An Initiative for the Wellbeing and Protection of India's Children
CHILD RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Children are first human beings and Human Rights apply to them as well. Child Rights are rights exclusively for children, over and above their Human Rights. Needless to say, in the case of a child, child rights precede human rights.
Let's Understand
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 23 states that, “everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”
However this wouldn’t apply to a child because Art 32 of the UNCRC states that “It is right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”
Secondly, the cause of a child rights violation is always external to the child. It is assumed that a child below 18 years lacks the maturity and judgement to make an informed decision for him/herself, thus making him/her extremely vulnerable and dependent on adults. The source of most child rights violations can be traced to a fault in the child’s ecosystem and the stakeholders within it.
Let's Understand
The violation of a child's right to education which is a function of thediscrimination, neglect, ignorance, inability to send a child to school due to reasons of poverty or lack of other resources. It could also be a failure of the public education system. The child cannot be held
responsible for not being able to receive an education.
In case of children in conflict with law too, the child is often under the influence of external factors, beyond his/her control, to commit the act. It could be peer pressure, neglect, poverty, trauma or abuse, mostly always a response to the child rights violations s(he) has encountered.
OFFENCES AGAINST CHILDREN
For a better understanding, we have categorised specific Child Rights Violation into three broad behaviours:
Theories on child rights include neglect as a form of abuse. However, it is the most common violation amongst all strata of society and is often invisible to the offenders. From ignoring or compromising on the needs and rights of a child to abusing him/her, neglect is the beginning on any child rights violation. If the child receives the care, attention and security he is entitled to, the scope for any offence is negligible. In order to highlight the need to address neglect, we will tackle it separately.
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An act against a child usually occurs as more than one of the above violations. For example, gender inequality will lead to discrimination and neglect of the victim. Similarly, a child in need of care and protection who has been abandoned or has run away is likely to be a victim of discrimination, neglect and some form of abuse. Therefore it is important to note that they are very closely linked with each other.
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If we take into consideration human rights and child rights, the offences against children are numerous. However, following are some common violations prohibited by the UNCRC and The Constitution of India.
Some Common Offences Against Children in our Society
