“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.” -George Bernard Shaw
1.1 Status of Children
India considers child to be any person below the age of 14, as do most Government Programmes. Biologically, childhood is the stage between infancy and adulthood. According to United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier’. This definition of child allows for individual countries to determine according to the own discretion the age limits of a child in their own laws. But in India various laws related to children define children in different age limits.
India is home to the largest number of children in the world. Nearly every fifth child in the world lives in India. There are about 43 crore children in the age group of 0-18 years; 16 crore children are in the age group of 0-6 years, of this there are 8.50 crore males and 7.88 crore females. In the age group of 6-18 years, there are about 27 crore children. It is estimated that about 40 per cent of children are in difficult circumstances or vulnerable which include children without family support, children forced into labour, abused/ trafficked children, children on the streets, vulnerable children, children affected by substance abuse, by armed conflict/civil/unrest/natural calamity etc. survival, growth, development and protection of these very large numbers therefore need priority, focus and attention (Report of the Working Group on Child Rights, 2012-2017).
Childhood in India is not homogeneous; several childhoods co-exist. Social and economic status, physical and mental ability, geographical location and other differences determine the degree of vulnerability of India’s children. Children are regarded as precious gifts from God. It is rather curious and unfortunate that these same children are subjected to abuses and neglect. Universally, childhood is recognized as a period of sensitivity requiring special care, attention and protection (Awosola and Omoera, 2008). India’s commitment to the cause of children is as old as its civilization. Unfortunately, over the years in the pre-independence period, due to socio-economic and cultural changes, the code of child centeredness got replaced by neglect, abuse and deprivation, particularly in the poverty afflicted sections of the society.
1.2 Child Rights in Indian Context
In India, children’s vulnerabilities and exposure to violations of their rights remain spread and multiple in nature. The manifestations of these violations are various; Malnutrition, inadequate health care, feticide, infanticide, school dropout, child marriage many other forms of violence and abuse. Child Beggary, Child Labour, Child trafficking, Child Sexual/physical abuse etc are the heinous crimes committed against children reflecting in the intensity of Child Rights violation in the contemporary society. 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 in India 47 out of every 1000 live births do not complete their first year of life, 10.12 million child labourers aged between 5 to 14 years (National Census 2011). Out of the 400 million children, every second child is malnourished, Over 81.5 lakh children don’t go to school. According to UN India has the second highest number of child marriages. There is an estimated 300,000 child beggars, 44,000 children disappear in each year. In India, a child goes missing every eight minutes (NCRB), with an estimated 1.2 million children are bought and sold into sexual slavery every year, karnataka is the third state of human trafficking, 53% of children are subjected to sexual abuse, about 57 rape cases on children per day and more than 2 rape cases per hour.
People inclusive of parents, politicians and administrative officials often refer to children as the ‘future generation’ of economically contributing adults or as the ‘citizens of tomorrow’, but it is important to remember that an individual becomes a citizen with citizenship rights. From the day of birth children cannot make political demands; they do not have the right to vote, and therefore do not have a say in electoral outcomes. However, access to early child care, education, nutrition, health and juvenile justice is essential for their positive development and is a right to which they are entitled to by the state. Hence, it is imperative that they receive care, protection, essential services, and opportunities which rightfully belong to them.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been a watershed in the recognition of the basic needs of the child as their rights and 192 countries have accepted that the needs and the rights of the children are similar world over notwithstanding their socio-economic, geographical and cultural differentials. In 1992, the Government of India also ratified the United Nations Convention on Right of the Child (UNCRC), requiring it to ensure the right of all children to survival, protection, development and participation. India’s consistent failure to meet it own constitutional provisions as well as other international obligations like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and Millennium Development Goals (MGG) for protecting children should function as a serious wake-up call.
The Indian constitution accords rights to children as citizens of the country, and in keeping with their special status the State has even enacted special laws. The Constitution, promulgated in 1950, encompasses most rights included in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. Over the years, many individuals and public interest groups have approached the apex court for restitution of fundamental rights, including child rights. The Directive Principles of State Policy articulate social and economic rights that have been declared to be “fundamental in the governance of the country. Article 21 A of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children within the ages of 6 and 14 in such manner as the State may by law determine. Article 24 on prohibition of the employment of children in factories etc explicitly prevents children below the age of 14 years from being employed to work in any factory, mine or any other hazardous form of employment. Article 39 of the Directive Principles of State Policy, for instances, requires that the state shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused, and that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in condition of freedom and dignity. Article 45 provides that the State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.
The constitution of India itself guarantees many rights to the child. This is two-fold the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles. The rights perspective has practical implications for public policy on child development services. First, this perspective is the main foundation of the demand for “Universal” child development services. Indeed, one implication of the rights approach is that all children are entitled to certain “opportunities and facilities” (as the Constitution puts it) that do not have to be justified on a case by case basis, let alone submitted to cost benefit tests. Thus the Indian constitution made provisions for the welfare of children well before the declaration of child rights by the United Nations.
Children’s rights were recognized after the Ist World war, with the adoption of the Declaration of Geneva, in 1924. The process of recognition of children’s rights continued thanks to the UN, with the adoption of the Declaration of Children’s Rights in 1959. The recognition of the child’s interest and his rights becomes real on 20 November 1989 with the adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too. The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. Two optional protocols were adopted on 25 May 2000. The First Optional Protocol restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts, and the Second Optional Protocol prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Both protocols have been ratified by more than 150 states. A third optional protocol relating to communication of complaints was adopted in December 2011 and opened for signature on 28 February 2012. It came into effect on 14 April 2014The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child. These include: