October 19, 2006	Thursday	Ramazan 25, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: As many as 5,762 children went missing and 16,939 became victims of abuse and exploitation during the last six years in Pakistan. This was stated at a national consultation organised by Centre for Missing Children, a project of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) supported by Save the Children UK (SCUK), here on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Advocate Zia Ahmed Awan, president LHRLA said coordination between the government and civil society was crucial to protect children.

He said the objective to organise the national consultation was to ensure child protection by forming a working group comprising members from organisations working for the recovery of missing children and to build up a momentum towards an effective advocacy as well as service delivery to the violence victims.

Afshan Tehseen from the SCUK said many organisations in Pakistan were working for the children but most of them were not aware of each other.

Therefore, she said, there was a need to have a platform from where all members can share their experiences and work to help children and raise voice at a larger level.

Programme officer Centre for Missing Children, Mr Shahryar said the CMC was providing services to locate children and coordinated with law-enforcement agencies, civil society organisations and government departments to help missing and exploited children and their families.

He said 527 children went missing and 1,085 were abused in 2001; 839 went missing and 3,026 were abused in 2002; while the number for 2003 was 941 children missing and 3,443 abused. In 2004, the figure was 1,302 children missing and 3,345 abused; and for 2005, it was 1,315 and 3,921, respectively.

He said 788 had gone missing and 1,565 were abused in the current year till September.

Pakistan has rectified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The state has taken steps towards the effective implementation of the convention but the figures show that there are still a large number of neglected and marginalised children vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

The inclusion of the convention in the National Plan of Action and the development of training programmes to combat violence against children and child labour are among major needs of the hour. Moreover, the existing legislative and other measures are to be scrutinised — both at the federal and provincial levels — to ensure that the provisions and principles of the convention are implemented throughout the country.