Koel Mullick, Rupam Islam celebrate 25 years of CRC

Koel said, “It is very important that we create such platforms for young children to showcase their talents and share their views with us. This would empower them to stand up for what they believe in and that would in true sense our achievement on child rights when children themselves come forward to take the centre stage."

The event was also attended by various government officials, UNICEF team, NGO teams, celebrities, musicians and around 1500 children from government schools, private schools, shelter homes and NGOs. The event organized to celebrate the rights of every child, saw performances by children groups and the celebrities.

As he enthralled the audience, mostly comprising of the kids, Rupam said, “Me and my fellow musicians in Fossils, we roam around the streets on Christmas eve and distribute gifts among the underprivileged children living there. While we were doing that, we discovered the reality, the life on the streets."

He added, “It came to me as an inner calling to stand up for every child and their rights. Its time to hear what every child is saying. For once we need to stop behaving like children and act like grown ups, by actually growing up a little.”

The event is the culmination of various activities, workshops, events organized at district and state levels, which started on Oct 29, organized by the state government departments, NGOs and UNICEF to celebrate child rights across the state.

Asadur Rahman, Chief, UNICEF, West Bengal, said, “ Children’s right to participation is most commonly violated across the world. If we do not listen to them, perhaps we are losing out on something very important, the voices of tomorrow which will define and shape the world in the years to come.”

(Reporting by Torsha Banerjee, Image by Avishek Mitra)