DILI, 16 june 2021 (TATOLI) – The Commission F of Parliament has endorsed and presentedthe draft of the Child Protection Law to the President of Timor-Leste’s National Parliament (PPN), Aniceto Guterres Lopes.
Head of UNICEF’s Timor-Leste Country Office, Bilal Durrani, requested PPN to expedite public consultations for inputs to the draft law, incorporate them into the instrument as appropriate, amend the current draft law and accelerate its approval in the Parliament.
“One important request that we had for the President of the National Parliament today, was to prove different legislations and laws that are important for the protection of children,” Durrani told reporters at National Parliament, today.
Durrani said during the meeting, UNICEF and PPN discussed the importance of the Child Protection Law to protect children in the country.
“A specific request that we had for his Excellency today, was the Child Protection Law. The Child Protection Law is to make sure that children have access to justice and to appropriate services and safe from abuse and exploitation,” Durrani said.
He said Commission F has the support from all development partners, including UNICEF as it had drafted the Child Protection Law and had endorsed it.
“His Excellency will now approve it for the consultation and he also assured his full support to make sure this Child Protection Law goes through different aspects and different processes and passes quickly. He had his complete support to make it happen,” Durrani affirmed.
He said the Child Protection Law was part of UNICEF’s four priority programs in Timor-Leste, focusing on the protection of the children.
In addition, he emphasized that in order to address child labor: “First we need to understand the reasons why there are child labors.”
He said UNICEF would conduct a qualitative survey with the government to identify the root causes of child labor in Timor-Leste.
“We have started developing that survey and we will conduct the survey very soon. The recommendations that will come out of the survey will be given to the government to design a policy that will really address the root causes of child labor in Timor-Leste,” Durrani added.
Recently, around 300 children had been identified engaging in child labor activities in capital Dili.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
