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History Behind CWIN
1.0 GERMINATION OF THE IDEA
It is a fine spring day in 1986, a group
of young university students are discussing about their future,
sitting on a sprawling garden of the Tribhuvan University
compound. The students having a varied academic background,
but one thing in common - all of them are student activists.
As educated and aware citizens, they have shown their dedication
to human rights, development and social service of the country
by being part of the human rights and pro-democracy movements
in the eighties. Now in the threshold of their new life out
of the university, they want to do something really worthwhile
and important for their people, society and the nation. The
discussion focuses on one young man who relates his experience
about an international seminar he had an opportunity to join.
The seminar taking place in Bangkok, Thailand dealt with the
issue of child labour and was organised by a recently established
regional level organisation called Child Workers in Asia (CWA).
The young man talks excitedly of his experience, how the issues
raised during the seminar touched him and how it made him
realise the gravity of the problem of child labour in his
own country. It was strange that child labour is not the 'hot'
issue at that point of time. Leave child labour, even child
rights is almost an unheard term, even though human rights
and women rights, even trade union movements are getting momentum.
It is appalling how everybody is oblivious to the serious
problems and threats faced by the children such as high rate
of child mortality, abuse and exploitation of children, involvement
of children in the exploitative and health hazardous labour
field, existence of bonded child labour, trafficking of young
girls, etc. The students decide there and then. They will
raise the issue of child labour and child rights for the social
emancipation of children from all form of exploitation and
for the integration of child's rights into the broader social
movement for freedom, peace and equality. For development.
For a better life of a new generation. They decided to start
a concerned group to help protect children living and working
in the most difficult circumstances.
2.0 SEARCH FOR THE RIGHT VISION
To hold the torch to forward the child's
rights movement, however, there was a complete dearth of appropriate
philosophy and vision. Children, the neglected majority, did
not have much standing on the adult dominated society. The
welfare and service for the children were merely viewed as
charity and had conservative approaches. The students wanted
to change that perception owing to their knowledge of the
international declarations and convention on the rights of
the child which recognised the Child as an integral component
of the society with their inherent rights to survival, well
being, protection and freedom. Children are to be nurtured
with the best the mankind has to offer and need special treatment
because of their vulnerable disposition. The conservative
approach at dealing with the children's welfare was unproductive
and harmful. They wanted a progressive approach.
So the initiators discussed, debated and
hold research studies on the status and problems of children.
After a year-long deliberation, they developed the basic vision,
philosophy, strategies and plans of action to their new initiative
to help protect children from risk and to build up a social
movement dedicated to children's rights and against all forms
of servitude of children. Formally established as an organisation
in January 1, 1987, they named it "Child Workers in Nepal
Concerned Center (CWIN)". CWIN became the first child
rights organisation in Nepal.
3.0 REGISTRATION
Even though formally established in 1987,
CWIN was not officially registered for a couple of years for
multiple reasons. First, the political climate was not favourable
at the time of CWIN's establishment. The social service scenario,
largely viewed as the charity service, was monopolised. Every
organisation and institution was under the umbrella of the
then SSNCC. CWIN, with its founder members with student background
and its fiercely independent policy and vision at the social
service for children was not the best organisation to earn
the goodwill of the SSNCC, the tool of the anarchist and totalitarian
one party government system of Panchayat. Then the much despised
political order gave way to the people's movement for the
restoration of democracy in 1991 and the subsequent formation
of the first democratic government in the country. Soon the
SSNCC also had a new set up and CWIN was officially registered
under both SWC and Chief District Office (CDO) in 1991 as
child's rights activist and advocate organisation.
4.0 FOUNDERS OF CWIN :
The young team of founding members of CWIN
included the following persons with the following background:
The Founding Members
- Gauri Pradhan - Founder President
- Dhruba Kmr. Kasaju - Founder Member
- Bijaya Sainju - Founder Member
- Rupa Dhital - Founder Member
- Sumnima Tuladhar - Founder Member
- Sudarshan Pradhan - Founder Member
>>See
20 Years of Retrospective of CWIN Action
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