KARACHI, Nov 27: An NGO working for human rights has urged the government to approve a national plan of action about children immediately.

At a press conference on Monday, the chief of the NGO, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, Zia Awan, said the government had pledged at the First World Congress Against Commercial Sex Exploitation of Children held at Stockholm, Sweden, in 1996 that a national plan of action for children would be prepared before the next congress was held, but nothing concrete had been done in this regard.

He said the Second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation was scheduled to be held at Yokohama, Japan, from Dec 17 to 20, but the government had not yet approved a plan of action.

He said the government had formulated a plan with the help of NGOs more than a year back, but it was still in draft form as the federal cabinet had not yet approved it.

He said about 150 countries, including Pakistan, had attended the Stockholm Congress, and about 50 countries — including Third World poor countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, etc — had already prepared their plans of action.