Members of Parliament and representatives of government and non-government organisations have underscored the need to form an inter-ministerial committee to protect the interests of street children.

Speaking at a roundtable at Parliament Members’ auditorium on Tuesday, they observed that protection of street children has not yet been ensured despite different steps taken by the government.

Thus, they said, the existing problems could be resolved by formation a national level committee comprising representatives of concerned ministries, departments, civil society and street children and coordinated working plan.

Street Children Activists Network-SCAN Bangladesh and Caritas jointly organised the roundtable with Jyoti Gomes, Caritas Dhaka Regional Director, in the chair.

In his article, SCAN Bangladesh general secretary Moniruzzaman Mukul mentioned that the government and the private sector have taken various measures to protect the street children, but still the number of street children is increasing.

Shirin Ahmed, MP, Khodeja Nasrin Akhter Hossain, MP, RAB commanding officer M Farid Uddin, Nikhil Chandra Bhadra of Sundarbans and Coast Protection Movement, SCAN President Jahangir Nakir, Mithun Sarkar of World Vision, SM Masudul Islam Neel, Shawmi Imam of ASD and Kamrunnahar of Caritas, among others, spoke on the occasion.