Date:21/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/21/stories/2008122151320300.htm

Karnataka

Laws needed to protect child rights: expert

Staff Correspondent

Chitradurga: The Union Government should frame comprehensive laws to protect the fundamental rights of children, member of the Juvenile Justice Board, Nataraj, has said.

He was speaking at a workshop on Child Rights Protection organised by the Chitradurga District Legal Services Authority, the Chitradurga District Bar Association and the Department of Women and Child Welfare here on Friday.

Dr. Nataraj said that according to a global survey conducted by the United Nations, India stood sixth among 10 countries in which children were employed in hazardous industries. “It stands fourth in child abuse and ninth in child trafficking, which is very alarming and a matter of great embarrassment,” he said.

Expressing concern over the state of children in the country, he said two out of every five children faced some form of child abuse. According to the 2001 Census, around 1.25 crore children in India were working for a living, a good number of them under hazardous conditions. The number might have increased in the last seven years, he added.

Dr. Nataraj said civil society had failed to protect the interests of children, which had resulted in the increase in cases of child abuse, juvenile delinquency and child labour. “In urban areas, countless children are seen sleeping with stray dogs on pavements, wandering in bus stations, begging or collecting garbage.”

He said that although the Government had chalked out a plan for compulsory primary education for children, nearly one crore children were not going to school, according to estimates by a few non-governmental organisations.