The document discusses child protection and issues facing children in India. It defines a child as anyone under 18 based on UNCRC guidelines, though Indian law defines it differently across contexts. Children are vulnerable due to their dependence and various factors can increase vulnerability like age, disabilities, poverty. The document outlines many problems Indian children face like abuse, exploitation, health and nutrition issues, substance use, child labor. It stresses the importance of protecting children's rights and investing in their development and well-being.

1. Child Protection: Concept,
Meaning, and Problems of
Children
Rajeev Kumar
IIT Kharagpur

3. Who is child?
• Defining what age a person is or ceases to be a child is a
constant debate in the India.
• The Census of India considers children to be any person below
the age of 14, as do most government programmes.
• Biologically childhood is the stage between infancy and
adulthood.
• According to the UNCRC 'a child means every human being
below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law
applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier'.
• This definition of child allows for individual countries to
determine according to the own discretion the age limits of a
child in their own laws.
• But in India various laws related to children define children in
different age limits.

4. Why children are important for
nation?• Investing financial resources to help children survive and
develop to their full potential is, first and foremost, a moral
imperative.
• But investing in children is also important on practical
grounds.
• It yields positive benefits to economies and societies.
• Since the foundation of an individual’s health and well-being is
laid in early childhood, the most opportune time to break the
cycle of poverty, or prevent it from beginning, is during that
time.
• Programmes that invest in early childhood development could
generate considerable cost savings for government.
Investments in children are increasingly seen as one of best
and most valuable long-term investments we can make.

5. Are children vulnerable?
• Children have all human rights too.
• Not because they are the "adults of tomorrow" or "the
future", but because they are human beings today.
• Children can also be made more vulnerable than other people
because of their young age and dependence on adults, so they
have specific rights to protect them.

6. Are all children vulnerable?
• All children due to their age are considered to be at risk for
exploitation, abuse, violence and neglect.
• But vulnerability cannot be defined simply by age. Though age
is one component, Vulnerability is also measured by the
child's capability for self-protection.
• The question that arises is, are children capable of protecting
themselves.
• Can children provide for their basic needs, defend against a
dangerous situation or even recognise a dangerous situation is
developing?

7. Continued…
• A child's vulnerability comes from various factors that hinder a
child's ability to function and grow normally.
• Hence self-protection is more about the ability of the child to
lead a healthy life within a child protection system; the ability
to protect themselves or get help from people who can
provide protection.

8. Continued…
• The term vulnerable children refer to an age group that is
considered at risk.
• But vulnerability of children is further compounded by the
following factors:
• Age within age: Younger children, especially those below the
age of six, are much more dependent on the protection
system.
• Physical disabilities
• Mental disabilities
• Provocative behaviours: due to ignorance or misunderstanding
of children's mental health or behavioural problems,
• some people can become irritated or frustrated and hence
lash out against children or neglect them completely.

9. Child Protection
• As per The Constitution of India, Article 15(3), State must
make special provisions for children.
• Article 39 of Part IV of the Constitution asks the State to direct
its policy towards securing (among other things),
• that children are not abused; not forced by economic
necessity to enter a vocations unsuited to their age or
strength; and that they are given opportunities to develop in a
healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity,
protected against moral and material abandonment.

10. Continued …
• Further, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989,
delivers universal recognition of children’s rights to its
member nations.
• UNICEF uses the term ‘child protection’ to refer to preventing
and responding to violence, exploitation and abuse against
children – including commercial sexual exploitation,
trafficking, child labour and harmful traditional practices, such
as child marriage.

11. Small activity
• List out the problems related to children ( 5 minutes)

12. Problem of children
• Abuse and Violence
• Street Children
• Children Living with HIV/AIDS
• Child in Armed Conflict
• Child Marriage
• Children with Disabilities
• Missing Children
• Children in Conflict with Law
• Child Labour
• Child Trafficking
• Children without Parental care
• Child Health and Nutrition
• Early Childhood (Children below six)
• Children of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Families
• Children in Poverty
• Children affected by Substance Abuse

13. Children and substance use
• "If current trends continue, 250 million children alive today
will be killed by tobacco." - W.H.O.

14. Small activity (5-10 minutes)
• Experience sharing by participants

15. Children and substance use
• The incidence of drug abuse among children and adolescents
is higher than the general population.
• This is notably because youth is a time for experimentation
and identity forming.
• In developed countries drug abuse among youth is generally
associated with particular youth subcultures and lifestyles.
• This causes an acceptance by members of the subcultures of
drugs and their use.
• In Asia figures of drug abuse are hard to find but after
cannabis, Amphetamine-type Stimulants (ATS) are the most
commonly uses amongst children and youth.

16. Substance use among children:
Some facts
• In India an NGO survey revealed that 63.6 % of patients
coming in for treatment were introduced to drugs at a young
age below 15 years.
• According to another report 13.1% of the people involved in
drug and substance abuse in India, are below 20 years.
• Heroin, Opium, Alcohol, Cannabis and Propoxyphene are the
five most common drugs being abused by children in India.
• A survey shows that of all alcohol, cannabis and opium users
21%, 3% and 0.1% are below the age of eighteen.
• An emerging trend about child drub abusers is the use of a
cocktail of drugs through injection, and often sharing the
same needle, which increases their risk of HIV infection.
• Overall 0.4% and 4.6% of total treatment seekers in various
states were children.

17. Some influencing factors
• The problem in India is there are no sensitization programmes
about drug abuse in schools or for children out of school.
• Children who at times done have access to high quality drugs
will use volatile substances easily found in corner stores such
as cough syrups, pain relief ointments, glue, paint, gasoline
and cleaning fluids.
• There are very few or no health centers that deal with child
substance abuse problems, especially in the rural areas.
• The use of tobacco is another major concern amongst
children. In India 20 million children a year and nearly 55,000
children a day are drawn into a tobacco addition.

18. Some more facts
• The use of certain drugs such as whitener, alcohol, tobacco,
hard and soft drugs is especially wide spread among street
children, working children and trafficked children but there is
currently a lack of reliable data on drug abuse amongst
children.

19. Reference
• https://www.savethechildren.in/resource-centre/articles/a-
brief-on-child-protection-policies-in-india
• http://www.childlineindia.org.in/child-in-india.htm
• https://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_53294.html
• https://www.crin.org/en/home/rights/themes/children-
vulnerable-situations
• http://www.childlineindia.org.in/vulnerable-children.htm
• https://www.crin.org/en/home/rights/themes/children-
vulnerable-situations
•

20. Thanks
to be continued……….