Details of HAQ: Centre for Child Rights's Annual Report Years 2005 - 2006. HAQ: Center for Child Rights B1/2, Ground Floor, Malviya Nagar New Delhi - 110017 Tel: +91-26677412,26673599 Fax: +91-26674688 Website: www.haqcrc.org FaceBook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HaqCentreForChildRights

1. ANNUAL REPORT
2006
208 Shahpurjat, New Delhi – 110049
Tel: +91-11-26490136
Telefax: +91-11-26492551
E-mail: info@haqcrc.org
Website: www.haqcrc.org

2. Children and Governance
1. Partners Consultation on Child Budget Analysis: A Consultation was organised on 15 and
16 February 2007 at Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. Mr. S. P. Ganguly (Former Accountant
General, Indian Audit and Accounts Department) and Dr. B.P. Mathur (Former Deputy Comptroller
& Auditor General and Chairman Audit Board, Government of India) were invited to share the
budget process and financial control over public money in India during consultation.
Purpose
a. Common understanding of Child Budget Analysis methodology among partners
b. Conceptual clarity of HAQ Child Budget Analysis methodology
c. Developing common parameters for quality reports
d. Developing common report format of Child Budget Analysis
e. Common Activities in all state for better result and impact
f. Capacity building on advocacy with various stakeholders on Child Rights issues with
the budget analysis tool
g. Capacity building on Governance, Budgeting process in Union and State and
Financial Control over public money in India
h. Sharing various ways of HAQ advocacy
i. Better coordination among partners for Child Budget Analysis and advocacy on child
rights issue
j. Strategy Planning for implementation of Child Budget Programme in the current year
2. Panel discussion on Political Economy of Child Rights and Child Budget Analysis: This
was organised by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights on November 10, 2006 in the India Social
Forum at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Lodi Road, New Delhi. The aim of the panel
discussion was to discuss as to how to use the findings of child budget analysis – at the
national, state and local level to advocate for the appropriate budgetary allocation for
programmes for children as well as the proper implementation of the programmes for
children in India.
The panelists were noted child rights activists Ms. Jaya Shrivastava, Magasaysay Award
winner and noted social activist Dr. Shantha Sinha, Former Vice Chancellor of Rajasthan and
Ajmer University Dr. Kanta Ahuja, Member of Parliament from Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) Mr.
Ravi Prakash Verma, practicing paediatrician Dr. Raj Bhandari, researcher Mr. Subrat Das
from Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) and Mr Nagiah,
Coordinator of Child Rights Protection Forum, Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh.
3. Panel Discussion on ‘Political and Financial Resources’: Organised by HAQ: Centre for
Child Rights as part of the Right to Food Campaign in Hyderabad on 7 April 2006. The
panellists were Magasaysay Award winner and noted social activist Dr. Shantha Sinha,
Special Rapporteour National Human Rights Commission Mr. K.R. Venugopal, Member of
Parliament and Member Standing Committee on Human Resource Development Mr.
Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy and Abhijeet Nirmal from HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.

3. 4. National Workshop of Budget Analysis Organisations of India: A workshop was
organised by BARC in Jaipur Rajasthan on 23 to 25 February 2007 for sharing information
and strengthening of budget analysis work being undertaken by various organisations in the
country. HAQ participated as premiere organisation doing child budget analysis and
presented child budget work in India.
5. First Glance at Children in Union Budget: These are the quick comments to the Union
Budget brought out by HAQ soon after the budget is presented in the Parliament. The report
of 2006-07 was released on 1st
March a day after the Union Budget presentation while in
2007-08, the report was released and uploaded on HAQ website on 28 March, the same day
on which the Union Budget was presented. The report was widely circulated among the print
and electronic media, NGOs and other stakeholders. National Dailies such as The Hindu,
Financial Times and Deccan Herald published reports on child budget based on our quick
comments 2007-08. The report itself was uploaded on the websites of NGOs (CRIN Mail,
cry.org, esocialsciences.com, infochangeindia.org) and was accessible through various e-
groups.
6. “What does the Union Budget Have for Children in Union Budget 2006-07”: A detailed
report on the budget was widely disseminated to media, elected representatives, various
NGOs and other stakeholders. HAQ and its partners have used the report in various
presentations on child budget. This year’s detailed report “What does the Union Budget Have
for Children in Union Budget 2007-08” will come out as soon as all the budget documents
are available.
7. Contribution to chapter on child budget analysis in the Working Group paper on Child
Development: HAQ’s budget analysis was included by the Ministry of Women and Child
Development to the Planning Commission for the XIth Five-Year in the Working Group
Report. (Bharti Ali was a member of the Working Group as well as the Drafting Group set up
by the Ministry). Enakshi Ganguly as a member of the Steering Committee on Women’s
Empowerment and Child Development has been asked to write the section on child
development for the chapter on Women and Children for the XI th Five Year Plan document.
8. Spread of Child Budget Work: HAQ’s budget analysis work has now extended to three
more states-Assam, West Bengal and UP (apart from AP, HP, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal).
9. A Volume on Children and Governance: Work has started on the compilation of an edited
volume on Children and Governance. Contributions from this are being invited from experts
and activists from across the world. Routledge India has already given a in principle" letter of
interest” for the book based on the concept note we sent them.

4. Child Protection
1.Monitoring the judiciary and advocating for child-friendly judicial processes: HAQ has been
regularly visiting the Juvenile Justice Board in Delhi as part of its efforts at monitoring the judiciary
and advocating for child-friendly judicial processes. So far the visits have been limited to spending
some time with the children in conflict with law while they await their turn in the waiting room. As
required by the Principal Magistrate, HAQ has submitted a proposal to engage with the children in
the observation homes in a creative and productive way.
Recently, Justice Madan Lokur, Chairperson of the Committee on Juvenile Justice, appointed by the
Delhi High Court, approached HAQ seeking inputs on improving the implementation of the juvenile
justice system. As a first activity he has called HAQ to help in the documentation of the case profiles
of the children as per a format developed by the Committee.
2. Legal Aid: HAQ has been providing legal aid to children who are victims of crime, particularly
child sexual abuse and child trafficking as well as children in conflict with law. While some cases
have come to HAQ directly, some others were referred to HAQ by the Child Welfare Committee in
Nirmal Chhaya.
3. Children’s Right to be Heard in Judicial and Administrative processes: HAQ submitted a
paper to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on Children’s Right to be Heard in Judicial
and Administrative processes for the General Day of Discussion on Right to be Heard, held in
Geneva in September 2006. The paper was based on HAQ’s experiences gained through the ongoing
action-research and legal aid work on juvenile justice. The paper was also circulated at the National
Conference on Juvenile Justice in India, organized by NHRC on 3-4 February 2007.
4. Bihar Fact Finding: A fact finding was undertaken after HAQ was asked by the Child Welfare
Committee, Nirmal Chhaya to follow-up on the children rescued from the zari industry in June 2005
and January 2006 by Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Bandhua Mukti Morcha respectively. They had
all been restored to their families in different parts of Bihar and West Bengal. The fact finding report
is available on HAQ’s website. Following the report, a dialogue with the Child Welfare Committees
in Delhi was organised by HAQ in October 2006 to initiate a process of setting up a protocol on
dealing with such children according to basic standards of care and protection. The Indian Express
carried a story based on HAQ’s fact-finding in December 2006.
5. Training and Sensitisation
With Delhi Police
In 2006, HAQ was invited as a resource for police training on child rights for the South District
Police. As a network partner of Chetna, a children’s organisation in Delhi, Vipin Bhatt from HAQ
has been conducting several sessions on child protection issues during interface and dialogue with
critical stakeholders from law enforcement and judiciary.

5. With RWAs
HAQ has been a resource team for three orientation workshops with RWAs post Government of
India’s notification banning child labour in domestic sector and dhabas etc. One of these was held in
Sector 37, Noida, post Nithari. While workshops with RWAs are critical, it is a big challenge to put
the message across as the general attitude is that the poor dig their own graves.
With NGOs
In 2006 NGOs like SOS and World Vision too approached HAQ for child rights trainings for their
staff as well as community they work in. Initial training sessions with World Vision led to formation
of child protection committees in their North Delhi project areas. World Vision has approached
HAQ again for training the children who are members of these child protection committees to
empower them to take up critical child rights issues in their area. SOS also continues to invite HAQ
as a resource.
Two TOTs were organised in 2006-07 on child trafficking and the law. These were held in Delhi and
Bihar with NGOs working on child protection issues and dealing with vulnerable children.
HAQ continues to be a resource person for NIPCCD and NISD on child rights and the issue of child
protection and child trafficking in particular.
Audio-visual on child trafficking : As part of an EU project, HAQ has made a 30 second spot on
child trafficking. The spot was made by Mr. Avijit Dutt.
Miscellaneous
Advocacy
The Government of India has recognized HAQ and its work and has on several occasions invited
HAQ’s contributions on important policy matters. Enakshi and Bharti have been on several
important Committees constituted by the Government. Enakshi was on the Steering Committee set
up by the Planning Commission for the XIth Five-Year Plan. Bharti was part of the Working Group
for Child Protection set up by the Ministry of Women and Child Development for the XIth Five
Year Plan and was later a member of the Drafting Committee that finalized the Ministry’s Working
Group Report on Children for submission to the Planning Commission. She was also part of the
Drafting Committee set up by the Ministry for revision of the Central (Model) Rules on Juvenile
Justice and is now a member of the Drafting Committee set up to evolve guidelines for the
functioning of orphanages and shelter homes for children. HAQ refused the invitation to be on the
Drafting Committee set up for finalizing Government of India’s National Study on Child Abuse,
because HAQ had earlier expressed its dissatisfaction on the tools and methods proposed to be used
for research and was concerned about the ethics of research on such a sensitive subject. HAQ was
also part of the NGO group consulted for drafting the new Integrated Child Protection Scheme of the
Ministry of Women and Child Development. Yet there are many challenges to overcome in ensuring
transparency and wider consultation from the Government. For instances, the government is no
longer willing to share the draft of the proposed legislation on Offences Against Children.

6. Presentation before the Parliamentary Forum on Child Rights: On 4 December 2006 Bharti Ali
made a presentation on the situation of the girl child before the Parliamentary Forum on Child
Rights. Subsequently, 50 copies of the presentation were demanded by the Office managing the
affairs of this Parliamentary Forum.
Be the Change: A tour of Mr. Susumit Bose’s concert was organised by HAQ: Centre for Child
Rights in 2006-07 in three States in partnership with local NGOs/individuals. The first performance
was in Shillong (co-organised with Impulse NGO Network), followed by Guwahati (co-organised
with Mr. Shauquat Hussain) and Kolkata (co-organised by Jabala). Noted actress and celebrity Ms.
Aparna Sen was the chief guest in Kolkata.
Child Labour: HAQ helped CNN-IBN do an entire series on child labour leading up to the ban on
employment of children in homes and hotels on 10 October, 2006.
FOCUS Report : HAQ contributed to the FOCUS report of the Right to Food Campaign. Based on
the report HAQ was invited by Karan Thapar on his show India Tonight on CNBC-TV 18.
HAQ is supporting photographer and writer Fazal Sheikh in bringing out his book on the girl child
in India. This book entitled Ladli is due to be published by the end of April
Research and Documentation
Enakshi Ganguly Thukral from HAQ was part of the study undertaken with HIC-HLRN (SARP) on
the housing and rehabilitation after the Tsunami in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. She co-
authored the report “Battered Island” with Shivani Chowdhury.
Child Protection Booklets for UNICEF – HAQ was approached by UNICEF India Country Office
to prepare two child protection booklets for Panchayat Members and Teachers respectively. The
booklets are in English and need to be translated into various languages for better utilisation.
Children and Housing – A handbook on children and housing has been prepared with the help of a
consultant and is now in the final stages of editing and design.
‘Status of Children in India. Inc’ was released by the street and working children of Badte
Kadam-a forum of street and working children promoted by Childhood Enhancement through
Training and Action (CHETNA) on 20th
December 2005 at Dilli Haat.
Bharti Ali was elected as a delegate for the Delegates Conference of terre des homes (Germany).
This is a forum where tdh prepares its strategic plans and programme policies in consultation with its
partners, staff and volunteers. She has also been elected as the South Asia member of the Co-
ordinating Committee (KOORA) responsible for monitoring the implementation of the strategic
goals finalised at the Conference and organising the next Delegates Conference to be held in 2009.

7. Organisational Development and Strategic Planning
HAQ has also undergone a four-day PME (Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation) workshop as part
of OD and strategic planning. It was attended by all HAQ staff, programme as well as
administration. The workshop was conducted by ASK with support from Cordaid. It was a joint need
of both HAQ and Coraid, a Netherlands based donor agency that supports HAQ. The next phase of
the programme will be in April-May 2007.
In 2005-06, Mr. Susmit Bose had helped HAQ in its efforts to strengthen its systems. Besides
looking into day-to-day administrative matters and facilitating the Office Administrator in fulfilling
her role, he spent a lot of time with HAQ staff to develop performance appraisal formats and helped
initiate a system of performance appraisals in HAQ. His other significant contribution has been the
entire facelift of the organisation, with optimal utilisation of existing space and minimalistic
investment of financial resources. HAQ thanks Mr. Bose for his constant cooperation and support.
To follow-up on the streamlining necessary in administration and strengthen the organisation, Mr.
Krishnan has now been appointed as a Consultant to HAQ on administrative matters and Advocate
Saif Mahmood has offered to provide legal consultancy as and when required. Mr. R.K. Sharda has
continued to be HAQ’s auditor.