Protecting children starts at home, says Minister Kiran

Families must take greater responsibility for protecting children, older persons and other vulnerable members of society, Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Shashi Kiran says.

Speaking during a community outreach programme, Ms Kiran said discussions with women, men, elders, youth and community leaders focused on strengthening families and communities to better support children, older persons and people with disabilities.

She said the outreach aimed to encourage communities to take greater responsibility for those who need support, including children, older persons, women, widows and other vulnerable groups.

"Somehow or the other, over time, people have drifted away from the value system of strengthening their families," Ms Kiran said.

She said the ministry, through initiatives such as the Bebbo Pacific app and community engagement with older persons, had been encouraging families and community leaders to pay closer attention to vulnerable members.

Ms Kiran said village headmen, headwomen, village elders, advisory councillors and women's groups had been encouraged to consider what more they could do to support vulnerable people in their communities.

She said awareness sessions also focused on online safety for older persons, including scams targeting mobile money accounts and the need to monitor the content children access on mobile phones.

"Older persons have told us that children or grandchildren use their phones to download games, and some of the games they download are very violent," she said.

Ms Kiran said parents and caregivers needed to be aware of the content children consumed and ensure they were protected from harmful material.

She said the community conversations had also highlighted the need for families to openly discuss issues such as gender-based violence, child protection and ageing.

While communities regularly held traditional gatherings, ceremonies and meetings, she said conversations within families about protecting vulnerable members were often missing.

"We talk about gender-based violence (GBV), fine, but how do you strengthen families to make sure women are protected? How do you strengthen families to make sure children are protected? How do you strengthen families to make sure ageing is an active conversation?" she said.

Ms Kiran said the outreach programme had successfully brought together stakeholders, including UNICEF, gender-based violence teams and community organisations, to strengthen support systems for vulnerable people.