Local children at Tungibaria union of Barisal Sadar upazila yesterday performed a cultural programme addressing various social issues.
The programme was organised on the Singherkathi Primary School grounds on the occasion of a field trip made by visitors from the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) as part of the Rural Urban Child Migration Project (RUCMP), with technical and financial assistance from the European Union and Save the Children International.
The children staged a drama which showcased the negative aspects of social issues such as child marriage and domestic violence. The performance ended with a call to people to ensure safe rural to urban migration of children and to ensure that their rights are upheld.
Advocate Salma Ali, executive director of BNWLA, presided over the function while Julia Jacoby, project manager for the Human Rights and Good Governance programme of the European Union, Shamsul Alam and Idris Ali Khan, deputy director and senior manager of Save the Children Banglasdesh respectively, were present at the function.
Children, representatives from various government, non-government and socio-cultural organisations, as well as members of the mass media also attended the function.
The visitors said these types of advocacy and awareness-building activities are one of the core tools of the project. The project hopes to improve the situation of children at the risk of unsafe migration or those who have already migrated to urban settings due to socio-economic factors, domestic violence, negligence to children (particularly girls), project officials said.
Organisers of the programme said they were introducing a unique web-based registration system for “children at risk of migration” and “migrated” children, as well as providing Identity Cards to children through local government units to reduce unsafe child migration and promote the rights of vulnerable child migrants.
Computerised child registration cells are functioning at local government units to issue numbered registration cards containing the photo and full description of the child-employee with his family, education and health information. Project sources said 2,183 children aged between 5 and 17 years of age were at risk of migration from the unions of Chandramohon, Tungibaria, Charkawa and Charbaria in Barisal Sadar upazila, whereas 777 children from wards 9 and 10 of Barisal City Corporation have already been registered in the database. A total of 2,250 children will be given identity cards through this project by the end of this month.
A copy each card will be checked and kept by employers and collected data will be preserved in the computer database to be provided for monitoring purposes.
At the end of the event, EU representatives, Save the Children officials and other guests visited the field areas of the project and exchanged views with the stakeholders, service providers and employers.