New Delhi, 24 August 2007

Children Grossly Abused

NEEDS URGENT REDRESSAL

By Suraj Saraf

“The nation’s well being and prosperity depends on the status of its children. The index of child health is an important measure of the progress and the level of development of a country”, tom-tom our leaders.

But facts state otherwise. India also has the largest number of malnourished kids in the world ----.over a hundred million. Nearly 46 per cent children under the age of three are underweight, more than half under six are not fully immunized and 77 per cent are anaemic. We have the highest number of child labourers, notwithstanding that children aged up to 14 years were banned from working in factories, mines and other perilous jobs way back in 1986. Which was extended to children working in homes, restaurants, dhabas etc.

However, most shocking is the fact that 69 per cent of children face physical abuse and over fifty per cent are suffering from one or more forms of sexual (from fondling to rape) and emotional abuse (gender-based discrimination) by parents, family members or people in responsible positions. Over A report by the UN Children Fund (UNICEF) , Save the Children Fund and an NGO, “Study on Child Abuse: India 2007” has revealed that children in the age group 5 to 15 years reported higher levels of abuse, with boys being equally at risk as girls.

Until now it was presumed that child abuse was prevalent only among street children or those in juvenile homes and orphanages. But as the report revealed, while a child born in a well-to-do family may not face economic and physical abuse, he or she is prone to sexual and emotional abuse. Illustrated by the Nithari case wherein over 15 children were sexually assaulted and then killed. The alleged perpetrator has in his defence claimed that as he was a victim of sexual abuse in his childhood.

The study, covering over 12447 children from 13 States, had further revealed that more than 40 per cent of the children face corporal punishment and at least 15 per cent of the respondents had resorted to drugs to cope with the sexual or physical trauma. And over 70 per cent victims never reported their torment.

The study has also revealed that child protection is a low priority with only a miniscule amount of the annual expenditure (Rs.215 crore last year) being spent on children. According to the Child Welfare Ministry there had been only a marginal increase in expenditure on child protection over the years. While 0.027 percentage of funds were dedicated to child protection in 2001-02, spending remained static at 0.027 and in fact decreased to 0.022 in 2003-04. It increased to 0.035% in 2005-06. However, the Ministry had sought an allocation of Rs.2000 crore under the Eleventh Five Year Plan for the child protection schemes.

According to reports, the Ministry plans to combine its existing child protection programmes under an ambitious Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) to create a strong protective environment for children. It also plans to diversify and institutionalise essential services for children and mobilize inter-sectoral response for strengthening child protection.

Moreover, the ICPS aims to promote children interests and prevent violation of child rights through appropriate punitive measures against the perpetrators of abuse and crimes against children and ensure rehabilitation of children in need of care and protection. This would be done by improving the regulatory frameworks, strengthening structures and professional capacities at the national, state and district levels.

The existing mechanism for child protection primarily flows from the provisions under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and the National Plan of Action for Children, 2005. These comprise several programmes and schemes implemented by different ministries and departments addressing child protection issues. The Ministry also runs a programme for juvenile justice for children under difficult circumstances, a Central Adoption Resource Agency and the National Child Labour Project.

In order to put the objective of the National Plan for Child Protecting, 2005, into practice, the Ministry proposes to set up a State Child Protection Unit in each State/UT, district to ensure effective implementation of the concerned Act and for coordination of associated child protection services for the vulnerable and destitute children including juveniles in conflict with law. The unit will also implement, supervise, monitor and evaluate all child protection programmes being implemented under the ICPS including grant-in-aid schemes. Another important wing of the authority would be the State Adoption Cell for regulating in-country adoptions of children. It will facilitate, supervise and monitor at the state level.

An exercise on child budgeting carried out by the Ministry revealed that the total expenditure on children in 2006-07 in health education, development and protection amounted to nearly 4.91 per cent.

The fact that hitherto there has been no data available on children speaks volumes as to what low priority child development has in India. Asserted Shanta Sinha, Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, “We do not know how many children are missing in the country, how many children languish in streets, how many child marriages occur every year,” she said.

Not only that. There is poor implementation of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) project. So much so that Prime Minister had some months back written to all Chief Ministers to set up an institutionalized review process to exclusively deal with the ICDS project after a detailed assessment.

Drawing attention to a number of reports and surveys, including the National Family Health Survey and Focus on Children under Six, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out that there was a noticeable decline in the qualitative aspects of the programme which was borne out by Supreme Court judgments. “There is strong evidence that the programme has not led to any substantial improvement,” he added.

More. A former President of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) Prof. Lynch, who has been advising the British Government, has cited the example of UK. Child protection must come out of the social or welfare domain and a protocol needs to drawn up that would be followed by all medical professionals.

A doctor’s first task would be to save a child’s life, followed by coordinating with the police, the social service department and consulting people who know the child well. It is essential that doctors are given a clear framework to work with against the backdrop that problems exist primarily because children’s issues are dealt by too many departments and ministries, besides the police.

In addition Prof, Lynch had suggested that training for medical professionals to recognize child abuse needs to be started at the undergraduate level. So that by the time doctor begins practice he/she learns to listen to the child, look for unexplained injuries and not interrogate the child.

Needless to say these findings are an eye-opener. These should help the Government in policy formation and legislations to protect children and promote their rights through specific programmes. Child protection is everyone’s responsibility” Remember, children are the future of India. ----- INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)