By
GEETA NARULA*
In this 21st century, when we Indian are busy counting our economic and political success both at national and international level, still is much needed to be done to improve the status of children in India for the coming future. In this paper, I have tried to discuss the rights of children and efforts done by India in the recent past to make these rights available to Indian children.
Introduction
Child rights are considered to be one of those issues, in a world full of conflict and economic, social, intellectual and violent confrontations on which we have achieved some consensus. But the question is have we taken necessary measures to make rights of children meaningfully available to them for their overall social, cultural and individual growth.
India has 375 million children, more than any other country in the world. Their condition has improved in the last five decades, with child survival rates up, school dropout rates down, and several policy commitments were made by the government at the national and international levels. India has made some significant commitments towards ensuring the basic rights of children. However, many things are still needed to be done to improve the survival and healthcare needs of infants and children, their education, development and protection[1]. The inclusion of Right to Primary education in the Constitution as a fundamental right under Article 21-A and recent decision of the Union cabinet to bring a legislation to provide for A National Child Commission to safeguard and protect the rights of children are the welcome steps in that direction only.
In the last century, there have been various conventions and covenants held at national, regional and international levels and various declarations signed to acknowledge the need for global consensus on the rights of children. Following are considered to be the milestones in this regard.
" Geneva Declaration of 1924 - a five point text drawn by the 'Save the Children International Organization
" 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
" 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the child' adopted by the UN General Assembly
" 1979 Convention on discrimination of women (CEDAW)
" 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child
" 1990 World Summit on Children
" 2002 SAARC Convention for the Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia
However, it is the Convention on the rights of the child (CRC) ratified by 192 countries which is considered to the most comprehensive and complete international legal declaration on children's rights concerning their protection development and welfare. As a universal declaration and international law on the basic rights of a child, the convention is considered as a powerful tool for changing human, social, political and legal attitudes in relation to Rights of Children. It envisages changes in national legislation and practice for promoting child rights in the protection, development and welfare of children. The principles as contained under Article 2, 3, 6 and 12 of CRC are considered to be guiding authority for every nation while taking any decision concerning the child.
However in the context of child rights, the very basic question which emerges to our mind is "WHO IS A CHILD?
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines children as persons below the age of 18. But under Indian legal system, there is no uniformly fixed age of a child. It depends upon the context and law to be applied to particular children.
After this the next question that comes to our mind is why special rights for children when all human rights are available to them otherwise also. The answer is very simple; it is the children who suffer most in every kind of situation. Infact, some of the worst kinds of human right violations are against children. Being vulnerable, dependant and developing human beings, they depend upon their adults for protection and fulfillments of their rights. But they are not the possessions of their parents or the state, nor are they the simple object of concern; rather they are holder of human rights in their individual capacity. Further, the Human rights instruments have not been that much effective in curbing the problem of violation of their human rights.
As per CRC the Rights of children can be further subdivided into four categories for the purpose of better understanding of them. They are Civil, Economic, Social and Cultural rights.
Civil Rights of children: These rights include right to name and nationality, protection from torture and maltreatment, special rules governing the circumstances and conditions under which children may be deprived of their liberty or separated from their parents, etc.
Economic Rights of children: They include the right to benefit from social security, the right of a standard of living adequate to ensure proper development and protection from exploitation at work.
Social Rights of children: The right to the highest attainable standards of the health and access to medical services, the right to special care for the handicapped children, protection from sexual exploitation and abduction and the regulation of adoption.
Cultural Rights of children: Include the right to education, access to appropriate information, recreation and leisure and participation in artistic ad cultural activities[2].
Indian Government's Policy on Children
Since the Independence of India; we have seen committed efforts of Indian government for the protection of child rights in India at all levels. There are various constitutional and legal provisions providing for policies beneficial to the rights of children. Following are the notable provisions among them: Article 15 of the Constitution gives power to State to make special provision for the betterment of children; Article 24 prohibits employment of children below the age of 14 year in any hazardous activity; Article 39(e) which is in the form of Directive Principles of State Policy directs state to ensure against the abuse of the children of tender age for any kind of economic benefits; Article 39(f) requires children to be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth be protected against exploitation and moral and material abandonment; Article 45 as it stood before 86th amendment to the Constitution provided for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14. However, after the inclusion of Art. 21-A it has now become a Fundamental right of every children below the age of 14 year to get primary education. This fulfills the requirement of Articles 28 & 29 of the CRC which recognize the right of children to education and interlinks the development of children to their right to education.
The importance of education as a fundamental right was also recognized by the Supreme Court which clearly declared education as a fundamental right, in the case of "Unnikrishnan V. State of Andhra Pradesh"[3] and held, that "Though the right to education is not stated expressly as a fundamental right, it is implicit in and flows from the right to life guaranteed under Article 21."
The Factory Act, 1948; the Employment of Children (Amendment) Act, 1949; the Plantation Labour Act, 1951; the Mines Act, 1952; the Factories (Amendment) Act, 1954; the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958; the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961; the Apprentices Act, 1961; the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966; the Employment of Children (Amendment) Act, 1978 and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 there are numerous enactment which strongly provide provisions for the better of children in our society. Juvenile Justice (Care and Prevention of Children) Act, 2000 is also important law relating to child welfare in India which prohibits any kind of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to juveniles.
Any discussion on Child Rights in India can not be complete without the mention of recent move of Indian government to setup a National Child Commission in India. It is expected that The NCC will have statutory powers to inquire into violations of child rights.The commission proposes to be the legal mechanism to oversee and review the implementation of the National Policy for Children. According to official sources, the commission is expected to recommend remedial action in cases of violations of child rights. It will also help improve the survival rate, health, nutrition and education of children, particularly girls, and equip them to become economically productive adults.
[1]
http://www.infochangeindia.org/ChildrenIbp.jsp# [2] Pillai, Malthi; UNICEF
[3] AIR 1993, S.C. 2179-2254
© Geeta Narula. All rights reserved with the author.
* Advocate, Delhi High Court
Contact at:
advocategeeta@yahoo.com/ advocategeeta@rediffmail.com