Children of Telangana Submit ‘Charter of Demands’ to State Children's Commission

Hyderabad: UNICEF and Alliance for Child Rights hosted a State Level Child Rights Parliament on Thursday which saw an action-oriented discussion between children from across the State and duty bearers, government officials. 

The duty bearers, government officials listened to children sharing the need for quality education, basic facilities in schools, early marriages and protection of child rights.

On this occasion, the children presented their ‘Charter of Demands’ prepared by summarising a year-long campaign in the State  through consultations involving children across districts, mandals and villages.

"I want to put an end to all child marriages. They close all gates to development for us. Our education comes to halt, our health is put to risk, and we face many psychological problems. I wish to go every mandal, district and village, talk to parents of girls and do my best to end this harmful practice for development of girls." said, B Mamata from Adilabad addressing the duty bearers during the consultation.

Stressing on the need for resolving the concerns of children at the local level, the Telangana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TSCPCR) Chairperson J Srinivas Rao said the Commission is committed to the protection of child rights and it will continue to take their issues forward and ensure its quick resolution by the government.

Srinivas Rao also said four core principles of the UN convention (Survival, Development, Protection and Participation), the right to participation is far from being fully realised.

“I assure the children that I shall put them forward to the relevant officials in the State government for action,” the TSCPCR Chairperson said.

UNICEF is celebrating the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) week from Nov 14 to 20. Every year, the children across the countries celebrate World Children’s Day on 20 November, 1989 as the UN body had adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child 33 years ago. 

Ramesh Sekhar Reddy, Convenor for Alliance for Child Rights, summarised the consultation by saying, “MAHITA aims to bring together children from all districts, mandals and villages in consultation and prepare their charter of demands in fostering an inclusive future - for the 
children, by the children,”

The State Level Child Rights Parliament saw an attendance of nearly 125 children from 18 districts of Telangana including Mahabub Nagar, Adilabad, Sangareddy, Vikarabad and other districts.

UNICEF along with Alliance for Child Rights and Partner NGOs conducted a year long campaign in the State of Telangana. In this campaign, over 120 NGOs with 800 children were involved in regular consultations. During the consultation process from April 2021 to October 2022, children met key duty bearers and shared challenges preventing them from fulfilling their rights. These include but are not restricted to - quality education due to learning losses, basic facilities in schools, violence, exploitation for labour and access to nutritious food.

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