Interior Minister Launches Pakistan's First Child Help Line
On May 30, 2001 the Government of Pakistan announced the launching of "Madadgaar," the country's first Child Help Line.
Discrimination against various categories of people is one of the most agonizing and unfortunate injustices that exist in Pakistan. It is particularly painful and offensive when it affects human beings who cannot defend themselves; notably women and children.
Children and Women in Pakistan are treated more as chattels which can be used by the owner - the father, brother, husband or any male as the case may be - and junked at will. These deprived and downtrodden sections of society are so neglected that they are made to toil long hours or trafficked for mercenary reasons and treated as if they have no existence or identity of their own. Since the perpetrators are all powerful and both the perpetrators and victims are products of a feudal tradition and mind set, there is no will to be free or to fight for one's rights.
A recent study of newspaper reports shows that violation of the rights of children and women are surging day by day. During the year 2000 there were 736 cases of physical abuse of women 600 cases of sexual abuse against women and 490 cases of abuse against children -girls and boys- were recorded. All these cases were reported and published in local as well as national newspapers.
Collaboration
To redress the grievances of women and children in daily life, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) and UNICEF have coordinated with each other to establish Madadgaar, Pakistan's first Child Help line and a protection center. Madadgaar supports children and women in crisis situations through guidance, counseling and referral services. The center facilitates abused children and women in providing the help of law enforcement agencies, medical assistance, psychiatric care, psychotherapy, shelter and legal services according to their needs.
On 27th May, Sunday, federal minister Lt. Gen (Retd) Moinuddin Haider was the chief guest and inaugurated the Madadgaar. While other speakers included Ms. Serap Maktav, Deputy Representative, UNICEF, Mr. Christian Dunant, H.E. The Ambassador of Switzerland, Mr. Zia Ahmed Awan, President LHRLA, Ms. Jamila Qawi & Mr. Amir Murtaza, while master of the ceremony was Ms. Faryal Ali Ghour, Goodwill Ambassador to UNFPA. Approximately 500 hundred ambassadors, high ranking government officials, officials of UN organizations and representatives of different NGOs, took part.
Madadgaar's Objectives
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To provide medical assistance to the abused children and women
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To provide legal services to needy children and women
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To help government in the implementation of CRC and CEDAW.
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To provide referral services for victims of abuses to other NGOs and government bodies who can provide relevant services for such victims
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To raise awareness with regard to the different types of abuses suffered by women and children with the help of print and audio-visual material, conduction of seminars and workshops
Madadgaar provides
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Counseling/Psychotherapy
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Referral service to more than a hundred other agencies/organizations with MOU signed
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Documentation of cases on its database.
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Legal aid and legal proceedings initiated if the case warrants it
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Awareness raising campaigns about child abuse/ domestic and sexual violence
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Education of children about the Convention on Rights of the Child
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Education of women about their rights as enshrined in CEDAW
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Empower children and adults through Human Rights education
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The center already has built an alliance with related organizations, institutions, individuals and service providers shelters, medical centers, law enforcement agencies and other concerned departments working on the same issues
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Capacity building of existing and coordinating partners
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Special desk on missing children
Help line
The center provides helpline service for children and women victims of abuse in all five districts of Karachi. The helpline service consists of counseling of victims and a referral system, devised by contacting service providers. A team of trained officers assesses the nature of help warranted by the call and ensures assistance via referral service is available immediately. The helpline function twelve-hour per day and a UAN hot line is available.
Counseling/Psychotherapeutic
The center also provides counseling and psychotherapeutic services for the victims who came into the center. They may come in individually, or as advised by the help line services personnel; when they place their calls. The Madadgaar staff maintains complete confidentiality while dealing with such cases.
Documentation of cases of abuse against children and women for Database
The center documents all the cases published in newspapers or is otherwise acknowledged, to collect information regarding human rights violation in the country, especially against women and children. In order to maintain an updated database the staff members of LHRLA monitor twenty-two newspapers daily in Urdu, English and Sindhi languages. With the help of this database LHRLA attempts to keep the public informed about the incidents of violence against women and children, through its press releases.
A special desk for cases of missing children
The center also creates a special database for the missing children. The data is available for the masses and any one can contact the center if he requires any information regarding the missing child. So far the center has more than 500 records of those children who got missed during last one year.
Legal Aid
The center provides legal aid services to the victims of abuse. The Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) have been providing free legal aid for victims of all sort of abuse for more than ten years so it is experienced in this field.
An alliance with related organizations, institutions, individuals
The center has already cemented an alliance with related organizations, institutions, individuals, service providers shelters, medical centers, law enforcement agencies and other concerned departments working on the same issues.
LHRLA president, Zia Ahemd Awan, hoped that through Madadgaar, they would try to mitigate the sufferings of the oppressed class of the society, women and children. He also acknowledged the partnership of UNICEF and urged the institutions of the civil society to come forward and help LHRLA for this noble cause.
Issued by:
Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid
D1, 1st Floor, Court View Appartment, Opp. Sindh Assembly Building,
Phone: 92-21-5685824,5219902
Fax: 5685938
Website: www.lhrla.sdnpk.org
Email: lhrla@fascom.com
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