ISLAMABAD, June 29: The Punjab minister for social welfare, Shaheen Attiqur Rehman, has said measures will be taken for the protection of child rights at the districts level.

“The government is working to protect the present and the future of the country’s human resources,” the minister said.

She was speaking on the second day of the National Conference on Child Rights being held in Islamabad.

Three sessions of the conference were held on Saturday. The Punjab minister presided over the first session of the conference. While the remaining sessions were presided over by the NWFP minister for social welfare, Qari Roohullah, and Balochistan minister, Roshan Khurshid Bharucha.

The participants of the conference discussed the national plan of action for children, Pakistan’s international commitments on rights of children, achievements and constraints of the government in fulfilling commitments for children and gaps in targets and existing policies for the children.

It was observed that though a lot was being done to improve the situation of children in the areas of health, education, child labour and protection by the government and the civil society, much of the efforts were being off-set by the population growth rate and lack of resources was one of the main constraints in the policy implementation.

Ms Rehman also highlighted the measures taken by the government particularly for achieving the targets of universal primary education and rehabilitation of child labourers and in prisons.

Representatives from NGOs, government departments and child delegates participated in the discussions.