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Child rights in India

Child rights in India. Shaishav Child Rights. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Enshrines 4 major rights all children should hold Right to Survival: includes child’s right to life and the most basic of needs, such as nutrition, shelter, and access to medical services

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Child rights in India

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  1. Child rights in India Shaishav Child Rights

  2. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child • Enshrines 4 major rights all children should hold • Right to Survival: includes child’s right to life and the most basic of needs, such as nutrition, shelter, and access to medical services • Right to Development: includes right to education, play, leisure, cultural activities, access to information, and freedom of thought

  3. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child • Right to Protection: ensures children are safeguarded against all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation • Right to Participation: freedom to express opinions, have a say in matters affecting their own lives, to join organisations and to assemble peacefully

  4. General Measures of Implementation • In addition to the UNCRC, national laws and policies designed to protect children include • The right to free and compulsory education for all children aged 6-14 (Article 21a) • The right to be protected from any hazardous employment until the age of 14 (Article 24) • The right to be protected from being forced to enter occupations unsuited to their age or strength (Article 39e)

  5. General Measures of Implementation • The right to equal opportunities, and facilities to develop in a healthy manner, with guaranteed protection against exploitation, and moral and material abandonment (Article 39f) • The right to early childhood care and education for all children under 6 years old (Article 45) • Poor implementation of existing laws and no common definition of childhood prevents any real change

  6. Early Childhood • Just 1.66% of the 2006-2007 Union Budget was allocated to children under the age of 6 • Integrated Child Development Services scheme is the only programme specifically targeting the care, education, health, and nutritional concerns of children • World’s largest early child development programme • Reaches more than 34m children and 7m pregnant and nursing mothers • However, more than 26m children are still unable to benefit from ICDS programmes

  7. Early Childhood: Caste Issues • Strong anecdotal evidence that Dalit children are being regularly excluded from feeding programmes • Proportion of malnourished children among Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) is significantly higher than under the rest of the population • 52.2% of SC children and 57.6% of ST children aged under 3 are underweight, compared to 37.3% outside of these groups

  8. Early Childhood: Availability • Many areas have no access to ICDS services, and there are strong disparities between rural and urban areas, with little representation in urban slums • Approximately 75% of children aged 0-6 receive no form of supplementary food from the centres • 46% of children under 3 are underweight, and 50% of children under 5 are moderately or severely malnourished • These children have a high risk of developing vitamin deficiencies such as rickets, scurvy, anaemia, spina bifida and osteoporosis

  9. Health • India’s public health expenditure ranks 171st out of 175 • Current health expenditure is just 1% of GDP, well below the 2-3% required to provide basic healthcare to everyone in India, and the 5% recommended by the WHO • Almost 80% of total healthcare costs are met through private expenditure, seriously reducing availability for the poor • About 16% of Indian families have been pushed below the poverty line by high healthcare costs

  10. Health • The infant mortality rate in India remains unacceptably high at 52.91 deaths per 1000 live births • There are wide interstate variations between Kerala (14/1000) and Orissa (96/1000), and large rural-urban variations • Diarrhoea is the single most common cause of death amongst children under 5 worldwide, and 20% of deaths are in India • Most deaths from diarrhoea can be easily prevented by taking oral rehydration salts

  11. Health • Over 300,000 children are orphaned by TB each year in India • In 2006 almost 65,000 children suffered from TB and thousands more had to leave school to care for others • 10% of children are born with or acquire a disability, 75% of which are preventable • The child malnutrition rate in India is double that in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 63% of children under 5 are undernourished

  12. Education • Over half of children in India either don’t attend school, or drop out before 8th standard • 21m primary school aged children (17%) don’t attend school • Though this has dropped from 87m in 2001, many children continue to face exclusion from the education system due to their socio-economic status • At upper primary level, the number of girls enrolled is less than 85% of the number of boys

  13. Education: State of Schools • Approx. 32,000 schools in India have no students at all • Mostly state schools located in rural areas • In majority of cases this is due to schools having no teachers • 23,000 schools were yet to be provided with a teacher, while 130,000 were single teacher schools • 25% of state primary school teachers were absent from work, and only 50% are actually engaged in teaching while at work • Many schools are lacking proper classrooms, desks, toilets, and drinking water

  14. Violence • India has the most sexually abused children in the world • Child abuse and violence against children have emerged as some of the biggest problems facing the country • Laws are ineffective, and there is no accurate figure on the number of children requiring special protection • In 2006 the national conviction rate for crimes against children was just 35.4%

  15. Violence: Study on Child Abuse 2007 • Physical Abuse • 2 out of 3 children were physically abused • Out of children physically abused in family situations, 88.6% were abused by their parents • 65% of school going children reported facing corporal punishment • Most children did not report the abuse to anyone • Sexual Abuse • 53.2% of children reported facing sexual abuse • 21.9% reported severe forms of sexual abuse

  16. Violence: Study on Child Abuse 2007 • 5.69% reported being sexually assaulted • 50% of abuses come from a person in a position of trust • Most children did not report the abuse to anyone • Emotional Abuse • 50% of children reported facing emotional abuse • Equal percentages of girls and boys reported facing emotional abuse • In 83% of cases, parents were the abusers • 48.4% of girls wished they were boys

  17. Violence: Female Infanticide • For every 1000 boys under the age of 6, there are just 914 girls • Each year 12m girls are born, of which 3m do not survive to see their 15th birthday • Every 6th female death is due to gender discrimination • Clear correlation between the number of sonography centres and a decline in the child sex ratio • Female foeticide is most prolific in wealthier areas, where people can afford to check the sex of foetus’s

  18. Violence: Child Marriage • Child marriage is one of the worst forms of violence, not only violating the basic rights of girls, but exposing them to sexual violence, unsafe motherhood, and sometimes resultant death • This violence is sanctioned by the social norms of India, which still encourages child marriage • Approx. 45% of girls are married before the legal age of 18, and almost 30% of boys are married before they reach the legal age of 21

  19. Juvenile Justice • Of the total number of children involved in crimes in 2006, 64.3% were either illiterate or only had a primary education • Overcrowding, violence and abuse is the reality of most custodial institutions • A large number of drugs are taken by adolescents in observation homes, and bullying and beatings are a constant feature • Children have no-one to talk to, and no opportunity for education

  20. Child Labour • Number of child labourers varies depending on definition • Official statistics show 20m children working in labour, while most NGOs estimate 50-60m and some up to 100m • India has the largest number of child labourers in the world • Children’s working conditions can be very severe, with little of the stimulation needed for physical and mental development, and a high chance of injury • Child labour law is weak and easily bypassed, merely putting a ban on certain occupations and processes

  21. Child Labour: Banned Occupations • The current legislation only prohibits under 14 year olds from working in hazardous industries, including work involving: • Exposure to excessive heat or cold • Food processing • Beverage industry • Timber handling and loading • Mechanical lumbering • Stone grinding • Slate mining • Quarrying • Diving

  22. Child Labour • Approx. 66% of child labourers work in the agricultural sector, 13% in manufacturing and repair work, 11% in industry, and 7% in mining and quarrying • Many girls are engaged in unrecorded domestic work, reported to be the main reason for girls to not attend school • At least 2 million children work in hazardous industries, and more than 20% of child labourers suffer from illness or injury related to their work

  23. Child Trafficking • Next to gun and drug trafficking, human trafficking is the third largest criminal industry in the world, with annual profits of US$10-12bn • Across the world, 1.2m children are trafficked every year • Trafficking of children occurs for a variety of purposes, such as labour, begging, sexual exploitation, pornography, child marriage, adoption, and organ trade • Only 0.034% of the Union Budget is spent on child protection schemes

  24. Shaishav • Since 1992, Shaishav has been working in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, to realise the basic rights of children, particularly the underprivileged • Due to Shaishav’s constant efforts in the community: • Over 10,000 children have been admitted into mainstream schooling • Several of Shaishav’s materials and activities have been adopted on state and national levels • Children have participated in state, national, and international processes, demonstrating their leadership • One of Gujarat’s first educational programmes for the safety and training of adolescent girls has been created • By leading child rights initiatives in their communities, children are becoming their own change makers in society

  25. Contact us • Website: www.shaishavchildrights.org • Email: shaishav93@gmail.com • Telephone: +91 (0) 278 2428560 • Post: Shaishav 601/B “Shanti Sadan” Opp. Shivshakti Hall, Sir Pattni Road, Near Crescent Circle Bhavnagar – 364 001 Gujarat, India • Or email Parul Sheth at parul.shaishav@gmail.com

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