Collective efforts vital for child welfare: SAF moot held

South Asian states have underlined the need for collective efforts on South Asian Forum (SAF) for welfare of children. The decision had been taken in SAF moot held in Rawalpindi to review the progress made by the SAF member States in the areas of early marriage and physical and psychological abuses.
These themes had been identified as priorities for the Region in the May 2005 Consultation, sources told APP here on Wednesday. Giving information about SAF moot, they said the discussion came up after considering a number of recommendations for taking action at regional level to address the priority issues to collectively combat violence against children.
Sources said SAF requested the South Asia Co-ordinating Group on Action Against Violence (SACG) to nominate one focal person in each country to co-ordinate and support the Country Co-ordinator to facilitate and ensure better co-ordination among the stakeholders/Focal Ministry.
In this regard, it was also decided to share and disseminate information, good practices and lessons learnt among the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) member countries, they added.
"The delegates were agreed to establish linkages with Saarc Secretariat to assess the progress to end violation at all level", they said and added, "each country will nominate a country co-ordinator who would act as focal point to communicate with the SAF Secretariat".
Sources said the participants highlighted the need to promote joint action in raising awareness and understanding of violence against children in the region.
From Pakistan, they said, Director National Commission for Children Welfare and Development, Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education, Hassan Mangi will co-ordinate with other member states.
The Regional Consultation also decided that the SAF would hold two meetings per year. The first meeting was focused on follow up action on the themes early marriage and physical and psychological abuses.
These efforts were part of the government policies to raise awareness among people to think about children problems and find pragmatic solutions based on practical experiences.