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November 21, 2009 12:59 PM
UNICEF: Reject Child Marriages, Child Labour
By P. Vijian
NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Unicef urged India, home to one- fifth of the world's children, to curb the practice of child marriages and child labour as they impinge the rights of the young.
"We want you to do three simple things -- do not accept child labour, do not tolerate child marriages, and allow children, especially girls, to go to school," Unicef's India representative Dr Karin Hulshof said in Delhi.
While addressing Unicef, or the United Nation's Children's Fund, she said India needs to address other pressing challenges affecting the young as well.
Each year one million newborns die during the first month of life, another million die between 29 days and five years, while almost 55 million children under five are underweight for their age.
"If children are undernourished, their cognitive skills diminish and they become less productive and poverty repeats itself," she said.
Dr Karin however applauded India's relentless efforts to improve children's welfare by introducing children-friendly policies, which she said had helped address child mortality rate and improve access to clean drinking water.
More children were now able to obtain basic education, she said.
India ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992.
-- BERNAMA
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