Staff Reporter
The rights of all children including the rights of the girl child are enshrined in our constitution, the girl child is an equal asset of our nation and it is her right to access equal education, health and all other opportunities. She must be nurtured to develop her full potential” said Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr. Shireen Mazari while addressing a ceremony to commemorate International Day of the Girl Child here Friday.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Human Rights, in collaboration with European Union funded Huqooq-e-Pakistan Programme. An awareness campaign was lunched on the rights of the girl child using truck art as a tool to reach out to people in the rural areas.
Actress Mehwish Hayat, along with the Federal Minister of Human Rights and the Ambassador-Designate of the European Union to Pakistan joined in the launch of the campaign as Goodwill Ambassador for the girl child.
The International Day of Girl Child is celebrated globally on October 11th with the aim to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face in the ir journey towards an enabling environment for the fulfillment of their basic human rights. “22.8 million children are out of school and 56 per cent of these are girls. Let’s change the statistics, lets educate, empower and celebrate our daughters to be the best of everything they were born to be” said Secretary Ministry of Human Rights Rabiya Javeri Agha.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador-Designate of the European Union to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said, “It is inspiring to see how the young Pakistani women are influential and active members in every sphere of life. As a mother and a professional woman, I am convinced that when girls get the opportunities they deserve, magic starts to happen; they flourish, poverty goes down, economies grow, families get stronger and healthier. So, my message to all girls today is to never give up on your dream not only for yourself but because the world would be a better place because of it.”
The campaign will innovatively use an indigenous art form truck art as mobile billboards to disseminate messages on the rights of girl. Under this initiative, 20 trucks will be painted with positive messages on rights of the girl child including the right to education, the right to play, the right to realize their full potential by ensuring freedom from child marriage and child labor.
