UNICEF Ensures Equal Rights For Girl Child In India On Its 70th Anniversary
Celebrating 70th year of service for child rights in India, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday stated that it continues to make important gains for children such as improving child survival rates, lifting millions out of poverty, reducing child marriage and ensuring more girls and boys are now in school than ever before.
In the past 70 years, UNICEF has gained several rights for children. UNICEF stated that child mortality under-5 years of age has reduced from 117 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 39 in 2016.
More children have access to improved drinking water, rising from 62 per cent in 1992-1993 to 92 per cent in 2019. Focusing towards the girl child education, UNICEF has made sure that more girls go to primary school as attendance rates for girls 6-10 years increased from 61 per cent to near universal in the same period.
About 500 Schools Joined Celebration:
In an open day at the UNICEF India headquarters in New Delhi, more than 500 school participated in an interactive marketplace showcasing child rights and the work of UNICEF with partners across the country.
“Children’s hope for a better future gives us inspiration every day,” said Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF Representative in India. “More needs to be done to improve the sex ratio at birth, create safe conditions for every child-birth, provide nutrition for babies and mothers, increase immunisation rates, end child marriage and child labour, protect every child from violence, and help Indian communities create a society where every girl child is able to realise her rights equally with every boy child.”
“To accelerate our action to meet these urgent needs, it is time for a larger movement in India for child rights. Children and young people are already demanding their rights. We must listen to them and act. Seventy years since UNICEF joined hands with India, it’s time for all sectors of Indian society to stand with children, to come together to join voices and action for all rights for every child,” said Dr. Haque.
UNICEF Journey In India:
UNICEF began work in India on 10 May 1949 with just three staff members, providing equipment and technical assistance to set up of India’s first penicillin plant, at Pimpri in Pune.
Today, UNICEF staff work with partners providing technical assistance and advocating for child rights and services from New Delhi and in 16 States.
UNICEF also joined hands to the Swachh Bharat Mission for water, sanitation and hygiene. It is also working with the union health ministry’s various programmes which includes Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) released this year; Intensified Mission Indradhanush, seeking to lift immunization rates for children to 90 per cent.
