Groups keen to join push for children’s rights

Press, 16 April 1980, Page 11

Groups keen to join push for children’s rights

Community groups are keen to be involved in permanent committees to press for children’s rights, the International Year of the Child National Commission’s chief executive (Mrs P. Lockhart) has said. The idea of the committees was put forward by the commission, now in its winding-down stages. About 13 of the 104 member groups (which include some Government departments and organisations such as Y.M.C.A., Boy Scouts, and Girl Guides) have alerady said they want to be involved in a permanent mechanism. Others have yet to respond to the suggestion. The commission envisaged a loose framework of organisations interested in children, controlled by a multi-disciplinary committee.

This group would press for changes recommended by the commission, such

as compulsory child restraint in cars, paid paternity leave, more consideration of children’s needs in town planning, and safety standards in playgrounds and toys. The costs would initially be funded by. a Telethon grant, and there would be a review in two or three years time to see if the mechanism was still necessary. “We’re very ’ pleased with the positive response we have had to the idea. The commission imagined that members did want something permanent set up, but we were not sure if the idea we put forward ■was exactly what they wanted,” Mrs Lockhart said. Member groups had been asked to nominate convenors for the committees this month. The I.Y.C.’s offices in Wellington will close on June 30 as planned, and staff will return to the jobs from which they were seconded.