NCC ensures better child protection |21 April 2015

As a follow-up action to the child protection campaign launched late last year following an alarming spate in cases of child abuse, the National Council for Children (NCC) has started a series of intensive training sessions with all child protection partners.

Nurses and other health professionals working in various fields of child health and care are attending the four-day training taking place at the NCC headquarters at Bel Eau.

The training sessions being conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports are aimed mainly at refreshing those taking part on the best practice of working together to achieve better outcome when investigating abuse cases and when guiding victims and their families to appropriate services.

Speaking at the start of the session yesterday morning, NCC director Ruby Pardiwalla said child protection is everybody’s concern and the fact that many people are talking a lot about it is a sign that more people are becoming aware of the situation.

“But unfortunately we cannot depend on just a few child protection professionals for support. As it is everybody’s business it is important to bring more people together to  continuously discuss the issue so that more people know what constitutes child abuse, what to do when we see a child being abused, where to report  so as to make a big difference in a child’s life,” Ms Pardiwalla pointed out.

She noted that during the training sessions those taking part will also learn more on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and domestic violence and its effects on children among other related issues.

Next week, training will be held for education professionals followed by community development and social services officials as well as members of the police force.

“We expect through these sessions to reach out to 150 persons and this would make a great difference in the lives of abused children,” Ms Pardiwalla said.