Child protection units to become functional, says govt

PESHAWAR: Child protection units numbering 12 in the KP province would be made functional, the provincial government told the provincial assembly.

The units, including one in Chitral, were closed in Jan 2019 due to financial constraints and unavailability of staff.

Responding to an identical point of order moved by women lawmakers from the opposition benches, social welfare minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan admitted that all 12 child protection units weren’t functional due to shortage of funds and procedural hurdles.

 

The minister said the UN agency had taken care of those units until March 2019 and that the units stopped functioning for certain reasons.

He sought time for making the units operational and said necessary posts, including the chief protection officer’s, would be filled within a month. The minister said the department was also making amendments to the regulations for those units.