Deputy Speaker Rana calls for separate budget for children

Kathmandu, Dec 31: Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Indira Rana Magar has pressed for a dedicated budget for children for their overall development.

At a dialogue program organized by the National Child Rights Council, Akikrit Hatemalo Samaj, and Anath Nepal here on Tuesday on the control of human trafficking and protection of child rights, Deputy Speaker Rana emphasized putting child welfare in the center.

Rana viewed that every ward of the local government should be accountable for checking human trafficking and protecting child rights, arguing that the local government was aware of what was happening in its locality. Parliamentarian Ranju Kumari Jha shed light on the vulnerability of the migrant women workers who were abroad on visit visas.

Meena Poudel, undersecretary at the Ministry of Women, Children, and Senior Citizens, shared that 42 teenagers who were trafficked to India were rescued and reunited with their families in coordination with India in the last five months.

Dilliram Giri of Samaj shared that with the rapid development of information and technology, there was an increased risk of human trafficking, thereby calling for immediate action from all sides to prevent it. Human rights activist Narbada Sorali asserted that the State should treat human trafficking as a grave crime, emphasizing stronger measures to control it.

Durga Dutta Ojha, Chairperson of Jorayal rural municipality in Doti district, shared that his local-level administration was taking proactive steps to prevent human trafficking. Council’s officiating member-secretary Ram Bahadur Chan called for collective efforts to curb human trafficking.

The participants included lawmakers, representatives of children-related public agencies, and other stakeholders who univocally pointed out the need for the earliest endorsement of the Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act-2064 BS and its effective implementation. —RSS