Child Rights

United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child

The most significant of all international laws for children is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, popularly referred to as the CRC. This, together with our Indian Constitution and Laws, determine what rights all children must have.

What is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Human rights belong to all people, regardless of their age, including children. However, because of their special status - whereby children need extra protection and guidance from adults - children also have some special rights of their own. These are called children’s rights and they are laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Significant features of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

• Applies equally to both girls and boys up to the age of 18, even if they are married or already have children of their own.
• The convention is guided by the principles of ‘Best Interest of the Child’ and ‘Non-discrimination’ and ‘Respect for views of the child.’
• It emphasises the importance of the family and the need to create an environment that is conducive to the healthy growth and development of children.
• It obligates the state to respect and ensure that children get a fair and equitable deal in society.

It draws attention to four sets of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights:

• Survival
• Protection
• Development
• Participation

Right to Survival includes

• Right to life.
• The highest attainable standard of health.
• Nutrition.
• Adequate standard of living.
• A name and a nationality.

Right to Development includes

• Right to education.
• Support for early childhood care and development.
• Social security.
• Right to leisure, recreation and cultural activities.

Right to Protection includes freedom from all forms of

• Exploitation.
• Abuse.
• Inhuman or degrading treatment.
• Neglect.
• Special protection in special circumstances such as situations of emergency and armed conflicts, in case of disability etc.

Right to Participation includes

• Respect for the views of the child.
• Freedom of expression.
• Access to appropriate information.
• Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

All rights are dependent on each other and are indivisible. However, because of their nature all rights are divided into:

Immediate Rights (Civil and Political Rights) which include such things as discrimination, punishment, right to a fair hearing in criminal cases and a separate system of juvenile justice, right to life, right to nationality, right to re-unification with the family.

Most protection rights fall within the category of immediate rights and therefore demand immediate attention and intervention.

Progressive Rights (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), which include health and education and the rights that are not covered by the first category.

They are recognised in the CRC under Article 4, which states: “With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, State Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-operation.”

 Definition of child

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which India has ratified, defines children as persons below the age of 18.

However, in India there are several different definitions of the child.

The Census of India defines children as those below the age of 14.

According to the Constitution of India (Article 23), “no child below the age of 14 ……

• Article 45 said that the State will provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14.

The legal conception of a child varies, however. The age of majority is 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys under the Indian Majority Act.

On the other hand, under the Indian Penal Code, the age of sexual consent for girls is 16 years.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 prescribes a uniform age of 18 years, below which both boys and girls are to be treated as children.

Child Abuse

Child abuse is a state of emotional, physical, economic and sexual maltreatment meted out to a person below the age of eighteen and is a globally prevalent phenomenon.

Child abuse is a violation of the basic human rights of a child and is an outcome of a set of inter-related familial, social, psychological and economic factors. The problem of child abuse and human rights violations is one of the most critical matters on the international human rights agenda. In the Indian context, acceptance of child rights as primary inviolable rights is fairly recent, as is the universal understanding of it.

• Physical Abuse: Physical abuse is the inflicting of physical injury upon a child. This may include burning, hitting, punching, shaking, kicking, beating or otherwise harming a child.
• Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse is inappropriate sexual behaviour with a child.
• Emotional Abuse: Emotional abuse is also known as verbal abuse, mental abuse, and psychological maltreatment.

A study on Child Abuse: India 2007, conducted by Ministry of Women and Child development (GOI) revealed that across different kinds of abuse, it is young children in the 5-12 year group are most at risk of abuse and exploitation. This involves physical, sexual as well as emotional abuse.

The study throws light on the following facts:

Physical Abuse

• Two out of every three children were physically abused.
• Out of 69% children physically abused, 54.68% were boys.
• Over 50% children were being subjected to one or the other form of physical abuse.
• Out of those children physically abused in family situations, 88.6% were physically abused by parents.
• The State of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi have almost consistently reported higher rates of abuse in all forms as compared to other states.
• 50.2% children worked seven days a week.

Sexual Abuse

• 53.22% children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse.
• Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest percentage of sexual abuse among both boys and girls.
• 21.90% child respondents reported facing severe forms of sexual abuse and 50.76% other forms of sexual abuse.
• Children in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest incidence of sexual assault.
• 50% abuses are persons known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility.

Emotional Abuse and Girl Child Neglect

• Every second child reported facing emotional abuse.
• Equal percentage of both girls and boys reported facing emotional abuse.
• In 83% of the cases parents were the abusers.
• 48.4% of girls wished they were boys.