Shillong, July 16:
Chairperson of the Meghalaya State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR), Agatha K Sangma, has urged Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh to ensure the creation of more green and recreational spaces for children and to establish a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regulating the movement of children to other states.
“I have met the chief minister and social welfare minister today for the creation of more green spaces, more recreational spaces in our towns,” Sangma told reporters on Wednesday.
She also held discussions with the social welfare minister regarding a comprehensive SOP, following a recent multi-departmental meeting involving officials from education, police, law, and health departments. The proposed SOP aims to make it mandatory for individuals and organizations to follow clear protocols before taking children outside the state.
“There has to be certain SOPs they should follow as many a time children are being taken and the government is not even aware about it and only when something terrible happens we get to know about it. So we need to prevent it by making sure that the situation is such that we are fully aware where these children are, what conditions they are living in and what kinds of institutes they are being sent to. Are they legal institute, even hostels are they legally set up,” she said.
On the progress of the initiative, the MSCPCR chairperson said, “It is a suggestion by the commission that we should have an SOP and we took different departments and taking their suggestions on what type of an SOP should be created and I hope the government takes it forward and create one. Once we have an SOP we will actually have a list of institutes because they will have to follow the SOPs before they take the children out of the state.”
The commission is also conducting sensitization programmes in schools to raise awareness about child rights, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence.
“There has been a recent case where a mother refuses to file an FIR because the perpetrator is a relative of the family. So, in situation like these, we need to come up and say this is wrong and the commission will intervene, police will intervene and family will have to cooperate to make sure that you don’t attach a taboo to these kinds of incidents and you don’t treat them as victims but as survivors,” she stated.
Expressing concern over the rising crimes against women and children, Sangma said the problem reflects a deeper societal failure and called for a united response. She stressed that families, teachers, and society as a whole must actively come forward to protect children and help prevent such crimes.
