India offers help to South Asian countries for child helpline

NEW DELHI: India has offered support to South Asian countries in expanding and upgrading their child helpline services as part of efforts to end trafficking and violence against children, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said today.
"We are requesting the South Asian countries to expand their child line services. We are ready to provide help. We are trying to get them on board.... They will have to put their technologies in and involve efficient NGOs," the minister said.

Speaking at the 4th ministerial meeting of South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), Union Minister Maneka Gandhi noted that the countries have agreed on achieving time-bound goals to fight child trafficking.

"We have agreed on a timeline-bound goals. Because we all suffer from child trafficking and therefore, we have the same problems from Afghanistan to Bangladesh. So we will now have time-bound goals for the first time," Gandhi said.

The three-day ministerial meeting of SAIEVAC, which comprises eight nations, was inaugurated on May 9 to set strategies and agree on commitments to ensure protection and security of the children.

It was preceded by a two-day technical consultation focusing on critical issues of child protection and violence in the region.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was the chief guest at the event, said SAARC countries should work together to improve the condition of children and resolve to achieve safety and protection for them.

"To address each challenge comprehensively in SAARC countries, we can all benefit from cooperation and strengthening mechanisms for sharing of information, experience, expertise and good practices," he said.

"It will for the first time that the indicators of child protection will be universally monitored. We need to develop strategies that define clear milestones towards the realization of targets," he said.

Expressing satisfaction with the non-government organization Child Line that is working for child protection and child rights in association with the government, Gandhi said it is one the successful models of the world in preventing violence against children.

"Child line is one of the successes of the world. Last month we got 11 lakh calls from children. We can check it on real times basis. Yesterday, 40,000 children called in a single day," she said.