ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday signed a pledge for child rights movement and called for devising a multi-pronged strategy to create a protective environment for children.

"Children are the repository of our hopes and aspirations for future. They are our investment to realize the dream of our forefathers of making Pakistan a progressive and liberal state," the prime minister said while speaking at the National Children's Day held at the Convention Centre here.

The pledge, the prime minister signed to recognize "Say Yes to Child Rights Movement in Pakistan", requires a commitment to investing in child health, education, recreation, justice, equality and eradicating corporal punishment, child labour, abuse and exploitation, poverty and gender discrimination.

Organized by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education, the day was participated by a large number of children from different schools. The prime minister also awarded national children awards and child rights shields to the students of different schools and people of different walks of life. He urged the people to come forward and join hands with the government to invest in children for their welfare and development.

"It could be done through a child-friendly legislation and its implementation, open discussions with civil society and media, developing children's life skills, their knowledge and participation, providing essential protection service to address abuse in all forms, counselling, and above all, monitoring, reporting and keeping a close watch on all these elements," he said.

The government, he said, had a clear vision of investing in children for sustaining the pace of development, as no investment was nobler than investing in children's health, education, safety and protection.

We intend to build Pakistan into a child-friendly state, the prime minister said, adding that it was his strong desire that children in Pakistan enjoyed a good environment, health, facilities, protection from abuse and exploitation, an end to all forms of child labour, visible and invisible, access to quality education, leisure and recreation.

"I know we have a long way to go to attain that ideal but we are determined to achieve it," he assured the children. Globalization and modernization have also added new challenges and complexities to the lives of children, who are confronted with issues like poor human resources, child labour, trafficking of children, abuse and exploitation and children in conflict with law, he said.

Our social protection system is also not so strong to meet such challenges, therefore, there is need for remedial measures, especially by district and provincial governments, he stressed.

The prime minister said his government had taken a number of initiatives to ensure children's access to education, health, protection and development opportunities.

Social justice and equality, the prime minister, said were the cornerstones on which the structure of a society could be raised. This, he added, needed a committed societal response and in this area, communities and families had a pivotal role to play.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education Zobaida Jalal said the government was developing a comprehensive national plan of action to eliminate child labour, rehabilitate working children through non-formal and formal education and develop their skills.

"We must not simply look at child labour as a general phenomenon but also devise strategies to address worst forms, especially invisible insidious forms of domestic child labour," Zobaida Jalal said.

In recent years, trafficking in women and children has emerged as a global issue, which is facilitated due to porous borders and advanced technologies, she said and expressed the confidence that promulgation of Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002 would provide a platform for action against human smugglers.

She said 69 million Pakistani children, about 48 per cent of our total population, made a high percentage of population and, therefore, they deserved attention and allocation of resources accordingly.

She said the National Children's Day reminded us of our commitments each year and added that children and youth of this country up to 18 years of age were the most powerful segment of our society born with immense innate potential and diversity.