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Child Protection

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CONVERGENCE ON CHILD PROTECTION

Child protection is one of the most pressing issues in the social sector which must take the first call in the government, CSOs and other stakeholders at large, being the most fundamental amongst the 4 categories of UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child) rights namely, survival, protection, participation and development. The issues concerning child protection are scattered all over and directly concern the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Social Justice & Empowerment, Human Resource & Development, Labour & Employment and Home Ministry which deals with legal issues and human trafficking.

While the JJ Act 2015 provides a broad and overall structure for child protection in the country, various Programs and Schemes of Government are currently functional under different Ministries/Departments. For instance, Integrated Child Protection Scheme – Ministry of Women and Child Development, National Child Labour Project Scheme- Ministry of Labour & Employment, One Stop Centre Scheme – Ministry of Women and Child Development), Samagra Shikhsha Abhiyaan – Ministry of Human Resources & Development, Victim Compensation Schemes – National Legal Services Authority, etc. Moreover, programs related to child protection require active participation of Ministries such as Health & Family Welfare, Human Resource & Development, Home Affairs (Police- Special Juvenile Police Units, Anti-Human Trafficking Units), Labour & Employment and Railways.

Prayas discussed this with Hon’ble Minister, MWCD, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani and Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog besides Mr Alok Kumar, Advisor, NITI and Secretary and Additional Secretary, MWCD. Following this, a meeting was organized at NITI Aayog on 28th February 2020 under the chairmanship of Shri Alok Kumar, Advisor, NITI Aayog and attended by Chairperson, NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights), and other officials from NITI, MWCD and some CSOs including Prayas. It was decided that a Plan of Action shall be prepared to ensure better coordination and convergence amongst relevant Ministries/ Departments.

In these extremely difficult COVID-19 times, when children across the country are suffering the most without being able to voice their problems, there is an urgent need to synergise efforts of all relevant stakeholders and Government Ministries/ Departments so that all the necessary services are accessible to the children, especially those in need of care and protection.

PRAYAS’ Role in Child Protection

INSTITUTIONAL FACILITIES
 Shelter Homes for Children:
Prayas strives to provide institutional facilities for the protection and growth of neglected children or children rescued from difficult circumstances. To address the issue of child protection, Prayas runs 38 (Thirty-Eight) Shelter Homes for Children throughout India where every child is provided a family environment for proper growth and development. It caters to the educational, social, emotional and mental well-being of the children.

Drop-in centres: Prayas runs multiple Drop-in-Centres, which are essentially a ‘Contact or Facilitation Centre’ wherein a child may seek assistance in the form of care, protection and other support services including a temporary abode, where he feels protected from an exploitative environment. These Centres operates for those children who are defined as ‘children in need of care and protection’ under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

NON-INSTITUTIONAL FACILITIES

Crisis intervention Centre and 24 hour Out Reach Service:

Prayas through its Crisis intervention centre and outreach services provide emergency assistance and support services to vulnerable individuals (children, youth and women). We assist in securing emergency health services, counselling and legal assistance to those in need.

Child Protection Unit The Child Protection Unit (CPU) of Prayas plays a pivotal role in drawing the experiences from the numerous institutional and non-institutional programmes and raising issues of concern at the policy level. The organization has raised the issue of child protection vehemently in collaboration with more than 280 Child Protection NGOs in the light of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme of the government taking their recommendations to the doors of the Planning Commission as a member of the Steering Committee and the Working group on Children.

Children being an extremely vulnerable population, their protection assumes great significance for their healthy development. However, not seen as a major issue earlier it has surfaced as a matter of major concern for policy makers and even public at large. The United Nations Convention on Child Rights, by declaring Right to Protection as an issue of child rights has provided some attention and obligation on the signatory states though much remains to be realized. Going by literal meaning, Child Protection would bring under its ambit numerous categories of children whose security is at stake, reeling in situations of neglect, maltreatment, injury, trafficking, sexual and physical abuse of all kinds, pornography, corporal punishment, torture, exploitation, violence, and degrading treatment waiting for immediate attention and protection.

These children often addressed by different names has been recognized by the Indian government as children are in “Especially difficult circumstances” with their estimated figures at nearly 30 million as per the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The much needed infrastructure and administrative mechanisms for dealing with the apathy of such children in India has been far from being adequate in spite of the recognition of the problem. Prayas has been striving for providing institutional facilities as well as promoting non-institutional mechanisms for the effective rehabilitation of neglected children. The organization considers the juvenile justice, child trafficking, child labour and child abuse as issues of child rights and child protection and addresses them through Six Shelter Home for children, Childline, 24 hours emergency out-reach service and Crisis Intervention Centre. The Child Protection Unit (CPU) of Prayas plays a pivotal role in drawing the experiences from the numerous institutional and non- institutional programmes and raising issues of concern at the policy level. The organization has raised the issue of child protection vehemently in collaboration with more than 280 Child Protection NGOs in the light of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme of the government taking their recommendations to the doors of the Planning Commission as a member of the Steering Committee and the Working group on Children.