ISLAMABAD: A meeting between a delegation of Child Rights Movement (CRM) and State Minister for Human Rights Usman Ibrahim was held on Tuesday to discuss a collaboration between civil and government institutions to protect and promote children rights and human rights. The delegation of the CRM, a coalition of civil society groups, contained 25 members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Chiniot, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh and Faisalabad. The CRM extended its gratitude to Ministry of Human Rights for passing The National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) Bill 2017. Issues of child labour, especially in Faisalabad, were discussed at the meeting. It was recommended that providing education to out-of-school children was pivotal to curb child labour and education of basic human rights should be the part of education curriculum. In this regard, Human Rights Director General Muhammad Arshad briefed the delegation. Minister Usman Ibrahim explained that the Ministry of Human Rights had been actively working at grassroots level. He elaborated the activities of the ministry regarding human rights situation in the country including implementation of policies, laws and programmes to promote and protect human rights. In this regard, the ministry had taken initiatives for harmonisation of legislation, regulations and practices in line with the international human rights covenants and national obligations, he said. The state minister urged everyone to raise awareness of the ministry’s helpline, 1099, in their respective districts. The minister said in order to ensure protection of the rights of the girl-child, we need to involve relevant stakeholders at all levels for the creation of peaceful environment in the society at large. He called upon all government institutions and civil society organisations to play a vital role in the socialisation of citizens. Published in Daily Times, November 1st 2017.