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Call for adolescent and child right network

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 24 - A two-day regional consultation on �Adolescent and Child Rights in Assam� that concluded here on Friday, evolved a way forward for forming a statewide network soon.

The consultation was the first of a series of four consultations to be held in the State and was organised by NESPYM in association with UNICEF and Snehalaya.

Fr Lukose Cheruvalel, Chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee of Kamrup (Metro), while inaugurating the consultation in the Bosco Reach Out conference hall, said that although child rights issues have still not received the desired attention, it is the opportune time for an adolescent and child right network to be formed for civil society organisations.

�A strong network will enable a collective voice to ensure that the entitlements mentioned in the various national and international legislations and conventions are provided to this group of population,� he observed.

Participants from nine districts of the State deliberated at the consultation. The participants had discourses on the relevant national and international conventions, policies and laws, and strategised on the issues confronting the children and adolescents in the State and deliberated on how to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the two optional protocols � the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 which India has committed to stand for and the National Policy for Children 2013 � relevant in the context of the children in Assam.

Besides the protection rights of children, the consultation prioritised various health, survival and development rights as well as participation rights of children and adolescents which should be taken up by the proposed networks. In addition, the Communications and Advocacy Officer of UNICEF, Assam office Tahseen Alam and Dr Chiranjeeb Kakoty, director of NESPYM, experts and activists from the legal field, water and sanitation and health and nutrition, and child rights also facilitated discussions on critical issues related to adolescent and child rights.

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