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Kathmandu, September 15
Government today celebrated National Children Day, claiming that it had rescued 111 street children, who were prone to violence, from various places of Kathmandu Valley, in the past one year.
Studies showed that cases of violence against children continued at an alarming rate.
On an average, as many as10 cases of violence against children were recorded on a daily basis, in the first six months of this year, according to Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre.
CWIN report revealed that over 600 cases of children-related issues like child abuse, child trafficking, child labour and missing children were recorded from January to June of 2019.
Thirty-five children (20 girls and 15 boys) were murdered, 242 were raped, 282 were trafficked, and 108 cases of child marriage were reported.
Of 242 rape cases, above 16 per cent of minors were below 10 years, the youngest being a three-year-old.
Only 142 culprits involved in 242 rape cases have been arrested so far.
Gang rape constituted around 13 per cent of total rape cases.
CWIN, which has been working for the rights of children and against their exploitation for the past 32 years, had recorded around 2,000 child-related cases in 2018.
Fifty-six cases of murder, 22 infanticide, 593 rape, 376 trafficking, 386 missing children, 184 child marriage, 17 abduction, and 351 cases of child labour were recorded.
In the year 2017, it had recorded 3,828 children-related cases, according to CWIN.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli issuing a press release today on the occasion of National Children Day said violence against children was unacceptable.
&I want to assure that any kind of violence against children will be excusable.
The government has zero-tolerance for violence against children.& He also said the country had made remarkable progress in ensuring child rights ever since as it ratified the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel, addressing a program held in Kathmandu said the government had issued circular to all the local governments to establish Children Right Commission to curb violence against children.
&The country needs new regulation to deal with orphaned children requiring the government to take responsibility of children who have lost their parents,& said Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Tham Maya Thapa.
CWIN Media Officer Pramila Manandhar said the best way to curb violence against children was through initiating action that promoted re-integration of violence-prone children with their family.
According to Manandhar, a lot of children who suffer violence have difficulty coping with their family members due to various reasons and they gradually get detached from the family.
&We need to find out the root cause and re-integrate them with their family members,& she said.
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