Morung Express News
Kohima | November 20
Director, Child Protection Services Nagaland, Chubaienla Jamir presented a report on the observation of 'Child Rights Week' in Nagaland today during the culmination of the 2018 ‘Child Rights Week’ in Nagaland.
She mentioned that the commemoration began on November 14 with the celebration of Children's day in Special homes and Observation homes.
The Department carried out awareness campaigns on 'Reducing Harm' against child sexual abuse in the districts where a total of 42 Child Care Institutions and 27 schools were covered. The objective of the campaign, Jamir mentioned, was to educate children about child sexual abuse and importance of reporting abuse. The target groups for the campaign were school children, child care institutions and Sunday schools.
"The Department also identified 25 non-funded child care institutions and distributed gifts to the children. Altogether 364 children received gifts through these initiatives," said Jamir. Further, the 'Cradle of Hope' was launched on November 19 along with the release of a book on 'Naga Customary practices of Child Adoption.'
The value of children's views and rights in policy making and decision making processes were emphasized by T. Merangtsüngba Aier, Director, Social Welfare Department. Pointing out that India is home to almost 19 percent of the world's children where more than 440 million of its population are below the age of 18 years.
"This means more than one third of the country's population are children. Around 170 million children in India are living in difficult circumstances and are in need of care and protection," stated Aier.
With most decisions and policies decided by adults, he maintained that the cause and basic needs of children may go unnoticed.
According to the National Crime Record Bureau 2016, every day around 150 children go missing. 1 in 4 children are out of school while around 99 million children in total have dropped out of school according to Census 2011.
"We elders are making the decisions but later our children are going to make those decisions. It is important to put our children in the mainstream," said Aier. He further mentioned that cases of juvenile delinquency are increasing at an alarming rate.
"Protecting children from violence, trafficking, neglect and exploitation is everybody's responsibility. Mass awareness on children issues is the need of the hour. Our society, our community, our family needs to be made aware of the importance of child rights and protection," asserted Aier.
Keeping the importance of child rights and protection, Aier maintained that the Child Rights Week 2018 has been initiated for the first time by the Child Protection Services under the aegis of Social Welfare Department. "Every individual in society must share the responsibility to protect child rights and report cases of child abuse and neglect to appropriate authority for the betterment and welfare of the child," he stated.
Photography Contest
The 'Child Rights Week 2018' culminated with a photography contest to generate awareness on rights and protection of children. Held at Ozone Cafe, Kohima, the event was organised by the Child Protection Services, Department of Social Welfare, Nagaland.
Besides the awareness, the contest was also held to discover new talents among Naga photographers and provide exposure on Naga cultures where the photos will be used in various advocacy and awareness campaign.
42 photographers participated in the contest under two categories and themes namely 'Childhood' for participants below 18 years and 'Children of Nagaland' (children in traditional attire) open for all ages.
Judged by Rokovor Vihienuo and M. Doulo, the winners of the first category (below 18 years of age) were Ngunle Lorin who bagged the first prize with a cash of Rs. 15,000. The second prized was awarded to Chingi (Rs. 10,000) while Angnlungbo, Kekhrie Tse and Kenyihili Lorin received consolation prize with a cash award of Rs.3000 each.
The winners of the open category were Akhruzo as the winner (Rs.10,000), Wetsokhro in the second position (Rs.5,000) while the consolation winners (Rs. 2,000 each) were Zakie, Keutinggumbe and Vilieme Kuotsu.
