The
right to Education: 50% of Indian children aged
6-18 do not go to school
Dropout rates increase alarmingly in class III to V, its
50% for boys, 58% for girls.
The right to
Expression: Every child has a right to express himself
freely in which ever way he likes. Majority of children however
are exploited by their elders and not allowed to express.
The right to
Information: Every child has a right to know his
basic rights and his position in the society. High incidence
of illiteracy and ignorance among the deprived and underprivileged
children prevents them from having access to information about
them and their society.
The right to
Nutrition: More than 50% of India's children are
malnourished. While one in every five adolescent boys is malnourished,
one in every two girls in India is undernourished.
The right to
Health & Care: 58% of India's children below
the age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And 24% of these
children do not receive any form of vaccination. Over 60%
of children in India are anemic. 95 in every 1000 children
born in India, do not see their fifth birthday. 70 in every
1000 children born in India, do not see their first birthday.
The right to
protection from Abuse: There are approximately 2
million child commercial sex workers between the age of 5
and 15 years and about 3.3 million between 15 and 18 years.
They form 40% of the total population of commercial sex workers
in India. 500,000 children are forced into this trade every
year.
The right to
protection from Exploitation: 17 million children
in India work as per official estimates. A study found that
children were sent to work by compulsion and not by
choice, mostly by parents, but with recruiter playing
a crucial role in influencing decision. When working outside
the family, children put in an average of 21 hours of labour
per week. Poor and bonded families often "sell"
their children to contractors who promise lucrative jobs in
the cities and the children end up being employed in brothels,
hotels and domestic work. Many run away and find a life on
the streets.
The right to
protection from Neglect: Every child has a right
to lead a well protected and secure life away from neglect.
However, children working under exploitative and inhuman conditions
get neglected badly.
The right to
Development: Every child has the right to development
that lets the child explore her/his full potential. Unfavourable
living conditions of underprivileged children prevents them
from growing in a free and uninhibited way.
The right to
Recreation: Every child has a right to spend some
time on recreational pursuits like sports, entertainment and
hobbies to explore and develop. Majority of poor children
in India do not get time to spend on recreational activities.
The right to
Name & Nationality: Every child has a right to
identify himself with a nation. A vast majority of underprivileged
children in India are treated like commodities and exported
to other countries as labour or prostitutes.
The right to
Survival: Of the 12 million girls born in India,
3 million do not see their fifteenth birthday, and a million
of them are unable to survive even their first birthday. Every
sixth girl child's death is due to gender discrimination.
Child Rights
in India: An Introduction
India is a party to the
UN declaration on the Rights of the Child 1959. Accordingly,
it adopted a National Policy on Children in 1974. The policy
reaffirmed the constitutional provisions for adequate services
to children, both before and after birth and through the period
of growth to ensure their full physical, mental and social
development.
Accordingly, the government
is taking action to review the national and state legislation
and bring it in line with the provisions of the Convention.
It has also developed appropriate monitoring procedures to
assess progress in implementing the Convention-involving various
stake holders in the society.
India is also a signatory
to the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development
of Children. In pursuance of the commitment made at the World
Summit, the Department of Women and Child Development under
the Ministry of Human Resource Development has formulated
a National Plan of Action for Children. Most of the recommendations
of the World Summit Action Plan are reflected in India's National
Plan of Action- keeping in mind the needs, rights and aspirations
of 300 million children in the country.
The priority areas in the Plan are health, nutrition, education,
water, sanitation and environment. The Plan gives special
consideration to children in difficult circumstances and aims
at providing a framework, for actualization of the objectives
of the Convention in the Indian context.
Status of Children
in India
Recent UNICEF (2005)
report on the state of the world’s children under the
title “Childhood Under Threat” , speaking about
India, states that millions of Indian children are equally
deprived of their rights to survival, health, nutrition, education
and safe drinking water. It is reported that 63 per cent of
them go to bed hungry and 53 per cent suffer from chronic
malnutrition.
The report says that
147 million children live in kuchcha houses, 77 million do
not use drinking water from a tap, 85 million are not being
immunized, 27 million are severely underweight and 33 million
have never been to school. It estimates that 72 million children
in India between five and 14 years do not have access to basic
education. A girl child is the worst victim as she is often
neglected and is discriminated against because of the preference
for a boy child.
National Commission
for Protection of Child Rights
In order to ensure child
rights practices and in response to India’s commitment
to UN declaration to this effect, the government of India
set up a National Commission for Protection of Child
Rights.
The Commission is a statutory body notified under an Act of
the Parliament on December 29, 2006. Besides the chairperson,
it will have six members from the fields of child health,
education, childcare and development, juvenile justice, children
with disabilities, elimination of child labour, child psychology
or sociology and laws relating to children.
The Commission has the power to inquire into complaints and
take suo motu notice of matters relating to deprivation
of child's rights and non-implementation of laws providing
for protection and development of children among other things.
Aimed at examining and reviewing the safeguards provided by
the law to protect child rights, the Commission will recommend
measures for their effective implementation. It will suggest
amendments, if needed, and look into complaints or take suo
motu notice of cases of violation of the constitutional
and legal rights of children.
The Commission is to ensure proper enforcement of child rights
and effective implementation of laws and programmes relating
to children- enquiring into complaints and take suo motu
cognizance of matters relating to deprivation of child
rights; non-implementation of laws providing for protection
and development of children and non-compliance of policy decisions,
guidelines or instructions aimed at their welfare and announcing
relief for children and issuing remedial measures to the state
governments.
Child
Rights Articles & Preamble
Convention on the Rights
of the Child
Adopted and opened for signature,
ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution
44/25 of 20 November 1989
entry into force 2 September 1990, in accordance
with article 49
[Credited to Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights]
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