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The Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) of Pakistan and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Pakistan office have joined hands to address children’s rights issues by setting up a Children’s Complaints Office in the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman)'s Secretariat.The Children’s Complaints Office, established under the Responsible, Enabling and Accountable Systems for Children’s Rights (REACH) project, will serve as a dedicated mechanism for receiving and resolving complaints from and about children, against maladministration in any federal agency and will help Pakistan implement the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), with special reference to Article 12 which calls for establishing an institutional arrangement for providing children with ‘an opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceeding affecting the child’;.. This initiative bridges an existing gap in terms of a children-specific grievance redress mechanism in the administrative justice sector and also accords Pakistan the privilege of establishing the first children’s Ombudsman office in Asia. Initially, the Children’s Complaints Office will be based in the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman)'s Secretariat in Islamabad, where complaints from and about children will be received and processed against maladministration in federal public institutions such as the health, education, social and population welfare ministries as well as regarding the immunization, HIV/AIDS, tobacco use control programs. The coverage of this service will be expanded to cover all the eight regional offices of the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) in due course of time. Complaints against federal agencies can also be filed online and through email. Detailed information on how to complain to the Ombudsman as well as the REACH project are available at www.mohtasib.gov.pkIn addition to redress of children’s grievances, the REACH project envisages extensive consultations with stakeholders, including the most important stakeholders, the children themselves through organized platforms such as youth parliaments and ongoing civil society initiatives dealing with children’s rights. Under REACH, the Ombudsman will also carry out research on systemic issues leading to infringement of children’s rights through poor governance practices and maladministration. Objectives
The draft Advocacy & Outreach Strategy of Wafaqi Mohtasib(Ombudsman). |
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