Children's rights implementation as a lived practice

Human Rights Quarterly, 2017

In this article, I suggest to view children's rights implementation as a multi-level governance process. I argue that a multi-level framework usefully integrates earlier work on norm compliance from International Relations (IR) scholarship and on norm vernacularization brought forward in Anthropology. Governance concepts move a step forward because they horizontally and vertically broaden the state-centric IR literature. After developing this multilevel analytical framework, I introduce an in-depth case study on children's rights implementation in Bangladesh. This case demonstrates that particularly in weak states, where capacities are lacking, multi-level activities are relevant for transporting global norms to the societal local rights-holders.

This chapter explores the emerging discourse of children"s rights amongst a group of street children in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Through a focus on three different narrative-incidents it attempts to expand reflection around children"s rights from its current focus on efforts of nationstates to "implement" the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to the contingent sphere of subjectivities and meanings that children make of "rights". This meaning-making, or the processes of translation that the universal undergoes, brings to the fore local webs of signification that reveal disjunctions in these children"s understanding of rights. These disjunctions, I argue, represent the cultural workings of historically constituted subjectivities and the ways in which these produce an ambivalent reading of "rights" and the state. This ambivalence forms part of what this chapter characterizes as an absence of "rights-based subjectivities". This is namely the post-Enlightenment concept of the autonomous (sovereign) individual from which the notions of rights and citizenship are derived. The particular historical

Childhood, 2019

How might we interpret the continuing inability of most marginal populations in the majority world to make claims based on the legal guarantees made available by the new regime of child rights governance? Through a focus on India, this article attempts to answer this question by foregrounding the critical contribution that historicizing rights-subjectivities in postcolonial contexts can make to our current research. It combines postcolonial theory with an analysis of post-independence policy-making and utilizes these frameworks to more critically read the recent paradoxical move to deregulate child labor in India. By disclosing how contemporary logics of child rights governance both reproduce existing heirarchies and legitimize new exclusions, the article's central argument is that incorporating the differential working out of citizenship is essential to developing a more politicized reading of the structural exclusions that mark child rights governance within postcolonial contexts.

2021

Child is entitled to special care and assistance due to their dependency and immaturity. As human being, children have the basic human rights including social, economic and cultural rights. All over the world efforts are taken to protect these rights of children. Effect of Child abuse and exploitation on child are serious and stunted the potential development of many children. Despite of all these international and national efforts still the children in India faces the problem of child abuse and child exploitation. The role played by the judiciary to safeguard and protect the rights of the children as a guardian of fundamental rights through issuing direction or giving advice to the Government are commendable and must be appreciated. This article has discussed the concept of judicial activism, the rights of child and who is child? This article has studied about the international and national efforts taken for the protection of children rights including provisions under Constitution ...

Journal of international law research, 2016

Attitudes, knowledge, and perceptions of an individual influence their behavior as well as culture of a society. The objective of the study was to understand the attitudes and knowledge of 584 Indian community members regarding child rights and their perceptions about whether selected child rights were secured in reality. Overall attitudes of vast majority (96-98%) of the participants towards child rights were found to be positive i.e., children should have rights in various respects except issue like right to meet others (Article 15 of CRC). Knowledge of majority of the participants about child rights related legislations was moderate and varied across the cities while participants were unanimous about poor lived experiences of child rights in reality. So far as attitude and perception are concerned about child rights, there was a significant difference in the distribution between cities (p<0.01). Overall, the Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 had the highest awareness (91.3%, n=533), followed by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (89.7%, n=523) and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (89.6%, n=523). Findings of the present study speak in favor of community awareness about child rights and penalties for violation of child rights.

Abstract: In the Earlier part of the 20th century, ‘Child Rights’ remains a serious problem in many parts of the world. India, is not an exemption, even it is blessed with the important legislations, constitutional provisions and remarkable judgments on child rights, which is always build on the platform of relevant regional and international mechanisms and international standards of behaviour towards children, still it fails while addressing and eliminating the issues of children mostly from the deep roots of our Indian society. Here in this Paper researcher suggest some innovative measures through a close understanding of the socio-cultural Identities of the Indian Society, which helps to eradicate the ‘extreme roots of poverty’, charging means (Economic & Social) towards child labour and child trafficking, with the strong support of Constitutional Norms and Innovative socio-educational nuances in the Indian society. These measures are succeeded to a large extend in the ‘Rurban’ areas of India. Keywords: Dynamics of Child labour, extreme roots of Poverty, Socio-educational nuances, Constitutional Norms

Half necked child begging at Traffic signal, a small boy serving tea and eatables at a canteen, Children working as rag pickers collecting empty water bottles at railway stations, minor girls dressed as seductive as they can and trying to attract potential customers for prostitution in red light areas of metro cities are quite common scenes and are therefore fresh in our memories.

The phrase Child Protection or Child Rights Protection become a fashion axiom of the development sector particularly among all international, national and local child development organizations. A plenty of child protection or child rights protection policies, strategies, mechanisms, projects are emerged all over the world following the UN convention on all types of Children's issues. But it is million dollar question whether all the efforts made to protect the children and their rights are reached to the gross roots level including the dead end of remote village particularly in India. There are about 43 crore children in the age group of 0-18 years; 16 crore children are in the age group of 0-6 years; of this there are 8.5 crore males and 7.88 crore females. It is estimated that 40 percent of the children are in difficult circumstances or vulnerable. The diverse socioeconomic , cultural and geographic conditions of the country resulted in diverse needs of children. The government seeks to adopt an inclusive approach for development and protection of children by addressing specific needs and concerns of different categories, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Government core concern include enduring the rights of all children to live, survival and safety, with special emphasis on physical, psychological and cognitive development , emotional and social wellbeing. Furthermore access to child care, education, nutrition, health care, clean drinking water and environment, shelter and justice are areas that are given special attention to eliminate inequalities, exclusion and discrimination experienced by the children. But the situation of the children in rural areas, it is found by various sources, is more vulnerable in all the terms such as health and nutrition, education, parental care, corporal and other punishments, child abuse trafficking, lack of family support, forced child labor, clean environment and drinking water, care and support and even safety.