Some way or the other, the Government has been successful in enhancing the child protection mechanism in the State, due to which repeated child offender cases have decreased, said Twin City Police Commissioner Saumendra Kumar Priyadarshi at a State-level consultation organised by the Humara Bachpan Trust (HBT) in partnership with the Railway Children India (RCI) here on Saturday
“However, there is a surge in girl children migration cases post Covid-19, one of the major reasons being eloping due to social media Influence,” Priyadarshi said. He emphasised on identifying hot spots of migration and conducting sensitisation on responsible use of social media. He also recommended conducting public sensitisation programmes focusing on child marriage and child labour issues.
Acknowledging some of the gaps in child protection mechanisms, Labour Commissioner Dr N Thirumala Naik said, “Along with enhancing Government mechanisms, we also need social change for better protection of children.”
OSCPCR Chairperson Mandakinee Kar asked for collaboration between civil society organisations and different Government child protection institutions for protection of children at risk. She also asked to share district wise data of the rescued children for tracking and rehabilitation at the source districts.
HBT founder chairperson Dharitri Patnaik appealed for collaboration of Government stakeholders and civil society organisations for strengthening child protection mechanisms at the source districts.
Notably, there has been an increasing trend observed in the number of children found at risk after the onset of pandemic. The issue of concern here is the rise in this figure is mostly among girls. More number of girl children are being contacted by the HBT and Railway Children India at the Bhubaneswar Railway Station from Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Baleswar, Kendrapada, Sundargarh, Cuttack and Khordha district. The reasons for children running away from home are the poor family background, post pandemic livelihood loss, family disturbance, peer pressure and social media influence among others.
Railway Children India Programme manager John Bosk and HBT project manager Reenarani Behera were among others present.