Save the Children thanks the disciplinary forces for intervening and rescuing 11 kidnapped children.
The payback killings this week in Ambun Valley, Enga province as reported in the media is atrocious especially when innocent children and women are being affected.
Save the Children urges the National, Provincial and Local Level Governments, including all elected member of Parliament to put all necessary measures in place to end violence against children and ensure that children are provided with an unhindered opportunity to grow in a peaceful and protective environment.
Save the Children’s Country Director Fiu Williame-Igara in thanking the PNGDF and Police for rescuing and bringing the 11 children to safety also called for all leaders and members of parliament to step up and work in stopping violence against children.
“We thank the PNGDF, and police personnel involved in rescuing these children. We’re very concerned at the increasing trend of innocent children caught in the middle of payback killings and the impact it will have on them. Our elected leaders must all work together to stop this violence against children.”
She said while the government is to be commended for strengthening its child protection legislative and policy frameworks in recent years, any forms of violence against children should not be tolerated.
We now call for adequate resources, human and financial, to be allocated to support the implementation of strengthened child protection systems to uphold children’s rights as per the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the PNG Lukautim Pikinini Act and other relevant laws and policies.