Manifesto on Child Rights

1. Coalition of Child Rights Networks
Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry
General Elections to the
Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly - May
2006
Manifesto on Child Rights
1. Preamble:
• Make Child rights the key indicator of national development. Measure national
success and progress by measuring the status of children and the enjoyment of their
rights.
• All legislative, administrative, judicial decisions, policies and budgets must be
based on a First Call for child and be in the Best Interests of Children.
• Recognize all persons upto the age of 18 years as children and work for
compatible changes in Constitution and in all other relevant legislations in line with
UN CRC to guarantee children’s rights to protection, development, life and
livelihood, survival and participation.
• Recognise children’s right to expression, association, information and capacity to
participate in decisions that affect their lives. Encourage and respect children’s
participation.
• Formulate a new State Policy on children to declare and uphold National
Commitment to Constitutional Protections and fulfil the provisions of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which India ratified in 1992.
Organised by
Coalition of Child Rights Networks – Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry
• Campaign Against Child Labour • Child Rights Campaign – TN & Pondy • Campaign
Against Sex Selective Abortion • Campaign Against Child Trafficking • Campaign
Against Female Infanticide (CAFI) • League for Child Rights • TN – Forces • Tamil Nadu
NGO Forum for Street Children • Tami Nadu Alliance for Right to Education and Equity
• Tamil Nadu Child Rights Protection Network.
Contact Address: Campaign Against Child Labour – Tamil Nadu
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2. 30 First Street, Royarthope, Srirangam, Trichirapalli – 620 006, Ph: 0431-2432803,
Fax : 0431-2432521, e.mail:radha_lead@hotmail.com
• Children’s right to life and livelihood resources as enshrined in the constitution
and Supreme Court judgements must be the basis for promoting childhood
development.
• Halt policies that promote globalization, privatization and deregulation of the
state, cuts in domestic subsidies and tariff and non-tariff barriers and the power of
binding WTO agreements.
• Guarantee and implement free, compulsory, quality, equitable education for all
children upto 18 years.
• Prohibit all forms of child labour upto 18 years. Implement a programme of land
reforms.
• Prohibit all forms of violence against children. Prohibit trafficking of children.
• Distribute land to the landless and dalits with access to water resources and
subsidized inputs for cultivation. Protect common lands, restore all panchami lands
to dalits.
• Stop destroying agriculture as it ruins the lives of 80% of our children in villages,
towns and cities.
• Protect and conserve water, protect life, stop mining of water for commercial
purposes.
• Promote multi-species afforestation, protect forests and adivasis rights to land
and resources.
• Employment opportunities with living wages should be enforced; and inflation
should be addressed in the poverty eradication programmes. Food security and
protection of livelihood of households should be ensured to guarantee food and
nutrition security for every child.
• Social security legislation for the workers of the unorganized sector providing
health care, accident insurance, maternity benefits, old age pension should be
enhanced in the interest of the children.
• Implement universally the Right to Information Act and the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act.
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3. • Table a white Paper on status of children and child rights violations in the state.
An Action Taken Report should be placed every year in the Legislative Assembly.
2. Reforms in Education: Enforcing the Right to Education:
A comprehensive Law for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry providing for Free, Quality,
Compulsory, Equitable Education for all Children upto Std XII or eighteen years should
be enacted immediately. The Tamil Nadu Compulsory Education Act 1997 should be
repealed. Until then enforce Art 21–A of the Constitution to provide free and compulsory
education for all children 6 to 14 years in all schools. Qualitative nutritious noon-meal to
be provided to all students. Existing schemes of free text books and note books,
uniforms etc., must be continued and universalized for all children.
Introduce Common School System based on neighbourhood schools under a single
State Board of Education in all schools. Tamil must be made the language of
instruction.
Atleast 8% of GNP should be earmarked for education 60% of which should
compulsorily be used for school education. School education must be completely
funded by the State.
Prohibit collection of all forms of donations. Prohibit tuitions, punishments, torture,
(including corporal punishment) and all other forms of degrading treatment.
Implement a teacher – student ratio of 1:30 and introduce one teacher for every class /
section in all schools.
Quality of teacher training should be improved, radically improve school infrastructure
and basic facilities in schools. Stop closure of Government schools and re-open all
government schools in new buildings that have been closed in the last 10 years. Stop
approvals, immediately for private schools and teachers training institutions.
3. Early childhood care learning and development:
Right to life, protection, welfare and development has to be guaranteed. Early child
hood care, learning and development must be guaranteed for all children upto 6 years.
ICDS needs to be radically restricted to improve its standards and make it universally
applicable. The place, space and timing should be suited to the needs of un-reached.
2% of State GNP should be allocated for these services. Specially trained teachers and
child care workers should be compulsory.
Immediately implement the Supreme Court judgement which guarantees an ICDS
centre for every hamlet.
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4. 4. Adi Dravidar Welfare Schools, Hostels and Tribal
Residential Schools:
Dalit children must be protected from caste violence, abuse and sexual abuse.
Atrocities against dalit and tribal communities in any form in society or in the school and
hostel must be stopped. Children, especially girl children are the worst affected and
vulnerable. Local government, panchayat and municipalities need to be empowered to
provide protection and gain justice for victims.
Take immediate steps to radically improve the quality of infrastructure, basic facilities,
provision of learning materials, quality of teaching number of teachers and prohibition of
punishments in Adi-dravidar Welfare Schools’ hostels and Tribal Residential Schools
and hostel. The inhuman and total lack of human rights standards in Adi-dravidar
hostels and Tribal residential schools requires the immediate attention of your political
party. At no point should admission to Dalit and Tribal hostels be rejected. The number
of hostels and schools must be increased to accommodate more children in need.
Establish a high level team from your party or an inter-party standing committee to
monitor human rights violations, gross neglect and discrimination in dalit hostels
demanding that detailed human right standards be immediately established and
implemented. At no point should services like food and cleaning be privatized. A strict
monitoring system to ensure compulsory attendance of teachers and quality teaching
should become the rule in Adi-Dravidar and tribal residential schools.
Take steps to get the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(SC / ST) to conduct public hearings in Tamil Nadu based on the evidence given by
students in Adi-Dravida Welfare Hostel.
That budgetary allocation for dalits schools, hostels and Tribal Residential Schools and
Hostels be increased twofold and the Special Component plan, Tribal Sub-plan to be
fully utilized only for the Welfare of the dalits and not diverted. We demand that the dalit
and tribal community be compensated for the historical crimes committed against them
by successive governments.
• Strictly enforce the SC / ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 related to
offences against dalit children in schools and those in bonded labour. Ensure
monitoring of untouchability practices in schools and ensure the end of such
practices.
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5. • Scholarship amount for students should be regularly revised according to the
changes in the prices and it should reach the students in the beginning of the
academic year itself.
• Provide special educational provisions to the Children of the Scavenging
Committees.
• Ensure special compensation and rehabilitation package including education for
dalit children affected by caste atrocities.
5. Eradicate Child Labour and Enforce Bonded Labour
System (Abolition) Act:
Introduce a comprehensive law and rules in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry to prohibit
employment of all children upto 18 years, in any form and in any place of employment,
including with the aid of the family or in the dwelling place with stringent punishment for
employers, occupiers and contractors.
Introduce a special income generation scheme in such households and guarantee
employment and payment of living wages (atleast minimum wages) for all adult
members in such households. The distinction between which employment of children
is hazardous and which is not hazardous is artificial and must be done away with. No
section of child labour can be regulated. Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act,
1986 needs to be amended and strictly enforced to prohibit the employment of all
children below 18 years of age in any kind of work.
Strictly implement the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 with a minimum of
Rs.1 lakh rehabilitation package for each bonded child labour that is rescued. The role
of the state is to guarantee employment and living wages for adults. Stop children
being pushed into the system of bonded labour. While releasing the bonded labourers,
children should be considered as an independent entity with regard to rehabilitation and
schooling.
Adolescents especially girls should be stopped from entering into contract labour
system prevailing in various parts of the country. Further the recent trend to provide
accommodation in hostels for adolescent girls in textile factories should be abolished.
The “Sumangali system” (payment for marriage) of employment should be abolished as
it only entices parents to forcefully send their girl children to work in inhuman condition
for long hours of work and less wages with constant risk of being abused.
6. Prohibiting all forms of Torture, sexual abuse and
degrading treatment in all places including schools:
No child shall be subject to any form of sexual abuse torture or cruel or other inhuman
degrading treatment or punishment and your party should take all the necessary steps
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6. in this behalf, forthwith. It is a shock and shame to any society to let its innocent
generation be tormented with impunity and protected from punishment
Stop the existing practice of using school children to get political and government
dignitaries, forcing them to provide entertainment in inhuman conditions.
Your party should enact a comprehensive legislation for child justice to combat crimes
against children incorporating the rights of the child in the Constitution, UNCRC and the
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.
Child Centered Procedure Needed for Dealing with Crimes Against Children:
Introduce a specially trained and sensitized police force and judiciary which is child
friendly and works in the best interests of children to deal with crimes against children
especially cases of physical and mental abuse, trafficking rape and sexual abuse.
Initiate a process of special courts for such offences with child centered process of
evidence gathering, redefinition of torture and sexual abuse of children and a climate for
children to freely express themselves in such courts. The same adult provision for rape
which needs proof of penetration by the male organ cannot be the basis for gaining
justice for child victims of rape. A separate definition of child rape and sexual abuse is
needed.
IPC CrPC and Evidence Act provisions for adults cannot be the basis of gaining justice
for the child victims of abuse and torture. Introduce a comprehensive child justice
legislation for crimes against children prohibiting all forms of torture, discrimination and
other degrading treatment in all places including domestic violence and violence in
schools.
It should be mandatory for every school to adopt a child protection policy with the
participation of students, teachers and parents. The proposal pending with the Home
Department, Government of Tamil Nadu to start on trial basis child friendly police
stations should be translated into reality. Steps should be taken immediately to ensure
that a new child-centre jurisprudence and procedure is put into place with regard to the
process of investigation, evidence, collection, processing a case and trial special Public
Prosecutors who hold the best interests of children as paramount should be appointed
in all cases of child abuse and sexual abuse / rape.
7. Prohibiting Trafficking of Children and Adoption:
• Recognize Child Trafficking as a crime and a blatant violation of child rights,
establish a foolproof Child Protection System from the panchayats and municipal
wards to prevent child trafficking.
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7. • Enact a comprehensive legislation on child trafficking, covering all its forms and
purposes, providing for prosecution of traffickers and ensuring child-friendly
procedures so that the victim do not get further victimized. The Legislation should
provide protection, relief and rehabilitation to the child victims. Access to free legal
aid for trafficked victims and early disposal of cases is necessary. These children
should be restored to the family environment at the earliest and institutions providing
shelter rehabilitation and responsible for protection be continuously monitored.
• Political commitment and action by politicians, government, policy makers and
planners is required to stop child trafficking within the state and across its borders.
• Adoption procedure and the agencies conducting adoption should be strictly
monitored. Wherever necessary fact finding missions should be conducted and the
issues should be exposed. Close monitoring of inter-country adoption should be
ensured.
• Urgent steps need to be taken to stop commercial use of children in the name of
adoption. Political parties must legislate in favour of a comprehensive law on
adoptions with stringent rules for licencing of adoption agencies and more powers
for the Scrutiny Agency. Inter country adoption should be prohibited immediately as
it is a mere lucrative business for agencies and their brokers. Existing notifications
on adoption must be reviewed.
• The functioning of the Government cradle baby scheme must be urgently
reviewed as hundred of girl babies continue to be given away in the name of this
scheme. Giving away babies entrusted to state care and protection to private
adoption agencies who are hardly monitored is a criminal act and must be stopped
immediately. Government must take responsibility for all orphaned children
maintaining the highest human rights standards. Adoption also should come under
the direct control of the state and all private adoption agencies be closed fore with.
8. Improving the Sex Ratio:
Your party should take all steps to halt the declining sex ratio and aborting of female
foetuses. Affected mothers being forced to commit female infanticide should not be
proceeded under Sec.302 IPC for murder. Female infanticide should be viewed as
social crime and not as individual offence. To avoid the continuation of such social evil,
equal right to property for women under the Hindu Succession Act and the Dowry
Prohibition Act should be implemented vigorously. We seek the stand of your political
party on the following for improving the declining sex ratio.
• Stop all medical technologies that imbalances the birth ratio of female children.
• Strict enforcement of The Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques
(Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 2002” and “Medical Termination of Pregnancy
Act 1971.
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8. • Include Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) and Infant Mortality Rate gender differential
(IMR Gender Differential and Under Five Mortality Rate Gender differential
U5MR gender differential) as Health Development Indicators.
• A central legislation to regulate the functioning of all private clinics need to be
enacted, as there is a growing trend in commercialization of medical profession.
• Enact legislation to regulate the ART clinics and the genetic research that affects
the health of the mother and the neonate.
• The medical code of ethics should be strictly enforced.
• Criminal action against victims of female infanticide should be stopped and the
victims of female infanticide, accused guilty under Sec.302 should be relieved.
• All births and deaths should be registered. All pregnancies should be registered
by 12 weeks of pregnancy and monitored. All abortions should be monitored.
• The cradle baby scheme should be scrapped and the parents should be provided
supportive services to take care of their daughters.
• Activate the Health Committee at the panchayat level to monitor the health
services at the village level.
• Increase the age of marriage of girls from 18 years to 21 years.
• All the powers of the Appropriate Authorities at the State and district level must
be fully utilized. This authority is vested with powers of a civil court.
9. Highest Attainable Standards of Health Care and Nutrition:
• Stop privatization of health care services State Government run PHC’s and
Hospitals must be adequately funded and monitored. These health centres and
hospitals must have adequate doctors, medicines, nurses and other para medical
personnel to provide the highest standards of health care. There should be one
VHN for a population of 2000 and a PHC for a population of 20,000 rather then
the present 30,000.
• Every hamlet household should have free access to safe drinking water.
• Strictly enforce the Supreme Court Judgement of 2001 in Rajasthan PUCL Vs
Union of India on Food Security. If the Tamil Nadu standards are higher then
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9. those laid down by the Supreme Court then the schemes should have universal
outreach and improved quality.
• The PDS system must be strengthened and made universally accessible for the
urban and rural poor and low income groups. As per Supreme Court guidelines,
PDS shops should remain open on all days. Ensure 35 kg of rice for BPL
cardholders and cardholders should be allowed to take the grain on installments.
• Every PDS should provide atleast 12 items of basic food necessities at maximum
subsidy including kerosene, dhals, sugar, wheat cooking oil etc.,
• Every hamlet should have an anganwadi with supplementary nutrition / nutrition
for pregnant and lactating mothers etc.,
Close down institutions of mental health and faith healing centres if they do not have a
licence and do not follow basic human rights standards. Every government hospital
from taluk level must have a specialty ward with highly qualified personnel, facilities and
medicines for treatment, free of charge for all mentally ill children and adults. District
General Hospitals and Government hospitals in cities must have a separate specialty
ward for treatment of children. The Institute of Mental Health needs a thorough
investigation into its functioning and radical improvements to fulfill mental health human
rights standards.
10. Human Rights Standards in Children’s Institutions:
• No child below 18 years shall be taken to or detained in a police station or
detention centres. The provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 should be strictly
adhered to with regard to children in custody.
• The orphanages and charitable Institutions Act meant to monitor and regulate
such institution is outdated and not implemented. Many institutions are run with no
checks and licences. This Act must be comprehensively amended so that human
rights standards are enforced. All institutions must be investigated and licences
reviewed only if the monitoring authority is satisfied with the legal and child friendly
environment. Procedures for starting of children’s institutions must be stringent. Any
institution functioning without a licence or not maintaining human rights standards
should be closed and no licence given or renewed.
• Establish Child Welfare Committees (CWC) and Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) in
all Districts and States across the country. Observation Homes for both girls and
boys should be established in every District Headquarters.
• Despite the enactment of the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 and Rules many
procedures followed in Juvenile homes continue to be undemocratic and violate
children’s rights. Homes under the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 must be more open
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10. and child friendly and not continue to function as minor jails. Stop the practice of
using the regular police as Juvenile Aid police and the practice of escorting children
by police to the courts. The offences for children in conflict with law should be
defined specifically and existing IPC offences should not be made applicable to
children. Children’s right to bail and restoration quickly to the family must be the rule
not the exception.
• Institutionalization either in state homes or private homes should be the last
resort. This is not in the best interests of the child. Efforts should be made to unite
children with their family, community or foster parents. Homes should be places for
guidance, care and rehabilitation and not places for long periods of custody.
11. Children with disabilities:
All children with disabilities should be provided with free education in all schools
Teachers need necessary training for relating to the needs of children with disabilities.
Children in this world have the rights to enjoy the following:
Right to Education, Right to good Food / Clothing /Shelter, Right to good hygiene, Right
to good Medical services, Right to speak, Right to play, Right to be loved. But children
with disability do not enjoy these rights. We would like your political party to support our
concerns by taking a strong stand in your party’s manifesto in defense of the rights of
children with disabilities.
We need equal opportunities in all walks of life with regard to all facilities. We will not
have this as long as there are attitudinal barriers. This has led to architectural barriers,
barriers to education, recreation. These issues cannot remain just disability issues, they
are community issues. Since, we are part of the community. We wish every one join us
in creating facility for all of us. We need access to all places whether it is school, a
public place, theatre, park or a play ground. We have the right to be treated equally in
the society right from our childhood. All schools whether it is government or private
need to provide facilities in terms of curriculum, material and evaluation and need
facilities for life skill. Strictly implement the Persons with Disabilities (Equal
opportunities, protection of Rights and full participation) Act 1995.
Early intervention services should be provided for all children who are developmentally
delayed in the age group of 0-3 years in all PHCs. Rehabilitation specialists should be
part of the medical intervention team.
12. Street and Working Children:
Residential school education should be provided to all the street children for their
development. All children must have a first right on shelter and all civil services. At no
cost should these children be pushed into homes under the Juvenile Justice Act.
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11. Special skills training centers should be opened for these children. Harassment by
police and foisting of false cases on these children should be stopped.
13. Migrant Labour Children:
Guarantee and provide employment for all adult workers with living wages in their place
of residence or nearby their homes. This will prevent migration of families due to
landlessness, unemployment, poverty, indebtedness etc., In turn this will prevent
uprooting children from their homes, school, friends, environment etc.,
Migrant children must have the right to continue their education in a school where they
have migrated to, together with their right to nutrition’s noon-meal schemes, balwadi
facilities, health care facilities nutrition programmes for their pregnant and lactating
mothers. These children should be admitted and avail of these service at any point of
the year. Creches for infants must also be provided. At no cost should migration result
in dropouts from school or access to PDS, PHC etc.
Local government should have the power to be informed about when people migrate
and be provided a migration card to serve as an identity for children’s, education, ration
shop etc.,
14. Safe and Clean Environment:
You political party must make your stand clear on:
• Right of children to live in an environment that is clean and safe protected from
hazardous and polluting industrial projects.
• Right of children to stop destructive development projects including Transnational
Corporations that affect them and their families.
• Right of children to their traditional practices and knowledge, biodiversity, forest,
common resources, water bodies etc.
• Right of children to prevent sand quarrying, water mining etc.,
• Right of children to prevent evictions, land acquisition.
Political parties must make public their stand on stopping air and water pollution,
hazardous waste and bio-medical waste dumping by industries and sewage. At no cost
should children’s place of residence or school be surrounded by garbage and sewage.
To protect environment and conserve nature the views of children must be taken
seriously. More and more open spaces and nature parks must be opened with access
to children. At no cost should children playgrounds, open spaces or parks be
encroached by commercial interests or for government building complexes.
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12. 15. Right to Housing, No Evictions & Displacement:
Enshrine the right to housing as a Fundamental Right. Guarantee and provide for all
homeless and inadequately housed families, legal rights to land for housing – atleast 4
cents in rural areas and 2 cents in urban areas.
Take steps immediately to stop all evictions and demolitions of the homes of urban and
rural poor and other working classes as it uproots children from their homes, schools
and environment. Stop displacement caused by mega industrial and infrastructural
projects that entail widespread resettlement of lakhs of families and their children.
Your party must make a public statement to enact a comprehensive housing policy and
a legislation to guarantee and provide for everyone who requires a service place to live
with dignity and security. Rural housing resources must be prioritized for the benefit of
the use of the poor and protected in urban areas housing materials fair price should be
established to provide materials by government at subsidied costs.
16. Media and Children:
Your party must be willing to take a stand on:
• In order to promote the best interests of children in the media, a media code for
children should be framed urgently
• Ensuring several quality educational programmes for children that children can
view in their homes / schools.
• Get the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to review all programmes for
children shown on TV currently and inviting a team of children’s experts to come
up with alternative child – centered programme.
• Ban the commodification of children on TV and films where they are used for
dance sequences conversations regarding love and sex, anti women jokes and
statements, shown as mediators of lovers etc.
• Besides the censor Board needs to institute a committee of child experts to
monitor all T.V. programmes, films and print media to ensure that the
programmes promote the rights and freedoms of children and specifically monitor
the use of violence and scenes that propagate abuse of children.
• Prohibit using of children in advertisement that promote a class – elite based
consumerism and discriminates through the products advertised against the
urban and rural poor children and children of dalits, tribals and other
disadvantaged communities.
• Sensationalisation of crimes against children in the print media must be
challenged. The print media should focus more on specific policy and rights
issues of children like child abuse, discrimination education, violations against
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13. dalit, tribals, street and working children and migrant children, child labourers.
Impact of macro economic policies of children, discrimination of the girl child etc.
17. Commission for Protecting Children’s Rights:
In the lines of Women’s Commission and Human Rights Commission, a Commission for
Children should be constituted at the National and State level; and these Commissions
should be extend up to the District Level. The said Commission for Children should be
empowered to protect all rights of children enshrined in the Constitution, UNCRC and
other international instruments.
The Commission must be independent of Government and must consider children’s
voices seriously with mechanisms for children’s expression, participation and decision
making. It must have all the powers of a court but not function as a court based on
adult jurisprudence and procedures. Its reports must be binding on the government to
take action and should have the powers to institute independent investigations and file
cases suo moto in the courts. It should have a broad based task force for investigation
not dependent on the police.
18. Statutory Commissions:
We call upon all political parties to ensure that Statutory commissions namely State
Human Rights Commission, National Human Rights Commission, Tamil Nadu State
Commission for Women, National Commission for Women, National Commission for
Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (SC/ST), Minority Commission:
to establish a special desk and rapporteur for children’s rights. Commissions should
take urgent measures for negotiating with government the need for drafting new laws for
the protection of children’s rights and implementing existing legislations. Commission
should automatically investigate petitions regarding child rights violations and also take
suo moto action in all such cases.
The Commissions should also intervene in the courts on behalf of child victims and take
measures to hold public hearings in all districts or in places of gross violations of child
rights on a regular basis.
The Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women should be immediately reconstituted and
a separate law be enacted that gives the commission more powers similar to the
National Commission for Women or Kerala State Commission for Women. Your party
must also take steps to fill up all the vacancies in the State Human Rights Commissions
with persons having the necessary experiences and qualification and take urgent
measures with the Chief Justice to review the working procedures and justice delivered
by the commission.
19. Halting the adverse impact of globalization on Children:
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14. • Liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation have detrimental effect on the lives
of the poor especially children; and hence such policies should be totally done
away with.
• Specifically with, an inter-sectoral team appointed by the Legislative Assembly
should conduct a comprehensive assessment of the impact of past liberalisation
and privatisation of services. Such an assessment must especially examine
impacts on a) the access of ordinary Indians - particularly economically and
socially vulnerable communities--to timely, affordable and quality services; b)
changes in levels, patterns and nature of employment; c) livelihoods, social and
economic security, and welfare, particularly among vulnerable communities; d)
domestic small and medium enterprises, and; e) the ability of people and the
state to protect its natural resources land, water, forests, bio-diversity etc., f) the
ability and willingness of the central and state governments to enact and
implement regulations that protect the public interest and welfare.
• WTO agreements violate the Indian Constitution especially on Fundamental
Rights. Reject WTO Agreements as the people of Tamil Nadu have nothing to
gain except misery, starvation and poverty. Reject the WTO as its agreements
violate the powers of State Government listed in the State list and concurrent list
of the Indian Constitution.
• Basic services are guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. The privatisation of
basic services under the WTO – GATS would affect the access of rural and
urban poor and low income groups to these services and uproot them from their
livelihood systems. The privatisation of health care and higher education
electricity, transport, water, sanitation services etc., will deny more than 90% of
the population this basic right. Instead the union Government must raise the
budgetary allocation for public health care and education to 8 and 12%
respectively and stop all further privatisation of these services. It must stop
privatization of power generation and distribution, finance services, PDS,
transport etc.,
20. Protecting Tsunami Affected Children’s Rights:
G.O.Ms.33 guarantees that free education for all children in Tsunami affected villages
must be enforced. All schools charging children fees or continuing to collect donations
or charges for books, uniforms etc., must have their approval certificate withdrawn.
G.O.Ms.33 must be extended atleast until April 2008.
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15. Primary obligation of the State is to protect and promote children’s rights. In such
situations at no cost at all times should the private sector be involved in health care,
education, electricity supply, transport, water distribution housing etc., this violates
the fundamental rights of any person including children. It is the duty of the state to
ensure total accountability to such private sector companies and also public sector
agencies to provide the highest quality of services free of cost during a disaster /
emergency situations. UNCRC, Constitution of India and other International Human
Rights Instruments is the central guiding doctrine for the principles of the child rights
promotion and protection.
Affected families must be supported in rebuilding their own homes with adequate
financial grants in their original place of residence. The government must take steps to
ensure peoples security for their land. At no point should the state hold out any threat
of eviction or relocation.
Fishing people affected by Tsunami are protected for their right to land and housing
within 500m from HTL as per the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 1991. An
important principle that the state and organisations of civil society should follow in a
disaster situation is to guarantee restoration and improvement of livelihood resources,
and not forcefully displace people from their traditional occupations and living
environment.
At all stages of an emergency or disaster situation – Relief, Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction children’s voices and participation must be the central basis for decision
making.
All forms of discrimination to children must be prohibited in planning and implementing
programmes.
Housing is not four walls and a roof. The right to land and adequate housing need to be
enshrined as a fundamental right in the constitution that guarantees a place and
environment to live in dignity and security. Urgent need to quickly restore livelihood
instruments lost or destroyed as this delay further affects the depressed mind set of
children and takes longer time for children to recover from a disaster.
To prevent children’s places like schools, playgrounds etc., being taken over for rescue
and relief measures in a disaster situation it is important that common open and built up
places are available in each village for such purposes.
Institutionalization of children should be discouraged and avoided specifically for
orphaned children.
Vulnerability of children gets accentuated in emergency and disaster situations for
Orphaned children – institutional care is not the answer. We must ensure community
care of highest standard. All orphanages started by private bodies or persons in
Tsunami affected areas should be closed down and the State take full responsibility for
the care, protection and childhood development of these children.
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16. Temporary shelters that have been built and permitted should continue on strict
guidelines and standards should be enforced state must take responsibility for providing
all basic services and ensuring rights in these temporary shelters. At no stage should it
create conditions for exploitative abuse, loss of livelihood or loss of land and access to
education and health care.
Food and nutritional security, round the clock, health care, providing and monitoring,
psycho-social care and children’s recreation and camps are very necessary for
promoting children’s rights in a disaster or emergency situation.
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