SLAVE CHILDREN

Govind grew up with his family in Nepal, but after his father’s death, and having worked as a slave for two years in his home country, he came to the Indian border at age 11. With nothing to eat, his only goal was to find work. Soon, he began to fix phones and take care of customers in a small phone business, but his new job was as bad as the previous one; his boss beat him, did not pay him, and he could not leave the store even at night.

Fortunately, Govind was able to escape the cycle of slavery and extreme poverty. “One day I saw a children’s demonstration going by. They were part of the Global March against Child Labour. They held a meeting in the courtyard just behind the phone store. One man was telling people how he had been freed from the carpet industry. He seemed like a good person and I thought that maybe he could help me. ‘Take me with you, my boss is not good to me. If I go back now, he’ll beat me’, I said. I was accepted.”

Kailash has spent 25 years rescuing children from jobs where, in the best of cases, they get measly wages and frequently suffer all kinds of abuse. He insists that the underlying problem is far from being solved despite being ‘rescued’. The financial hardships of families forces them to give their children to middlemen who travel across the country offering loans between 10 and 20 Euros to the needy in exchange for their children’s work. They take the children, place them in businesses, and the families never see their children again nor the promised money. The children live in appalling conditions, like animals. They work 15 hours a day and eat and sleep on the job site,” says Kailash.

The release of hundreds of child slaves in India are not isolated cases in a country where 17.5 million children work, according to UNICEF. As an example, a raid on Mumbai was meticulously planned for weeks. Several organizations located businesses where children worked in broad daylight. Some 150 officers combed 200 shops in a downtown neighborhood. With the arrival of the police, business owners ordered the boys to run away, while others were forced to hide in basements and attics. The operation ended with the arrest of 42 businessmen and the release of 450 children between 6 and 14.

The rescued children, many of them with symptoms of malnutrition, went back to their families, whom they had not seen for years. Most of the children come from the poorer states in India and neighboring Nepal. The organizations have appealed to the Indian government to support needy families so that their children do not end up in the hands of traffickers again.

Source: blogia.com

SEXUAL ABUSE on CHILDREN

According to a study on child abuse, over half of all Indian children have endured one or more forms of sexual abuse.

In an effort to curtail this form of abuse, India’s Cabinet has approved a bill aimed at combating sexual abuse of children, but some activists do not agree with one of its provisions: raising the age of legal sex to 18 from 16. This, they say, could push parents to use the new law to sanction older teen’s sexual behavior. Likewise, police may use the law to harass couples. It may lead parents to file reports of rape even though a youngster had consensual sex and no crime has been involved.

At present, India does not have a specific law to protect children from sexual offenses. Current laws guard against sex with minors but prosecutions of abusers are rare. One of the major innovations of the new bill is to set up specific courts to try child abuse cases, which would get around massive backlog of cases in the court system.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011, seeks to protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. Under the provisions of the bill, any sexual activity, even if consensual, with children under 18 years of age would be considered as rape and would be subject to prosecution. “In many ways, it would help in fighting the cases of human trafficking and rape,” said Ravi Kant, president of a human rights advocacy organization.

In general, activists welcomed the bill in a country with a massive child abuse problem, but they also question how successful the law will be in tackling child abuse. “A legal framework is necessary, but reality on ground can change only when the community is involved,” an official said. “India already has laws preventing children under the age of 14 from working but that hasn’t stopped child labor. The law will also be very difficult to apply when sexual abuse happens within the home. Very often we think laws are the solution to everything, but with incest it’s even more difficult to prove a crime.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal

MENSTRUATION AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

 

Asha’s struggle to attend school during her period almost cost her dream to complete her studies.

In India, particularly in rural areas, menstruation is considered dirty and impure. Hence, girls are discouraged to attend school during their periods. The unavailability of sanitary pads, inadequate sanitation and separate toilets for girls in schools compounds the problem, has a huge impact on girls school attendance and is a major reason for their dropping out.

“There was no privacy to change when required and I was hesitant to seek permission to go home”, says Asha. For some parents this stage also signals maturity and the time to get girls married. “My parents wanted me to leave school and get married”, adds Asha, now in 11th grade.

Identifying sanitation and hygiene as pressing needs, the government of Tamil Nadu and UNICEF initiated the Menstrual Hygiene and Management  Program (MHM)in eight high schools in 2009.

“Improving sanitation facilities along with adequate hygiene services has a great impact on girls’ attendance", explains the Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist at UNICEF. The program focused on capacity building of teenage girl students like Asha to demystify taboos surrounding menstruation, orienting them to manage their menstrual process, and provide access to sanitary napkins and a place to dispose of soiled ones.

Through intensive one-on-one counseling, the myths and taboos on menstruation are on the way to being dispelled. Sanitary napkin vending machines have been installed in schools to promote privacy and easy access. “After the program was introduced, dropping out and absenteeism came down to near zero and the performance of the students improved", says the specialist.

The impact of the program can also be felt in the community. The girls feel empowered to carry the messages on hygiene practice into their households and community. “We have broken the culture of silence and are free to discuss the issue with our mothers, older sisters and other girls in our community. We are able to guide girls in their preparation for their first period”, expressed Ramiah, a member of the school counseling team and a friend of Asha.

Demanding privacy for managing their periods, girls like Asha and Ramiah were able to convince their parents to make a toilet at home. Over thirty families have built toilets in their homes after persistent demands from the girls, who are slowly bringing about social change in their community.

Source: UNICEF