The Ministry of Women, Children, and Poverty Al­leviation is actively work­ing on establishing a dedicated department for children, accord­ing to the line minister, Lynda Tabuya.

This initiative has received sup­port from the government, and Ms Tabuya highlighted that the child services unit has been func­tioning under the Social Welfare Department.

“We have the support of the Ministry of Finance, however we would have to get Cabinet approv­al in terms of increasing the min­istry’s budget. No one is opposing this initiative,” Ms Tabuya said.

“Our children need that visibil­ity. They are the future. We need to commit to the visibility of our children, protecting their rights as they are really the most vulner­able along with our people with disabilities and elderly.

“We must take care of them and Government is committed to cre­ating a department for children. It is not a new idea. It was also discussed by the previous govern­ment but they never quite got to cross the line.

“I commend our predecessors for fighting for it, but the budget did not come. Now we are able to commit to it. This will cre­ate more and new jobs, having a department dedicated to it and having its own structure,” Ms Tabuya said.

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Story by: ashna.kumar@fijisun.com.fj