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Students display posters against child sexual abuse in Tuensang.[/caption]
Dimapur, Nov. 17 (EMN): Various events with focus on mass awareness towards child rights marked the Child Rights Week, which began on November 14. The Child Rights Week, which is celebrated from November 14 to 20, is being organised by the state unit of Child Protection Services (CPS).
National Children’s Day is celebrated on November 14 and International Child Rights Day is celebrated on November 20 every year. CPS has planned various events during the period between these two important dates.
A press release issued by Raitale Zeliang, programme manager of Child Protection Services, stated that the ongoing awareness campaign against Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in schools and child care institutions, which began on November 14, would be carried out in all the eleven districts by the respective districts child protection units.
The CSA awareness campaign was aimed at providing children with knowledge of what child sexual abuse is, know about preventive and safety measures, and importance of reporting such cases.
On November 14, Children’s Day was also celebrated in observation homes and special homes. Till early 2013, Nagaland had only one observation home and one special home, both located in Pherima. It stated that majority of the cases went unreported or got compromised at the police stations itself as transferring those children became a problem. It was only after 2013-2016, that child protection services under the department of social welfare, observation home was established in each districts of the state. At present there are 11 observation homes and two special homes for juvenile delinquency.
District child protection units also distributed small gifts to the children living in child care institutions which are not funded or aided by the government. Around 300 children were covered. Currently, there are around 68 child care institutions in the state.
