Lalitpur, May 9: Child rights workers, government officials, labour experts and trade unionists from ten countries of South and Central Asia Region have gathered in the capital to discuss on “Child Centred Policies and Programmes for Working Children” in the regions. On the backdrop that a number of well-intentioned policies and interventions designed to combat the exploitation of children in work situations are found to have proved ineffective, or actually end up harming children and violating their rights, the present workshop tries to focus on making the programmes more children oriented.

The International Save the Children Alliance organised workshop attempts to enable participants to consider child work issues from a child-centred framework that links child rights to modern social science understanding of childhood and child development and the socio-economic and cultural contexts of the region.

Referring to speedy adoption United Nations’ Convention on Rights of Children, the large number of countries to ratify and development goals and programmes of action for children it stimulated, Chief Secretary Tirtha Man Shakya said that now government, communities and parents and employers oblige to make them children’s reality. Article 32 of the Convention emphasises that children should be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is hazardous to children’s health or interfere physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.

Shakya also noted that exploitation of child labour and discriminatory labour system is still rampant in the region. He pointed out that children are treated as “cheap, weak and uncomplaining” source of labour in the region. Discussing the various root causes behind the existence of exploitative child labour he said that poverty, migration, gender discrimination and criminality are forcing children to harmful and exploitative labour.