06-11-2006, 07:06 AM
PAKISTAN: Activists against institutionalisation of quake children
19 May 2006 12:47:54 GMT
Source: IRIN
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ISLAMABAD, 19 May (IRIN) - Seven months after a powerful earthquake devastated northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, child protection experts have called for a community-based care system for vulnerable children instead of putting them in institutional facilities.
"These [unaccompanied] children are at risk of missing out on essential life skills by growing up in an artificial environment separated from the family and community," Salma Jafar, head of the child protection unit of the UK-based charity, Save the Children, said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Thursday.
According to a joint assessment by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank, more than 80,000 people - including at least 18,000 children and more than 850 teachers - were killed after a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake ripped through the region in early October last year.
The survey estimated almost 3,700 schools and colleges were destroyed in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and about 3,984 in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) while children were attending their morning classes.
Most child victims were helped by families. "Extended families accepted these children, making sure they were provided with a shelter and that their survival needs were being met," Jafar explained.
Almost 500 children have been admitted to the governmental and non-governmental institutional care facilities since the earthquake.
While some are raising concerns over the risks of abuse of children being looked after by extended families, Jafar argued that the risks in this case were mostly associated with poverty of the extended families since their homes and livelihoods often had been destroyed in the earthquake.
"We argue against institutional care as the last resort and for the shortest period as it jeopardises the principle of the best interests of the child," the child protection expert said.