In the wake of the miseries borne by a large number of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese children victims of Israel's acts of aggression, a dismayed United Nations General Assembly, on 19 August 1982, decided to observe 4 June of each year as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse and affirm the UN's commitment to protect the rights of children.
In his message on 3 June 1983, the eve of the first International Day of Children Victims of Aggression, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar emphasized on the urgent need to “recall the sacred duty, enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, to ensure that all children, without any exception whatsoever, enjoy special protection; and that they are given all possible opportunities and facilities to enable them to develop in a normal and healthy manner, in conditions of freedom and dignity, and to grow up in an atmosphere of affection and security.”
Refugees Magazine (Vol. 1, No. 122, dated 01 March 2001), a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) publication, is an exclusive edition titled “Children” that lays bare shocking facts. At the turn of the century there were nearly 50 million uprooted peoplearound the world - refugees who sought safety in other countries and people displaced within their own countries - half of them being children under the age of 18. More than two million children are believed to have been killed, another six million wounded and one million orphaned in war and terrorist conflicts in the 1990s.
An estimated 3,00,000 boys and girls, some less than 10 years old, were also serving as soldiersaround the world, with many girl soldiers being forced into different forms of sexual slavery. Children were also found to be the main victims of 60 million land mines in 87 countries that were claiming thousands of lives every year. School buildings, teachers, children and civilians were increasingly becoming deliberate targets in warfare, a glaring example being the destruction of 45 percent schools in Mozambique during its 1977 - 1992 civil war.
The magazine also identifies HIV/AIDS - that had killed 3.8 million children and orphaned another 13 million in the 1990s - as one of the greatest threats to children, particularly in countries ravaged by war. Sale of children for exploitation for labour, sex and pornography, and the fact that preventable diseases and malnutrition claim the lives of ten million children worldwide under the age of five each year, are some of the other truths uncovered.
The UN 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most important legal framework for the protection of children. Like the Constitution of India, it is derived from a core set of human values and ethical promises based on the natural dignity and equal inalienable rights of all humanity, including children. It incorporates children’s civil, political, social, economic, cultural and protection rights. The Convention has the highest number of state parties to any human rights treaty, approved by all countries except the United States and Somalia. With India's ratification on 2 December 1992, over 90 percent of the world's children came within the ambit of this Convention.
In December 2005 the Indian Parliament passed the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act under which the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007. NCPCR's obligation is to ensure that all laws, policies, programmes, and administrative mechanisms are in harmony with the child rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Another key duty of NCPCR is to inquire into complaints of violations of child rights, take suo moto cognisance of serious cases of their violation and examine factors that hinder their enjoyment. State level commissions have been established barely by half the states so far, though Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights was constituted on 10 May 2011.
Notwithstanding the existence of adequate legal framework, and mainly because of public indifference, children in our country continue to increasingly suffer from poverty, homelessness, abuse, neglect, preventable diseases, unequal access to education and the like. Child beggars at traffic signals, in the market place, outside malls, temples, bus and railway stations is a common sight across our country. Children can also be seen delving into garbage for food or discarded items they can use or sell. Exploitation of children also continues unabated in the form of their employment as domestic helps, dhabhas as well as in hazardous industries like construction, manufacture of beedis, bangles and fireworks. In spite of having the right to free and compulsory education up to the age of 14 many of our children are not enrolled in schools; and the ones that are drop out mid-way in large numbers.
Like her adult counterpart, the position of girl child is even worse. Atrocities against her begin even before she is born. Pre-natal sex determination tests, though banned, are extensively carried out and female fetuses are shamelessly aborted in our quest for a male heir. Within many homes, girls are made to work more and given lesser facilities than their brothers. Heinous crimes against women and girls like kidnapping, rape and murder are increasing day by day. Even infant in arms and two year old toddlers are not spared. The situation is nastiest not in some remote strife-torn location, but in and around New Delhi, the seat of the world’s largest democracy, the aggressors being not from across the border but home grown Indian males!
Consequently, there are only 940 females in India per 1000 men. Among the states (UTs excluded), Delhi and Haryana have the dubious distinction of occupying the last two positions with sex ratios of 866 and 877 respectively. Kerala occupies the top rank with 1084 and is also the only state where women outnumber men, while Uttarakhand with 963 is twelfth. The position in the 0-10 age group is worse though. The good news is that between 2001 and 2011 censuses the sex-ratio improved marginally by 7 nationally with most states registering increments. J&K (-17), Bihar (-5), Gujarat (-3) and Uttarakhand (-1) being the exceptions.
Trafficking of children also remains a serious problem in India. The nature and scope of trafficking range from industrial and domestic labour, to forced early marriages and commercial sexual exploitation. Existing studies show that over 40 per cent of women sex workers enter the trade before the age of 18 years. Thousands of girls are also moved into India from Nepal and Bangladesh every year for the same purpose. Moreover, for children who have been trafficked and rescued, opportunities for rehabilitation remains scarce and reintegration process arduous.
The situation continues to be grim as we join the rest of the world to observe the 31st International Day of Children Victims of Aggression. The standards and principles articulated in the Convention can become a reality only when they are respected by everyone - within the family, in schools, institutions, communities, neighbourhoods and at all levels of administration. We have to shed our apathy and come together as mature citizens of India to put an end to our children’s plight and enforce, nurture and further their legitimate rights.
