India on Monday called for an overarching social protection network for children, asking south Asian nations to expand child helpline services. The move comes against the backdrop of sex tourism and child pornography emerging as new threats.
At a meeting of the Saarc countries on “South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children” (SAIEVAC), Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said New Delhi is committed to a strong partnership for protection of children within Saarc countries.
Addressing the meeting, Singh acknowledged that trafficking is a major challenge. “With increasing access to information technology and changing nature of our globalised economy, new threats to children are emerging — sex tourism, child pornography, online threats, among others. At the same time, a large number of children are adversely affected due to rapid climate change, disasters and conflict,” he said.
The minister said there is an increasing realisation that “we cannot commit ourselves to protecting children without providing an overarching social protection network” to them and their families.
He identified the biggest challenge as identifying and tracking children and their families who are vulnerable.
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