Awareness on Child Abuse through Social Experiments

Social experiment videos are breaking the internet like crazy these days. The best effective way to throw the social message onto the netizens is showing a cause in running motion. Amongst all the floating videos, a video made by PURANI DELHI TALKIES titled CHILD ABUSE is one must watch. The child is the protagonist who gets convinced by a stranger to remove his clothes in return of some bait. The father of the child is sure and confident that his kid will not fall into the prey of a stranger and will not go undress. But we all know kids are the most innocent creatures on this planet and need utmost tender during their nurturing days. Watch the video here and then make your opinion.

In the growing age when child is most concerned about the heroic cartoon series and the yummy delicacy available in the nearest bakery, many encounters the heinous crime at such a tender age. This video succeeds in sending out the message that many parents are not aware of that a touch by anyone around their kid not necessarily be a touch with good intentions. Any suspicious activity can leave a scar on their minds which would might haunt them later.

Bachpan Bachao Andolan

What is Bachban Bachao Andolan and its purpose

Bachpan Bachao Andolan is an India-based movement campaigning for the rights of children and for an end to human trafficking

Since its formation in 1980, it focuses on ending bonded labour, child labour and trafficking, as well as demanding the right to education for all children

The stated vision of Bachpan Bachao Andoloan (BBA) is "to create a child friendly society, where all children are free from exploitation and receive free and quality education."

It aims "to identify, liberate, rehabilitate and educate children in slavery

To achieve this aim this andolan practises direct intervention, child and community participation and promoting ethical trade practices.

The BachpanBachaoAndolan has so far carried these campaigns to achieve its aims:

·         Child Labour Free India Campaign

·         Right to Education Campaign

·         Child Domestic Labour campaign

·         'Mukti Caravan (campaign against child trafficking for forced labour)'

·         MissingChildrenCampaign

The organization has also been working very closely with National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) in favour of child rights on several fronts.

OBJECTIVE:

National Legal Services Authority, Delhi Legal Services Authority and Bachpan Bachao Andolan have joined hands to achieve the ultimate goal of equality and creation of a Child Friendly Society where every child has access to physical, social, psychological, moral & spiritual development.

Permanent Legal Aid Cell would be a PAN – INDIA activity to achieve the following objectives:

• To establish a Permanent Legal Aid Cell at the at BachpanBachaoAndolan Central Office, New Delhi and also at Mukti Ashram, Ibrahimpur, Delhi;
• To provide legal representation to the children in need of care and protection across the country;
• To deal, pursue and/ or coordinate and ensure prosecution against the persons indulging in child labour, traffic in human beings, begar, forced labour, child abuse, or in any form of child exploitation;
• To build a network of various centers for rescue and rehabilitation of children in need of care and protection.
• To instruct the concerned State Legal Services Authority to take, deal, pursue and coordinate to ensure appropriate legal action against the offenders.
• To reach out the benefits flowing from various social welfare schemes to the child/children.
• To create awareness of child rights and schemes framed by Central and/ or State Governments for the welfare and rights of children.

PROJECT OFFICE:

The Permanent Legal Aid Cell shall function from BachpanBachaoAndolan’s Central Office at L – 6, Kalkaji, New Delhi and Mukti Ashram, Ibrahimpur Village, Delhi.  

Govt awareness modules to prevent Child Abuse

To prevent child abuse, especially sexual abuse, the Delhi government’s Women and Child Development (WCD) department has decided to come up with awareness modules for three age groups —5-8 years, 9-12 years and 12-18 years. Such an exercise — called Stay Safe-Prevention-Educating Children — has been taken up for the first time by the Delhi government. “We have come up with a tentative design for the modules, which will also include a training module for fathers, mothers and caregivers, among others, about the existing legal provisions and standard operating procedures to ensure prevention of abuse. They would also be made aware of various symptoms to diagnose whether the child is being subjected to any kind of abuse,” Saumya Gupta, Director (WCD), said. Efforts are underway to put together the awareness modules in close consultation with experts in the fields of justice, education, child welfare, institutions and civil society. The WCD department will also hold a one-day conference on ‘Strategies to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse’ next week. “This brainstorming exercise to strengthen the fight against child abuse by imparting appropriate skills to our children is aimed at eliminating risk and vulnerability,” Gupta said. The module for the 5-8 years age group, for instance, will describe examples of positive and harmful practices, define sexual abuse, stress on persona safety, good touch and bad touch. The module for 9-12 years will explain forced sexual activity, sexual abuse and its prevention, understanding their bodies, changing physiology and needs, among others. The module for 12-18 years will deal with empowering those in the age bracket with legal provisions, among other things. “In the pilot phase, these awareness modules would be implemented in the Delhi government-run homes for children in need of care and protection. Based on the experience, the modules maybe replicated at a larger level in all Delhi government schools. It is proven that effective early prevention efforts are less expensive to our system and to individuals than trying to fix the adverse effects of child abuse,” Gupta said. Once the modules are finalised, the WCD department will invite comments by making them available online. The department has also been trying to create awareness about Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POSCO) among all stakeholders. “Many cases can be averted if adequate prevention policies and measures are established as studies show that most people who abuse children are known to victims,” Gupta said. Findings of a study by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2007 revealed that over 85 per cent of offenders were known to the victims — someone the victims trusted. Only 25 per cent of the victims, the study found, had told anyone that they had been abused and only in 3 per cent cases, police had been informed.

Life of a child in a refugee camp

I once read a story in school about two refugee kids from Bangladesh who were rehabilitated in India.

They had a family back there, a house and people who knew them and loved them. They went to school, studied and dreamt of becoming something. In unknown land they were rag pickers and sometimes worked in bangle factories to earn extra pennies, with lost identities, no-one knew them and all their dreams were shattered. They wanted to go school but could not enroll themselves because they had no money. Eventually they landed in child labour and then started their exploitation.

This is actually what happens in most of the refugee camps.  There is a life long struggle for freedom, education, basic amenities and more over self identity. There is a question in self existence.

For a child a refugee camp is nothing less than a hell with hellish living conditions, where basic medical facilities are hard to find, rain pours in through the filmsy roof of the tent drenching everyone down other huddled together. 

Child Rights and the world

People from across the world striving for social justice have often directed their efforts toward the most vulnerable in society—the children. From Princess Diana's charitable work on behalf of children to the efforts of activists like Grace Abbott and the youngest Nobel laureate in history—Ms. Malala Yousafzai, these famous children's right activists have put commendable efforts in helping improve the lives of the youngest citizens.

2014 Nobel Peace Prize awardees—Ms. Malala Yousafzai and Mr. Kailash Satyarthi have reminded us all of the need to keep on advancing in providing opportunities that has an important effect on all children. The opportunities are meant to be meaningful enough to allow them to learn and gain the mindsets and skills that would empower them to be free, develop themselves, their communities and the world.

Mr. Kailash Satyarthi’s struggle to liberate children from child labour had cost him many life threats, including bullet wounds by those who exploit young boys and girls for economic gain. Wearing flak jackets, and armed with strong determination, he and his team raided many illegal factories and mines to rescue the children who are sold into servitude. It has been 30 years now since he started his movement. A movement that has one clear purpose—no child shall be a slave.

On the other hand, when one thinks of Ms. Malala Yousafzai, the first thing that pops in one’s mind is education. The second is—education for girls. In 2009, when she was just 11, she wrote to BBC about the norm of banning female education under the Taliban regime in the Swat Valley (her hometown). Her article gained tremendous momentum worldwide. She started her fight for the education of girls at that small age and began to speak publicly and to the press, which caused her and her family receive constant death threats.

Child labour: India’s hidden shame

Two child protection officers hold her on either side as she walks into the police station. She was abducted four years ago from her village in north-east India. Until her rescue, she had been working in people's homes across West Delhi - cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. "I was not allowed to rest," she says. "If I did something wrong or it was not what they wanted, they hit me. "If I wanted to sit down for a bit because I was so tired, they would scream at me. "I was never allowed to leave the house, so I didn't realise that I'm in Delhi. My employers told me that we are in Madras in South India."As the police and counsellors question her, Lakshmi breaks down. She tells the police that she was sexually assaulted by the men who kidnapped her. She was threatened that if she told anyone about it, they would tell everyone back home in her village and her honour would be destroyed. And then, when she started working the agent who arranged her work withheld all her wages leaving her with nothing.

'Lured with clothes and sweets'

Her uncle is just relieved to have found her. A tea garden worker from Assam, he says her parents died when she was young and her grandmother is worried sick about the young girl. He is also angry about the abduction.

"What can we really do? We are poor people - I didn't have enough money to come to Delhi to look for my missing niece.

"Unscrupulous agents and middlemen just come into our homes when parents are away working at the tea gardens and lure young girls with new clothes and sweets. Before they know it, they are on a train to a big city at the mercy of these greedy men."

He is not alone. One child goes missing every eight minutes in India and nearly half of them are never found. Kidnapped children are often forced into the sex trade. But many here feel that children are increasingly pushed into domestic labour - hidden from public view within the four walls of a home. The government estimates half a million children are in this position.

Demand from middle classes

At a rehabilitation home in northern Delhi run by a charity for children, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, many families have gathered. I don't want anyone to go through what I didSumila Munda They are all tea workers from the north-east state of Assam and have come here searching for their missing daughters They estimate that just from one particular area - Rangpura in Assam - 16 girls have been lost in the last three to four years. Helping these families find their daughters is Kailash Satyarti, the head of Bachpan Bacchao Andolan. "This is the most ironical part of India's growth. The middle classes are demanding cheap, docile labour," he says. "The cheapest and most vulnerable workforce is children - girls in particular. So the demand for cheap labour is contributing to trafficking of children from remote parts of India to big cities."

The Man of children : Kailash Satyarthi

Many people are known to work for the upliftment of the underprivileged children in slums and urban areas. Amongst all the very known name is of the nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi. Here is the know how about him

Who is Kailash Satyarthi?

·         Kailash Satyarthi is an Indian children's rights activist and who won 2014 Nobel Peace together with Malala Yousafzai.

·         He has been active in the Indian movement against child labour since the 1990s.

·         Kailash Satyarthi runs Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an India-based movement campaigning for the rights of children and is also trying to bring an end to human trafficking.

·         Bachpan Bachao Andolan, has freed over 80,000 children from various forms of hardship and labour and has emerged as the largest civil society grassroots movement on child rights supported by innumerable individuals and around 750 civil society organisations

·         He got this prize for his struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.

                                                                                                                                 

Work of Kailash Satyarthi

·         Satyarthi has campaigned worldwide on social issues involving children.

·         He has worked with: The Global March Against Child Labor, International advocacy body of Global March Against Child Labor, Global Campaign for Education.

·         He also has the credit of establishing Rugmark (now known as Goodweave) as the first voluntary labelling, monitoring and certification system of rugs manufactured without the use of child-labour in South Asia.

·         Satyarthi has highlighted child labor as a human rights issue as well as a welfare matter and charitable cause.

·          Kailash Satyarthi believes that child labour gives birth to poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population growth and other social problems.

Child Labor: A wider picture

Child labor has been an international concern because it damages, spoils and destroys the future of children. The problem of child labor is a serious matter not only in India but also in other developing countries. It is great social problem. Children are the hope and future of a nation. Yet, there are millions deprived children in our country who have never known a normal, carefree childhood.
The law in Indian soil says that any child below age of 14 cannot be employed either in a factory or office or restaurant. In fact, India’s international business has been severely affected in many cases because child labors, violating human rights, have been used in some stage or the other in manufacturing, packaging a transport of those items. And, in a large number of cases of export of ready-made garments, prawn and several other items from India has been rejected on grounds of child labor being used.

Truly speaking child labor is frequently utilized in India in various places of production and service e.g., small scale industry, restaurant service, domestic aid, shopkeeper’s assistant, stone breaking, book binding, in fact in every house-hold industry.

Causes of Child Labor

Now what is the background of engaging child labor,

o    To have or increase the income of a poor family

o    To reduce the labor cost in a production organization

o    Misc. reasons for engaging as domestic aid as the children are less doubtful about dishonesty or less liable to misbehave or be violent.

In a developed society where every citizen counts and all citizens have to have proper education, health care supports, games and entertainment and complete his education so that when he is a fully grown adult he can get a full employment with standard salary.

Right to Born

The right to be born depend on several different rights: the right to be conceived, the right to be implanted in the uterus, and the right to live. The right to be conceived, or the right of parents to reproduce, may depend on what circumstances they are in and this does not differentiate rich and poor. The first and foremost question which arises before right to born was do couples have the right to have children to whom they cannot offer an adequate upbringing? Do couples have the right to have as many children as they wish if they themselves are not ready to have a child? If the couple are ready to have children then are they ready to have more than one child until and unless they have twins? Rich people are able to complete fulfilment of their child but they to were not ready mentally as for their career or some personal reason, but poor people are like not able to complete their fulfillment of their children.

Fertilisation occurs in the fallopian tube, but only about 30% of fertilised ova normally become successfully implanted in the uterus. Fertilisation can also be achieved in a test tube and the resultant embryo then implanted in the mother's uterus to grow into a "test tube baby". Is it ethical to allow the use of donor sperm or ova, a surrogate mother, experimentation on embryos, and what should be done with "spare" embryos? The right to live and not be aborted may involve a conflict of interests between a mother and her unborn child. A mother may claim absolute rights over her own body, including the right to have an abortion if she desires. But question come up after the birth of the child that how the child be brought up? As population is growing year to year only because of birth of children but after that at what condition they are actually living is actually a question and this raise a question are right to birth should be necessary or not?

Educating Tomorrow..

Since independence in 1947, India has striven towards education for all. A well-educated workforce was crucial to the democracy dreamt of by Jawaharlal Nehru. India’s first prime minister saw social inclusion as an important step in India’s transformation from a nation divided by caste and religion into an progressive society in which everyone would prosper. Universal education would bring a break from an age-old culture of privilege which the British colonial system served only to reinforce. Under the  British Raj, those from wealthy, well-educated backgrounds continued to occupy positions of power in the Indian establishment. Despite India’s aspirations, the statistics today remain dire.

The number of illiterate adults is India is about 247 million - that's close to the entire population of the United States. Even after the Right to Education Act (RTE), which was enacted on 4 August 2009, six years ago, the  1.4 million Indian children aged 6-11 out of school.Why would that be happening in a country which started the battle against poverty and illiteracy 69 years ago???

Privilege still rules in a society where the school system is a money making bussiness. The wealthy benefit from a world-class education delivered by a network of prestigious English-language private schools. These institutions offer a range of internationally-recognised qualifications.However, lower down the social scale, children attend moderately respectable state schools which offer government-affiliated qualifications to students from less affluent backgrounds. But that’s still not where the problem is.

Access to education is the major concern in rural schools as there are fewer committed teachers, lack of proper text books and learning material in the schools. Though Government schools exist, but when compared to private schools then quality is a major issue. Majority of people living in villages have understood the importance of education and know that it is the only way to get rid of poverty. But due to lack of money they are not able to send their children to private schools and hence depend upon government schools for education. Above that, in some of the government schools there is only one teacher for the entire school and if they don’t show up at work, then it is a holiday. If the quality along with number of teachers and, that too committed teachers can be improved in these schools, then aspiring rural children and India can fulfill their dreams of doing something great.

It isn’t that we as a country can not prosper and progress, if only everybody would understand the importance of giving equal opportunity to the kids across the country and the education system would be worked out as to help each one of them.