20 November, marks the day on which the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. This is the silver jubilee of the anniversary of the convention and on this occasion the ambitious Indian polity needs to deliberate where it stands on the issue of child rights.
Out of the world’s 19% of children who reside in India, 53.22% have been victims of sexual abuse. This data comes from the Study on Child Abuse: India 2007 published by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, India. The study also points out that 50% of these cases identify victimisers as either known to the child or in those in position of high trust.
The Prevention of Children against Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012 has been a welcome move by the then government towards taking a note of rising crime against children. However, much needs to be done to take this initiative to its intended denouement.
Currently, the Act within its purview reiterates its commitment to the Convention on Child Rights by the UN General Assembly acceded to in 1992, comprehensively defines the ambit of cases under child sexual abuse and acknowledges the need for privacy and confidentiality of the child during judicial process. The act also details the procedure for reporting cases and recording the instances of abuse. The quite comprehensive Act ensures that a complainant and aggrieved in a child rights’ abuse case is at ease within the legal and judicial framework.
However, beyond the intent of this Act, the practical aspects in addressing the menace of child sexual abuse needs to be duly considered. One of the parliamentarians, Rajeev Chandrashekhar has been speaking about the need to amend this Act. In the two focus areas he earmarks, he speaks about third party liability and need for speedy justice to be incorporated in the body of the Act. While, these legislative interventions are important, an awareness and activism based approach towards dealing with this issue is crucial.
Reports after reports have reiterated that the need to talk about the issue of child sexual abuse is a must. A seminar concluded yesterday in Tiruchirapalli had experts talking about the need to discuss the issue at hand as the first step.
Shame, embarrassment and a false sense of family honour associated with cases of child abuse happening within very close knit family and friend circles makes it all the more necessary to vocalise instances of child abuse.
Schools, crèches, kindergartens and places of recreation for children need to become more vigilant and most importantly need to be held accountable for any instance of child sexual abuse. School curriculums should necessarily carry tailor made modules for students at various ages to make them aware about this heinous trend. Workshops to sensitize parents, teachers, all kinds of staff employed in children-populated institutions must be organised.
The central government’s intention to ban pornographic sites may be debated within the larger framework of its infringement on the Fundamental Right to Freedom, but a blanket ban on all sites encouraging child pornography will be a much welcome move.
India – a country that houses a huge chunk of the world’s children population – must wake up to realise the growing threat to its human resource.
