“The children of today will make the India of Tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country.”
—Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
(First Prime Minister of Independent India)
Undoubtedly, this pandemic has devastated each one of our lives whether directly or indirectly. Lakhs lost their lives, families, jobs, and many more. The life of children has been completely changed due to this invisible enemy. Thousands of children became orphaned as their parents lost their lives during a pandemic. The mode of education has been shifted from traditional to virtual one, due to which thousands have been devoid of it because of lack of economic resources. Many have been tied in the bond of marriage esp. Girls. Many are forced into child labor by the critical economic conditions of their family. In the meantime, children have become prone to physical assault and even sexual.
Rights form a very important part of humans’ lives so are children too. This pandemic time has witnessed a sudden increase in Child Rights violations. This piece of writing is an attempt to describe it through a legal lens.
A brief about Child Rights
According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989, the term “CHILD” refers to, “any human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, the majority is attained.” As we have Human rights similarly Child Rights are too Human Rights, which aims to protect the rights of Humans when they were Children. The concept of Child Rights came into the picture after World War I when the Geneva declaration of 1924 was adopted by the League of Nations. Later after World War II League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations and a new Declaration of Rights of Child was adopted on 20th November 1959. This declaration laid 10 basic principles related to Children and their rights.
Relying on the need of the society Indian Legal system has provided several legal provisions which try to protect rights of children. The constitution being a Supreme Law of land also provides extra brownies to Children. Followed by it, several other Legislations are aiming to protect the rights of Children i.e. Guardians and ward Act 1890, Child Marriage restraint Act 1929, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956, The Women’s and Children (Licensing) Act 1956, Probation of Offenders Act 1958, Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012.
CHILDREN AND PANDEMIC
Childhood sufferings are those sufferings that go on with persons until they reach their graves. This pandemic has made millions of Children suffer in one way or the other. This period has also witnessed a sudden increase in violation of Child Rights. Some of them are as follows:
Education at the verge: Article 21A of the Indian Constitution provides Free and Compulsory education to the children of age group 6-14 years. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, says that Everyone has the right to education. According to UNICEF, 90% of students have been affected due to Corona VIRUS globally. Lakhs of Schools have switched from the traditional model of education to Digital. Up to some extent it has managed to compensate for the loss of students but a large number of students don’t have access to the Internet. A survey by Govt. of India 2019 reveals that only one-fourth of the total households have internet connectivity. Lots of students quit their education due to several inconveniences i.e. lack of access to the internet, economic issues, family problems, etc.
Rising Child Labor: Article 24 of the Indian Constitution states, “No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.” Other than it certain other legislations are dealing with Child Labor in India i.e. Bonded Labor (Abolishment) System Act 1976 and Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. According to United Nation, Child Laborers has increased to 160 million due to Covid globally, as India has the highest share of Children’s population then obviously India situation is alarming. A report said that by the end of 2022, about 9 million additional children can be pushed into the darkness of Child Labor. Another study conducted by Campaign against Child Labour (CACL) revealed that the proportion of Child Laborers has risen from 28.2% to 79.6%. The main reason for it was the Pandemic and closure of Educational Institutions.
The darkness of Child Marriage: Child Marriage is a crime against humanity. There is two main legislation specifically dealing with it i.e. Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 (Popularly known as Sarda Act). Girl children are the main sufferers of this social evil. India is a home of 1/3rd child marriages happening globally. RTI filed in Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (UMWCD) states that from June to October 2020 there has been an increase of 33% in child marriages in comparison to 2019. A tweet of Smriti Irani in April 2020 revealed that 898 Child marriages were stopped during Lockdown. These are only reported cases many goes beneath the table. This shows that how pandemic has been used as an opportunity to propagate this social evil.
The increasing number of Child rights violations is not limited to this. There has also been an increase in cases related to Child Trafficking, Sexual and Physical assault on children, and many others.
CONCLUSION
Children are full of energy if channelized properly, they can do miracles for society and the Nation. At the same time if the channelization was improper then they can be quite vulnerable to society. This pandemic has led to a massive increase in Child Rights violations. It is important to note that Poor children are more vulnerable to the violation of rights. As always poor is the worst sufferer of any social evil prevalent in society.
Government must take strict action to tackle such violations and should ensure the rights of children are fully protected. At the same time, General Public should also recognize child rights and should refrain from violating them.