ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: The federal cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal submitted by the women development division to declare 2004 as the "year of child welfare and rights".

Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said it was also decided that a committee comprising officials of education, health, labour, women development ministries would formulate plans to ensure positive projection of the measures proposed to be taken for the welfare of children in the country.

It's worth mentioning here that Pakistan had ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990. The country is under obligation to implement its provisions set forth for child survival, development, protection and participation.

Under Article (44) of the CRC, the country should report progress made on implementation of CRC to the UN committee on the rights of the child on periodic basis.

Advisor to the prime minister on women development and social welfare, Nilofar Bakhtiar, while presiding over the meeting of National Commission on Children Welfare and Development (NCCWD) said the ministry had decided to celebrate 2004 the year for the observation of child rights movement.

In this regard, she said, the provincial governments had already been asked to make arrangements for sensitization throughout the country on children rights.

"The task of safeguarding children rights and providing next generation a better place to live is not an easy task and can not be accomplished by the government alone," she said.