'Raise children's issues in Copenhagen confce'
Representatives of Child Parliament yesterday called on the government to raise the issue of children's vulnerability to global climate change in the upcoming international conference on climate change in Copenhagen.
The children placed the demand at a 'Children Dialogue' session at the National Press Club auditorium in the city yesterday. Some members of the government's negotiating team who will join the Copenhagen conference attended the dialogue organised by the Child Parliament, an organisation for children.
The Child Parliament representatives called on them to highlight the suffering the children face during natural disasters in the country.
Children are most vulnerable to climate change, they said.
Speaking at the programme, Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, chairman of Forum for Environmental journalists of Bangladesh (FEJB), said that like children, the negotiating team of the government is also deeply concerned about the climate change impacts on children.
"A huge portion of the country's population is children and women and we would place the issues concerning children and women in the Copenhagen conference," said Quamrul, also a member of the negotiating team.
Replying to a query from Tumpa, a Child Parliament representative, Quamrul said they would also demand steps to bring down greenhouse gas emission by 45 percent by 2020.
Rony, another child representative, said the natural disaster shelter homes in the country are not child-friendly and children are even abused sometimes in the shelters.
Other negotiating team members Dr Asaduzzaman of the Sustainable Development Networking Foundation (SDNF), Ziaul Hoque Mukta of Oxfam and environmental expert Golam Rabbani also spoke.
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