Right To Be Heard

Attached is the final version of the General Comment on Art. 12 released by the CRC Committee on 20 July 2009.


http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/AdvanceVersions/CRC-C-GC-12.doc

International Colloquium on Children and Governance_HAQ Report

Colloquium on Children and Governance_HAQ Report

To Download and Read the the Report please follow the link

http://www.haqcrc.org/fileadmin/home/Latest_from_haq/COLLOQUIM%5Bshort%20report1%5D.pdf

"Child Beggar" trailed by Beggar's Court

Please visit the link and see the apathy of the officials in dealing with the case of "child in need of care and protection" into a beggar "criminal"...

http://epaper.mailtoday.in/Details.aspx?boxid=53625&id=27474&issuedate=792009

4 year old under Gangster Act

This is about the story covered in Hindustan Times, Uttar Pradesh edition on 2nd September 2009 and written by Mr. Anuraag Singh in which he shared tale of a 4-yr-old boy who was arrested in firing at police and lifting cars as claimed by Uttar Pradesh cops and from 2005 the child with his parents running in the court.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/uttarpradesh/4-yr-old-shot-at-police-and-lifted-cars-claim-UP-cops/Article1-449401.aspx

The provisions avaliable under Indian Legal System

THE JUVENILE JUSTICE (CARE AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN) ACT, 2000 as amended in 2006
(Act No. 56 of 2000)


Sec 2 (g). "competent authority" means in relation to children in need of care and protection a Committee and in relation to juveniles in conflict with law a Board;

Section 2 (k). "juvenile" or "child" means a person who has not completed eighteenth year of age;

Sec 2 (l). "juvenile in conflict with law" means a juvenile who is alleged to have committed an offence;

Section 7. Procedure to be followed by a Magistrate not empowered under the Act.- (1) When any Magistrate not empowered to exercise the powers of a Board under this Act is of the opinion that a person brought before him under any of the provisions of this Act (other than for the purpose of giving evidence), is a juvenile or the child, he shall without any delay record such opinion and forward the juvenile or the child, and the record of the proceeding to the competent authority having jurisdiction over the proceeding.
(2) The competent authority to which the proceeding is forwarded under sub-section (1) shall hold the inquiry as if the juvenile or the child had originally been brought before it.

Rules under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 (56 of 2000) (as amended by the Amendment Act 33 of 2006) to be administered by the States

I. Principle of presumption of innocence:
(a) A juvenile or child or juvenile in conflict with law is presumed to be innocent of any malafide or criminal intent up to the age of eighteen years.
(b) The juvenile’s or juvenile’s in conflict with law or child's right to presumption of innocence shall be respected throughout the process of justice and protection, from the initial contact to alternative care, including aftercare.
(c) Any unlawful conduct of a juvenile or a child or a juvenile in conflict with law which is done for survival, or is due to environmental or situational factors or is done under control of adults, or peer groups, is ought to be covered by the principles of innocence.
(d) The basic components of presumption of innocence are:

(i) Age of innocence
Age of innocence is the age below which a juvenile or child or a juvenile in conflict with law cannot be subjected to the criminal justice system. The Beijing Rule 4(1) clearly lays down that “the beginning of the age of criminal responsibility shall not be fixed at too low an age level bearing in mind the facts of mental and intellectual maturity”. In consonance with this principle, the mental and intellectual maturity of juvenile or child or a juvenile in conflict with law below eighteen years is considered insufficient through out the world.


Goonda or Gangster Act provides for preventive detention up to three months and imposes stringent conditions for bail.

Rule 11. Pre and Post-Production action of police and other agencies:
Sub rule (11) In dealing with cases of juveniles in conflict with law the Police or the Juvenile or the Child Welfare Officer from the nearest police station, shall not be required to register an FIR or file a charge-sheet, except where the offence alleged to have been committed by the juvenile is of a serious nature such as rape, murder or when such offence is alleged to have been committed jointly with adults; instead, in matters involving simple offences, the Police or the Juvenile or the Child Welfare Officer from the nearest police station shall record information regarding the offence alleged to have been committed by the juvenile in the general daily diary followed by a report containing social background of the juvenile and circumstances of apprehension and the alleged offence and forward it to the Board before the first hearing.

Rule 96. Application of these rules: It is hereby declared that until the new rules conforming to these rules are framed by the State Government concerned under section 68 of the Act, these rules shall mutatis mutandis apply in that State.


Indian Penal Code 1860

82. Act of a child under seven years of age –
Nothing is an offence which is done by a child under seven years of age.

83. Act of a child above seven and under twelve of immature understanding –
Nothing is an offence which is done by a child above seven years of age and under twelve, who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge of the nature and consequences of his conduct on that occasion.

Budget for `Aam Aadmi’ leaves children out

Less Spending, More Debt for India’s Children


UNION BUDGET 2009-10 AT A GLANCE

Union Budget 2009-10, the first budget of the second United Progressive Alliance government that’s still basking in the glory of a resounding election victory, gets a thumbs-down from India’s children for two reasons. First, it hardly has any new scheme for children, except some reorganization in education, nor is there more money. Second, it has managed to place a fresh debt burden of Rs 3500—and rising—on the head of every Indian, including 450 million persons less than 18 years’ old.

According to calculations made by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, which has been analysing central and state budgets from a child rights perspective for ten years, the Budget for Children for the current fiscal is only Rs 43104.16 crore. In other words, the amount of money allocated to various children’s programmes is only 4.21 per cent of the record Rs 10.20 lakh crore of total expenditure budgeted for 2009-10. This is the lowest share accorded to children in the last four years—as table 1 shows, the BfC share was 3.85 per cent in 2005-06. This is much less than the 5.31 per cent share for children budgeted for 2008-09 as well as the reduced share of 4.31 per cent in the revised estimates of that year.

In fact, the BfC share comes to even less­­ -- 3.88 per cent—if we take into account Statement 22 of the Expenditure Budget 2009-10 document, defined as Budget Provisions for Schemes for the Welfare of Children, prepared by the finance ministry. This `children’s budget statement’ was initiated by former finance minister P Chidambaram last fiscal, and this year’s statement shows a few glaring omissions of schemes probably due to departmental tardiness and is therefore smaller than HAQ estimate.

Reduced allocation across sectors

Despite unveiling India’s biggest budget in history that ostensibly aims at making life easier for the `aam aadmi’, the government has forgotten about its children who constitute 44 per cent of its people. As one can see from table 2, across sectors, the share of children’s schemes has declined, except for a small rise in health. Must children continue to be treated as secondary citizens?

Education

The share of education has declined from 3.84 per cent last fiscal to 3.03 per cent, although Rs 3084.98 crore has been allocated just for the new schemes. This is because a few schemes have been wound up or merged with other schemes. For instance, the New Model School which had an allocation of Rs 650 crore in 2008-09, has no allocation while there is an allocation of Rs 350 crore under the new head of Setting up of 6000 Model Schools at Block Level as Benchmark of Excellence. Even the Scheme for Universal Access and Quality Education at Secondary Stage (SUCCESS) has no allocation this year against Rs 2185 crore in 2008-09.

Similarly, the centrally sponsored scheme of Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) was launched in 1974 to provide educational opportunities to disabled children in common schools is revised to Inclusive Education for disabled at Secondary Schools (IEDSS) at the secondary stage. The IEDC allocation of Rs. 70 crore last fiscal has been shifted to IEDSS in 2009-10. Does it mean that there are no disabled children left to be integrated at the elementary stage?

There’s finally an allocation for the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan scheme that was conceptualized in 2007 and approved only in January 2009. But there has been no change in the outlay for the showcase schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (for 6-14 age group) and Midday Meal Programme from last year. The government seems to be treating the 15-16 age group as a separate entity from the 6-14 age group, not pausing to think that there’s no secondary education without consistent and quality elementary education that doesn’t force children to drop out of school!

In fact, the budget’s single-minded focus on higher and vocational education schemes, in a year that is expected to enact the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, makes it abundantly clear that our politicians want to build employable citizens for the 12 million jobs it is promising, not ensure that they get real education in schools. With so little interest amongst politicians in actually getting India's children educated, one can safely assume that the RMSA will end up being run like the SSA.

Health

The only sector where the BfC share has gone up from 2008-09 is health. This is mainly because of the 16.16 per cent rise in the allocation for the National Rural Health Mission, including a 25.7 per cent increase in the allocation for the Reproductive and Child Health Programme (HAQ does not take into account the entire NRHM for child budget analysis). Yet, as the government’s own Economic Survey 2008-09 admits, though there has been improvement in the quality of health care over the years much more needs to be done.

Development

The flagship scheme in this sector, the controversial but essential Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) has received a meagre 8.28 per cent raise in allocation to Rs. 6026.30 crore. Nutritional development of little children is clearly not a priority anymore for the government because the goalpost of universalization of ICDS has also been moved to 2012, as against the deadline of December 2008 prescribed by the Supreme Court and the original deadline of 2009 in the National Common Minimum Programme 2004. No wonder then that the share of the development sector allocation in the Union Budget has actually fallen from 0.87 per cent in 2008-09 to 0.69 per cent.

Protection

In March, when the long-awaited Integrated Child Protection Scheme was approved, thanks to pressure from children’s rights groups such as HAQ, but the disappointing outlay for the scheme in its very first year of operation raises questions about the government’s intention of implementing it. ICPS, a holistic scheme to build a protective environment for children nationwide, was to work as a unique umbrella scheme for protection replacing all running schemes. It got Rs 200 crore last fiscal, including Rs 20 crore for the North-east, but now it’s down to Rs 60 crore including Rs 6 crore for NE. The government also seems to have given up on rehabilitating child labour with the allocation for Improvement in Working Conditions of Child/Women Labour scheme down by over 42 per cent to Rs 90 crore in 2009-10. As a result, protection has the least and minimal share of budget resources; out of every Rs 1000 spent in the Union budget, protection gets just 2 paise.

Food security still a promise

The massive rise in expenditure this fiscal, up 36 per cent in just one year from the budget estimates in 2008-09 is directed mainly at an economic stimulus package for agriculture and infrastructure and a 25 per cent hike in defence outlay. Among these, the only two measures that somewhat benefit children are: the promised National Food Security Act to give 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg, and the Rs 350 crore allocation for the health insurance scheme launched last year, both aimed at the poorest families. More than 46 lakh below poverty line families in 18 states and Union territories have been issued biometric smart cards for the scheme, the finance minister said in his speech. But, since the cheap grain is a promise, the huge expenditure for it is not part of the budget and, we can safely assume, will add to the debt burden later in the year when this promise is actualized.

Also, there’s no guarantee that cheap grain-type schemes actually benefit families, including children. Evidence, in the form of research studies, sample surveys and monitoring exercises, suggest to the contrary. As the Economic Survey 2008-09 admits, “the reach of public goods and quasi public goods and services supplied by the state to people still leave a lot of scope for improvement. There are still leakages in the schemes and the benefits do not reach the intended target group of people.” HAQ’s many budget analyses have found that allocations for such schemes suffer from large-scale under-spending at the ground level because of poor project planning, lack of interest of the state and misuse of funds.

A generational burden

Even as the government has decided to spend more to work its way out of the slowdown, its plan can have undesirable side effects. A lot of this money will come from borrowing as tax income growth will be slow. Thus interest payments are slated to shoot up by 31.85 per cent in two years, to Rs 225511 crore in budget 2009-10 compared to the actual estimate of 2007-08. It could be higher, because the fiscal deficit, the new borrowing expected to be made in the current fiscal by the government to meet the massive expenditure programme, has been estimated at a record 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product, the highest since liberalization began in 1991!

As a percentage of the GDP, thus, the fiscal deficit has gone up by one and a half times over the actual estimate of 2.7 per cent in 2007-08. In numerical terms though, the deficit has more than doubled in the same time to Rs 400996 crore. The slower rise in the deficit in terms of the GDP is because growth has shrunk in the last year due to the global financial crisis, dipping to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 compared to the previous five-year average of 9 per cent. Economists describe a high debt and fiscal deficit as “a generational burden” as India’s children will have to pay off the cumulative interest burden in the future and bear the resultant pressure on prices and loan rates.

Still out of Focus:Status of Children in India 2008

Still out of Focus:
Status of Children in India 2008

Summary Report

HAQ's Third Status Report on India's children comes at a time when the country is trying to build the image of an emerging economic power, even while contending with a deepening global economic slowdown, preparing itself to host the Commonwealth Games 2010, grappling with the challenges from natural and environmental disasters, and fighting terrorism, insurgency and communal-ethnic violence tearing at its social fabric.

A country that has the resources to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon is however unable to save its children from starvation. Ranking India 66th among 88 countries, the Global Hunger Index 2008 shows that despite close to 9 per cent economic growth for the past five years, the hunger situation here is the second worst in Asia and worse than in 25 Sub-Saharan nations. UNICEF has warned that the current global food crisis, with escalating food inflation, has placed more than 150 million children in India at the risk of becoming malnourished.[1] Madhya Pradesh is the hungriest state in the country, followed by Jharkhand and Bihar.[2] Emerging challenges such as rising food prices and diversion of global resources to bio-fuels are severely impacting poor families, who have to cut back on the number of meals in a day. This has a dramatic impact on child nutrition because children need to be fed frequently.[3] Without a major policy shake-up and more efficient implementation of the nutrition programmes, India is unlikely to reach the millennium development goal by 2015.

The influence of "corporatisation" of the social sector is there for all to see. Education, health care sectors are already seeing increasing privatisation. Abdication of state responsibility is evident in the increasing moves to hand over the running of institutions, such as care institutions for children to private bodies. This is evident in the raging debate in the government over pre-cooked packaged food versus hot meals for children, first in the mid-day meal scheme and now in the Anganwadis, and the tremendous increase in expenditure on basic services such as education and health. While an average working class family was spending around Rs. 25 per month on education of their children in 1981-82, the amount increased around 1150 per cent, or by almost 12.5 times, to Rs. 306 in 1999-2000. Similarly, expenditure on health care went up by 1037 per cent and on housing by 935 per cent.[4]

Yet, even as average income rises and poverty level goes down, hunger and inequality are on the rise in many parts of India. Growing consumerism, conflict and violence, lack of access to education and health, and exclusionary policies are contributing to making children more vulnerable. No child is safe, and girl, Dalit, disabled, tribal and minority children are more at risk because of their already marginalised socio-economic status.
For millions of children across India, their basic right of having their birth registered is still not fulfilled. The official recording of a child's birth is the most important event in a child's life. It establishes the existence of the child under law and provides the foundation for her to exercise many of her rights, including access to adequate early childhood care that ensures her maturing into a healthy and able citizen.[5]

About the Status Report 2008

This year's status report thus focuses on exclusion and discrimination. Despite constitutional guarantees and legal provisions, children continue to be discriminated on the basis of caste, ethnicity and gender. Children with disabilities are excluded from mainstream education, and other basic services that should be available to all children.Despite constitutional guarantees and legal provisions, children continue to be discriminated against on the basis of caste, ethnicity and gender. Discrimination is at the base of many child rights violations. Indeed, an analysis of the programmes and the way they are implemented in the country often leads to further marginalisation and exclusion. Is that we would refer to as “planned development”? Children from certain socio-economic backgrounds who are poor and belong to minority, tribal, dalit or migrant backgrounds face discrimination in a number of ways. They are disproportionately represented among juveniles who are imprisoned, are less likely to be able to access education and health care services, more likely to be victims of violence and exploitation, trafficked and recruited as child soldiers.

In its work for and with children, HAQ has always stood beside the most vulnerable and excluded. With a clear mandate to mainstream children's issues into all development agenda, while working towards policy change and governance so as to ensure spaces for children, HAQ strives to draw attention to the most vulnerable and the most discriminated in all its work. This year's report thus focuses on exclusion and discrimination; beginning with the very first discrimination that children suffer is on account of their age - as children resulting in their non-recognition as citizens with equal rights. Even though a rights-based approach demands addressing the root causes of a problem, when it comes to planning for children, the impact of macro and micro developments in the country on children and their rights is seldom assessed and taken into account. Unless all government policies and actions, be it the agricultural policy, the drugs policy, India’s policy on displacement and rehabilitation, forest laws, mining policy and the like, are examined from a child rights lens, any attempts to address violation or denial of children’s rights will stand defeated, leaving scope for more and more children to fall out of the social security and safety net.

Copies of the report are available. Contact: info@haqcrc.org

Phone:91-1126490136/26492551
_____________________________________________________________

[1] International Food Policy Research Institute. Global Hunger Index 2008
[2] Damien Grammaticas, Food warning for Indian children BBC News, 13 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7398750.stm.
[3] Purnima Menon, Anil Deolalikar and Anjor Bhaskar. The India State Hunger Index: Comparisons Of Hunger Across States. International Food Policy Research Institute.October 14, 2008
[4]Network for Social Acountability "http://nsa.org.in/Policybrief. "How the Working Class has Performed in the Turbulent Years of Liberalization? Preliminary Analysis of the main findings of the Working Class Income & Expenditure Survey".
[5] Jonathan Todres, Birth Registration: An Essential First Step Toward Fulfilling the Rights of All Children .Human Rights Brief. Vol. 10 No. 3 pp. 32-35. 2003.

we need to hang our head in shame

We need to hang our head in shame that a mother has lost faith in our system to deliver justice to her daughter....

Goa rape case: Victim's mother withdraws charges
NDTV Correspondent
Sunday, November 09, 2008, (Goa)

The mother of the German minor, who was allegedly raped by Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monserratte's son Rohit, has withdrawn the charges against him.The German woman has written a letter to police, saying 'the whole system has failed her'.On November 5, Rohit was remanded to three days police custody by a Goa court in connection with the rape case. Rohit had surrendered before the Goa police.He was booked by Goa police on October 14 for allegedly raping the German girl and had gone missing after that.He appeared before the police on November 1 to give his statement, a few hours before the 14-year-old German girl deposed before a magistrate after initial reluctance.

Adoption and CARA website

http://www.adoptionindia.nic.in/carahome.html

Please follow this link share your views/comments/suggestions:

1. Do you have any reactions about the use of the picture of a ‘naked child’ on a site that promotes adoption? especially a Government of India's offcial site?

2. As per the CARA Guidelines, the first priority is encouraging intra-country adoption. Does the picture of foreign adoptive parents on the Home Page not suggest that our Government wants to promote foreign adoptions rather than Indian?

XITH FIVE YEAR PLAN

The XI th Five Year Plan is up on the Planning Commission Site. For the first time in the history Planning in India, the section on children is called Child Rights and not Child Welfare. Indeed the chapter is creatively titled Towards Women's Agency and Child Rights

As has been the trend so far, a single chapter has been dedicated to Women and Children. This does little justice to either groups. The next step is to help women and children find their own place in the planning document. Small beginnings and large steps.....we need to keep moving

http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v1/11th_vol2.pdf

My God is a Juvenile Delinquent

"A book about children in conflict with law, that focuses more on the emotional, physical and psychological issues, rather than only the legal perspective. My God is a Juvenile Delinquent dwells on the author's journey into the world of children in conflict with law, his interaction with them, their stories, their point of view, their angst and often, the loss of childhood and the ruin of countless futures".

My God is a Juvenile Delinquent
A book by Ruzbeh N. Bharucha
Published by Sainatham Communication
Cost: INR 350/- only

If you are interested in buying this book please contact:
Ms. Neena Sharma
Administrator
HAQ: Centre for Child Rights
208 Shahpur Jat
New Delhi – 110049
Tel: 011-26490136
011-26492551
Write Email: info@haqcrc.org
or neena@haqcrc.org

You can place your order by sending us a cheque in the name of HAQ: Centre for Child Rights of INR 370/- (including courier charges i.e. INR 20/- for Delhi) or INR 410/- (including courier charges i.e. INR 60/- for outside of Delhi but with in India), along with your name and complete address where the book should be delivered.

You can also buy this book from:

Full Circle
N- 8 Greater Kailash
Part – I
New Delhi: 110048
Tel: 011-29245642

Full Circle
5-B, Khan Market
New Delhi: 110003
Tel: 011-24655642


Full Circle
No: 13, Ist Floor
MGF Metropolitan
Saket
New Delhi: 110017

CABINET GIVES CHILDREN DIWALI GIFT BY DIRECTING HOT COOKED FOOD

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Death_knell_for_ready-to-eat_scheme/articleshow/3641723.cms
Death knell for Renuka's ready-to-eat scheme?26 Oct 2008, 0350 hrs IST, Nitin Sethi, TNN
NEW DELHI: Renuka Chowdhury's belligerence seems to have been lost on herCabinet colleagues. Despite a very strong pitch by the women and child
development (WCD) minister, the Cabinet has decided that hot cooked mealswould be served all over the country in the next two years under theIntegrated Child Development Service scheme.
It emerges from the Cabinet note that the GOM set up on ICDS, which TOI hadreported on earlier, is only to recommend measures for expediting the switchover to hot-cooked meals in states where this is not already being done.
In what is being interpreted as a further rebuff to the WCD minister, thepanchayati raj ministry would now be associated in implementing the scheme.Mani Shankar Aiyar, minister for Panchayati Raj had pointed out that theConstitution demanded a greater role of panchayti raj institutions in ICDSbut WCD ministry ignored the suggestions.
Instead, the WCD ministry had remained firm on its backing for ready-to-eatmeals in the face of opposition from the planning commission, the financeministry and even the PMO. While some had warned that it would lead tocentralization and consequently corruption, others had also warned that itwould be a direct threat to the health of eight crore poor children.
The Supreme Court-appointed food commissioners too wrote to the WCD ministrywarning it not to go ahead with the proposal in the face of apex courtorders requiring that middlemen and contractors of any kind not be used inproviding food under government schemes.
But the WCD ministry lobbied in favour of packaged food at the review of itsICDS revamp proposal with the finance ministry. As a consequence, thefinance ministry diluted its original vehement opposition to Chowdhury's petproject, instead suggesting that hot-cooked meals could be served if thestates so agreed.

Happy Diwali

HAQ believes that children are important Actors in our society, as Citizens of Today and as Adults of the Future. We also believe that each member of society can be a child rights activist, wherever we are. All we need to do is stand up against injustice around us and stop child abuse and exploitation. Simply keep our eyes, ears, minds and hearts open. We can then hear the cry for justice.

This Diwali, HAQ:Centre for Child Rights dedicates a new blog to ALL children. This is a forum for all of us to share our concerns, comments, suggestions, queries or simply vent feelings on issues concerning children. Let us also share the small steps we have taken to fight injustice and exploitation of children in our neighborhood or community.

We can stop child abuse and exploitation now!