increasing number of cases against girl child is an alarming issue and there should be increased sensitivity and awareness in the society against the evil and the needful protection should be ensured”, said the Addl. Collector of Chittorgarh, Mr. Rajendra Singh Sekhawat inaugurating the workshop on Advocacy and Networking for Violence against Girl Child, organised jointly by CUTS Centre for Human Development and Save the Children (UK), Jaipur. Mr. Sekhawat further said that it is not just the law but also awareness towards the existing laws, which shall lessen the occurrence of such cases. He also emphasised upon the need for education on child labour laws and said that in order to keep the children at bay from exploitation.
Mr. George Cheriyan, Asst. Director CUTS, while delivering the presidential address explained about the present scenario related to children in the state of Rajasthan as well as all over India. He said around 77 million children don’t have an access to safe drinking water and almost half the number are brought up under damaging environment. He also commented upon the worsening situation of sex ratio in the state. He also said the theme of the Earth Day 2005, to be observed on 22nd April, is ‘Protect our Children and our future’. This shows the importance of upbringing the children in a healthy and protected environment.
The Programme Co-ordinator of Save the Children (UK), Jaipur, Mini Bhaskar emphasised upon the importance of combined efforts from NGOs and iterated that it shall lead to a decrease in cases of violence against girls. She informed all, that inspite of our commitment towards Child rights Convention we are not able to keep up to our aspirations and this makes it evident that we need to revise our strategies.
Centre Co-ordinator Mr. Dhanna Singh Rawat informed the people present about the programme, Rural Girls Empowerment Programme (RGEP), being implemented by CUTS-CHD. He also said that CUTS is liasing with various community leaders, religious leaders and CSOs to bring them on a platform and fight for the rights of the girl child and violence against them. He also said that, interventions are being made on policy formulation levels and awareness generation is also being pressed among the children community.
The first session was based on the issues related to violence against girl child, reasons and solutions. ICDS Dy. Director, Ms. Anshu Bhatnagar and Ms. Sashi Prabha from CUTS had a varied discussion with the participants on related issues. The Pradhan, Chittorgarh Panchayat Samiti, Ms. Rajeshwari Meena elucidated on the need to act against the evil which is fast becoming a menace for the society.
Senior Advocate, Mr. Bhanwarlal Sisodiya, Mr. Pramod Jhanwar, a social activist from Udaipur and Mr. K. S. Yadav from labour department, Chittorgarh participated in the panel discussion on the legal issues related to child rights and also informed about the enforcement processes of such laws. Speaking on the matter, Mr. Prahlad Jatiya, Pradhan, Panchayat Samiti Nimbahera said that we all should take a pledge to fight against the problem. He also said that the budget allocation towards such activities is in sufficient and requested that attention should be paid on the side of government functionaries.
Ms. Roma Bharadwaj from Seva Mandir, spoke about the Child Help Line, which is catering to the needs of the children in the way of providing immediate, help to them.
Also present were representatives from various Bal-Panchayats, PRI members, Administrative Officers, representatives from Women & Child Development Department, Labour Department, various CSOs working on Child Rights in the state. In total about 94 people participated in the workshop.
For more details, please contact:
George Cheriyan/Dhanna Singh Rawat
CUTS Centre for Human Development (CUTS-CHD)
Rawla, Senti
Chittorgarh – 312 025
Telephone: 91-1472-241472
E-mail: chd@cuts.org ; cuts@cuts.org