Recommendations towards the National Child Protection Policy, GoI
Posted on February 06, 2019
4th February 2019
We at The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) welcome the Ministry of the Women and Child Development, GOI’s initiative of drafting the National Child Protection Policy, which demonstrates its commitment to upholding children’s rights. However, the policy draft requires a progressive shift on several fronts. In keeping with this, the following are our recommendations from a child rights perspective.
Problems in the current draft:
- The policy draft, in its current spirit, is not placed in the child rights framework – i.e it does not uphold children’s basic rights to their entitlements.
- The Draft National Child Protection Policy has been formulated more in the paradigm of setting limited guidelines and expectations from duty bearers, rather than establishing a framework in which all aspects of children’s protection are addressed. Rather than reading as a to-do document, the policy must first lay out the Vision, Mission, and the Guiding Principles, which will become the base to define and encapsulate child protection and will be the framework to design context-specific and efficient guidelines for implementation
- There is no evidence, either of children being consulted or of other stakeholders and representatives being looped into the process. The Policy would greatly benefit from the insights and inputs of the constituencies it deems to protect.
- There is no reference and convergence with other policies and instruments in existence. The current policy framing initiative should benefit from the process and outcome of the Karnataka State Child Protection Policy-KSCPP (The Concerned for Working Children being on the core drafting committee). The KSCPP has incorporated the participation of children from various socio-economic backgrounds, affiliations, and abilities, including children with special needs in the process of formulation itself. Similar processes of participation and inclusivity must be ensured when formulating the national policy document too.
The Policy should thus lay the foundation that facilitates transparent and efficient structures so that children in all situations:
- Can access their rights
- Are able to voice their perceived and actual needs
- Can voice, without fear, when they feel uncomfortable or violated.
- Have genuine and effective representation to address violations
Further systemic processes have to be clearly laid out, namely:
- Clear lines of accountability,
- Clear lines of redressal in case of violations.
To read the detailed structure proposed by CWC, please click here: Recommendations towards the National Child Protection Policy Draft – The Concerned For Working Children
