India sends exaggerated reports to UN on child rights

India’s report on children to the United Nations (UN), “Convention on rights of children report”, is stated to be far from reality. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) working on pro-child rights have now decided to submit an alternate report to the UN on January 30 mirroring the reality.
India is one among 194 nations which have signed UN agreement of rights of children. The agreement states that the all the countries which have signed must send in reports on the conditions of children every three years. But, India has only sent two reports so far. The third and fourth reports which were supposed to have been sent in 2010, were sent together in 2011 after the UN officials reminded the Indian government.
Expressing displeasure over the report, and calling it shoddy, Naga Simha, director, India Alliance for Child Rights, an NGO working towards making a fresh report, told DNA, “This report is done in a hurry with no real background work done. For instance, the report states, that there are only 40 lakh child labourers in the country. According to our report, there are close to 12 lakh child labours in Karnataka itself. This shows that the report is concocted.”
Further the report says that in Karnataka, all the states have Grama Bala Panchayats which are operating in full swing every six months. “But this is not true,” he said.
Citing more examples, he said, “The report also states that integrated child protection schemes have been effective in India. We know that no such scheme has been in place. Foster care for children which does not exist in the country is also shown in the report as widely spread practice,” he said.
The report states that Juvenile Justice act has been in existence in Tamil Nadu and Child Welfare Committees have been formed in the state to regulate the Child Rights activities. “No such thing exists in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Citing Article 33 of the convention, Simha said, “Drug Abuse also has no data in the report. This is a compulsory article and India has sent nothing on this issue either. Article 31 speaks on leisure, recreation and entertainment; but the report merely talks about cultural programmes held in the states.”
Stating that India had violated rules laid down by the UN, he said, “Article 44 of the Convention of Rights of Children states that wide publicity must be given to the report. But the report was done secretly with no consent of public bodies taken.”
Now, the NGO has joined hands with other organisations and will send their version to the UN on January 30. “We have started work on this from September 2011. We have tied up with other NGOs in the country. We have been going to villages and cities and talking to children. We have been in contact with administrative bodies to see which schemes are being implemented and where. India has time till 2013 before the UN takes its decision on the report,” he explained.
The NGOs also feel that the country is trying to gain permanent membership in the UN by showing that the country is heaven for children. “They have simply glorified the state of affairs while the reality is in front of us,” he said. Currently, Alliance for Child Rights has started work in Hubli by screening programmes and collecting data on real time problems and conditions of the children.