Child Protection

Child Protection. (Copyright: Save the Children India)
Barista Bano is now a happy child studying in the 4th standard. Save the Children has been working with the girls’ orphanage where Barista had been residing since the death of her father.

We worked with the community to help them develop and implement acceptable minimum standards of care and protection for vulnerable children. Support for Barista’s education, clothing and other expenses were partially met by the community Child Protection Committee (CPC). The committee works to monitor, prevent and respond to child protection issues in the community. The smile on Barista’s face says it’s working!

Now, Barista Bano and other girls like her have been able to return home through the promotion of community-based care alternatives to institutional care.

With one-fifth of the world’s children, India is home to the largest child population (about 440 m) in the world. Unfortunately, the prevalence of abuse, neglect and exploitation faced by millions of Indian children today are numerous. This includes child labour, discrimination on basis of caste, trafficking, foeticide to name a few.

Vital Statistics

India is home to the largest child labour force: 12.59 million children according to official Indian statistics , and 35 million according to UNICEF, accounting for about 14% of children in the 5 - 14 years age group.
11 million children are on the streets in India without adequate parental support, 2 out of 3 children are physically abused, 53.2% children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse - as per the findings of a recent study on Child Abuse conducted by Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, Save the Children and UNICEF,
65% of school going children reported facing corporal punishment and 50.2% children worked 7 days a week.
There has been a 40% increase in intra state migration in the last 10 years (India Statistics report, 2004). The migrant workers and their children mostly work in the unorganised sector and thus remain outside the formal delivery of public service. Therefore, these children are often un-counted, have little or no access to basic services, falling through any existing safety nets and are at high risk of exploitation and abuse.

Although a plethora of legislations and policies exist for the protection of children, these have made little difference to date. Loopholes in the laws coupled with a lack of effective implementation of policies, cultural tolerance of certain practices, and a general public apathy of the serious levels of harm faced by millions of children have led to the situation remaining relatively unchanged. This greatly contradicts the strides made in recent years in economic development and improvements in certain social indicators such as primary school enrolment rates.

Save the Children’s objective

By 2012, child protection mechanisms at national, state and district levels will be strengthened and protection rights of over 450,000 children (as direct beneficiaries) are realised in states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Delhi.