Leaders of major political parties have expressed their commitment to prioritize child rights and the issue of children in the manifesto for the upcoming local elections. In a political event organized by Children's Peace Zone National Campaign (CJP), they assured that concrete steps would be taken by the central, state and local levels for the protection and implementation of children's rights.
General Secretary of the CPN (UML) Shankar Pokharel said that the party was committed to the implementation of the code of conduct for local elections. He said that the UML has been a charioteer since the time of armed conflict on the issue of maintaining peace zone for children and schools. He said that there was no doubt that the state's focus should be on the children's sector to brighten the future of the country and the process of decentralization of available resources to the local level had started since the then UML Chairman Manmohan Adhikari became the Prime Minister.
Nepali Congress Joint General Minister Jeevan Pariyar said that they have been addressing many issues of children during the constitution drafting process with sufficient discussion and interest. Stating that there is no observance of child rights even in an educated family is alarming, and that the party has set up a mechanism to strictly follow the election code of conduct and prevent its misuse.
Leader of the CPN (Maoist Center) Shakti Bahadur Basnet, while defending the achievements made so far, stressed on the need to look at the practical aspects of education and children. Stating that the constitution has become child friendly as it was drafted by the people's representatives, he reminded that the constitution was promulgated by the Constituent Assembly due to the peace agreement of the armed conflicting parties.
Child rights activist Gauri Pradhan said that priority should be given to protect children's right to life as well as easy birth registration, school enrollment and continuation of free education, sports, entertainment and child protection. Advocate Indu Tuladhar pointed out the need to adhere to the provisions of the election code of conduct such as not using children and schools during the election campaign. Executive Director of the National Council for Child Rights Milan Dharel and Coordinator of the National Adolescent Network Lalita Pakhrin said that children should not be abused by the parties during the election campaign but the issue of children should be given importance during the election.
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