CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Prologue
Child rights are envisioned as an important aspect of human rights. Children
have the right to grow up in a secure environment. Child rights include their right to
association with both the parents and access to basic needs for physical protection.
Children should have freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, nationality, religion, disability, colour, ethnicity and other
considerations. Children‘s rights needs to be protected by various stakeholders such as
parents, teachers, educationists, community leaders, social workers, doctors, law
enforcement authorities, judicial authorities, media professionals, policy makers,
government officials and organizers of non-government organizations. Children need
protection from all the stakeholders and agencies until they attain the age of eighteen
years. The United Nations Organization and other international agencies have given a
serious thought to the subject of child rights protection and prepared grounds for child
rights management across the world. The Constitution of India contains several
progressive norms and guidelines for child rights protection in India. Several policies,
plans and programmes are formulated and implemented in India for the protection of
children‘s rights in the post-independence India. The role of various stakeholders in
the protection of child rights is subjected to scientific research in the present times.
The present study evaluates the role of various stakeholders in the protection of child
rights with special reference to Karnataka State. The salient aspects of the study such
as fundamentals of child rights protection, international standards on child right
protection, child rights protection in India, stakeholders of child rights protection,
social significance of the study, statement of the problem and objectives of the study
are amplified in this chapter.

1.2 Fundamentals of Child Rights Protection

Childhood is an important stage of human life. Children mainly depend on
others for their survival and progress. The child emerges as an individual with dignity
who has all the rights of a full grown human being. Child rights include physical,
mental and emotional security of children. Children have the right to be free
from abuse of every kind within the family or outside the family. Child rights can be

1
protected well within the family if the parents perform their fundamental duties such
as maintenance, protection and education. Children are regarded as subjects or
actors with a set of interest which they can and should define and defend for
themselves.
Childhood is the most sensitive stage in the life of every human being. During
this period, individuals are brought up, educated, guided and attuned to ground
realities of life. The identity of an individual is formed during this period. Children
comprise about 50% of the world‘s population and they depend on their parents,
adults, teachers and others to adjust themselves with the changing environment.
Children normally encounter various disadvantages and difficulties during this critical
stage. A child has the right to be protected from all forms of physical or mental
violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligence, maltreatment or exploitation,
including sexual abuse. Child rights protection basically covers the relationship of a
child with his or her parents, legal guardians or any other person who has the care of
the child.

Concept of Child Rights

Child rights have become a strong legitimate perception since 1980s. It
essentially consists of certain human values which govern child rights. Children
should have freedom in matters concerning their health and progress. Age is a
relevant differentiating factor in deciding the legal status of children. There are
various policy documents which have adequately dealt with the concept of child
rights. A child is regarded as to have belonged into or even being the property of the
family in many societies. A child is also defined as an infant, a minor or an adolescent
below 18 years by some people. A child is understood to have certain rights and
duties in modern society.
Article 2 of the Children‘s Rights Protection Law defines: ―A child is a
person who has not reached the age of 18 years, except these to whom, in accordance
with the law, reach earlier maturity by being declared emancipated minors, or who
become married before reaching the age of 18 years‖.
Children‘s rights‘ as a concept encompasses both protection and liberation
aspects (Franklin, 1986). A clear distinction may be made between children‘s rights to
their welfare safeguarded by adults and other stakeholders of child rights protection.
Children ought to be accorded more freedom of the adult kind in deciding the course

2
of their lives. Children are entitled to positive protective intervention to provide good
care for them, away from the biological parents if necessary, and support of the
original family as a unit in order to prevent its disruption. A children‘s rights
perspective in the liberation sense, by contrast, involves supporting children in what
they want. The Child Support Act did not make the child‘s welfare the first or
paramount consideration but merely says that regard is to be had to welfare (Harding,
1991).
The Child Support Act, 1991 contains certain healthy features concerning
child rights protection. The newly created Child Support Agency largely superseded
the role of the courts and provided a sound formula to assess child rights in general
and child support provisions in particular. Certain rights are conferred upon the
children and the voice of the children should be heard by the family, community and
court concerning the welfare and progress of children (Lyon and Parton, 1995).
Scholars have made clear distinction between protectionist and liberationist
approaches to child rights.
Children‘s Act does somewhat widen ‗children‘s rights‘ in the liberation
sense, and reflects the influence of the children‘s rights lobby in the 1980s (Harding,
1996). The Act in some ways strengthens the protective powers of the state, and lays
stress on the importance of partnership with parents and family support through
provisions for consulting parents, allowing them greater powers in relations to their
children and offering them a wider range of supportive services.
Child rights are most commonly understood from the point of view of
children‘s autonomy. It establishes that children should have the capacity and
opportunity to determine their welfare and their right should be treated rather more
like adults. Children should have all of the rights of adults – to vote, to work, to live
where they wish and not to be compulsorily directed by adults. The institution of
childhood should not be regarded as essentially oppressive by the various
stakeholders of child rights protection. Child rights are an intrinsic part of human
rights but child rights basically include their right to association with various
stakeholders of child rights protection. Children are entitled to food, cloth, shelter,
health care, security and other necessities which uphold the child rights regardless of a
child's race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion,
disability, colour, ethnicity, or other characteristics.

3
Dimensions of Child Rights
There are four categories of child rights such as civil, political, social,
economic and cultural rights. The right to survival begins after twenty weeks of
conception. It is inclusive of the child rights to be born, right to minimum standards of
food, shelter and clothing and the right to live with dignity. The right to protection
includes the right of the children to be protected from neglect, exploitation and abuse
at home and elsewhere. The right to participation reveals that a child has the right to
participate in any decision making that involves him/her directly or indirectly. There
are varying degrees of participation as per the age and maturity of the child. The right
to development involves the right of the children to have the right to all forms of
development such as emotional, mental and physical.

1.3 International Standards on Child Right Protection

Children were not considered as an important constituency by the stakeholders
of child rights protection. They were, for the most part, regarded as inferior and
subordinate to adults and childhood was a miserable period of life. The issue of child
rights has been discussed since 1920s internationally. Childhood was regarded as a
relatively sacred part of life among many scholars. The Geneva Declaration of the
Rights of the Child of 1924 clearly indicated that the children also have a right to be
protected from all kinds of abuse and ill treatment in a social environment. The
League of Nations adopted the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924.
It enunciated the child's right to receive the needs necessary for normal development,
the right of a hungry child to be fed, the right of a sick child to receive health care, the
right of a backward child to be reclaimed, the right of orphans for shelter and the right
to protection from exploitation.
UNICEF was established in 1946 as the first major step to safeguard the
interests of the children. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948) recognized the need of motherhood and childhood to special protection
and assistance and the right of all children to social protection. The United Nations
General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the
Child (1959), which enunciated ten principles for the protection of children's rights,
including the universality of rights, the right to special protection, and the right to
protection from discrimination, among other rights. This was indeed the first

4
statement issued by the United Nations for the protection of child rights. It was a kind
of moral direction rather than legally binding framework.
The provisions of that Declaration and its two International Covenants on
human rights adopted in 1966 recognized that children need protection against all
oppressive features and forces. The child rights law is defined as the point where the
law intersects with a child's life. The law basically includes juvenile delinquency, due
process for children involved in the criminal justice system, appropriate
representation, and effective rehabilitative services; care and protection for children in
state care; ensuring education for all children regardless of their race, gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability, colour, ethnicity, or
other characteristics and health care and advocacy.
The issue of girl child was addressed in part by the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted in 1979. The
Government of Poland submitted a draft convention to the Commission on Human
Rights in 1978, prior to the celebration of the 20 th anniversary of the Declaration on
the rights of the child during the international year of the child in 1979. This event
paved the way for a series of collaborative efforts between various international
organizations.
The United Nations Convention on Child Rights Protection (1989) contains
about 54 articles covering a wide variety of rights of protection/ welfare and
autonomy aspects. The UN principles also cover various aspects of child rights such
as – right to life, nationality, freedom of religion and privacy, development of welfare
including a reasonable standard of living, health and education, rights requiring
protective measures and rights of children in special circumstances.
Children are entitled to the same general human rights as adults. The 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 recognizes that children too have
access to human rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the first
legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights
—including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.
Article 12 provides that the child be given the right to express his/her views
freely in all matters affecting him/her (subject to age and maturity), and that in
judicial and administrative proceedings affecting him/her, the child shall be provided

5
with the opportunity to be heard. Article 12 is the cornerstone of the Convention‘s
insistence that children must not be treated as silent objects of concern, but as people
with their own views and feelings which must be taken seriously (Newell, 1991). The
World Summit for Children (1991) was convened in New York in order to take stock
of the universal child rights protection and adopted the World Declaration on the
Survival, Protection and Development of Children and Plan of Action.
Article 12 is the first international document which dealt with the rights of the
children. It stated explicitly that children have a right to have a say in processes
affecting their lives (Freeman, 1996:137). There are several dimensions of child rights
protection. Child rights have been reinforced across the world in accordance with the
provisions of the UN Convention. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child (1989) formulated 54 articles which covered everything from a child‘s right
to be free from sexual and economic exploitation, to the right to his or her own
opinion, and to the right to education, health care and economic opportunity (Rai,
2000).
The National Action Plans for 1991-2000 aimed at reducing infant and
maternal mortality rates, reducing malnutrition and illiteracy, providing access to safe
drinking water and to basic education, combating devastating emergencies resulting
from natural disasters and armed conflicts and solving the problem of children in
extreme poverty. The Conference recommended that the situation of children and
their human rights be regularly reviewed and monitored by all relevant organs and
mechanisms of the United Nations system.
A separate Committee on the Rights of the Child was also established under
article 44 of the Convention which is serviced by the United Nations Centre for
Human Rights in Geneva. The Committee adopted guidelines to help States parties in
the preparation of reports and initiation of suitable intervention programmes. The
United Nations bodies and specialized agencies were enabled to take active part in the
deliberations and provide useful norms and guidelines for the protection of children.
The resolutions and recommendations of the committee serve as the basis for a
national debate on how to improve the enforcement of the provisions of the
Convention. The States Parties can introduce certain mechanism at the national and
local levels to coordinate policies and monitor the implementation of the resolutions
of the Convention.

6
 The issue of child rights protection received universal recognition after reports
of grave injustices suffered by children such as poverty, hunger, malnutrition, high
infant mortality, deficient health care, child labour, child abuse, child trafficking and
child prostitution. Prominent global organizations such as Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), International Labour
Organization (ILO), United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF), World Health
Organization (WHO), United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and a number of
non-governmental organizations, took part seriously in the deliberations concerning
child rights protection.
The World Conference of Human Rights (1993) adopted the modern human
rights law which was later underscored at the 1993 in Vienna. About 178 countries
had ratified the convention during 1995. Many states agreed that there was a need for
a comprehensive principles and practices on child rights protection which would be
binding under international law. It was a welcome development at the global level
from the point of view of child rights protection.
The UNICEF has added a new dimension to child rights protection which
means preventing and responding to violence, exploitation and abuse against children
– including commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, child labour and harmful
traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage. The
child rights protection programmes also target children who are uniquely vulnerable
to these abuses, such as when living without parental care, in conflict with the law and
in armed conflicts. Violations of the child‘s right to protection take place in every
country. Children have to be protected from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect
either by the family members or civil society.

National Legal Systems for Child Rights Protection

The global convention had created new consciousness among the various
stakeholders all over the world about the ways and means of child rights protection. In
particular, the four general principles enshrined in the Convention in articles 2, 3, 6
and 12 had facilitated the identification of national programmes of implementation.
Article 2 deals with non-discrimination, article 3 deals with best interests of the child,
article 6 emphasizes the right to life, survival and development and article 12 covers
the views of the child concerning various aspects of child rights protection.

7
 The Convention prepared grounds for the protection of children and called
upon the parents and states to provide than with appropriate upbringing facilities and
develop suitable child – care institutions. The States were also persuaded to provide
parentless children with suitable alternative care on humanitarian grounds. About five
human rights bodies such as – human rights committee, committee on economic,
social and cultural rights, committee on the elimination of racial discrimination,
committee on the elimination of discrimination against women and committee against
torture were also constituted to monitor the implementation of treaties by States which
have ratified or acceded to the instruments.
The national governments have upheld the principles and practices of UN
Convention on Child Rights Protection (1989) and formulated national policies, plans
and programmes concerning the child welfare and progress. Ideas such as
Ombudspersons or Commissioners, and Ministers for children, while not currently
government policy, are also relevant as schemes which may enhance children‘s rights.
Many national legal systems recognize the limited legal capacity of children relating
to various activities. The states have adopted special codes or laws on the legal status
of the child. Practically, the states have many common futures reflecting the contents
of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
The child‘s wishes and feelings should be ascertained and considered. The Act
strengthened the existing provisions for separate representation of children in public
law proceedings, even though the child‘s position in private law proceedings was less
favourable with respect to the autonomy of the children. The Act paved the way for
enabling the child to initiate legal action on his or her own behalf (Children Act,
1989). The children‘s rights in a moderate sense were extended by the Act and that
children were making use of new powers subsequently.
The social and economic policies of various national governments have
emphasized the government support for children. In the age of globalization, neo-
liberalism wishes the family to take more responsibility for itself from the point of
view of child rights protection. The notion of parental responsibility is also used to
legitimate the state‘s withdrawal from corporate social responsibility. The child rights
need to be examined by the stakeholders of child rights protection in order to make
them a boon for children and liberate them from all oppressive features and forces.
An increasing number of states adopt special codes or laws on the legal status
of the child. It is noteworthy that they have many common features reflecting the

8
contents of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Hence it is important that
the Convention is known and understood by adults as well as by children. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child is to be understood, interpreted and
implemented in the context of all existing international norms in the field of human
rights, including customary contractual, universal or regional norms. All the rights of
the child are of equal importance (Kolosov, 2002).
The international provisions relating to the protection of children‘s rights exist
within various legal systems across the globe. These international laws have been
developed rapidly over a period of time. Several international agreements were
concluded to frame various international customary rules for child rights protection.
All the rights of the child set forth in the Convention should be respected and ensured
by states for each child within their jurisdiction (irrespective of citizenship) without
discrimination of any kind on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or
other status.
Child protection has neither a vaccine nor a universal blueprint for
interventions. Country by country, situation by situation, the systematic factors that
enable violence, exploitation, and abuse against children to continue unchecked—
policies, practices, and the absence of systems and institutions—have to be
understood and addressed. This task is circumstance specific, and highly labour
intensive (Landgren, 2005).
The international convention had set out on rights that must be realized for
children to develop their full potential, free from hunger and want, neglect and abuse.
The Convention and its acceptance by so many countries have heightened recognition
of the fundamental human dignity of all children and the urgency of ensuring their
well-being and development. The child rights are violated in both industrialized and
developing countries. The task, however, must engage not just governments but all
members of society. The standards and principles articulated in the Convention can
only become a reality when they are respected by everyone—within the family, in
schools and other institutions that provide services for children, in communities and at
all levels of administration (UNICEF, 2014).
Child rights protection has become an important challenge and concern all
over the world. International conventions have inspired countries to incorporate
human rights principles into legislation; target child survival and development and

9
widen justice mechanisms for children. America will have to shoulder the crucial
responsibility of restoring their status as human rights leader and bolster their
credibility across the globe. The U.S. ratification of the international treaty would
become a powerful symbol of their commitment to children everywhere (Stern, 2016).
Children continue to suffer from violence, exploitation and abuse across the
world. They are the most vulnerable community in the world because of poverty and
low resilience in life. Children are unable to exercise their fundamental rights to food,
shelter, adequate health services and education. Child rights protection practically
demands sharing resources, knowledge and experience which will have a greater
impact on child rights. The rate of poverty and vulnerability among children in the
less developed country is highest when compared to the children in Europe and
America. Concerted efforts are required to ensure global action for child rights
protection.

1.4 Child Rights Protection in India

Children in India
Inequality has become an unhealthy feature of Indian society despite 70 years
of independence and even after implementation of several development programmes.
Social and economic inequality continues to exist in India. Children and other
vulnerable sections of Indian society have become the worst victims of circumstances.
Child rights are violated due to these constraints manufactured by the system in India.
In reality, about 12.6 million children are engaged in hazardous occupation which has
India is home to the largest population of child labourers under the age of 14.
. Children below the age of 18 years account for nearly 40 per cent of India‘s
population. In reality, enabling all these children to realize their full creative potential
is critical for sustaining India‘s economic growth and accelerating human
development. Millions of children in India continue to face basic challenges of
survival and healthy development since they belong to families and communities that
need to have access to resources and services, as well as capacities to ensure
realization of their rights.
The number of girls in the 0-6 age group is declining in India. For every 1000
boys there are 927 girls in the country. About 20 children out of every 100 are school

10
drop outs. About 70 out of 100 children leave school at the secondary level. There are
about 66 girls out of 100 children who are drop outs. About 65% of the girls in India
are married by the age of 18 and become mothers soon after. India is home to the
largest number of child labourers in the world. India, also is, the world‘s largest
number of sexually abused children.
Children constitute the most vulnerable section of society in India. Socio-
economic conditions are mainly responsible for the violation of child rights in
different forms. The practice of child protection has undergone a significant change
when seen from a historical perspective in India. The Indian Constitution accords
rights to children as citizens of the country. The Constitution encompasses most of the
rights of the children included in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child under
the headings of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. India
has made significant commitments towards ensuring the basic rights of the children.
Despite Constitutional guarantees of opportunity and civil rights, millions of
children face wide-spread deprivation and discrimination. A large part of this stems
from being seen through the lens of adults who make decisions for them, and who
prefer to address their welfare rather than their rights. The children face
discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, ethnicity and religion despite several
constitutional provisions and enactment of laws in India (Thukral, 2004).
India continues to have the highest percentage of child labour in the world.
The existing laws on child labour are not able to prevent children from working in
unsafe sectors and occupations. Children continue to remain at the receiving end in
India even after the enactment of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986 (Ali et. al. 2005).
Indian children lag behind children from other countries in terms of
healthcare, education and other facilities even though India races towards becoming a
super power in the new millennium. Indian children are confronted with malnutrition,
anaemia and other health disadvantages. Educational and health status of Indian
children is not satisfactory according to the human development index. Early marriage
and low immunization are also some of the factors impeding the development of
children in India (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, 2014).
India is home to 472 million children under the age of 0-18 years, comprising
39 percent of the country‘s total population. Out of the 128.5 million children residing
in urban areas, close to 7.8 million children under the age of 0-6 years still live in

11
abject poverty and poor conditions in informal settlements, making it imperative that
we plan and build sustainable and inclusive cities from their perspective. The 2011
Census data was a wakeup call for urgent action, as this indicated that the girl child is
increasingly being excluded – not just from economic development and growth– but
from existence itself (Cool, 2015).
Failure to capitalize on new opportunities will not only leave many millions of
Indians living in poverty - especially the 7.8 million young children growing up in
slums - it will jeopardize the overall economic potential of cities. The solution to the
sprawl, inadequate amenities and lack of proper social infrastructure lies not only in
effective service delivery but in improved planning. The stakeholders of child
development should develop a new perspective to child development in India
(Patnaik, 2016).

Constitutional Provisions
The Constitution of India has accorded certain rights to children as citizens of
the country. The Constitution practically encompasses most rights included in the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child and Directive Principles of State Policy.
Unfortunately, the Directive Principles of State Policy are not justifiable rights under
the present situation. The government is free to undertake suitable legislative and
administrative measures to ensure children‘s rights in India. But, these directives have
enabled the judiciary to give some landmark judgments promoting children‘s rights.
The specific constitutional provisions for the protection of children in India
include:
 Article 14 guarantees equality before law to all citizens including the children.
 An article 15 guarantees right against discrimination and affirms law to one
and all.
 Article 24 states that no child below the age of 14 shall be employed to work
in any hazardous employment.
 Article 29 ensures the rights of minorities for protection of their interest.
 Article 37 ensures that the government be flexible to undertake appropriate
legislative and administrative measures to ensure children‘s rights.

12
  Article 39 (e) of the Directive Principles of State Policy provides that children
of tender age should not be abused and that they should not be forced by
economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their age or strength.
 Article 39 (f) of the Directive Principles of State Policy 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 of the Directive Principles of State Policy provides for free and
compulsory education for all children until their complete the age of 14.
 Article 46 recognizes the right of weaker sections of the people to be protected
from social injustices and all forms of exploitation.
 Article 47 provides the right to nutrition and standard of living and improved
public health.

Government Policy and Laws

The Government of India has enacted certain laws to protect the interest of
children before and after independence. Prominent among them include -
 Reformatory Schools Act, 1897
 Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929
 Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933
 Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956
 Children Act, 1960
 National Policy for Children in 1974
 Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986
 Infant Milk Substitutes Act, 1992
 Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles & Infant Foods (Regulation of
Production, Supply & Distribution) Act, 1992
 National Nutrition Policy 1993
 Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000
 National Policy for the Empowerment of Women 2001
 Infant Milk Substitutes Act, 2003
 Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles & Infant Foods (Regulation of
Production, Supply & Distribution) Amendment Act, 2003

13
  Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005
 Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2006
 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012
 National Policy for Children 2013
 National Early Childhood Care and Education Policy 2013
These policies were formulated with a view to ensure women‘s safety,
protection and empowerment, improving child sex ratio, ensuring child protection and
preventing and reducing maternal and child under nutrition and controlling anaemia.
There was a shift of focus from child welfare to child development. The policy was
intended to ensure effective services for children in the areas of education, health,
nutrition and recreation with special emphasis on the weaker sections of society. The
Government of India has taken a number of measures related to child rights protection
and child development in India. The Ministry of Women and Child Development was
established on a full-fledged basis.
The National Plan of Action for Children (NPA) was prepared by the
Government of India under the title ‗A Commitment to the Child‘ with a focus on
various target groups of vulnerable children and called for improved protection of
these children. The plan was indeed an outcome of an inter-sector, inter-department
coordination and covered areas of health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education,
children in need of care and protection, girl child adolescent girls, children and
environment, women advocacy and people‘s participation, resources monitoring and
evaluation.
The National Plan of Action for the Girl Child was formulated during 1991-
2000 by the Government of India in order to ensure the survival and protection of the
girl child, safe motherhood, overall development of the girl child and special
protection for vulnerable girl children in need of care and protection. The vulnerable
groups of children included – street children, orphaned, abandoned and destitute
children, working children, abused children, children who are victims of commercial
sexual exploitation and trafficking, children engaging in substance abuse, children in
conflict and disaster situations, children in families at-risk, differently able children,
mentally ill children, HIV/AIDS affected / infected children and juveniles in conflict
with the law.

14
 The National Charter for Children (2003), National Plan of Action for
Children (2005) and enforcement of the National Commissions for Protection of
Child Rights Act (2006) were formulated and established with a view to protect the
interest of children in India. The National Plan of Action was mainly responsible for a
comprehensive study of child abuse and initiation of the amendment of law on child
marriage. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill (2006) enhanced the punishment for
those who involved in child abuse and child marriage activities.
The various five year plan documents also emphasized the need and
importance of child development in the country. The Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79)
ensured the integration and coordination of services after the implementation of
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in 1975. The Sixth Five Year Plan
(1980-85) strengthened child welfare and development processes in the country which
led to the spatial expansion and enrichment of child development services through a
variety of programme. The Eight Five Year Plan (1992-97) saw a shift of focus from
child development to human development through advocacy, mobilization and
community empowerment. The Government of India declared its commitment to
every child development in the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002).
The Tenth Five Year Plan (2003-2007) advocated convergent / integrated
rights based approach to ensure the survival, development, protection and
participation of children. Certain progressive measures such as reduction in gender
gaps, literacy promotion, reduction in infant mortality rate, reduction in maternal
mortality rate, arresting the decline in the child sex ratio, internationalization of ICDS
scheme and so on were implemented all over the country. The Eleventh Five Year
Plan (2007-12) emphatically stated that ‗development of the child is at the centre of
national development approach‘. The plan document emphasized the child rights
based approach and highlighted the holistic approach to child development in the
country.
The most prevalent risks are sexual and/or related to other forms of aggressive
behaviour, while commercial and value oriented risks currently play a marginal role
in child rights protection. There is an imminent need for more research and capacity
building, both in the developing and developed world for effective child rights
protection (Gasser, et. al. 2010).
The child labour has become an important concern for the policy makers in
India. Media have reported that children are employed in the industrial houses and

15
organizations in unorganized sector in proportionate to their age and capacity. The
legislations and statutes were made to prohibit the mal practice of child labour.
Today, there are sufficient statutes condemning and prohibiting child labour such as -
The Factories Act of 1948, The Mines Act of 1952, The Child Labour (Prohibition
and Regulation) Act of 1986, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children
Act of 2000, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009,
Integrated Child Protection Scheme, 2009, Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana,
2010, Integrated Child Development Scheme, 2012 and Rashtriya Bal Swasthya
Karyakram, 2013. The authorities are required to do constant policing of
implementation of existing laws in order to protect the rights of children in India
(Nigam, 2015).
The increased crime rate against the children, even after enacting so many
laws and implementing them, has raised an alarming concern all over the world as
children are being misused for fulfilling some people‘s illegal purposes. So along with
various laws, it is also our social responsibility to take care of the children and to
protect their rights in India and rest of the world (Indian Child, 2015).

Child Rights Protection in India

The children are treated in India as holders of rights on par with other citizens.
Child rights in the family, school and community are examined by the scholars, policy
makers and other stakeholders of child rights protection. The family is the core unit of
society and the major source of development of children. An enriching and nurturing
family life is essential in the protection of child rights and development of child‘s
personality. The stakeholders have also realized that there is a need to integrate
various policies to strengthen the family as a unit, enhance child development in the
family and prevent child destitution. The school is also another important institution
which is responsible for child rights protection. The educational institutions are
required to focus on compulsory universal elementary education, strengthen the
school system, reorient curricula and promote girl child and other vulnerable groups
of children. The community is also responsible for protecting the interest of children
through dissemination of information, awareness generation, training, documentation,
publication, lobbying, policy development, mobilizing resources and monitoring the
progress.

16
 It is mainly because of the increasing tendency of people including parents,
guardians and teachers to abuse and exploit children that the attention of the entire
world community has been drawn towards this problem which is gradually assuming
alarming proportions. India has ratified the UN Convention and stands committed to
protect her children against all forms of abuse and exploitation. India has provided
protection to children by enacting two specific pieces of legislation namely, Juvenile
Justice Act, 1986 and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986.
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 (Narula, 2005).
Persistent child abuse creates a number of problems in the personality of the abused
child. The problem of child abuse, particularly in terms of child labour, child sex
abuse and organized involvement of children in begging and drug trafficking has
become fairly wide-spread in the country and it has taken the form of a burning social
problem (Singh, 2008). The scholar has discussed the issue of prevention of child
abuse in India extensively.
Despite constitutional guarantees, government‘s schemes and allied child
development initiatives, a vast majority of children in India are still suffering from
series of hazards and deprivations. Child rights activists in India have noted that
millions of children face wide spread deprivation and discrimination mainly due to
adult centred decisions and actions concerning child rights protection in India. The
media report increasing instances of child abuse and child exploitation despite
constitutional guarantees and civil rights. The growing number of ‗poor children‘,
‗working children‘ and ‗marginalized children‘ indicates the existing sorry state of
affairs in the country with respect to child rights protection especially in the age of
privatization, liberalization and globalization. Violations of child rights occur more in
respect of the children representing the poor and downtrodden communities as
compared to middle class and upper class children.
The children do not constitute a homogeneous community in India which is
divided into different categories based on social and economic divisions. The
approaches of the government basically remain welfare centred and child rights are
examined from the point of view of adults rather than children. The governmental
initiatives are indeed adult-centred but not child-centred in letter and spirit. The
Indian laws are also either child friendly or child-oriented since family laws make

17
distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children depending on the status of
their parent‘s marriage or relationship.
The children are not enjoying the benefits of universal education, basic
education and vocational education in India. A large number of children in general
and girls in particular dropout of school due to various reasons. An examination of
state policies and programmes reveals that child education in India suffers from series
of constraints and limitations. There are more number of children who have the
benefit of access to mainstream schools which are not properly equipped in terms of
men and materials. The Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2003 has also attracted
Sever criticisms of the educationists and activists for several lapses and constraints.
The recent 93rd Amendment bill intends to make education a fundamental right of the
children.
The health of Indian children continues to be a matter of grave concern,
especially in the age of globalization. The privatization of health services has caused a
death blow to the health and progress of a vast majority of Indian children who
represent socially and economically weaker sections. There is increasing
environmental degradation and pollution which have led to deterioration in children‘s
health. The children are suffering from food crisis, starvation, malnutrition, health
disorders and other constraints. There is no specific law which addresses the issue of
public health in India. The primary health care system still remains malnourished in
India. The population policy continues to remain as children unfriendly. There is no
mention of child health in the National Health Policy, 2000 and other health
programmes of the central and state governments.
The children in rural and urban areas continue to work in hazardous working
conditions even though The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was
enacted in 1986. The Act leaves out a large range of activities that children are
engaged in and are exploited and abused. The child trafficking has assumed an
alarming proportion in India. The adoption of children continues to be determined by
religion, caste, colour, creed and other extraneous factors which impede the progress
of children. The personal laws of the religions do not allow healthy adoption of
children who are victims of circumstances. The instances of selling of babies from
poor families are reported in the media frequently. Many children are homeless or
living in unhealthy conditions on account of displacement in the name of development
and progress. In times of natural calamities, the children are worst affected.

18
 Child participation in the process of child rights protection programmes is yet
to become a reality in India. The child‘s right to participation as not being actualized
in India mainly due to lack of political will and social activism. The children have to
go a long way before the inclusion of children‘s participation is internalized and
accepted widely in a developing country like India. Most of the children are not aware
of their rights, constitutional safeguards, government policies, welfare measures and
other activities. The right to education, the right to expression, the right to
information, the right to nutrition, the right to health care, the right to protection from
abuse, the right to protection from exploitation, the right to protection from neglect,
the right to development, the right to recreation, the right to name and nationality and
the right to survival are not fully and properly guaranteed to the children of India for
various reasons.
The plummeting sex ratio in India clearly reveals that the very existence of the
girl-child is under threat. The female – male balance in India has been adverse to
females for at least 100 years. The juvenile sex ration in the 0-6 age group has fallen
down over a period of time in India. The re-emergence of infanticide is taking a heavy
toll in the country due to lack of political will and social responsibility. About 50% of
Indian children aged 6-18 do not go to schools and that the dropout rates increase in
case of boys and girls after the secondary level in India. Many children drop out after
the elementary level due to several factors. Prominent among them include –
economic backwardness of the parents, inadequate school infrastructure, poor quality
of education, gender unfriendly educational system, disabled-unfriendly services,
caste-discriminatory education and so on. Hence, the right to children‘s education is
not fully honoured.
The children are not encouraged to express their views in a free and fair
atmosphere within and outside the family because of their tender age and other
limitations. Most of the children in India are not allowed to enjoy their right to
expression. In the age of information explosion and right to information, most of the
children representing the under privileged section of society are not in a position to
exercise their right to information.
A majority of the children representing socially and economically weaker
sections of the society are facing the problems of hunger, starvation, ill health,
malnutrition and so on. They are deprived of their right to nutrition. The child
malnutrition is generally caused by a combination of inadequate are inappropriate

19
food intake, gastrointestinal parasites and other childhood diseases. A majority of
Indian children do not receive any form of vaccination, remain anaemic and suffer
from low birth weight in the country.
About 50% of the below the poverty line families in India are out of the
purview of the targeted public distribution system. Many families and children in
India are facing the problem of food insecurity. The direction of Supreme Court of
India to provide adequate and nutritious food to the citizens and children assumes
great significance in order to enable the people to stay alive and healthy. Child health
care facilities are not decentralized in the country. Children are also suffering from ill-
health due to lack of public health services in remote and interior regions of the
country, poor access to subsidized healthcare facilities, declining State expenditure on
public health, lack of awareness about to prevent to child healthcare and other
constraints. India has the world‘s largest number of sexually abused children. They
are subjected to both physical and mental abuse. They are not fully guaranteed the
right to protection from abuse.
India is home to the highest number of child labourers in the world. The
children are made to work by compulsion and not by choice. The parents also sell
their children for employment in hotels, workshops, brothels and domestic work.
There is more number of children who are not protected from various forms of
exploitation. The children working under exploitative and inhuman conditions are not
loved and protected. The children are neglected by the parents, relatives and other
members of the society. The unfavourable and inhuman living conditions of under
privileged children are responsible for the deprivation of the right of the children to
development.
A majority of the poor and needy children in India do not enjoy the right to
spend time on recreational pursuits like sports, entertainment and hobbies in India. A
vast majority of underprivileged children in India are treated like commodities and
exported to other countries as labour or prostitutes. They are deprived of their right to
name and nationality. The children die in good number between the age of 1-5 due to
poverty, ill health, malnutrition, gender discrimination and other problems. They are
not in a position to enjoy the right to survival due to several social and economic
constraints.
Millions of Indian children are deprived of their rights to survival, health,
nutrition, education and safe drinking water. It was reported that about 63% of

20
children go to bed hungry and 53% of them suffer from chronic malnutrition. About
147 million children live in kuchcha houses under miserable conditions while about
77 million do not use drinking water from the tap. About 85 million are not
immunized and another 27 million are severely malnourished and under weight.
About 72 million children in India between 5-14 years do not have access to basic
education. The girl child is the worst victim of circumstances in Indian society
(UNICEF, 2005).
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been incorporated into national
legislation around the world. The national governments have successfully
incorporated the norms and guidelines of the convention into diverse legal systems.
There is an improved alignment of national legislation with human rights instruments
with a focus on child rights protection across the globe. As such it provides
practitioners with a tool for supporting the legal aspects of implementation of the
CRC as a foundation for implementation overall (UNICEF, 2007).
The children have a right to live with dignity and self-respect. Poverty, lack of
access to education, nutrition, health, prevalence of violence and abuse against these
groups compound their vulnerabilities to trafficking. The Government of India has
accorded the highest priority to combating trafficking and in this process adopted a
multi pronged, multi stakeholder approach to tackle a problem which is primarily
multi dimensional in nature (Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2008).
Policy approaches are needed that address both the income and non-income
dimensions of children‘s deprivations. Continued neglect of material, human and
psycho-social dimensions of child well-being can prevent children from living a full
life and from making informed decisions later on in their life. India too would miss
out on the dividends that can accrue from a full expansion of children‘s capabilities
(Bajpai, 2010).
Child rights and its accordance is the pillar for national construction, a brighter
tomorrow (Shehla, 2012). Children have the right to practice their constitutional
rights, to obtain education and live at par with others in the society, without facing
any discrimination. The Right to Education Act is a tool for a child to obtain his right
to elementary education and is an important medium to bring all children, who are
still out on the roads, to school by the year 2013. The Act pays equal emphasis on
good quality education (Paul, 2013). In India, the Child Rights Day is celebrated every
year on November 20 to take stock of the situation and explore new possibilities of

21
child rights protection. It is a nationwide programme which is intended to create
awareness among the various stakeholders of child rights protection.
The court directed the district administration and child welfare committees at
the district-level to ensure that proper legal procedure is followed while bringing
children from other states. The judgment squarely fixes the responsibility of the state
in ensuring the fundamental rights of the child. The courts have duly recognized that
every child as an integral part of the state and the role of the state in ensuring their
integral rights of protection, survival and their development. The judgment has
ensured a check on the ever mushrooming orphanages which have become centres of
exploitation since they are managed by the vested interests (Raju, 2015).
Despite some recent positive momentum, the pace of progress in realizing
women‘s safety, protection and empowerment has not been adequate. The recently
formulated Draft Nation Action Plan for children (NPAC), critical for achieving
monitor able targets for child survival, development, protection and participation, is a
major step in this direction. The latest schemes of the Government of India have also
addressed the criticality of ensuring the prevention and management of diseases,
through universal access to health care in the National Health Mission and ensuring
hygiene, sanitation and universal access to safe drinking water through Swachh
Bharat. The Indradanush programme aims to achieve full immunization coverage for
all children in the country by 2020 (Cool, 2015).
In spite of numerous statutes, conventions and Acts to safeguard the child
rights in the country, cases of frequent child trafficking, kidnapping, physical assaults,
sexual abuses, deprivations, hunger, illiteracy and after-all emotional insecurity occur
unabated due to lack of awareness and commitment on protection of child rights.
There is an urgent need for stringent laws to deal with irrationality among the humans
arises. Every citizen of the country is responsible for ensuring that children around
him/her are safe and protected. It is the ardent responsibility of the related government
and non-government agencies to spread mass awareness on child rights to the people
through continued mass media campaigns across the state (Neken, 2016).
The Constitution of India provides a comprehensive understanding of child
rights. A fairly comprehensive legal regime exists for their implementation. India is
also a signatory to several international legal instruments including the Convention of
the Rights of the Child (CRC). The government has adopted the approach of child-
well being rather than active child rights approach in the post independence era. The

22
inclusive growth must begin with children and women- breaking an intergenerational
cycle of inequity and multiple deprivations faced by women and girls, as related to
poverty, social exclusion, and gender discrimination and under nutrition. The child
rights activists are faced with challenges of promoting and protecting rights as a
positive social value. The judicial activism has also enabled the children to avail
necessary amenities, facilities and protective measures from the state.

1.5 Stakeholders of Child Rights Protection

Integrated child development demands active involvement of various
stakeholders. Government, civil society, educational institutions, non-government
organizations, media institutions, law and order organizations, health care institutions,
corporate houses, local community, parents, teachers and others are required to play a
decisive role in the process of child right protection in modern society. The United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) identified the various
stakeholders of child rights protection across the globe and called upon them to put
forth integrated efforts for the protection of child rights.
The Constitution of India provides series of safeguards for the protection of
child rights under the Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy.
Series of legislations such as Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 also provide for
the care and protection of the rights of the children there are certain judicial
pronouncements which have highlighted the role of educational institutions,
government organizations, media organizations and non-government organizations in
the protection of child rights in India. There are specific safeguards to the children
rights from media onslaughts in India.

Intervention of State
The legislature is responsible for making laws that would benefit the citizens
of the country. Parliaments are responsible for representing the interests of all sectors
of society, articulating these interests into relevant policies and making sure that these
policies are implemented efficiently. The executive is responsible for the
implementation of the government policies and programmes. The judiciary examines
the omissions and commissions and safeguards the interest of the people. The media

23
institutions are known as the fourth estate of a democracy. They are also the voice of
the people in a democracy.
The term ‗government‘ applies to all organs of state at national, provincial
and local levels. The government institutions have an obligation to respect, protect,
promote and fulfil the rights of the children. The children are entitled to have their
rights fulfilled regardless of region, religion, race, creed, caste, gender and so on. The
governments are also responsible for taking special measures to check the
discrimination of marginalized children in society.
The legislature is responsible for meaningful legislating for child protection.
Scholars have noted that parliamentarians should ensure suitable national legislative
standards which offer the best possible protection for children from violence, abuse
and exploitation. The state is primarily responsible for formulating suitable policies,
facilitating institutional reform, training of professionals, mobilizing social action and
modification of attitudes and social values which are essential to achieve the goal of
child protection in a civil society. The national constitution also contains progressive
child protection principles and practices. The experts have also designed certain
parliamentary mechanisms and governmental intervention programmes in order to
fulfil the obligations of the state with regard to child rights protection. Some countries
have also established national commissions on children over a period of time.
The governments must align the laws of their country with international or
regional treaties. Most governments are very good at taking legislative measures, but
are less good at delivering programmes that translate the child rights into realities.
The plans should be drafted jointly with civil society actors and coordinate the work
of government at all levels. The result would be locally integrated development plans
that show how the range of duty bearers can partner to improve children‘s rights
delivery (Jamieson, 2008). The scholar has emphasized the role of government in the
protection of child rights.
In times of need, the government should also act as a mediator of intra-family
disputes. The government should play a crucial role in setting the ground rules for
family dissolution and the restructuring of the post-divorce family. The government
has an obligation to protect children from the damaging economic and emotional
effects of parents‘ divorce. The children should be enabled to have good contact with
both parents and gain adequate moral and material support for their growth and
development. The government should also strike a meaningful balance between the

24
rights of children and privileges of parents in times of family disputes including the
divorce.
The Government is responsible for amending existing laws and enactment of
new laws in order to protect the interest of children. There is also a need for uniform
definition of child in the context of age in order to create infrastructure and train the
required human resources to implement the National Plan of Action for Children. The
government is called upon to ensure that all the laws pertaining to children are strictly
implemented within a proper time frame. The government is also required to make
adequate budgetary provisions to fulfil its commitment to children and launch suitable
campaigns for the dissemination of information about child rights protection in the
country.
India is home to the largest number of children in the world. The diverse
socio-economic, cultural and geographic conditions of the country result in diverse
needs of children. It is necessary to facilitate mind-set changes and address long
standing social norms and traditions that violate the rights of children. Inclusive
growth must begin with children and the fulfilment of children‘s rights through
nurturing and protective policy, programme, and community and family
environments. There is widening gap between the children of developed families and
under – developed families in India. This gap needs to be addressed so that evidence-
based policy-making, planning, programme design and programme review are
enabled (Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2011).
In India, the number of children needing care and protection is huge and
increasing. Uncontrolled families, extreme poverty, illiteracy result in provision of
very little care to the child during the early formative years. In India, the State should
ensure that all vulnerable children have access to school, basic health care, nutrition,
besides social welfare and juvenile justice systems. These child protection systems
can contribute to break down cycle of inter-generational poverty and exploitation.
The state is responsible for undertaking appropriate legislative,
administrative, social and educational measures to prevent and protect children from
maltreatment. In the last two decades, the government has taken several steps for
child rights protection but there is a wide gap between policy and implementation.
The government should increase the funds for effective implementation of child
development programmes. The officials should also ensure that Governmental funds
are properly utilized (Seth, 2013).

25
 There has been a flurry of activity on the personal law front in our country in
the recent past. The issue of child custody continues to languish as a neglected corner
of our jurisprudence. There are certain matters which are complicated by a legal
process that does not view legal guardianship to be conterminous with physical
custody of a child. Usually mothers win custody battles in our country. The Supreme
Court of India has consistently held that in deciding cases of child custody the first
and paramount consideration is the welfare and interest of the child and not the rights
of the parents (Jayant, 2013). The higher judiciary in India should formulate a specific
set of guidelines on the matter to ensure justice to the children.
Government naturally plays a crucial role in the areas of social service and
human development. The government has the direct contact with citizens who are
responsible for active participation in child rights protection. It is necessary to
generate enforceability procedures and spaces for proposals through which all of
society, not just the government, commits to guaranteeing basic rights of the citizens
and children. The child development strategies acquire social sustainability if they are
appropriated by people (Osvaldo and Seiras, 2014).
The government has recognized the different approaches of the devolved
administrations and the challenges of child rights protection in order to achieve a
coherent overarching implementation of the Convention. The recent moves in the UN
to encourage greater parliamentary involvement in its human rights machinery are
welcome trends in regard to child rights protection. The legislative actions particularly
with regard to the children and families have facilitated better child rights protection
in the United Kingdom (Joint Committee on Human Rights, 2015). The government
has to identify the best practices in consultation with the experts and beneficiaries for
child rights protection.
The government has put in place measures to try and address the increasing
violence against children across the country. The national child helpline enables the
children to seek necessary remedies in times of emergency. There are family and child
protection units at all police units that can immediately respond to any reported
violation of the children‘s rights. There are trained police officers, probation officers
and community development officers to intervene in times of need. Child protection is
still not viewed as a core development ingredient which can enhance national social
economic development. Adequate stakeholders and resources are required to
effectively work and eradicate the vice of child abuse in India.

26
 The government has the responsibility of setting humane standards for the
protection of child rights in accordance with the UN Convention. The Convention
calls for government action to promote the health, education and welfare of children.
The central message of the Convention is that every child deserves a fair start in life
without any discriminatory tendencies. The government has the moral duty and
responsibility of protecting the rights of the children through effective implementation
of welfare programmes. The government has to establish law and order institutions to
ensure early prevention and intervention services for the benefit of children. The
government should have adequate support initiatives by placing the child‘s best
interest prominently and create a nurturing environment, free from violence. The
government should also cultivate the culture of community involvement and enlist
active people‘s participation in the child rights protection programmes.

Intervention of Civil Society

The role of civil society in the promotion and protection of human rights has
gained increasing attention of the scholars and various stakeholders. Children status in
society, among many other factors, also means that they are more vulnerable to sexual
abuse and other forms of violence and exploitation and they do not have any political
inconsistency to represent their interests (Sandeep and Madhumati 2003). The civil
society has a major role to play in the protection of child rights in modern society.
In transgressing the traditional concepts of state centred international regimes,
the new approach adopts a perspective that goes beyond nation states and takes into
consideration these non-governmental actors in the form of global public policy
networks. The notion of global civil society therefore reflects cross boundary
networks and relations of private actors and their interests (Fuchs, 2007). The global
civil society also symbolizes a space of social self-organization within the triad of
state, market and the private sphere.
The civil society can also play a decisive role in raising public awareness
about the prevention of child rights violation and promotion of child rights. The civil
society can also be an effective forum for the participation of the children in various
progressive activities concerning the child rights protection, according to the report of
Save the Children Sweden and the International Bureau for Children‘s Rights (2008).
The bifurcated pattern of civil society engagement entailed the adoption of
divergent policy frames on children's rights at the Commission level and limited the

27
Europeanization effects at the domestic level. The fallout of civil society stakeholders
regarding EU internal policy has undermined the Commission's capacity to translate
the abstract principles contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into
concrete measures for child rights protection (Lusmen, 2012).
The children of the poorer countries suffer from hunger, malnutrition, child
mortality, and disease, lack of basic education, abuse and exploitation. The civil
society has to play an important role at the community level to protect the rights of the
children. The Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka carried out child protection and
development programmes including nutrition, health care and psychosocial
development. No top-down programmes will benefit the children if they do not take
civil society into full confidence and engage their full participation in child rights
protection activities (Ariyaratne, 2014). The governments should also give full
freedom to voluntary and field sector organizations to be partners in the fight against
injustice imposed on children.
The issue of guardianship systems for child victims of trafficking has attracted
the attention of various stakeholders of child rights protection. The civil society plays
a crucial role in the protection of child rights. The policy makers and civil society
representatives are required to prepare grounds for implementation of various child
rights protection programmes in modern society (Human Rights Monitoring Institute,
2014).
An empowered civil society is a key indicator of the sort of open, inclusive
and accountable governance, which is necessary for the realization of children‘s
rights. The child rights activists are committed to safeguarding the space that exists
for civil society actors and to dedicating resources towards the further expansion of
civil society space. There is a need for an enabling environment for children as actors
in civil society. Safeguarding civil society space is not an easy task in modern times
(Save the Children, 2015). The social activists have to continue to champion the role
of civil society in working for children and their rights across the world.
The civil society can monitor the implementation of child rights centred
preventative and protective community based services. Advocacy for child rights
protection should begin under the banner of civil society. The civil society should also
be encouraged to develop partnership with the responsible state institutions in order to
meet the emotional, physical and social development needs of children (Reena, 2016).

28
 The government is prioritizing aspects of policy and framing issues of
children‘s rights in ways that contrast with the discourse of civil society
organizations. The state-centric and bureaucratic model is not conducive for the active
participation of civil society in child rights protection. The civil society organizations
have to adapt their action repertoires in order secure greater progress in the realization
of children‘s rights in North Africa (Chaney, 2017).
The civil societies can prevail upon the government and non-government
organizations for development of networks and strengthening their capacity for the
empowerment of children. Efforts are made in various developing countries for the
active involvement of civil society in the protection of child rights. The civil society
can also facilitate meaningful networking, advocacy, mainstreaming and sustainability
of child rights protection and child development.
The civil society can sensitize the government to fulfil Constitutional
directives and implement the various provisions and programmes relating to the
protection of child rights. The civil society can play a vital role in increasing the
budgetary provisions to implement child development programmes. The civil society
can exercise checks and balances to the participation of children in unorganized sector
as labourers. The members of the civil society can contribute writings to the media on
real instances of child abuse or child rights violation. The civilians should also take
active part in the rehabilitation of the exploited children. The civil society has the
responsibility of launching innovative child protection programmes in modern times.

Intervention of Family
The basic institution in society for the survival, protection and development of
the child is the family. The UN Convention reflects different family structures arising
from various cultural patterns and emerging familial relationships. The Convention
refers to the extended family and the community and applies in situations of nuclear
family, separated parents, single-parent family, common law family and adoptive
family. Such situations need to be studied in the framework of the rights of the child
within the family. As a matter of fact, the civil rights of the child begins within the
family which has an important role to play as to the right of the child to be registered
with a name, to a nationality and so on.
The socialization and acquisition of values are developed within the family for
freedom of expression and association, for privacy and discipline and for the child not

29
being subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The scholars
have also upheld that the family is an essential agent for creating awareness and
preservation of human rights and respect for human values, cultural identity and
heritage and other civilizations.
The privacy of the family automatically confers on parents the ability to make
correct and informed judgments with respect to the responsible upbringing of the
children who are the future citizens. The committee also concluded that the children‘s
rights will be meaningful in the context of the rights of parents and other members of
the family – to be recognized, to be respected and to be promoted (Committee on the
Role of the family in the promotion of the rights of the child, 1994).
Children have a right to have their basic needs met – including their needs for
food, clothing, medical care and housing. Children also have a right to be educated
and trained for independent citizenship. They have a right to bodily integrity and to be
protected from harsh treatment and exploitation. The parents should also learn to
respect children as human beings and remain open to learn from children regarding
the protection of child rights. The parents should also provide them space and
freedom of expression and treat their children as equal partners (United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). The parents should also consult their
children regarding the delivery of children-friendly goods and services at home.
The intervention of the government becomes imperative in times of abuse and
neglect of the children by their parents. The parents should teach certain humanitarian
values and behaviours to the children in order to enable the children to understand the
basics of human life and adapt themselves to the environment. The children should be
enabled by their parents to enjoy the educational rights and make intelligent choices
of their own for future progress. The children should also be enabled to enjoy the
benefits of food security, nutrition, healthcare and allied facilities at home.
The children are seen as the responsibility of their parents with the State
offering only limited support to parents in their parenting role. They are affected by
the outcomes of policies that are developed to meet the needs and rights of others,
such as women, employers and trade unions. The UNCRC offers a framework within
which such a move could be planned, implemented and evaluated. There has been a
noticeable increase in reference to children‘s rights in policy documents and comment
over the last decade in various countries (Hayes, 2002). There is a need of protection

30
towards developing strategies that encourage the protection of the rights of all
children with their active involvement in the process.
There is a need to uphold children‘s rights and the human rights of all
members of the family to ensure child welfare and child protection in modern society.
The state is responsible for promoting a balanced and complementary set of services
across the child–family policy divide. The stakeholders of child rights protection
should be guided by a set of principles that adhere to international human rights,
social as well as civil (Henricson and Bainham, 2005).
The child rights are inextricably linked to the rights of the family and there is
no explicit Constitutional recognition of children as rights-holders independent of
their parents. The UN Convention was unequivocal about the importance of the
family to the child, role of parents and duty of the state regarding child rights
protection. The importance of parents and family to a child‘s development and well-
being is widely accepted all over the world (Kennan and Keenaghan, 2012).
The parents should protect the child‘s rights by creating positive environment
in the home and children must get an opportunity to live comfortably and realize their
full potential in life. Their natural development rests on proper nurturing of their
innate abilities. Families can support the care and development of children, discuss
with children issues affecting them, and report child rights abuses to the local
authorities. The parents should encourage them to put forward their views before the
adults and the community (Gupta and Lata, 2013).
The modern parents can shape their children‘s digital identity by using new
communication technologies. The social media and blogging have dramatically
changed the landscape facing today‘s children as they come of age. The parents act as
both gatekeepers of their children‘s personal information and as narrators of their
children‘s personal stories. A conflict of interest exists as children might one day
resent the disclosures made years earlier by their parents (Steinberg, 2016). Scientific
evaluation of potential legal solutions to this issue offers a set of best practices for
parents to consider when sharing about children online.
All people including children have a right to learn well and live well. The state
should provide children and youth with a nurturing environment for the full
realization of their rights and capabilities. The children should be enabled to realize
their rights and capabilities. There is need to stimulate interdisciplinary and cross-
national collaboration and approach to various family issues (Abhuja, 2016).

31
 The parents are required to function as children‘s agents in the great outside
world. They should also function as the true guides in the transition from infancy to
adulthood. The parents have certain obligations towards their children and carry out
their social responsibilities as the true ‗trustee‘ of the child‘s welfare. The convention
as also called upon the parents to guide the child in actualizing his / her rights,
consistent with the child‘s evolving capacities. The parents are also responsible for
protecting the best interest of the child by balancing the interests of one child against
those of another in the family. The child‘s welfare and the welfare of the family go
hand in hand.
The implementation of the Child and Family Welfare Policy requires a well-
defined institutional framework to translate the goals and objectives into actual
programmes at national, regional, district and community levels. It requires political
leadership and commitment to sustain and support the reform of the Child and Family
Welfare System. The government is responsible for formulating child and family
welfare programmes and activities to more effectively prevent and protect children
from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Intervention of Educational Institutions

The schools inflict corporal punishment on students for various reasons and
most parents beat their children. In the name of discipline, children are physically ill-
treated and humiliated. The time has come to re-examine the saying 'spare the rod and
spoil the child‘ Children are the most vulnerable members in society. A teacher‘s role
in the life on an individual crucial and a good teacher occupies a very significant
place in the minds of young students. After parents, it is the teacher who influences a
child most, and contributes to the shaping of his or her personality.
The important stake-holders are the teachers, the children, the parents and the
community, the education departments and the State. The idea of ‗positive discipline‘
techniques concentrate on reinforcing positive behaviour of children. It is based on
the idea that children are born without knowing about the expectations of the society.
Positive discipline is considered to be a nonviolent approach which respects the
inherent dignity of the child, and seeks to find solutions based on child‘s evolving
capacities. It is an approach to teaching that gives them information and supports their
growth based on their age specific needs. A community social audit of the school will
increase awareness amongst the community about the school practices, regularity of

32
teacher attendance and teaching, condition of school amenities, etc. (Working Group
on Corporal Punishment, 2008). The educational institutions have an obligation
towards the children, parents and society.
The children continue to be the most vulnerable section of modern society.
Most of the children representing poor, homeless children; children with special needs
and minority ethnic groups are the victims of child rights protection. The teachers and
other educationists are required to educate the children about their rights by using the
interactive technologies including children‘s website about bullying. The Internet and
social media can be used for the purpose of undertaking information campaigns for
parents on the damage alcohol or drug influenced neglectful behaviour can cause
(European Union, 2011).
Children in every society are deprived of their rights by parents and teachers
beating children in the home and classroom or discriminating against them because of
their caste, religion or physical and intellectual inability. Children can be subjected to
neglect, abuse, violence and exploitation anywhere. There is some abuse that may
happen inside the school premises, while a lot of it is what children suffer at home
and in non-school environments. The children should receive the very best protection,
opportunities and assistance in order to ensure them the best future (Gupta and Lata,
2013).
The teachers also have a significant role to play in promoting child rights by
providing leadership to students in research and other curricular and co-curricular
activities. They can play a significant role by enabling the teachers and teacher
educators at all the levels to have conceptual clarity about child rights so that they can
further the cause of children. The academic institutions should also integrate child
rights in the curricula of schools and colleges. These institutions should also plan and
organize activities in schools and colleges to create awareness and promote child
rights in association with Government Organizations and non-government
organizations. The academic institutions are also required to sensitize the various
stakeholders of child rights protection and familiarized them to the remedial
measures. The academicians should also organize series of campaigns against child
trafficking, child abuse and violation of child rights. The teachers should also educate
the parents on healthy aspects of parenting and caring for children.
The growing interest in the realization of children‘s rights has focused
particularly on the implementation of Article 12 of the UNCRC (1989) within

33
educational context. Adoption of inclusive policy would prevent the marginalization
of children who are the most vulnerable section of society. The educational
institutions have a corporate social responsibility of protecting child rights through
constructive ideas, norms and practices (Robinson, 2014).
There is a challenge in getting policy alignment to support CRE from
government down to schools. Many states do not have adequate legislation or policy
frameworks in place to enact child rights education. The teachers and policy makers
need to be conscious of how children‘s rights are embedded in other subjects and/or
projects. In most other countries implementation was judged to be mixed, both with
regard to the number of schools where school councils operated and the type of
participation they facilitated for child rights protection (Jerome, 2015).
A combination of law and strong policy initiatives has given a strong thrust to
the protection and welfare of children in India. The Government has introduced
several schemes for the development and welfare of the Children. Of those, the two-
fold Schemes that concentrates on the development and well-being of the children are;
Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) and Integrated Child Protection
Scheme (ICPS). The state Governments and the respective education Departments
have directed the educational institutions for the functioning of child rights clubs,
Child Rights protection committees, and other safety measures to ensure care and
protection for children (Pushpam and Solomon, 2016). Hence it is imperative for
every teacher to be aware of the many prevailing social evils which impact adversely
on the development of children, and also of the legal provisions which exist and
which can help in safeguarding the interests of the child.
The educational institutions should enable the children to learn in a safe and
respectable environment. Schools need to provide an environment where child rights
are promoted and protected. Schools should notice when a child might be unsafe
outside school, and take steps to make them safe. Schools should enable the children
to reach their full potential, regardless of their background. Experience demonstrates
that improvements in education quality go hand-in-hand with inclusion and access,
flexibility, quality and responsive learning environments for the benefit of children.
The educational institutions should include marginalized groups like disabled
children in educational endeavours. The educationists and service providers should
develop inclusive education practices, focusing on disabled children in schools. In
developing countries, the children are prevented from growing up in a healthy

34
environment due to lack of political will and civil society support. The children are
the central actors in changing environmental awareness and learning how to adopt an
environmentally friendly lifestyle. It is not possible to meet the ecological challenges
facing the stakeholders of child rights protection in the new millennium without
strengthening the normative and institutional foundations of child rights protection.

Intervention of Non-Government Organizations

The NGOs are the third force all over the world since they have played an
active role as instruments of development. The NGOs have also taken the lead and
strengthened the initiatives for the protection of child rights. Scholars have also
examined the relationship between the NGOs and child rights protection and noted
that NGOs have implemented the projects to facilitate the rehabilitation of the
children who are subjected to human rights violation. The studies have reported that
conduction of research can supply intervention programmes and policy document
with significant information and understanding regarding trafficking in women and
children.
The NGOs should sensitize key stakeholders i.e. parents, teachers, community
leaders, medical practitioners, law enforcement officers, judiciary and children about
children rights. These agencies should also enhance capacity of selected stakeholders
including the representatives of the government and non-government organizations
about issues concerning child rights. The NGOs are also required to play a major role
in the transformation of the lives of children who are subjected to child abuse or
violation of child rights. The activists of NGOs should also report the crime against
the children to the law and order agencies. They should also work actively on
prevention of crimes against children and rehabilitation of the victims.
The children struggle for their survival and development during their
formative years. Sixty per cent of the world‘s children live in the Asian region. There
are gaps between the underprivileged and the wealthy children across the region. The
weak implementation and enforcement of relevant laws remains pervasive throughout
the region. The non-government organizations and national coalitions create a vibrant
fabric within most Asian societies. These organizations have put forth untiring efforts
to mobilize actions of various stakeholders of child rights protection (Sekulovic,

35
2010). These groups are required to produce resources and practical tools for
monitoring the implementation of child rights.
A large number of NGOs are working in the field of child welfare and child
protection. However, because of the huge numbers of children requiring protection,
their efforts can make only a marginal impact. However, they should coordinate their
child welfare activities and need to work together. They also need to oversee
implementation of various government measures that are already in place (Seth,
2013). The crucial ones include basic right to health, education, infant and young
child development and prevention of child abuse and neglect.
The modern non-government organizations have to undertake constructive
social welfare works including child rights protection. The organizations must spend
in areas like literacy, women empowerment, environment, water, sanitation, child
rights etc. These organizations are dependent on corporate houses which are major
source of strategic resources (Save the Children, 2016). The NGOs and corporate
houses should work together and achieve the goals of child rights protection and child
development in modern times.

Intervention of Media Institutions

Media institutions are the fourth estate of democracy, informal university and
opposition party outside the parliament. Media professionals are also called upon to
assume the role of watch dogs of public interest in a democracy. The communications
media have to play an effective role in different contexts toward protecting child
rights. The media professionals have a social obligation to create public opinion and
sensitize various stakeholders on several issues or cases concerning the child abuse or
exploitation.
Media can create mass awareness about significant issues pertaining to child
rights such as compulsory registration of birth, providing health care, reducing
malnutrition and exploitation and abuse of children through publishing articles,
special features, interviews, case studies in print media, airing radio jingles, songs,
series of programmes on issues related to children, telecasting spots, special features,
serials to project child rights, producing films, documentaries, feature films on
children‘s issues, curbing misuse of children in advertisements on TV and films and
creating public opinion to prevent violence against children and value the girl child.

36
 The media have some influence in helping to construct people‘s knowledge of
child abuse – of its extent, characteristics and cultural meaning. But no matter how
limited the base of media ownership nationally, and indeed internationally, the media
are not monolithic, playing out a pre-determent party line and child protection which a
gullible public then acknowledge en masse. The main coverage about child rights
violation came not from newspapers but popular magazines. The dominant media
accounts were responses to a radical feminist influenced analysis of child sexual
abuse. The real issue of power became the witch-hunt of these families, and
particularly fathers, by the state and powerful families. The media coverage focused
on stories of men falsely accused. Harm to children was presented as occurring
through wrong diagnoses of child abuse. Child protection researchers and
practitioners have much to contribute to this field (Atmore, 1996).
The children are addicted to the social networking without understanding the
implications. It is common among the school students to create a page on their teacher
on a social networking site in order to make fun of themselves or others. The children
are also exposed to pornography which might incite children to act out sexually
against other children. The social networking sites should be governed by the law of
the land in which it operates. The most important thing is that new policies and social
networking are required to check the menace of child abuse (Kesavamoorthy, 2003).
India needs to sign memorandum of understanding to ease the process of the
investigation with other countries.
The journalists act as the eyes, ears and voices of the public and draw attention
to abuses of power and human rights. They can encourage governments and civil
society organizations to effect changes that will improve the quality of people‘s lives.
Their writings expose the plight of children caught up in circumstances beyond their
control. The way in which the media represents, or even ignores, children can
influence decisions taken on their behalf, and how the rest of society regards them.
The media often depicts children merely as silent ‗victims‘ or charming ‗innocents‘
(Jempson and Searle, 2005). The media professionals can remind the public that
children deserve to be respected as individual human beings. The media professionals
have an obligation to respect children‘s human rights, in how they operate and how
they represent children. It is important to plan carefully for children‘s involvement in
all forms of media production so that everyone understands what can and cannot be
done.

37
 The effect or impact of the media on child is in multi-levels – positive and
negative impact and as general and specific impact. The media also leads to positive
reforms and adjudications which protects the rights of the child. The negative impact
of the media is the influence of the media in such a way that it corrupts the child
viewers and does evil than good. The media portrayal of crimes is exaggerated many
a time. The pornography is readily accessible to youngsters through Internet and
movies.
The media portraying violence and sex has an influence on the young minds.
The cable television has produced a harmful influence on young persons. The present
day television serials also teach the young boys and girls modern techniques of
deviance and ways to achieve high goals in life and earn money. The media should
educate the stakeholders of child rights protection about various legislations and
judicial decisions which prevent the irresponsible role of the media in child rights
protection (Premkumar, 2008).
The new media have contributed to some level of empowerment of rights
holders to becoming ‗chief advocates‘ of their rights. They have also strengthened
advocacy efforts with them, and by them, not necessarily for them, as in the past. The
use of the new media accentuated the voice and the image of the children with more
children being seen and heard, different from traditional context where children can
only be seen and not heard (Oluseyi, 2010).
The international development institutions have emphasized the critical
importance of the mass media in enhancing supportive a public attitude to human
rights issues. The new media platforms offer considerable opportunities for achieving
three main elements of child rights agenda: child participation, service provision and
protection of young people. The new media contributed to the narrowing of the digital
divide between rural and urban youth with respect to their participation rights. The
new media are used for mass mobilization and strategic engagement of various
stakeholders of child rights protection. The development agencies and NGOs in
Nigeria are running social media and hotline projects to provide care and support for
children and women who are victims or survivors of human rights violation (Fayoyin,
2011).
The public and private television channels should teach the children modern
techniques of deviance and ways to achieve high goals in life and live a life free from
exploitation and discrimination in the new millennium. Television has powerful

38
influence on the lives of contemporary children who are the future builders of nation.
The future agenda for broadcasters must deal with the corporate social responsibility
of media and integrated development of children through meaningful broadcasting
services (Nabi, 2012). The provision of decency or morality is far more a safeguard to
the rights of children in India and elsewhere.
Many of the creative, informative, interactive and participatory features of the
digital environment remain substantially underused even by well-resourced children.
The untapped opportunities to benefit from the Internet are particularly challenging in
lower income countries and among socially excluded groups of children. The Internet
may compound offline risks and negative experiences by children, such as unwanted
sexual solicitation, bullying and harassment and exposure to pornography and other
potentially harmful materials (Livingstone and Bulger, 2013). The UNICEF can
develop an agenda for children‘s rights in the digital age to ensure a sufficient
evidence base on children‘s engagement with ICT for policy and action worldwide.
The young journalists are trained in the art of reporting. They are unlikely to
reach much of an audience beyond those who are already very aware of and interested
in child rights. It is therefore crucial to broaden the outreach of youth-generated
content to new audiences in order to strengthen its wider impact on the public debate
(Burton, 2014).
A patronizing attitude towards children and youth severely limits the space
that children get in the mainstream media. There is an absence of meaningful, realistic
and socially relevant media coverage or information flows on child rights issues. The
reporting on child rights and children‘s issues is not widely recognized as a
specialized field. This neglect starts right from journalism school and extends to
almost all newsrooms. Increase of children‘s media literacy levels and those of
children/youth could amplify the voices of children in the media (Inter news Europe,
2014).
In addition to addressing issues of child protection in the online space, policy
and governance should now ensure children‘s rights to access and use digital media
and consider how the deployment of the Internet by wider society can enhance
children‘s rights across the board. Any innovation must recognize that one in three
users (or more or less) is likely to be a child — both an independent rights-holder and
a legal minor possibly lacking adequate parental or state protection. The Internet
governance principles, discourses and practices must, therefore, be reshaped to

39
accommodate this knowledge (Livingstone et. al. 2015). The online media publish too
much personal information about the children. The parents are concerned about the
well being of their children in the wake of new media revolution and harmful effects
of new media on children. The parents should be very careful of understanding what
their children have put in online (Wiggins, 2016).
The media have to sensitize the stakeholders of child rights protection through
proper reports, analyses, criticisms and other constructive suggestions. The media
should also educate the people about various constitutional, legal and governmental
provisions for the protection of child rights. The media are criticized for their
onslaughts all over the world. The provision of decency or morality is far more a
safeguard to the rights of children. The media should also enable the children to
access information and material from a diversity of national and international sources.
The media should also protect the privacy and identity of the child victims and
prevent inappropriate dissemination of information that would lead to the
identification of child victims.
The media professionals have a social responsibility of reporting the real cases
of child abuse, child labour, child trafficking and child exploitation in order to bring
the culprits to the book and ensure rehabilitation of victims of child rights violation.
Scholars have commonly opined that the children should be protected from the
negative or monster face of the media. The law and order agencies, professional
organizations and judicial institutions should ban harmful advertisements, porn and
adult only material. The various stakeholders should also take up issues of media
violation of the rights of child and campaign strongly against it. Effective checks and
balances are required to stop the media transgressions into the realm of child rights.

Intervention of Law Enforcement Agencies and Judiciary

The law and order organizations have a social responsibility of protecting the
rights of the children with due respect to the principles of UN Convention and
constitutional obligations. The judiciary also plays an important role in the protection
of fundamental rights of the citizens including the children (Basu, 1996). The
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000 aims at the protection of children
below the age of 18 years and clearly states that Juvenile offenders shall be segregated
from adults and be accorded treatment appropriate to their age and legal status. The

40
court in Sheela Barse v/s Union of India observed that children in jail are entitled to
special treatment since they are national assets.
The law enforcement authorities and judicial personnel should sensitize police
personnel at different levels, personnel of juvenile homes and lawyers about child
rights. The courts have also rightly held that the right of the child to development
hinges upon elimination of prostitution. The Supreme Court in Vishal Jeet v/s Union
of India observed that it is highly deplorable and heart rending to note that many
poverty stricken children and girls in the prime age of youth are taken to the ‗flesh
market‘ and forcibly pushed into ‗flesh trade‘ in utter violation of all cannons of
morality, decency and dignity of mankind. The courts have also directed the state to
rehabilitate the child prostitutes in a proper manner. There are several instances which
demonstrate the active judicial activism to protect the children from various types of
exploitation.
They should also orient the above-mentioned personnel to treat children with
respect and compassion. These authorities are required to assume the role of watch
dogs of child interest and provide necessary social security and support to the children
who are in need of such services. The judicial organizations are also responsible for
speedy disposal of marital disputes and respect the perspective of the children with
regard to the choice of custody and child rearing. The judiciary should also protect the
children and their caretaker from any kind of intrusion. The intra-family disputes
should not threaten the family autonomy in general and the future of affected children
in particular. The vindication of children‘s rights depends on a delicate balance
between government intervention and family autonomy. The child rights become
meaningless if the judicial organizations fail to rise to the occasion and protect the
interest of the needy children.
Many states have taken legislative measures to address the problems of
children in conflict with the law according to the recommendations of the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child. There is the lack of implementation of the
improved law and regulations due to lack of political will and social commitment. In
future, more systematic attention should be paid in order to bring it in compliance
with the CRC and the UN Standards. There is a need for substantial improvement in
the practice of juvenile justice in many States parties to the CRC. The juvenile justice
system should be reformed in full compliance with the CRC (Alianza, 2004).

41
 The goal of the justice for children approach is to ensure that children are
better served and protected by the justice system. It specifically aims at ensuring full
application of international norms and standards for all children who come into
contact with justice systems as victims, witnesses and alleged offenders; or for other
reason where judicial intervention is needed for example regarding their care, custody
or protection. This can be achieved by ensuring children‘s access to justice, to seek
and obtain readiness in criminal and civil matters. Access to justice can be defined as
the ability to obtain a just and timely remedy for violations of rights as put forth in
national and international norms and standards, including those set out in the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (Musonda, 2010).
The minor dependent children are a non-factor in sentencing and statutory
visitation guidelines. There is no formal mechanism for family status or dependent
children to come to the attention of a judge. The interest of children is not factored
into criminal justice determinations involving their parents. The fact that parent-child
visitation can help children overcome the challenges of parental separation and reduce
recidivism rates. International law offers a range of approaches to children's rights
that may provide a basis for children to claim a relationship with incarcerated parents
(Boudin, 2011). Children must have a voice, either by themselves or through
representation while factoring the interests of the child into the criminal justice
processing of parents and suggesting possibilities for change.
The judiciary plays an important role in the protection of fundamental rights of
the citizen and non-citizens alike. The Constitution of India provides the basis for
child rights protection. The Directive Principles of State Policy have adequately
provided constitutional protection to the children of Indian society. The judiciary has
called upon the government to ensure that children do not engage in hazardous work.
There are specific decisions where the judiciary had shown enough courage to uphold
the interests of the children and spared no one to improve the working conditions of
the child workers (Bhosle, 2011).
The judiciary has always made concrete efforts to safeguard them against the
exploitative tendencies of their employer by regularizing their working hours, fixing
their wages, laying down rules about their health and medical facilities. The judiciary
has even directed the states that it is their duty to create an environment where the
child workers can have opportunities to grow and develop in a healthy manner with
full dignity in consensus of the mandate of our constitution.

42
 The problem of child trafficking cannot be handled in isolation but requires
vigilant policing, civil society support, government intervention and active
involvement of other stakeholders of child rights protection. The non-government
organizations can act as a watchdog on government programs for controlling child
trafficking which is a pernicious and long standing social ill in India (Sambhar and
Ray, 2012).
There is need for legal reform which is in conformity with the convention on
the rights of the child, and ensures that newly developed legislation protects all
children irrespective of their status in the country. The child‘s rights should be part of
educational curriculum so that children have knowledge of their rights from school
(Obiechina, 2014). The communities and non-governmental organizations should
embark on programmes including advocacy and social services on child‘s rights.
Corporal punishment needs to be prevented in the home, care settings, day
care, schools, penal institutions and other places. The corporate punishment has
affected the morale and well being of the children. There is a distinct need for
legislation to repeal provisions which allow corporal punishment in schools and other
places. The teachers need to be trained on the consequences of severe punishment and
alternative methods of disciplining students (Childreach International, 2014). The
media should be involved to disseminate information and educate people about the
dangers of physical and emotional and abuse and promote positive ways of
disciplining and raising children.
Child abuse is a multidimensional problem that requires a multidisciplinary
team approach for successful intervention. The law enforcement, CPS, mental health
workers, medical personnel and attorneys must communicate and coordinate with one
another. A child‘s best interests can be served only when the various professionals
who are involved understand and respect each other‘s roles. The law enforcement
authorities should be knowledgeable about their state statutes and local guidelines
(Holder Jr., et. al., 2014). Adequate training, sensitive and consistent application of
established policies and procedures is essential for an effective alliance in the
protection of child rights.
There is a well established co-relationship between poverty and children
coming in conflict with law. The law and order authorities should be actively
involved in the process of diversion partners in all regions/ provinces. Studies have
also underlined the need for extensive training of all participants in the child justice

43
system

44
in order to eliminate the maltreatment of children in contact with the law. The
judiciary is responsible for the protection of child rights through proper
implementation of legal guarantees and safeguards which are set forth in relevant and
national and international standards. The child friendly courts should be established in
order to conduct trails of children in a manner that reinforces their respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms of others.
The children may be involved in the justice system in either civil or criminal
proceedings. There is need for framing guidelines to make the judicial proceedings
child-friendly. The issues and concerns need to be examined from the perspectives of
the professionals involved and children affected by the unhealthy developments.
Further, focus needs to be brought to bear on those professionals operating in the
justice system to ensure that they are appropriately skilled and trained in dealing with
children and cases concerning children (Shannon, 2016). The judicial process should
have the child‘s best interests at its core.
The child rights protection policies are made across the globe with due respect
to various judicial pronouncements which have upheld that the child has the right to
be fed and to live, to be reared and educated, to have the opportunity of working and
of realizing his or her full personality and dignity as a human being. The child support
issues are normally handled by local courts with the help of private attorneys. The
parents need support for establishing the paternity and obtaining necessary benefits.
The states must also enter into cooperative arrangements with courts and law
enforcement officials to assist the child support agency in administering the program.
Adequate reporting system, monitoring system and administrative system should be
created by the state for effective child rights protection.

Intervention of Health Organizations

The extent of childhood morbidity and mortality in the developing world
caused by several conditions should be understood by the health professionals.
Modern health strategy combines improved management of childhood illness with
aspects of nutrition, immunization, and disease prevention and health promotion
elements. Conscious and systematic efforts are required to reduce deaths and the
frequency and severity of illness and disability and to contribute to improved growth
and development.

45
 The programme planning, including the selection of indicators and the setting
of targets should be designed in consultation with experts and veterans. Integrated
approaches to child health development deserve support at various levels. They
should not be seen, automatically, as a convenient way of reducing expenditure
(Tulloch, 1999). The medical and Para medical professionals are called upon to
diagnose the ills of child development and prescribe suitable Medicare facilities
which would protect the children against disease and disorders. They should also play
a major role in the implementation of constitutional provisions, welfare measures and
allied programmes which would safeguard the interest of children.
The state is responsible for ensuring that children‘s voices are heard in the
healthcare setting. There is a need for auditing the education and teaching curricula of
a range of health professionals in modern times. The health professionals have the
responsibility of understanding the perspective of children and implement the health
programmes which directly benefit them. Future research is essential to understand as
to what extent the children with disabilities are listened to in the healthcare setting
(Kilkelly and Donnelly, 2006).
The benefits for health professionals in learning to use the norms of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child would ensure the minimization of diseases and
health hazards of children. The children's health needs are changing and
paediatricians‘ priorities will have to change with them. The paediatricians transcend
the geography of their practice and confront with child health issues rooted in a global
society. The investment in the health and development of children will pay significant
dividends for the stakeholders of child rights protection including the health
professionals (Waterston and Goldhagen, 2007).
The child-friendly health care facilities are required in modern health
institutions. The active participation of children in the legal and policy making
activities is essential in order to have the voice of children heard and taken into
account in matters that affect them. The health professionals should design the
delivery system in consultation with the experts and children (Kilkelly, 2011). The
child-friendly nature of the health care setting to children across the globe would
facilitate children friendly development and delivery of health care services.
The Human Rights Council (2012) focused on the right of the child to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. It had prepared grounds for
close collaboration with relevant stakeholders. The civil society organizations and

46
networks, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), scholars, research institutions
and policy think tanks, private sector businesses, community movements, children
and youth organizations were invited for discussions in order to receive inputs for
implementing children‘s right to health across the globe.
The policy makers have not properly understood the need for incorporation of
traditional health teachings and practices into programs committed to children‘s rights
to health. The starting point for child health policy should be the traditional system
with a focus on the basic good, positive elements. More time should be devoted to
teaching parents and everyone directly or indirectly associated with the upbringing of
children including nurses, medical students and junior doctors (Tagoe-Darko and
Gyasi, 2013).
The healthy growth and development of children is crucial to the future of any
society. Health and wellbeing are an integral part of the child‘s right to life, survival
and development. Children have the fundamental right to health without distinction of
race, religion, and political belief, economic or social condition. The state has the
responsibility of mainstreaming the rights based approach to health and nutrition of
children in modern times. The health professionals have the social responsibility of
promoting the health security of children across the globe.
The prevention of childhood obesity demands greater awareness and analysis
of the obligations under the rights to health and play. In light of the lack of clarity of
state obligations, it is recommended that the committee on the CRC takes a leadership
role in further elucidating and crystallizing the obligations of States Parties. A rights-
based approach has its foundation in international law, not beneficence or political
ideology. The UN initiative can support public health by providing additional tools to
motivate governments to act to achieve public health goals and reframe health
concerns into political claims, and a social movement that can press such claims. The
child rights allow that full responsibility should not be placed on parents; the state,
schools and media also have obligations in fulfilling the rights to health and play (O‘
Cathaoir, 2016).
The stakeholders of child rights protection should enhance the investment on
existing and new health interventions in order to facilitate better health system for
women, children and other vulnerable sections of society. The health workforce is a
critical area for investment since health system needs to be reformed in terms of

47
programme management, human resources management, infrastructural development,
health information system management and good health governance.

Intervention of Corporate Houses

Corporate Social Responsibility has become an institutionalized obligation of
modern corporate houses. There is a recognition that CSR should be congruent with
the mainline business strategies of the corporations and should not be seen as a
nonstrategic, public relations type of exercise. The Indian Corporate sector has
adopted certain healthy practices for child rights protection. Though the initiatives are
specifically targeted at children, the approach is still very welfare oriented (Karkara,
2007). Today more and more consumer goods industries especially either western
multinationals or those having western links seem to have adopted a cohesive strategy
which addresses the issue of child labour from a child rights perspective.
The CSR initiatives of modern corporate houses simply follow the welfare
approach. The programmes seldom involve children as social actors and partners in
their own development. These organizations should build partnerships with the
government and civil society institutions to make the initiatives more effective. They
should enter into a dialogue with some of the companies having a very progressive
outlook both in its management philosophy and CSR initiatives (Godbole, 2007).
They must adopt healthy practices of other houses in order to achieve the goal of child
rights protection and enhance their reputation in modern times.
The business policy and action can have a very significant impact – both
positive and negative – on children‘s rights. The impact is felt through policies and
practices in the workplace, the products they produce and how they market them, and
the way they act in the communities in which they operate. The use of aggressive
marketing may exploit children‘s vulnerability since the unsafe products in the
marketplace can be dangerous for children. Proactive steps need to be taken to make
children aware of non-judicial mechanisms available to them (Sheahan, 2011). The
children should be informed of progress at all stages of the process giving due weight
to the child‘s maturity for effective protection of child rights.
The corporate social responsibility deals with the protection of the quality of
life of people and planet for future generations. It is indeed a child-friendly concept
which matters most in the present times. The large corporations have undertaken the
marketing activities which are consistently and deliberately targeted at children in a

48
way which puts their lives at risk. The continuous stream of stories in the media of
human rights abuses of children in supply chains should alert us to the fact that
business can and does pose many threats to our future generations (Cohen, 2012). In
the age of globalization, the corporate houses are required to demonstrate Corporate
Social Responsibility by providing children-specific goods and services. These
corporate houses are also responsible for creating necessary opportunities for the
empowerment of children is association with government agencies and non-
government organizations.
The recent survey on the role of corporate houses in child rights protection
reveals a different picture. During the last couple of years, the corporate houses have
resorted to corporate engagement beyond the philanthropic approach. These houses
have become more aware of the rights of the children which are an important focus as
part of sustainability. The corporate houses have not accorded a high priority for child
rights protection which is revealed by the budgetary allocations and implementation
of child rights centred programmes (Smedley, 2013).
The business activities adversely impact the rights of children more than
adults. Modern corporate houses have not given a serious thought to the positive and
negative impacts they cause indirectly on child rights through suppliers, customers
and other business partners. They have not realized the fact that children are both
rights holders and stakeholders as companies interact with them on a daily basis as
workers, consumers and community members. The incorporation of children‘s rights
into business policies and codes of conduct is often limited to child labour. The
corporate houses have to prioritize focus areas for children‘s rights based on its
assessment of impact, materiality and stakeholder relationships (Rutgers, 2013).
Consideration of the rights of children should be integral to any Corporate
Social Responsibility strategy or policy. The companies should keep in mind that
respecting and protecting children‘s rights extends far beyond the use of child labour.
A robust CSR strategy should reflect a comprehensive understanding of the many
ways by which businesses may adversely impact children‘s rights. The children
should have access to clean water, sanitation, food, or health care which affect a
child‘s growth and development. The CSR principles illustrate that companies can
impact the rights of the child through actions in the workplace, the marketplace, the
community, and the environment. The corporate houses should contribute to the
elimination of child labour, including in all business activities and business

49
relationships. Developing and implementing strategies or policies to protect the rights
of children can improve a company‘s reputation and reduce its risk of liability
(Stewart, 2015).
The protection of child rights and ensuring equal opportunities to them
required a strong and robust partnership between public and private agencies. The
parents, teachers, members of civil society, NGOs, volunteers, philanthropists,
international development partners, media and corporate houses have to play
their constructive role towards promotion and protection of the rights of children
(Hussain, 2016).
The child rights can be protected on the basis of active stakeholder
engagement which is a never ending mission. The state should interact with the
affected groups and other relevant stakeholders for designing suitable strategies for
child rights protection. Constant monitoring and evaluation of child rights violation
can effectively contribute to potential or actual impacts on children‘s rights. The state
should therefore consider children as a priority stakeholder group since they are the
most vulnerable population, requiring specific attention. The organizations or
individuals who are in close contact with children should create opportunities to
promote a positive group dynamic in the present times.

1.6 Summary
A new generation of social workers has emerged on account of scientific
social work management in the world. The present study evaluates the role of various
stakeholders in the protection of child rights with special reference to Karnataka state.
The children are regarded as subjects or actors with a set of interest which they can
and should define and defend for themselves. The scholars have made the distinction
between protectionist and liberationist approaches to child rights. The United Nations
Convention on Child Rights Protection (1989) contains about 54 articles covering a
wide variety of rights of the protection/ welfare across the globe. The global
convention had created new consciousness among the various stakeholders all over
the world about child rights protection. The children constitute the most vulnerable
section of society in India. The socio-economic conditions are mainly responsible for
the violation of child rights in different forms. The practice of child protection has
undergone a significant change when seen from a historical perspective in India.

50
There are specific constitutional provisions, laws and programmes for the
achievement of the goals of child rights protection and child development in India.
The organizations or individuals who are in close contact with children should create
opportunities to promote a positive group dynamic in the present times.

51