Police officials trained on child rights

As many as 250 police officials were trained on child rights legislations during a three-day programme that concluded here on Tuesday.

Under the Adolescent Empowerment Programme of UNICEF’s Society for Monitoring and Implementation of Child Labour Elimination (SMILE) project, Deputy Superintendents of Police, Assistant Commissioners, Inspectors, personnel from All Women Police Station, Special Sub Inspectors, head constables, police personnel and Child Welfare Police Officers designated under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, were trained on their role in implementing the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 along with the different child protection mechanisms in Salem District.

M. Andrew Sesuraj, State convener, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory (TNCRO) facilitated the entire process that was organised by Varunan Velu, Child Protection Consultant for UNICEF in Salem and Dharmapuri and Sibija Bensigar, Development Consultant.

The officials were given case examples and were allowed to share their own experiences in the process of learning the capacity of working for the best interest of the children.

A review of the 21 indicators on Child Friendly Police Stations was also held.

The law enforcement officials are encouraged to work on strengthening the indicators in their respective police stations and their jurisdictions.