LAHORE, June 1: Participants in a consultative meeting on child rights have urged Pakistan to follow the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child (UNCRC) it ratified in 1990 and make an effective legislation to eliminate the increasing incidence of violence against children.

The meeting was organised by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child (Sparc) at a local hotel on Friday.

“The increasing incidence of violence against children is the failure of state. It shows the government is not following the UNCRC in letter and spirit as evident from the government’s inaction toward making effective legislation that can save the innocent children from any sort of violence,” said Sparc’s regional manager Sajjad Cheema while speaking on the occasion.

He said the situation demanded the civil society take extensive efforts to bring the violence against the children to an end.

To highlight the child-related issues in Punjab, he said the Sparc held a series of activities from May 28 to June 1 in Lahore and other parts of the province.Cheema said the violence was taking dangerous trends in society and especially the children were the most vulnerable victims of violent behaviors shown by various miscreants.

“Under these circumstances responsibilities of the civil society multiplies manifold while the media is expected to extend helping hands to victims and ensure justice for them,” he said.

The Article 6 of the UNCRC states that “the child has the inherent right to life” while the Article 16 says “no child shall be subjected to unlawful attacks on his or her honour or reputation whereas the Article 19 protects the child from any physical, mental violence, injury or abuse, he quoted.

He says he hopes that collective and collaborative efforts shall have strength and the government can be compelled to fulfill its international obligation regarding UNCRC.

He further shared that various civil society organizations like SAHIL, Godh and Pachaan also played their role and raised voice for the lives of children from their platform by organizing theater performance, puppet show, walk and other activities to highlight the issue of violence against children during the Sparc campaign.

Cheema said the collective and individual safety and security lied on the state which seemed to be a silent spectator showing least concern over the increasing violence against children and killing of innocent children.

He said that bad practices of law enforcement agencies and improper implementation of law was one of the major reasons for the rising crime rate against the children in the country. “Until the government makes serious efforts, such barbarous incidents would continue to haunt the younger generation,” he warned.

Earlier Sobia John, Programme Officer of Sparc, said the incidence of kidnapping for ransom, early marriages, murders and sexual abuse was taking a toll in Punjab.

“According to a data compiled by Sparc Punjab, during the first five months of 2012, at least 122 cases of child rights violations were reported by the media which included 40 incidents of child sexual abuse, 14 of murder of children, 22 of children kidnapping, 14 of children’s corporal punishment, six of early marriages and 13 of children’s deaths due to medical negligence,” she said.

Later, the participants, most of them media persons, gave their input in eradicating all sorts of violence against children.