Child rights a far cry in rural Nepal
Universal children’s day 2010
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KATHMANDU, NOV 21 -
Universal Children’s Day 2010 was marked here by organising various activities on Saturday.
In a ceremony organised by Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Center, Speaker Subash Nembang said the new constitution would guarantee children’s rights. The main theme of this year’s celebration was “Peace for Children, Constitution for Peace.” The core consensus was that child rights should be ensured in the new constitution.
Addressing the function, Gauri Pradhan, commissioner and spokesperson for the National Human Rights Commission, said in the field of child education, health, security and participation, the country has not only witnessed gradual development in the recent years but also presented an example in South Asia.
However, there are some challenges left for Nepal in terms of elimination of alnutrition, child labour, bonded labour, increasing rate of street children and other forms of violence against children.
“In order to ensure the rights of children, there is a need to make a child-friendly constitution. If this can be achieved, future Nepal can be free of suppression, violence and other internal conflicts,” Pradhan added.
Despite all the efforts made by various political parties and organisations, the situation of children in Nepal remains appalling. The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2063 has accepted child rights as fundamental ones. Whereas all these rights have been drafted, effective implementation remains to be seen. As pointed out by Krishna Tamang, a child right activist, the condition of urban children seems quite positive but those in the villages are still ignorant of their rights. “So people in the rural areas need to be made aware of child rights,” he said.
As stated by a 2010 report—Child Poverty and Disparities in Nepal—more than a third of Nepal’s children live below the national poverty. Measured by the absence of a toilet of any kind, over half of Nepal’s children defecate in open spaces with obvious implication for the spread of diseases. Similarly, malnutrition is a severe problem with half of the children under the age of five, over two-thirds underweight. Apart from that, 69 percent Nepali children are deprived of at least seven basic human needs—sanitation, information, shelter, water, food, education and health.
Posted on: 2010-11-21 08:54
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