Manipur Alliance for Child Rights: ATINDRANATH DAS feels that we should have zero tolerance for violation of child rights

Sunday, June 23, 2013

ATINDRANATH DAS feels that we should have zero tolerance for violation of child rights

http://www.thethumbprintmag.com/content.php?cat=On%20the%20Margins&content=Revive%20Child%20Rights

Photo: Bal Sakha, a CRY-supported NGO working in Dibrugarh

A little boy with a pair of bright twinkling eyes, Durga Prasad Borah is just like any other teen age kid one can come across along the course of the Brahmaputra, our very own Lohit River. Durga lives at Pohari Khonia, a small village at Borboruah Block, around 15 kilometres away from Dibrugarh city, Assam.

At the tender age of 14 Durga Prasad is supposed to be in school, but instead, one finds him busy with fishing all through the day along the banks of the Brahmaputra. Be it a rainy morning or a chilly winter afternoon, instead of spending time with his friends within the classroom, he is busy with his mundane job of fishing with a tattered net in his hands.

Durga Prasad is no stranger to hard work, though. Being the elder of two brothers, he was compelled to drop out of school in December, 2011, and start working in order to help his father Wokil Borah, who is also a fisherman by profession. His story, however, took a positive turn as he came in contact with the Children’s Group organised by ‘Bal Sakha’ (a CRY-supported NGO working in Dibrugarh District in Assam) and expressed interest to continue his studies. But he was not sure if his father would allow him to go back to school. The project workers then talked to Wokil Borah, Durga’s father. To cut a long story short, they finally persuaded him, and brought the little child back to school.

But for the multitudes of little children like Durga Prasad, saying no to Child Labour and walking back to the arena of education is anything but a smooth sailing. There are millions of children all across India, and child labour is to be found in almost every sector of the informal economy. Millions of children are engaged as child labours in workshops and small factories; in dhabas and roadside tea-stalls; in brick kilns and bidi-rolling industries; on the streets and as well as domestic servants. A huge number of children are also to be found in the agricultural sector.

In 1992 when India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a reservation was made in article 32, wherein the Government of India articulated that it would progressively ban all forms of child labour, given our economic condition. 21 years hence, we are still speaking about regulating and prohibiting child labour.

More recently, the government of India proposed to amend the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act. The attempt to amend the existing legislation however seems to emerge from the need to do away with the contradiction between the Fundamental Right to Education Act (RTE Act) and the existing Child Labour Act than to completely eradicated child labour.

The amendment categorises children into two groups i.e. Child and adolescent; all persons below 14 year of age being defined as a child and persons between the ages of >14 - <18 a="" adolescents.="" as="" being="" between="" children="" defined="" definition="" for="" is="" it="" new="">14-<18 18="" 2000.="" 3="" 65="" a="" act="" adolescents="" all="" allowed="" amendment="" and="" are="" as="" barring="" be="" been="" but="" can="" child="" considerations="" contrary="" definition="" does="" earlier="" economic="" for="" has="" if="" in="" including="" justice="" justification="" juvenile="" labour="" listed="" mean="" mentioned="" nation="" not="" number="" occupations="" of="" only="" p="" processes.="" processes="" proposed="" provided="" redrawn="" restricted="" sanction="" schedule="" should="" some="" that="" the="" this="" those="" three="" to="" uncrc="" under="" used="" were="" which="" work="" years="">

In the three decades CRY has been working to restore the rights of children in India, we have learnt that domestic work can be extremely exploitative, abusive and violates every right of a child. A child of 14 or 16 years is equally, if not more, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation as a child of 12 or 13 years when it comes to working as domestic help. This can very well be the situation in the context of other occupations as well. Given that India’s track record in implementing legislation is so poor, how are law makers going to ensure the safety of adolescents? What safeguards are being prescribed and put in place? In fact, CRY’s experience has been that children in the >14 - <18 -="" abuse.="" age="" agriculture="" and="" are="" as="" construction="" dhabas="" employed="" exploitation="" exposed="" garages="" group="" helpers="" highly="" in="" labourers="" leave="" many="" mental="" motor="" of="" often="" p="" physical="" road="" sectors="" services="" side="" sites="" that="" them="" to="" transport="" travel="" types="">

Interestingly, the National Policy for Children 2012 (NPC) defines the child as persons who have not completed 18 years of age and reaffirms the Government’s commitment to the realisation of the rights of all children in the country, as it states that it will guide and inform all policies, laws and programmes concerning children. But one does not get any clarity on if this means that all legislations pertaining to children will now have a uniform definition of a child. If the NPC is indeed committed to realise all rights of all children in India, then the proposed amendment to the Child Labour Act is meaningless. It remains to be seen how and what attempts will be made to align the definition of a child in the various legislations concerning children with the National Policy for Children.

It is high time the government took drastic steps to clear all confusion regarding setting the age of a child to exercise their right. Child Labour is a matter of national shame, a blatant violation of human rights by the establishment. The very circumstances that drive a child to seek employment- often iniquitous in terms of remuneration, is violation of children's rights for which it is not only the parents but largely the establishment that should be held responsible.

Child labour has, in a way, become a social norm and we accept and tolerate it in our society. Unless we, as a society, have zero tolerance towards such issues, this exploitative and abusive practice will continue. Today, the quintessential goal of children’s happiness and wellbeing is constantly disregarded. Children’s sorrows and chagrins - for not being able to go to school, for living in poverty, for bleak home lives – doesn’t seem to garner much attention. What we need most today isto restore to Indian children their basic rights,revive humanity and create a society where children can live with dignity and exercise their rights in order to lead a happy life. If we are serious about creating a happy, prosperous nation we must begin with children. We need to put children first in everything we do.

The government should amend the law to ensure that all forms of child labour are prohibited for children up to 18 years of age. CRY considers all those between 0 to 18 years of age to be children. And we urge the government to bring uniformity in law when it comes to the definition of a childas provided in the UNCRC.

The author, Atindranath Das, is Regional Director (East), CRY – Child Rights and You started his career in the development sector as a Child Rights activist three decades back. He is associated to CRY for the last 20 years.

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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.