“The lack of protection and care for vulnerable children is a global crisis with many millions of children growing up outside of families, experiencing abuse, neglect or exploitation,” said Rita Panicker, founder of Butterflies, Family for Every Child’s Indian member that works with street children in New Delhi. “Concerted global action is now needed to raise children’s protection in the international agenda - and to monitor the impact of governments’ efforts in ensuring that children can grow up safe and protected in families.”
Rising numbers of children worldwide are experiencing abuse, neglect and exploitation. For example, 150 million girls and 73 million boys are engaged in extremely harmful forms of work. Today’s meeting unites representatives of governments, UN bodies, and human rights and development groups to call for new global targets to track states’ records in protecting vulnerable children like these.
India has made important strides towards introducing a wide range of services to strengthen the care of children within safe, permanent families, and yet it was acknowledged the country still has a long way to go. In India, just 0.035% of total union government expenditure is devoted to child protection, a notable underspend considering the scale of child protection issues facing this large country which has 11 million street children, the world’s highest number, and 28 million working children under the age of 14.
“As an emerging global political power, India has a critical role to play in advancing the cause of care and protection for vulnerable children,” said Rita Panicker, “During this seminal moment as the global community is collectively defining development priorities it is critical that ambitious goals and targets are set to protect and care for vulnerable children.”
Representing India’s Planning Commission at today’s meeting, Dr. Shantha Sinha, Chairperson National Commission for Protection of Child Rights “It is unfortunate that India has the largest number of children who are vulnerable and victims of violence and exploitation. It is only through education and continuous efforts to provide opportunities can better protection, greater confidence and self esteem be attained.
This requires the energy of communities and families to take on the responsibility to respect children as same and equal to adults even as the State provides for robust care-giving public institutions for children to realize their fullest potential and to promote their participation. It is in this context that there is a need to build a continuum of interactions with children in the family and at the societal level embedded in values that are free of adult domination ensuring dignity and justice for all children."
The New Delhi meeting comes as global discussions accelerate around the replacements for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the global development targets that expire in 2015. The views of children must be incorporated into plans for these new goals, Family for Every Child said.
The group released a set of report on the needs of vulnerable children, based on interviews with more than 800 children in seven countries including India. Those interviewed included girls and boys living on the streets, in institutions, in prison and in foster care. In India, they included boys and girls aged 8-18 in New Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The results highlight children’s almost universal desire to grow up in safe, caring family environments, free from violence.
“It’s vital, as the world plots its future development pathway, that it takes into account the needs of these most vulnerable children who are currently voiceless and shut out from all the benefits of progress and globalization,” said Rita Panicker of Butterflies which, among other initiatives, supports street children to make their own radio programmes.
“Our work is about giving children a voice and representation. If you ask them, children have a very clear idea of what they need to grow up into healthy, productive contributors to our society,” she said.
Family for Every Child also released a number of position papers at today’s meeting exploring how the protection of vulnerable children is vital for the success of other development goals such as those concerning child health and education. Children without adequate care and protection are less able to access education, nutrition, health and other basic life-saving services, it said.
