Kathmandu, November 20

Minister of Women, Children and Senior Citizens Tham Maya Thapa said children were still bearing the brunt of problems that had emerged from political instability and the decade-long conflict in the country.

Speaking at a programme organised by Central Child Welfare Board to mark ‘International Children’s Day’ here today, Minister Thapa said the problems that had emerged from political instability and conflict made children more vulnerable.

“Child labour, poverty, sexual violence and trafficking are the problems the children have been facing. We have been working to reduce the problems, but this is not something we can achieve overnight,” she said.

She also said that the government had enacted Children’s Act for the protection of child rights.

According to the report ‘State of children in Nepal 2018’ launched at the programme, 37.4 per cent children (5 to 17 years) are engaged in child labour and 873 ( 783 boys and 90 girls) children were rescued from the streets in the last fiscal.

Likewise,  2,330 children went missing in the fiscal. Of them, only 1,017 were found and handed over to parents.

A total of 995 child rape cases were registered with Nepal Police in the last fiscal. Currently, as many as 65 children are living with their parents in 27 jails of different districts.

Meanwhile, Krishna Subedi, a representative of civil society, claimed that the government had failed to formulate laws guaranteeing the rights granted by the constitution.