Assam Police observes Child Rights Week along with UNICEF

Celebrating Child Rights Week, Assam Police rolled out a series of outreach initiatives for children across the state in association with UNICEF, officials said on Tuesday.

The Child Rights Week celebrations by the Assam Police commenced on November 14 and culminated on Monday, which was World Children's Day.

''The Assam Police has always believed in protecting and upholding the best interests of all children, who come into contact with our police system,'' Director General of Police Gyanendra Pratap Singh said.

Through the 'Sishu Mitra Resource Centre', the state police force aimed to provide justice to every child in a timely manner as per the law, he added.

As a part of the 'Sishu Mitra Programme', which is one of the largest child-friendly policing programmes in the country, anchored by the Assam Police in partnership with UNICEF and UTSAH Child Rights Organisation, several outreach initiatives for children were rolled out, Special DGP Harmeet Singh said.

''The Child Rights Week celebrations are a testimony to our continuing commitment towards children. By prioritising children and through our programmatic interventions, we wish to build a more sustainable culture of child protection within our policing system,'' he said.

The week-long campaign was kickstarted with an essay-writing competition for children, themed around protection of children from child labour and Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

Besides, awareness programmes were conducted in schools, colleges and universities, covering almost 50,000 children of the state, said the Special DGP, who is also the convenor of the Sishu Mitra Programme.

UNICEF's state chief Madhulika Johanthan said, ''Our engagement with the Assam Police, this children's week, has provided children with a powerful platform to advocate for their rights. This is an excellent start for children and young people to participate in decision-making.''