DHAKA, Dec 20, 2022 (BSS) - Members of Parliament (MPs) and representatives of government and non-government organisations today called for forming an inter-ministerial committee to protect interests of the street children.

They made the remarks at a roundtable at the PMs' auditorium with Jyoti Gomes, Caritas Dhaka Regional Director in the chair.

Street Children Activists Network-SCAN Bangladesh and Caritas organised the roundtable.

They said that the existing problems could be resolved by forming at the national level committee comprising representatives of concerned ministries, departments, civil society and street children by taking a coordinated working plan.

SCAN Bangladesh general secretary Moniruzzaman Mukul read out a written statement and mentioned that the government and the private sector jointly took various measures to protect the street children.

He emphasized on the need to form an inter-ministerial committee and presented an outline in this regard.

Mukul said that the proposed committee would ensure providing legal support, monitoring and evaluation of rehabilitation programmes, rehabilitation of drug addict children, stopping child labour and trafficking.

He also underlined the need for establishing a directorate of children and prepare special policies for the protection of street children.

Awami League leader and lawmaker Gloria Jharna Sarkar mentioned that the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had taken special programmes for protection of children and the present government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina continues to implement that programmes.

The government, she said, has also taken different initiatives to transform villages into cities to control the flow of people towards the capital.

Gloria Jharna said that the government led by Bangabandhu's daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been giving some 33 types of allowances for destitute.

Lawmaker Rezaul Karim Bablu emphasized on the need to increase awareness among common people for the protection of street children.
Shirin Ahmed, MP, Khodeja Nasrin Akhter Hossain, MP, RAB official commanding officer M. Farid Uddin, Nikhil Chandra Bhadra of Sundarbans and Coast Protection Movement, SCAN President Jahangir Nakir, Mithun Sarkar of World Vision, SM Masudul Islam Neel, Shawmi Imam of ASD and Kamrunnahar of Caritas, among others, spoke on the occasion.