The Rights of the Girl Child in India 169
the Rights of the giRl Child in india
devaki Jain*
Background
For those of us who have been engaged with the
Human Rights Movement – a movement which
tries to both understand what rights are, as well
as how to affirm them, – figuring out the kind
of spaces, laws, and social contexts that make
the journey of those who wish to affirm their
rights effective, new issues and problems are
arising. This is a natural concomitant of any forward movement in areas of thought and action.
We learn as we move along – whether it is about
conceptualization or institutions or what can
be called challenges.
In no area is this more evident than in the
attempt to bring children’s rights into the overall human rights rubric. One of the most classical expositions of some of the historical as well
as contextual questions that arise in dealing
with this issue both in thought and action is the
essay by Dr. Emma Rothschild entitled “An Infinity of Girls.”
1
In this essay Rothschild writes about how
during the French Revolution, men regarded
women as incapable of serious political talk, of
exercising their political rights. She quotes no
less a person than Robespierre who referred to
women’s opinions as the babble of women and
clubbed women and children together, as persons who would not have the judgment, the
mental capacity to participate in political debates and therefore should not be given equal
rights or rights of equal citizenship with men.
These demeaning attitudes towards women’s
rights are not a surprise to women’s rights activists. It has been a phenomenon that persists
in many parts of global society.
Emma Rothschild in her story of the issues involved in understanding and affirming
the rights of children, points to these corners
which cloud clarity in any massive campaign to
affirm children’s rights in the same way as one
might affirm the rights of adults. One important consideration that she calls our attention
to is, that when the child’s rights are being affirmed, it is not by the child herself, but it is
through the proxy of an adult. In that sense, an Realizing the Rights of the Child 170
autonomous, self-generated affirmation of her
right by a child in ways in which adults affirm
rights, cannot be seen on equal terms.
The rights of the child are always mediated
by the adults, either those who are working for
child rights or others. However, invoking the
rather mean perception of the question whether
women should have rights, prevalent during
the French Revolution, Emma Rothschild also leaves the space open for an evolution of
thought, understanding and negotiating instruments for making a more genuine articulation of children’s rights, as if it came from the
minds and voices of children themselves.
At a roundtable on “Building bridges for
equality – mobilizing actions” for the human
rights of children and women held in partnership with UNIFEM by the Society for International Development
2
in New York, June, 2001,
I invoked an experience which I was privileged
to have, in Petermarysburg in South Africa in
1998. A meeting had been called to address the
gigantic problems being faced in South Africa by the “emergence” of thousands of orphans
due to the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Caregivers, such
as nurses, health workers, local bureaucrats and
politicians were gathered to figure out how to
deal with this problem. The problem was exacerbated due to the fact that, in traditional South
African society, families took in any member of
the family who was dispossessed. But the intensity of motherless/fatherless children had
increased so much that the elder woman who
usually was the provider, could not absorb any
more of the orphaned children.
The situation arose whether children could
be housed in orphanages. Whether there were
enough adults then to look after those orphanages was a new question which led the assembly
to suggest that the children might themselves
manage the orphanages as communal management. This again would require for them to
earn their livelihood as children, to be able to
manage their own affairs, which brought up
the question which is now currently being addressed in India, namely do children have the
right to want to earn their own livelihood and
be independent of the state and their parents?
A further question that came up in Petermarysburg was: How could one discuss children’s rights without weaving them in with
women’s rights? The idea of discussing children
without mother’s rights showed the deeply embedded nature of children’s rights in relation to
mothers, and their ability to affirm their rights.
Graca Machel, who chaired the Eminent Persons Group
3
which was dealing with children in
armed conflict and I, as a member of the Eminent Persons Group set up for that study, came
out with a sense that children’s rights have often to be seen in contextual ways and cannot
be made into a separate rubric, as can be done
with the overall discourse on human rights.
It was also pointed out loudly and clearly in
Petermarysburg that if women had more power
to affirm their will, if the importance of women’s rights to affirm their individual rights had
been more clearly articulated and put on the
ground, the HIV-AIDS epidemic would not have
been so virulent. It was their inability to say no
to sexual demands that had added to the virulence of the spread of HIV-AIDS in South Africa – and has then lead to numerous deaths of
women in turn to a flood of orphans.
All these questions, answers and concerns
are relevant to the situation in India today. India has been given a high rank in the list of
countries that are facing a massive spread of
the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Simultaneously, India
is also ranked as one of those countries in the The Rights of the Girl Child in India 171
world where child malnutrition is widely prevalent. Another well recognized phenomenon recognized is the elimination of children of female
sex from the womb.
4
Finally, currently a very hot debate on India’s recent legislation making the use of child
labour a criminal offence. Little girls are often
used as domestic labour, apart from working in
factories, which make matches or fire crackers.
By making it a criminal offence, India hopes to
remove this blot from her social landscape. However, in a situation of acute poverty and hunger, anyone who can bring in income – infant,
child, women, old has become crucial. When children are moved back from earning a wage, it is
often suggested that they then will be sold into
prostitution in explicit and subtle ways or killed
in order not to have to feed another mouth.
It is important when looking at the bigger picture of the struggle for human rights, to
be aware of these layers of concern and consequence in looking at the girl child.
Coming nearer home
In some sense, South Asia can be proud of having drawn attention to the girl child as far back
as the 80s. It could be argued that the calling attention was in response to the extremely unjust
and harsh situation of girl children in South
Asia. While discrimination against the female
of the species is worldwide; and while sex-selective abortion, or feticide as it is sometimes
called, is prevalent not only particularly in India, but also in Korea and China, as has been
pointed out by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen,
the overall statistics on the condition of women with special reference to the young, has been
extremely pernicious.
It should also be mentioned that it was the
women’s movement, both in India and in the
sub-continent, networking and communicating
over decades, often enabled by the spaces offered by the U.N. agencies, who came together
to suggest to the first conference of the SAARC
Region, namely the South Asian Association for
Females per 1000 males
960
950
940
930
920
1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991
955
950
945
946
941
930
933
927Realizing the Rights of the Child 172
Regional Cooperation, that one of their themes
should be the girl child.
Secondly, over the decades, India has had
many programs addressed specifically to the
girl child, almost doing what is called positive
discrimination in her favour. In the last decade,
there have been programmes in the different
States of India, which for example, would open
a bank account for the girl child of a poor family
and not a boy child. Forms of encouraging parents to cherish the girl child, even if the incentive was as crude as a monetary incentive.
But statistics on the situation of the girl
child in India do not make for comfort.
Given the enormous progress India has
made in health care and nutrition for its women and children, one would expect a steady increase in the number of women in the population. It is shocking that the reverse has
happened. The female to male ratio has become
worse, not better, in the last 70 years.
5
Deficits in nutrition and health-care also
overwhelmingly target female children. Karlekar
6
cites research, indicating a definite bias in
feeding boys milk and milk products and eggs.
In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh [States in India], it is usual for girls and women to eat less
than men and boys and to have their meal after
the men and boys have finished eating. Greater
mobility outside the home provides boys with
the opportunity to eat sweets and fruit from
saved-up pocket money or from money given
to buy articles for food consumption. In case
of illness, it is usually boys who have preference in health care. More is spent on clothing
for boys than for girls. All of which also affects
morbidity.
Status of children in India – some facts
7
1. 2.5 million Children die in India every year,
accounting for one in five deaths in the world,
with girls being 50% more likely to die.
2. The National Aids Control Organisation has
estimated 55,000 HIV infected children (0–14
years) in the Country in 2003, according to UNAIDS, it is 0.16 million children.
3. The very existence of the girl child is under
threat. Defying the normal male-female balance,
and the higher survival capacity of girl babies and
greater life expectancy of women to men prevalent
in human populations, the female to male balance
in India has been adverse to females for at least
the past 100 years. The 1901 National Census recorded a female to male ratio of 972 to 1000, for
all ages. Virtually every subsequent census showed
a worsening decline.
4. The Government of India in its report to
the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
said, “Every year” 12 million girls are born – three
million of whom do not survive to see their 15th
birthday. About one-third of these deaths occur
in the first year of life and it is estimated that
every sixth female death is directly due to gender discrimination.
5. Almost all government’s health policies seem
to have an underlying family planning agenda.
Health activists have analyzed that with its emphasis on population control; the rural health mission is no different. Over the years it has become
quite clear that if people are forced to limit the
size of the families, they shall do so at the cost of
the girl baby, even if it means that they have to
“import” brides from outsides their states or their
communities.Realizing the Rights of the Child 276
Matei Bals” Infectious Disease Institute.
Cf. www.cnlas.ro
9 Juveniles in Romania are considered adults
from the age of 14.
10 One aid organization working on behalf of the
right of HIV-positive children to treatment is the
international organization Terre des hommes
with headquarters in Lausanne.
11 Aktualisierung zu HIV/AIDS in der Europäischen
Region, Weltgesundheitsorganisation, Kopenhagen, 12. September 2006, http://www.euro.
who.int/document/rc56/gtb01a.pdf, Anhang.
12 Institutul de boli infectionase “Prof. Dr. Matei
Bals”. Compartimentul pentru moniorizarea şi
evaluarea infectiei HIV/SIDA in Romania.
www.cnlas.ro
13 Geser, Janette Weiss: Time to deliver HIV/AIDS
in Eastern Europe, http://www.aids.ch/d/
hivpositiv/pdf/referate/Time%20to%20deliver
%20HIV.pdf, St. Gallen 20.09.06.
See also Jahn Christian: Ein Drittel erfüllt die
PISA-Anforderungen nicht. Moskauer Deutsche
Zeitung, 5. Juli 2005, http://www.mdz-moskau.
eu/print.php?date=1120581626.
14 Oral information from Janette Weiss Geser, Infekt
Team Schweiz-Russland, St.Gallen, 26.09.06.
The Rights of the Girl Child in India
Devaki Jain
*
Assisted by Nageena Nikhat Khaleel, Research Associate working on Human Rights at Singamma
Sreenivasan Foundation, Bangalore.
1 Rothschild, E. (2000), “An infinity of girls: The Political Rights of Children in Historical
Perspective,” Centre for History and Economics,
University of Cambridge, UK.
2 Devaki Jain: Women and child rights in the context of Globalisation, Speech delivered at Roundtable on “Building bridges for equality – mobilizing actions” for the human rights of children and
women, organized by UNICEF/Society for International Development (SID)/Bernard van Leer
Foundation at New York on 14–15 June, 2001.
3 Klot, J.F., and Sowa, T.: Graça Machel – The Impact Notes 277
of War on Children, A review of progress since
the 1996 United Nations Report on the Impact of
Armed Conflict on Children, C. Hurst & Co.
(Publishers) Ltd., United Kingdom, (Co-producer
UNICEF), 2001.
4 Aravamudan, G., Disappearing Daughters:
The Tragedy of Female Foeticide, Penguin
Publishers New Delhi 2007
5 Sen, K.M., and Kumar, S.A.K.: “Women in India –
How Free? How Equal?,” UNDP-Report Commissioned by the Office of the Resident Coordinator
in India, 2001.
6 Karlekar, M.: The Girl Child in India: Does she
have any rights? Canadian Women Studies,
March: 1995.
7 Meenakshi Ganguly Thukral, Status of Children
in India Inc, HAQ Centre for Child Rights, 2005.
8 Jain, D., and Chand, M.: Report on a time allocation study – its methodological implications,
presented at the technical seminar on women’s
work and employment, 9–11 April 1982.
Ibid, Indian Women; Today and Tomorrow.
Padmaja Naidu Memorial Lecture, Published by
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New
Delhi, 1982.
9 Gita Aravamudan: Disappearing Daughters.
The Tragedy of Female Foeticide. Penguin Books
(India), 2007
10 Devaki Jain, “Through the Looking Glass of Poverty,” New Hall Cambridge, October 19, 2001
11 Dreze, J., and Sen, A.: Hunger and Public Action,
Oxford Clarendon Press, 1989.
12 Jain, D.: “Through the Looking Glass of Poverty”,
New Hall Cambridge, October 19, 2001.
13 Human Development Report 2000, UNDP.
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the National Council of Applied Economic
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Devaki Jain: “Children’s Rights and Women’s
Rights: Some connections and disconnections,”
Development, Vol. 44(2), 2001.
Ibid: Report on Magadi Child Labour, sponsored by
National Human Rights Commission, January,
1999.
Dipak Basu: “Combating Child Labour,” The Hindu,
March 7, 2000.
Ganesh. N: “Child abuse stems from family – a study:
Vulgar talks, gestures also forms of abuse,”
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Iftikhar Ahmed: “Getting Rid of Child Labour,” Economic and Political Weekly, July 3, 1999.
Joseph M.P (ed.): “IPEC in India- 1992–95: Looking
Back,” International Labour Organisation,
International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour, New Delhi, 1996.
Maharukh Adenwalla: The Rights of the Child,
Human Rights Education for Beginners; National
Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, 2005.
Mari Bhat P.N.: “Demographic Transition, Family Size
and Child Schooling,” Prepared for the Programme of Research on Human Development
of the National Council of Applied Economic
Research, New Delhi, April, 2000.
Ibid: “Levels and Differentials in Maternal Mortality
in Rural India – new evidence from sisterhood
data,” Prepared for the Programme of Research
on Human Development of the National Council
of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi.
Punyapriya Dasgupta: “Children are dying in Iraq,”
Deccan Herald, February 23, 2000.
Saviprasad H.R.: “Crying for Attention,” Deccan
Herald, March 19, 2000.
Vasanthi Raman: “Politics of Childhood –
Perspec-tives from the South,” Economic and Political
Weekly, November 11, 2000.
Vijayaraghavan; G.N.V. Brahman; B. Suryaprakasam;
Kamala Krishnaswamy and A. Shariff: “SocioEconomic Factors and Nutritional Status of PreSchool Children and Adults at Village Level,” Prepared for the Programme of Research on Human
Development of the National Council of Applied
Economic Research, New Delhi, April, 2000. Realizing the Rights of the Child 278
Committee on the Rights of the Child, Second periodic reports of States parties due in 2000:
India. 16/07/2003. CRC/C/93/Add.5.
Challenges and Successes in Addressing
Child Sex Tourism in Southeast Asia
Amihan V. Abueva
1 ECPAT Australia, Travel with Care, 2000.
2 ECPAT International and ECPAT Australia, ECPAT
Information Booklet, July 1996.
3 ECPAT International, Questions and
Answers about CSEC, 3rd edition 2006.
4 O’Grady, The ECPAT Story, 1996.
5 ECPAT Global Monitoring Report, 2006.
6 Ker Munthit, Associated Press, 2004-03-29.
7 http://www.nytimes.com/ The New York Times,
James Brooke.
8 Beddoe, Christine, 2006.
9 Fry, Erika, “Closing the Loopholes,” Sunday
Bangkok Post, 24/9/2006.
10 Beddoe, Christine, “The End of the Line for
Child Exploitation,” 2006.
11 www.ecpat.net
12 www.thecode.org
13 ECPAT Global Monitoring Report: Thailand, 2006.
14 ECPAT AccorGB.PDF
15 Child Wise, 2006.
16 ECPAT International.
17 Beddoe, Christine, “The End of the Line for
Child Exploitation,” 2006.
18 Beddoe, Christine, “The End of the Line for
Child Exploitation,” 2006.
“Street Children” in Brazil
Karin Schmitt
1 UNFPA: World Population Report 2007, New York,
N.Y. 2007.
2 The World Bank: Inequality and Economic Development in Brazil. A World Bank Country Study,
Washington, D.C. 2004.
3 Brazil has achieved dramatic results in improving
living conditions: Infant mortality declined from
around 50 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 32
per 1,000 in 2004. Net enrollment in basic education rose from 85% in 1990 to 97% in 2004. Brazilians with access to an improved water source
rose from 83% of the population in 1990 to
89% in 2003. See World Bank: World Development Indicators 2007, Washington, D.C. 2007.
4 See also UNICEF: The State of the World’s
Children 2007, New York, NY 2007.
5 World Bank: World Development Indicators 2007,
Washington, D.C. 2007.
6 UNICEF: The State of the World’s Children 2007,
New York, NY 2007.
7 http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/
8 For any further information consider
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/BrazilHomicide-1980-02-5mar04.htm
9 See the Economist (US) dated July 31, 1993.
10 See also Lusk, Mark and Derek T. Mason: Fieldwork with Rio’s Street Children. In: Rizzini, Irene
(Ed.): Children in Brazil Today – A Challenge
for the Third Millennium. Editora Universitaria
Santa Ursula, Rio de Janeiro, 1994.
Situation of the Rights of the Child
in Morocco
Nadia Sebti
1 Ministère de la Santé, Direction de la population,
Division de la SMI “Santé de l’enfant au Maroc,
situation et orientation stratégique,” April 2005.
2 “Etude de diagnostic de l’Approvisionnement
en Eau Potable (AEP) du monde rural au Maroc –
ONEP/FAO September 2005”
3 Idem.
4 Plan d’Action National pour l’Enfance 2006–2015
“Maroc digne de ses enfants,” edited by
the Secrétariat d’Etat chargé de la famille, de
l’enfance et des personnes handicapées, l’Observatoire National des Droits de l’Enfant and
UNICEF.
5 Ministère de la Santé, Direction de la Population,
“Santé de l’enfant au Maroc, situation et
orientation stratégique,” April 2005.
6 Ministère de la Santé, Direction de la Population,
“Politique de Santé de l’Enfant au Maroc: Realizing the Rights of the Child 294
Cooperation (SDC). He was a co-author of
the Federal Council’s Guidelines North-South
and deputy-head of the division in charge of
their implementation in the SDC. In 1996,
he was promoted to head of the Development
Policy and Research Division of the SDC and
Secretary of the Federal Council’s Consultative Commission for International Cooperation.
From 1999 to 2001, he was chargé d’affaires
of the Swiss Embassy in Maputo and countrydirector of Swiss Development Cooperation
in Mozambique. On his return to headquarters,
he became deputy-head of the Political Affairs
Division IV, in charge of the Peace Policy and
Human Security Section.
Thomas Hammarberg is Commissioner for Human
Rights of the Council of Europe.
He began his six-year term of
office in April 2006. Formerly, he
was Secretary General of the
Olof Palme International Center,
Sweden. His other positions
have included those of Regional
Advisor for Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus at the office of the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights and Swedish Representative
for the multilateral Middle East peace process.
He was also the Personal Representative of
the Swedish Prime Minister to the Special Session on Children of the UN General Assembly
and Chairman of the International Council
on Human Rights Policy. Previously, he was Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
for Human Rights in Cambodia, SecretaryGeneral of Amnesty International, and Secretary General of Swedish Save the Children. He has
also worked as the foreign editor of the daily
newspaper Expressen, diplomatic correspondent
for the Swedish Radio, and as a teacher.
Gitti Hug studied Business Administration and
Economics at the University of St.Gallen (Switzerland)
(1972–1976) and Law in Zurich
(1977–1980). She has been practicing as an attorney at law in
Zurich sind 1981. She is a senior
partner in a medium-sized
Swiss law firm with offices in Zurich and Geneva.
Gitti Hug focuses on Intellectual Property and
Art Law on which topics she regularly publishes
and is a member and vice-president of a cantonal
appeal and supervision authority on public and
guardianship law.
Devaki Jain has lectured in economics at Delhi University and was a founding
member of the Indian Association of Women’s Studies. She
advised the National Commission on Women of the
Government of India and
was a member of Julius Nyerere’s South Commission. Her academic research and advocacy, influenced largely by Gandhian philosophy, have focused on issues of
women’s rights, democratic decentralization,
and people-centered development. Her latest publication includes “Women, Development and the UN: A Sixty Year Quest for Equality and Justice.” Indiana University Press
2005. She was conferred the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honor.
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