Role of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

Role of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

                                                                              Dr. Shubhangi Rathi

Associate Professor,Head of political Science Dept.

Smt. P.K. Kotecha Mahila College, Bhusawal

            After establishment of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in India, children are suffering from various problems like health, nutrition, safe drinking water etc. This commission tries to solve such problems on its level. This commission tries to protect child rights as well as aware people in such manner. But yet such problems stand ahead of the society. The Indian Constitution has given rights to children for overall development. So in this paper the focus is on the role of National Human Rights Commission for protection of child rights.

India is a party to the UN declaration on the Rights of the Child 1959. Accordingly, it has adopted a National Policy on Children in 1974. The policy reaffirmed the constitutional provisions for adequate services to children, both before and after birth and through the period of growth to ensure their full physical, mental and social development. 

Status of Children in India:

As per the UNICEF (2005) report on the state of the world’s children under the title “Childhood under Threat”, speaking about India, states that millions of Indian children are equally deprived of their rights to survival, health, nutrition, education and safe drinking water. It is reported that 63 % of them go to bed hungry and 53 % suffer from chronic malnutrition.  The report says that 147 million children live in kuchcha houses, 77 million do not use drinking water from a tap, 85 million are not being immunized, 27 million are severely underweight and 33 million have never been to school. It estimates that 72 million children in India between five and 14 years do not have access to basic education. A girl child is the worst victim as she is often neglected and is discriminated against because of the preference for a boy child.

India's National Plan:

India is a signatory to the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children. In pursuance of the commitment made at the World Summit, the Department of Women and Child Development under the Ministry of Human Resource Development has formulated a National Plan of Action for Children. Most of the recommendations of the World Summit Action Plan are reflected in India's National Plan of Action- keeping in mind the needs, rights and aspirations of 300 million children in the country.

The priority areas in the Plan are health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and environment. The Plan gives special consideration to children in difficult circumstances and aims at providing a framework, for actualization of the objectives of the Convention in the Indian context.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights:

The government is taking action to review the national and state legislation and bring it in line with the provisions of the Convention. It has also developed appropriate monitoring procedures to assess progress in implementing the Convention-involving various stake holders in the society. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005). The Commission's Mandate is to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Meaning of Child:

                  According to international law, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years. This is a universally accepted definition of a child and comes from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), an international legal instrument accepted and ratified by most countries. India has always recognized the category of persons below the age of 18 years as distinct legal entity. That is precisely why people can vote or get a driving license or enter into legal contracts only when they attain the age of 18 years. Marriage of a girl below the age of 18 years and a boy below 21 years is restrained under the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929. Moreover, after ratifying the UNCRC in 1992, India changed its law on juvenile justice to ensure that every person below the age of 18 years, who is in need of care and protection, is entitled to receive it from the State. As per the child rights charter, a universal definition of "child" includes all persons under the age of 18. 40% of India's population is below the age of 18 years which at 400 million is the world's largest child population

Child Rights Act, 2005:

The NCPCR believes that child participation is integral to addressing child rights. Therefore the Commission facilitates children’s participation to enable children to access their rights and entitlements. The Rules of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 under Rule 17(e) and (d) mandates that the Commission:

·        Ensures that the work of the Commission is directly informed by the views of children in order to reflect their priorities and perspectives

·        Promotes respects and seriously considers the views of children in its work and in that of all government departments and organizations dealing with children.

Functions of Child Rights Commission:

The Commission’s functioning is also informed by Article 12 of the United Nations Child Rights Charter indicating that,“States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views, the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”. Children are active stakeholders in defining and deconstructing their problems and addressing their vulnerabilities.

The Commission encourages child participation in each one of its interventions. For example, during its state visits, the Commission emphasizes the need to listen to children in public hearings. When children feel shy and need greater privacy, the Commission has maintained a space for children to speak with confidence and comfort. There is a response in contacting such children and after conducting an enquiry, the matter is settled in the best interest of the child, while, at the same time, the institutions are dealt with firmly.

In its interaction with children who have taken the courage to bring to the notice of the Commission matters regarding violation of their rights, it has been found that they have been patient, tolerant and even magnanimous. They have shown a sense of justice and amicability, despite the adversities they have faced. While the Commission honours complaints from children with utmost seriousness, children have also shown remarkable maturity in utilising the Commission’s space as their own.

The Constitution of India about Child Rights:

The Constitution of India guarantees all children certain rights, which have been specially included for them. These include:
1) Right to free and compulsory elementary education for all children in the 6-14 year age group (Article 21 A).
2)  Right to be protected from any hazardous employment till the age of 14 years (Article 24).
3)  Right to be protected from being abused and forced by economic necessity to enter occupations unsuited to their age or strength (Article 39(e)).
4)  Right to equal opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and guaranteed protection of childhood and youth against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment (Article 39 (f)).

Besides these they also have rights as equal citizens of India, just as any other adult male or female:

·        Right to equality (Article 14).

·        Right against discrimination (Article 15).

·        Right to personal liberty and due process of law (Article 21).

·        Right to being protected from being trafficked and forced into bonded labour (Article 23).

·        Right of weaker sections of the people to be protected from social injustice and all forms of exploitation (Article 46).

Child Rights: 

The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines basic rights of children covering multiple needs and issues. India endorsed it on December 11, 1992.

Following are a few rights in the immediate purview of Smile Foundation as well as India.

v  The right to Education: 50% of Indian children aged 6-18 do not go to school
Dropout rates increase alarmingly in class III to V, its 50% for boys, 58% for girls.

v  The right to Expression: Every child has a right to express himself freely in which ever way he likes. Majority of children however are exploited by their elders and not allowed to express.

v  The right to Information: Every child has a right to know his basic rights and his position in the society. High incidence of illiteracy and ignorance among the deprived and underprivileged children prevents them from having access to information about them and their society.

v  The right to Nutrition: More than 50% of India's children are malnourished. While one in every five adolescent boys is malnourished, one in every two girls in India is undernourished.

v  The right to Health & Care: 58% of India's children below the age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And 24% of these children do not receive any form of vaccination. Over 60% of children in India are anemic. 95 in every 1000 children born in India, do not see their fifth birthday. 70 in every 1000 children born in India do not see their first birthday.

v  The right to protection from Abuse: There are approximately 2 million child commercial sex workers between the age of 5 and 15 years and about 3.3 million between 15 and 18 years. They form 40% of the total population of commercial sex workers in India. 500,000 children are forced into this trade every year. 

v  The right to protection from Exploitation: 17 million children in India work as per official estimates. A study found that children were sent to work by compulsion and not by choice, mostly by parents, but with recruiter playing a crucial role in influencing decision. When working outside the family, children put in an average of 21 hours of labour per week. Poor and bonded families often "sell" their children to contractors who promise lucrative jobs in the cities and the children end up being employed in brothels, hotels and domestic work. Many run away and find a life on the streets.

v  The right to protection from Neglect: Every child has a right to lead a well protected and secure life away from neglect. However, children working under exploitative and inhuman conditions get neglected badly.

v  The right to Development: Every child has the right to development that lets the child explore her/his full potential. Unfavorable living conditions of underprivileged children prevent them from growing in a free and uninhibited way.

v  The right to Recreation: Every child has a right to spend some time on recreational pursuits like sports, entertainment and hobbies to explore and develop. Majority of poor children in India do not get time to spend on recreational activities.

v  The right to Name & Nationality: Every child has a right to identify himself with a nation. A vast majority of underprivileged children in India are treated like commodities and exported to other countries as labour or prostitutes.

v  The right to Survival: Of the 12 million girls born in India, 3 million do not see their fifteenth birthday, and a million of them are unable to survive even their first birthday. Every sixth girl child's death is due to gender discrimination.

Observation about National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

In order to ensure child rights practices and in response to India’s commitment to UN declaration to this effect, the government of India set up aNational Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The Commission is a statutory body notified under an Act of the Parliament on December 29, 2006. Besides the chairperson, it will have six members from the fields of child health, education, childcare and development, juvenile justice, children with disabilities, elimination of child labour, child psychology or sociology and laws relating to children.
         The Commission has the power to inquire into complaints and take suomotu notice of matters relating to deprivation of child's rights and non-implementation of laws providing for protection and development of children among other things. Aimed at examining and reviewing the safeguards provided by the law to protect child rights, the Commission will recommend measures for their effective implementation. It will suggest amendments, if needed, and look into complaints or take suomotu notice of cases of violation of the constitutional and legal rights of children. The Commission is to ensure proper enforcement of child rights and effective implementation of laws and programmes relating to children- enquiring into complaints and take suomotu cognizance of matters relating to deprivation of child rights; non-implementation of laws providing for protection and development of children and non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at their welfare and announcing relief for children and issuing remedial measures to the state governments.

Suggestions:

Gram Panchayats have an important role to play in the protection of children’s rights in the country. They are ideally suited for this task because Gram Panchayats have direct access to children. At the level of Gram Panchayats, children are not numbers and statistics, but real names and faces in the knowledge of all in the neighborhoods. They are to be equipped to monitor all the public institutions such as schools, social welfare hostels, Anganwadi Centers, Sub-centers of Health Departments and the Primary Health Centers. They have the authority to engage with officials of all the concerned Departments and hold them accountable to the Gram Panchayat and the constituency, in the best interests of children. It has been found that in several States, the Gram Panchayats have played an enormous role in taking care of children and their rights.

Conclusion:

Not only has this law supported to the protection and welfare of the child rights. Necessary attachment of all citizens in India is required. At the same time awareness among citizens is the need of an hour. Only law cannot give the protection without active participation of all beings. Lastly education can aware the people about their rights and duties. So it is necessary we change our mind set up.

References:

http://ncpcr.gov.in/

http://smilefoundationindia.org/child_rights.htm

UNICEF Report 2005