Begum Zakia Shahnawaz meets former Child Ombudsman of Norway

Lahore: Advisor to Chief Minister on Social Welfare, Begum Zakia Shahnawaz, held a meeting with the former Child Ombudsman of Norway Hjermann in the office of Secretary, Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Maal Department, here today.
Hjermann has been visiting Pakistan as Consultant of UNICEF for carrying out an external evaluation of the child complaint and redressal mechanism in Pakistan. In the meeting the working and scope of the system of the Punjab Children Complaint Office in the provincial Ombudsman Secretariat was discussed. Begum Zakia Shahnawaz apprised that Punjab government is already doing a lot of work for the welfare and protection of children through social welfare department in collaboration with UNICEF.

Begum Zakia Shahnawaz proposed that there should be an institutionalized system in place to ensure the redressal of grievances of children by strengthening the capacity of the existing children complaint office and announced that government would appreciate new initiatives proposed by the consultant for the welfare and protection of children of Punjab.

Ijaz Ahmed Qureshi, Advisor to Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat, Malik Tahir Sarfraz, Secretary Social Welfare & Bait-ul-Maal Punjab and Sohal Abbasi, Child Protection Specialist UNICEF were also present in the meeting.