KARACHI: The Sindh government and Unicef on Thursday agreed to launch a child protection programme to reduce child rights violations and harmful traditional practices.

A statement issued from CM House said that Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Unicef Country Representative Abdullah A. Fadil in their meeting at CM House agreed to launch a child protection programme to strengthen evidence-based policy and legislation.

The meeting was attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, School Education Secretary Zahid Abbasi, Secretary to CM Raheem Shaikh, Health Secretary Rehan Baloch, Social Welfare Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Project Director Zubair Channa.

The Unicef delegation members include Chief Field Officer Prem Chand, Executive Officer Ms Xene, health specialist Dr Kamal and others.

The CM and the Unicef country chief after a thorough discussion agreed that Unicef would foster enabling environment to strengthen evidence-based policy and legislation under child labour survey; child protection policy; birth registration by-laws; protection from child online abuse and exploitation; prevention strategies would be carried out to reduce child protection violations and harmful traditional practices.

The CM was told that Unicef was supporting strengthening the health system within the framework of Universal Health Coverage.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2024