Daily Times

In a country where the number of child molestation cases are on the rise, building awareness about child rights and child abuse is critical.

Renowned celebrity, actor and popular talk show host, Ahsan Khan, as the Goodwill Ambassador for Rights of Child, has collaborated with the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) and Huqooq e Pakistan, an EU funded project, to raise Public Awareness Campaign on Child Rights.

The NCRC has produced three feature films for this on-going campaign starring Ahsan Khan as the spokesperson. Khan has worked on these films pro-bono. The campaign is highly informative and addresses pertinent questions on the prevention of child sexual abuse, molestation, and the importance of differentiating between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ touch. The content in the campaign films is directed towards children, parents, and caregivers. These films will be screened in schools and other societal forums and are currently aired on digital media platforms for enhancing awareness.

Through these short films, Ahsan Khan explains what a good touch and a bad touch is to children and how they should react if they find themselves in such a situation. He asks them to be vigilant and to stay safe at all times – “Hushyar Raho, Mehfooz Raho”. A strong advocate for child rights and working against child abuse, Ahsan Khan has also worked in the drama ‘Udaari’ that was aimed to create awareness on child molestation.

In the second film by the NCRC, Ahsan Khan talks to the adults about the responsibility of parents and the importance of communicating with children and building a responsive and protective society for children to thrive and grow in. He asks parents to notice when there is a change in the child’s behaviour, build a relationship of trust with the children and to have open discussions about child abuse and exploitation.

NCRC Goodwill Ambassador Ahsan Khan remarked: “Child abuse is one of the biggest challenges faced by our society and it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in this campaign by spreading the message through social media platforms,” he further added, “I hope this campaign will help in educating the public on child protection.”

The Chairperson NCRC, Ms Afshan Tehseen stressed on the priorities of the NCRC to the fulfilment of child rights, she mentioned, “The child protection is the key priority of NCRC. It is important that we advocate and raise awareness against child abuse and keep educating our public on protective measures.” She further stated, “Through this campaign, we hope to create awareness and prevent abuse, exploitation and violence against children.”

On the launch of the campaign, Seema Jaffer, Executive Director and Senior Key Expert Human Rights and Communications, Huqooq e Pakistan said: “This campaign is an important step towards raising awareness on prevention of child sexual abuse with the aim to lead to greater protection for the rights of children in Pakistan.”