Activities need to be coordinated between government and non-government organisations to protect the rights of street children.
The speakers said this at a roundtable meeting titled ‘Networking Building and Actors’ held at Dhaka Ahsania Mission head office in the capital on Wednesday.
A cross-sector body should be adopted which will oversee the coordination of services for street children. Due to lack of coordination, the expected results of this programme have not been achieved, they said.
The speakers further said that sustainable and effective measures should be taken for the street children.
Mentioning the results of a survey during the presentation of the main article, Secretary of SCAN Bangladesh Md. Moniruzzaman Mukul said 94 per cent of the children were physically abused, 77.9 per cent had no birth registration and 85 per cent were street children addicted to drugs.
The round table meeting was organized by Dhaka Ahsania Mission in collaboration with Street Children Activists Network (SCAN) Bangladesh while Dhaka Ahsania Mission Executive Director Dr. M Ehsanur Rahman made the inaugural address.
The panel discussion was attended by Wahida Banu, Executive Director of Aparajeo-Bangladesh, Rashida Begum, District Child Affairs Officer, Bangladesh Shishu Academy, Fatema Zohura, Deputy Director, Department of Women’s Affairs and KM Abu Raihan, Social Services Officer (Registration and Control).
Dhaka Ahsania Mission General Secretary Dr SM Khalilur Rahman chaired the meeting while Nazneen Shabnam, Child Rights and Advocacy Officer, Dhaka Ahsania Mission moderated it.
Source: United News of Bangladesh