KARACHI: Children, teachers, activists, representatives from government departments gathered to celebrate 30 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) with the inauguration of an installation made by children on CRC called ‘Celebrating 30 Years of CRC-Through-Our Hands & Ladders’ organised by the Idara-i-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) and the British Council on the latter’s library premises here on Friday.

“From November 30, 1989 to November 29, 2019, it has been 30 years since the CRC was signed. Pakistan, in 1990, became the sixth country to ratify the convention,” said Baela Raza Jamil, CEO of ITA. “It is good that Pakistan is a signatory to it but a lot has happened in these 30 years where this country has failed its children. For how long are we going to break our promises, our pledges to our children?”

She also asked that when indexes were made, where was Pakistan in the implementation of children’s rights? “In 181 countries Pakistan is at 151st position so, obviously, there is a lot more to be done here. There is a need for building partnerships with civil society, schools and government departments in order to meet our goals,” she pointed out.

She added that 54 articles of the convention cover all aspects of children’s rights from their right to education to their right to good nutrition and parental care.

There were several school students present at the event wearing handmade crowns with a right pasted on it.

The installation displayed on the occasion had small posters mentioning children’s rights made by schoolchildren that were then pasted on cloth. Bigger posters in frames in the middle were lined with impressions of little hands that had been laminated. “This kids’ exhibition is a travelling one. We want the ideas shared here to go to all schools all over the country all year. In was displayed in Lahore on Nov 20 before it came to Karachi and it will be taken to Peshawar on December 30 following which it will be taken to other cities and regions so that the messages on it echo for all stakeholders to hear as they realise that they have a lot to do for children,” she said.

Ahsan Azhar of the British Council said that they were also happy to be celebrating 30 years of CRC at their institution. “The British Council’s work here is mostly related to the young population of Pakistan. Our main programmes are about spreading awareness among children and explaining why children need to be protected,” he said.

Senior journalist Zubeida Mustafa said that she had specially come to celebrate the day with the children. “I want you all to always be happy as one does good work when one is happy. I also want you to stay hopeful. Never give up hope. And we your elders will always be here to watch over you and take good care of your needs,” she said.

Actor Ahsan Khan, who is also a goodwill ambassador at the Children’s Literature Festival, spoke about how the media can be used to spread messages of awareness. He said that they had tackled the sensitive issue of child abuse in their play Udaari, which was almost taken off air. “But we discuss such issues to make people understand that these things are happening and laws to protect children really need to be implemented. The media is the best way to educate people,” he said.

Students from the TFS Schooling System put up performances to inform about harmful aspects of child labour, Senior Model School students read out some rights as part of their performance titled ‘Aao hamaray haqooq suno — aur amal karo (Come listen to our rights and implement them). Dawood Public School students read out pledges followed by more pledges read out by responsible grown-ups such as Bushra Mirza of the education and literacy department of government of Sindh, Syed Farrukh Humayun Zaidi, joint director labour at the government of Sindh, Ameena Saiyid, Ishtiaq Qureshi of Sindh Education Foundation, activist and educationist Sadiqa Salahuddin, children’s writer Amra Alam and Dr Ghazala Rafiq.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2019