14 December 2004, Camp Crame, Quezon City --- The active participation and support of the Philippine National Police is crucial to the success of any child protection programme initiative in the Philippines, UNICEF announced at the launch of The State of the World’s Children 2005 in Camp Crame.

“Let’s start by ensuring that any crime against a child will automatically receive the highest and fullest attention and commitment for investigation and prosecution,” Dr. Nicholas Alipui, UNICEF Country Representative, pleaded.

Citing its long relationship with the police in improving the protection of children, Alipui noted that “the PNP has been at the forefront in the fight to protect children from sexual and physical abuse, prostitution, trafficking and in the protection of the child offender in jail.”

The State of the World’s Children is an annual report published by UNICEF. This year’s report focuses on “childhood under threat” because of poverty, armed conflict, and HIV/AIDS.

Poverty, which affects nearly 12 million children in the Philippines, exposes children to abuse and exploitation.

The UNICEF head admitted that efforts to address these issues “will remain incomplete until the day when the steady hands of the men and women of the PNP will be there to give these children a helping hand.”

UNICEF’s collaboration with PNP to set up child-friendly investigation studios has been particularly successful.

This initiative allows child victims to give their testimonies through videotape, instead of having to face their alleged abusers.

Other areas where UNICEF and the PNP could collaborate include:
• Sustaining educational campaigns about children’s rights
• Expanding of Women and Children’s Desks in more police stations
• Increasing the number of police officers trained in the investigation of crimes involving women and children
• Integrating child rights and human rights training in the Philippine National Police Academy curriculum
• Diverting children in conflict with the law away from jails and into appropriate rehabilitation programmes

“I have come to request the PNP to re-double and triple its efforts and to strengthen its role in the Child-Friendly Movement,” Alipui said.