India
Violence Against Girls
Consultations with children across India have emphasized the significance and impact of violence to children’s lives. It can force children out of school and into work and drive children from home onto the streets. Both boys and girls are subject to violence, but particular emphasis has been placed on the vulnerability faced by girl children.
| The India country programme addresses a broad range of issues regarding violence against the girl child (VAG). These range from specific acts of violence to slightly subtler but insidious acts such as gender based discrimination, of which violence against girls is a manifestation. The specific acts of violence relate to female feticide and infanticide, the religious practice of Jogini system and early child marriage. |  |
Discrimination manifests itself in numerous forms including deprivation with respect to education, food, clothing, mobility and the right to contribute to the decision making process. Whatever be the nature of violence, it is important to understand the context in which it occurs. Girls are subjected to different kinds of discrimination, abuse and exploitation because they are girls.
Keeping in mind our perspective of violence, interventions within the India Programme are based on children's perceptions and their needs. The India Programme has undertaken research studies to understand the issue of violence from the perspective of children. These studies reveal that violence is an intensely personal experience for girls in India and it affects the exercise of all other rights. Any experience of violence is shrouded in secrecy and silence, thereby making it a challenge for any intervention to address such issues.
Highlights of our work:
| Our programmes cover a range of issues including specific interventions for children relating to jogini (religious practice of jogini system), working children especially those who work as child domestic workers, enhancing the status of girl children in the community, issues concerning masculinity etc. In addition to these Save the Children also addresses the child protection issues during any emergency situation. Our interventions are also directed towards issues such as physical and sexual abuse that children face at schools, homes, institutions and communities. |  |
In an already marginalised situation when an emergency strikes, the girl children suffer the most. The India Programme’s experience with drought in Rajasthan revealed this. The burden on the girl children increased tremendously with adult members migrating in search of opportunities for livelihood. Save the Children’s intervention on residential camps for girls helped families cope better with drought. In the aftermath of the Gujarat emergency, Save the Children focussed on Child Rights and Child Protection issues with an emphasis on community based rehabilitation. In partnership with the Government of Gujarat, we strengthened the existing infrastructure for children and mothers. ICDS Centers involving the participation of children were constructed. Their functioning and maintenance was closely monitored so as to meet the special needs of children. As a result of the enormous success of this programme, Save the Children has been recognised as the lead agency for child protection issues by the Government of Gujarat.
Since it is our effort to understand violence from the perspective of children, child participation is an important component of all our programmes. Innovative approaches such as the Theatre for Development and Art are some of the components of our intervention. These have been effective means for children to raise awareness on these issues.