Registration centers would be opened in Barisal district from next
month for preserving facts to ensure children’s rural to urban safe
migration and prevent trafficking and abuse of children.It was revealed in a conference with the local representatives of
different print and electronic media at Barisal Reporters Unity on
Wednesday .
The programme on Unsafe Child Migration and Registration System was
organised by Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA)
with financial assistance of European Union and Save the Children
International under the Rural Urban Child Migration Project (RUCMP).
Advocate Manjuara Begum, divisional coordinator of BNWLA, presided
over Masuk Kamal, RUCMP area coordinator of the project presented data
and conducted the programme.
Azad Hossain Razib as facilitator presented keynotes on the topic
discussed among others by Keka Ansari, outreach coordinator.
The programme organisers said local government organisations have
standing committees on women and children welfare to properly address
child rights violations; however, they are now not working.
So we suggested introducing an effective registration system for
migrant children and activation and monitoring of the steering and
standing committees at union, ward and upazila levels comprised of the
non-state actors and community representatives to take joint actions
in case of child rights violation in general and unsafe migration in
particular, they said.
Child registration systems would be introduced gradually at the ward,
union, upazila levels of Barisal from next month by opening grass root
level cell, they informed.
Child registration cell at the local government units will work for
issuing a numbered registration card containing photo and full
description of the child-employee with his family, education and
health back grounds.
A copy of the card would be checked and preserved by the employer and
collected data would be preserved on the computer network and provided
to all who needs, the organizers said.
Organizers at the programme urging for raising awareness and
capacities among caregivers, media, law enforcement agencies, civil
society, local and central government organisations to address forced
labour, sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation of children.
Participant media representatives in open discussion agreed about the
needs for introducing a registration system to ensure children’s safe
migration.
The journalists also called for strengthening services of the local
government institutions in cooperation with the non-state actors to
reduce unsafe rural-urban child migration and to improve states of the
migrant children They also underlined coordination with the ministries
concerned through inclusion of the proposed system in the Local
Government Ordinance for avoiding overlapping with birth registration,
national and professional identity cards and the other registration
systems introduced at governmental level.
(Barisal Correspondent)
