Manipur Alliance for Child Rights: March 2010

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Child rights panel asked to probe kids' trafficking

2010-03-31 21:20:00

The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to probe the suspected trafficking of children from northeastern states to Tamil Nadu and Kerala on the pretext of educating them.

'We would like to have an inquiry into the matter,' said a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice Deepak Verma and Justice B.S. Chauhan.

The bench also asked the child rights panel to apprise the court of its probe report in four weeks. The panel adjourned the matter for next hearing in May.

There is need for some investigation as children belonging to the poor families from northeastern regions were lured by some illegal organisations on the pretext of providing them better education, the bench remarked responding to the submission made by counsel Aparna Bhat in the case.

The apex court was hearing Bhat's application on the issue of recovery of 76 children from Assam and Manipur, who were lodged in an unregistered children's home in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

MACR holds education interface

Source-http://www.ifp.co.in/shownews.php?newsid=8751

IMPHAL, March 28: A one day interface with the Village Education Committee (VECs) and Education Department was held today at Manipur Voluntray Health Association, Wangkhei Ningthem Pukhri Mapal.

The interface was organized by the Manipur Alliance for Child Right (MACR) Imphal East, an alliance comprising of different individuals, NGOs, professionals working in the field of Child Right.

The programme is a part of the activities taken up by the MACR for activation of VECs and Communitization of Education to make sure that government run aided schools are run properly and the right to education, which has become a fundamental right endured.

K. Pradeep Kumar, member central committee MACR, while delivering his keynote address highlighted on how the western education reached our state and said that the education reach in the state in the year 1872 under Major General Nuthal, who opend an English school. Later in 1885, during the reign of Maharaj Chandrakiti, another English school was set up and the western education system in the state has now entered its 138 years.

According to Pradeep, the Right to Free Education and Compulsory Act, a fundamental Right was passed in the year 2009, in the country however many children are deprived of the right adding in India 3 percent out of the National Budget has been sanctioned for education, where as in other developed countries like USA, UK the sanctioned is 6-7 percent.

The privatization in the field of education, abolition of schools, especially aided schools are also one of the draw backs in the education system Pradeep Kumar said and raised his doubt whether Model school will be able to challenge the privatization.

W. Joykumar, another member of the MACR, said that many children are deprived of their rights to education, food survival, exploited, as a resulted of which the problems of delinquencies are on the rise. He said that, appointment of teachers on the basis of corruptions and not on their qualifications, sending ofchildren to private schools, outside the state for better education are also some of the factors of the deterioration of government run schools.

To avoid all these, according to him, only qualified teachers should be appointed and be given proper training, especially on child psychology to understand the students better. And teachers should do their duties upto their level best keeping in mind not only the welfare of their famili but for the welfare of the whole community. The should work with full dedication, be no choosy about their work place, be it remote area on hilly reasons, they should mainly focus on the welfare of the student community.

A.Sharma Singh, ZEO, Zone II in his guest of hounour speech, highlighted on the formation and functions of the VECs/WECs in the state. He said that the belief of the people regarding the education system in the state are declining. The state government in order to ensure proper functioning of the schools in state, has set up various VECs and WECs in every village and ward of our state. This committee comprises of the headmasters/mistress of the schools of the village, ward, Pradhan, local Educationist, member of the youth clubs of that village, he stated.

The VECs/WECs has no specific limitations. They have the full power or authority. Their function/duties are to look after the welfare and the well being of the schools, be it construction and repairing works, they also monitors regarding the punctuality of the teacher and students alike, whether the teachers are performing their duties properly, whether the headmaster is utilizing the funds properly or not and so on.

An interaction programme amongst the invites and the dignitaries was also held which was participated by audience comprises of headmasters of government schools, clubs, child right activist etc..

Monday, March 15, 2010

Gandhi to Sharmila campaign concludes

Imphal, March 14: Mobilization for support from members of the Parliament is needed for repealing the Armed Forces (Special) Power Act, 1958, MLA O Joy of Manipur People Party (MPP) observed speaking at the concluding function of the Gandhi to Sharmila campaign here at Manipur Press Club, Major Khul today.

For the repeal of the act, MPs of the Parliament needs to be mobilized apart from adopting a resolution by the house of Manipur Legislative Assembly, O joy said urging the people to convince the MLAs of the state Assembly assuring that he is ready to move a motion with regard to the repeal of the Act in the house at any time.

The lone fasting stir launching by Sharmila is a rare historic gift. Under the Act many cruel incidents had occurred in the state. That is why, people of Manipur got the support of other section of the people from both India and aboard, he observed.

Security forces are becoming for cruel under the Armed Forces (Special) Power Act, 1958 is well known across the globe. That is why, they are extending solidarity to the demand of the people of the Manipur to repeal the Act, he reiterated.

The Gandhi to Sharmila campaign was launched by the Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) in association with Just for Peace Manipur.

The campaign began on January 30 last concluded Sunday after covering 23 cities of Asia including cities of India with the grass root organization of Manipur, Wide Angle sent open letter to the parliamentarian of both houses showing solidarity to the Sharmila’s fasting struggle to repeal the Act from the entire state of Manipur.
Irom Sharmila has been on a hunger strike demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 following the massacre of 10 civilians by the Armed Forces on 2 November 2000.

O Joy, announcing his stance of not compromising with his support to repeal of the Act, said he is feeling shame when the matter was never discuss in the house of the Manipur Assembly. MLA RK Anand who also attended the function expressed dissatisfaction when 19 opposition members of the Assembly could not take a unanimous decision and push the government to repeal the Act.

“A political will is a must to press the Parliament for repealing the Act. For this all opposition members of the Assembly should unite in moving a motion to adopt a resolution,” he said observing for a join effort of the MLAs and Parliamentarians of the north east to unite for pushing the Centre in repealing the Act.

The Act is for not breaking the integrity of India but putting people of the region in such a state, putting under the boots of the security forces for the integrity of the country is not a right step, he went on to observed.

Yambem Laba while participating the panel discussion observed that the incidents of threatening individuals and government officials with bombs and guns is part of counter revolutionary should be known by all.

The campaign was to gather support of Sharmila's struggle and to demand the repeal of AFSPA which the Jeevan Reddy Committee (2005), the Administrative Reform Commission headed by the present Union Law Minster Dr Veerappa Moilly and the Working Group on Confidence Building Measures headed by the present Vice President Mr. Hamid Ansari have consistently recommended to repeal of Act.
An Armed Forces Special Powers Amendment Bill 2009 was listed for discussion in the last winter session of the parliament, but it was not brought up for discussion. We are expecting that the matter will come up during the budget session of the Parliament starting from 22 February 2010, but so far this does not happen, lamented Babloo Loitongbam of the Just Peace Foundation.

THE CHILD RIGHTS MANIFESTO

Today, unseen, ignored, almost half of all Indian children under
the age of five are underweight, millions die each year of easily preventable
diseases and 8 million children do not go to school. In the 21st century, in
one of the world's fastest growing economies, this is unacceptable.

CRY - Child Rights and You works to ensure lasting change in the
lives of underprivileged children and you can help - by making your vote
count. Get our leaders to do more for children. Create a vote bank big enough
for them to hear that we, the people. demand child rights - the rights to
education, safety, healthcare, and participation.

Pledge your support and wear the yellow ChildMark proudly on
your finger.

THE CHILD RIGHTS
MANIFESTO
16th General
Elections 2014
CRY - Child Rights and You calls on all political parties to
become campaigner of rights of all children in India.

India, with about 430 million children, has the world’s largest
child population with every sixth child in the world today referring to India
as ‘home’. Although children constitute over a third of India’s population,
they are accorded a low priority in national policy and governance decisions.
CRY urges political parties and governments in power to take heed and ‘Put children first’ and include the following commitment
suggestions that can impact over a third of this nation’s population, when
designing their own election agenda.
• Harmonize the age
definition for all child-related legislations in line with National Policy for
Children 2013 where child is any person below the age of eighteen years.
• Ensure Right to
Education is fully exercised as fundamental right and Amend and expand the
scope of Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 such that: All Children between 6-14 years
get enrolled, regularly attend Elementary
school and avail quality education. Also, all children from 0-6 years and 14-18 years should come under the purview of the Act.
• Strengthen
implementation of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) such that all six services viz
Supplementary nutrition, Health Check-ups, Immunization, Nutrition & Health
Education, Pre-school non-formal education and referral services are
effectively functioning. Also ensure that there is an adequate investment
carried out in decentralized planning, universal coverage and trained
personnel.
• Reduce child mortality
and morbidity and ensure that no child remains malnourished through carrying out sustained efforts
towards complete immunization, regular health check-ups and growth monitoring,
proper nutritional support and health counselling of all children under 18
years.

• Declare access to
quality primary healthcare a Fundamental Right in the Constitution of India and strengthen Primary Health Care
systems and child health amongst the urban poor.
• Ensure Food security at
household level for all marginalized groups of people with proper implementation of the National
Food Security Act, 2013 and consider amendments (i) increasing the
protein/fat intake for pregnant mothers and children to 20-25 gms (according to
Supreme court order) instead of current provision of 18-20 gms (ii) including services such as immunization, health check-ups etc
which have been part of the ICDS as part of the Act (iii) making provision of supplementary
nutrition for children in the14-18 age group.
• Amend the Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2012: to abolish all forms of child labour by removing the distinction
between hazardous and non-hazardous categories of work for all children up to
18 years of age.
• Invest adequately in
ensuring protection for children by: (i) implementing policies and programme that protect children from
abuse, violence and exploitation; (ii) investing in
appropriate referral services for the recovery, rehabilitation and
reintegration of victims of abuse, violence and exploitation; investing in
creating a cadre of trained professional (iii) creating robust
monitoring of implementation of child protection mechanisms, schemes and
policies (iv) creating a proper database for child
trafficking, street children, missing children and ensuring a fully functional
newly developed child tracking system – ‘Track child’.
• Ensure Gender Parity,
Social Equity, and the rights of Children with disabilities with providing equal opportunities for all
social groups – SC, ST, Minority group and urban deprived groups. Become more responsive
to needs of girl children and children with disabilities.
• Allocate sufficient
Budget for Children (BfC) allocations by
increasing the allocation from 4.64% to at least 10% of total Union Budget. Also introduce a child budget component in the budget of all
allied Ministries and ensure effective National, State and District-level
management and utilization of outlays/ budgets.

The best interest of the child needs to be put at the centre of
all policy, legislation and practice affecting their young lives. India’s one
third population deserves demonstration of commitment as a nation. It calls for
action to express zero tolerance towards violation of children’s rights so that
every child attains happy, healthy and creative childhood.

MACR- Manipur Alliance for Child Rights- Charter of demand in Assembly elcetion, 2012

1. A strong political commitment to find out a political solution in place of repressive militarisation policy, to end the
long dawn armed conflict, that has been bringing out xtraordinary denial of the right to survival, development, and
protection of all the children in Manipur, including the children living with HIV/AIDS, by repealing the AFSPA which gives impunity extra judicial powers to the army.

2. A holistic state policy for ensuring safe and secured environment, where each and every individual could enjoy the equal opportunity for economic, social and cultural development.

3. A mass employment policy for youths, providing employment opportunity within the state, not merely in state security forces but in welfare and other allied sectors.

4. Setting up of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights with the full strength of the members, free from any political interference, where independence of the commission members while providing justice to the aggrieved children is upheld.

5. A comprehensive State Children’s Policy, under which children are provided with all the entitled rights of survival,
development, protection and participation without any discrimination.

6. A commitment to announce the education institutions as completely free zone, free from any political interference, corruption, military occupation, economic hindrance, while
ensuring meaningful free and compulsory education to children.

7. A commitment for providing adequate budget for schools’ infrastructural development, with special provisions for accessing to barrier free for children with disability, creating an enabling environment, so- that teachers could attend the schools without any hindrance, adequate support and monitoring mechanism for complete implementation of Mid Day Meal scheme in Government Schools and Aided Private Schools in the state.

8. A commitment for adequate budget support for nfrastructural improvement of health institutions at Panchayat, Block and District level, accessible provisions
for institutional delivery in the PHCs with proper pre and ante natal care facilities.

9. A commitment to make all ICDS centres, accessible and functional, ensuring additional nutritional support to the Children Living with HIV/AIDS by linking with the existing
ICDS centres.

10. Commitment for timely disbursement of fund to the
Government sponsored children homes, proper implementation of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). Opening of Girls Shelter homes and Girls Children Homes
in the state on priority basis.

11. To set up Integrated Trauma Counselling cum Life skill Centres in all districts, for victims of child trafficking, rape,
conflict inflicted children, and other Child in Need of Care and
Protection and Juvenile in Conflict with
Law.

12. A commitment to ensure regular supply of safe
drinking water and uninterrupted power supply to every village and household, by acknowledging that without regular water and electricity supply, realisation of basic rights including right to life, right to education, right to health and development are not possible.

CRY- CHILD RIGHTS and YOU appeals to the people of Manipur on the event of Assembly election

1. Political and social stability in the state where people can be engaged in peaceful social and cultural life. Each and every individual, especially children could feel secure and protected. There must be ample opportunity for children and the youth to enjoy a happy and healthy life.
2. Children should be completely immunised at the community level. Government health services must reach every community so that each and every child can access basic Government health services.
3. Children below 6 years must be enrolled in ICDS centres and must get a midday meal along with additional food nutrient support. ICDS centres must be opened everyday for the children.
4. HIV positive children must get additional nutritional support, regular health check ups and ART treatment. Families of HIV positive children must get additional economic support from the state.
5. All children must get free and compulsory education at the community level. Government schools must be easily accessible and should have properly trained and qualified teachers.
6. Children must not be trafficked; it is the responsibility of the state to be alert on the issue of child trafficking, and ensure the protection of children at the community level.
7. All efforts must be made to rescue and rehabilitate trafficked children into society and through Government sponsored homes/institutions.
8. Children who are engaged as child labourers or as domestic workers must be rescued by the state and rehabilitated through proper legal actions by the state authority.

CRY- Child Rights & You Charter of demand on the occassion of 10th ManipurAssemble election

1. All political parties should commit to ensuring a safe and secured social environment, where each and every individual, especially children can enjoy a peaceful and healthy life; all individuals must get equal opportunity for economic, social and cultural development.
2. All political parties should commit to setting up a State Commission for Child Rights to protect the rights of children in the state. The Commission should be kept free from any political interference.
3. All political parties should commit to drawing up a clear-cut policy for children at the state level, where children will be provided with the rights to survival, development, protection and participation.
4. All political parties should commit to announce all educational institutions as zones free from political unrest, and ensure free and compulsory education to all the children.
5. All political parties should commit to allocate adequate budgetary provisions for building basic infrastructure for schools, with special provisions for disabled children.
6. All political parties should commit to make provisions for adequate budget support to develop infrastructure of health institutions at Panchayat, Block and District level. They must ensure that all children in the state can avail of free Government health services.
7. Long-term conflict has resulted in the unprecedented denial of the right to health, survival and development for all children in Manipur, including HIV positive children. The government should push for a permanent end to the armed conflict as it is one of the major reasons behind the poor access to healthcare.