A program on the prevention of child abuse and neglect, funded by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), was inaugurated simultaneously in three Chinese provinces Monday.

 

Wang Daming, a UNICEF's project officer, said at the inauguration of the five-year program in this capital of east China's Zhejiang Province that the "Protect Children from Violence Project" was launched in Zhejiang, Guangdong and Shaanxi provinces.

 

He said the project carried out under UNICEF's cooperation with All-China Women's Federation calls for coordination with local sanitary, civil affairs, public security authorities and procuratorate and judicial departments in the three provinces to protect rights of children in their families, communities and schools.

 

Wang said UNICEF's the program three objectives are prevention, intervention and rescue.

 

Jin Lei, Director of Zhejiang Women and Children Center, said the project in Zhejiang Province will focus on violence toward children in schools. While, the program in Guangdong is expected to focus on monitoring child abuse in families, and Shaanxi's program to look into child abuse in medical institutions.

 

According to the UNICEF, millions of children were exposed to various forms of abuse and neglect in China, especially in outlying rural areas in central and western regions of the country.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2006)