Port Blair, July 15: The A & N UT Commission for Protection of Child Rights Member, Smt Rubina Siddiqui was recently invited to a conference on Children in Difficult Circumstances hosted by Plan India and CINI-Child in Need institute, Kolkata. The conference is the first in the series which involves government and civil society representatives working on children’s issues from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, West Bengal and Sikkim.
The next conference would be held in August involving seven states and after 5 such regional consultations it would be culminating in a National conference which will be held in Delhi. Children in Difficult Circumstances (CIDC) were the prime focus of attention in the conference. The spectrum of CIDC ranges from victims of child rights violation as well as children deprived of their basic survival, health, education and protection needs.
Smt Rubina Siddiqui, Member of the Child Commission was part of a panel discussion chaired by Padmashree Sister Cyril; eminent educationist. The other participants included in the discussion were Chairperson, West Bengal State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Director, Department of Child Rights and Trafficking. Papers were also presented by experts and Senior researchers from centre for child Rights, NUJS, State Legal Services authority and by the State Child Protection society, Sikkim besides other stake holders.
While presenting the scenario relating to children in the islands when the Member, UTCPCR spoke about the fact that Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a beggar free and Child Labour free zone, it drew the applause from all the participants. The participating members got a firsthand knowledge about the challenges faced by the islanders particularly the children on account of remoteness and connectivity issues. In the education front the challenges faced by the children relating to lack of exposure as compared to their counterparts in the mainland as well as dearth of professional and skill set development was highlighted by Smt Rubina Siddiqui.
