International child rights day celebration at Mohor Kunja on Wednesday. Picture by Gautam Bose

Mohiuddin said the three pillars of the child rights convention are survival (the right to live), development (the right to development) and protection (the right to protection).

“Both India and Bengal have made considerable progress in survival and development but there is a lot to be done for protection of children,” he said.

According to a national survey, Bengal has the second-highest number of child marriages in the country, after Bihar. Many families get their daughters married off at the age of 16 or 17 because she is a “bad investment” as she will be going to another house.

“We have to enforce compulsory education for every child. The former chairperson (Ashokendu Sengupta) had once said every out-of-school child is a potential child labour. I will add that every out-of-school girl child is a potential child bride,” said Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti, the chairperson of the commission.

Minister Sashi Panja said the commission was working to create a child-friendly society.

Girls and boys who have upheld child rights were awarded on Wednesday.

Protection of children against violence, abuse and exploitation requires more attention in the state, said the head of Unicef in Bengal at a programme to celebrate international child rights day on Wednesday.

Mohammad Mohiuddin, the chief of field office at Unicef, called for a change in the mindset of people to sensitise them to child rights.

“There has to be more work in the field of protection of child against violence, exploitation and abuse…. There is still gender stereotyping and discrimination in the community despite government schemes,” Mohiuddin said at the programme organised by the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights at Mohor Kunja. “If there are two children in the same house, the boy often gets better opportunities in education. This attitude has to change.”

This year marks the 30th year of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. World leaders had come together in 1989 to make a commitment to the “world’s children”. It was a promise made to every child to protect and fulfil their rights, by adopting an international legal framework — the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.