Two girls, barely 14 years old, were taken to New Delhi by a neighbor to work as maids. A month after leaving home, both girls died. Another 13 year old, also a domestic servant, was rescued from the home of a couple who went on vacation and left her locked up at home without food.
There are countless such stories of abused children throughout the country. In 2012, after years of relentless struggle by child's rights organizations, the Union Cabinet approved an amendment to India’s Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act. The bill proposed a ban on all forms of child labor, in particular the employment of children under 14. However, it has some important gaps as it still allows children to work as domestic help.
According to Thomas Chandy of Save the Children, “Engaging children in any form of labor and exploiting them is one of the worst forms of violence against them. It is important that the violation of the Anti-Child Labour Law become a non-bailable offence”.
Millions of children are denied their constitutional rights, and millions of employers violate Indian laws. ILO has set 2013 as the year to combat child domestic labor, which is a growing social threat in India. The demand for child domestic workers is at an all-time high. Only in Delhi, there are more than 100 employment agencies and thousands of child domestic workers.
Surprisingly, in many cases, employment agencies do not give any money to the parents of the children they recruit. There are no special laws to control these agencies. “Police take action against employers when a case is reported, but the law needs to be strengthened to act as a deterrent against child employment”, added Chandy.
Another important and often overlooked factor is the reason why children work. If these children did not live in extreme situations -abandonment or extreme family need- there would not be a case for more stringent punitive measures. A society free of child labor is not an impossible dream. It can also be achieved in India if the government and society come together to invest on the material and cultural resources that will educate all strata of society so that no one is left without the tools and means to live with dignity.
LET US PROVIDE THE MEANS
Source: savethechildren.in
