PESHAWAR, Dec 22: The NWFP government will set up day care centres in all government departments to facilitate the working mothers, NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani said here on Friday.

Speaking at a workshop on child protection organised by the law department in collaboration with the Unicef, Mr Durrani said the provincial law secretary had been asked to formulate a plan so that the authorities could release funds and create posts for female staff at the day care centres.

He said the provincial government was also considering launching a project to provide food, shelter and health facilities to the poor people in the province. The chief minister said he had constituted a committee for the purpose.

The committee is headed by former Public Service Commission chairman Mr Abdullah and elders from various districts are its members. He said the project would be launched in Peshawar and then extended to other districts.

He said the committee members would be provided with financial assistance to make arrangements of shelter, food and healthcare for the poor in their respective districts. The chief minister sought the help of international donors and human rights organisations in implementing the project. He told the participants, mostly officials of the law department, Unicef and representatives of child rights organisations, to examine laws regarding children and make recommendations to the government to bring the laws in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Naeem Iqbal, head of the law department’s ‘child-related laws’ committee, said the committee had reviewed 40 laws and would work to make them conform to international child-related laws like the CRC. He said the committee would soon present its recommendations to the government.

Shahid Naseem Chamkani, secretary of the law department, said child rights should be ensured. He said the NWFP government was reviewing child-related laws to bring them in accordance with the CRC.

Silvia Pasti of Unicef said member countries of the UN should implement the CRC and provide protection to children. Laws which were not in accordance with the CRC should be amended. Unicef would cooperate in this respect, she said.