Dear ICYO Members and other Readers,

Greetings,

The India Monitoring Report on status of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children (which is part of Global Monitoring Report) was released in Delhi on 30 July 2007. We are glad to provide you the summary of the Report.

If you interested to receive full report (pdf format) please do write to us.

 

Thanks

Ravi Narayan

Secretary General

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations

Email: icyoindia@...

 

LtoR: Ms Indrani Singh, Sanlaap, Kolkatta; Mrs Carmen Madriñán, Executive Director, ECPAT International, Bangkok; Mrs. Vidya, Equations, Banglore; Ravi Narayan, Secretary  General, Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) in launching function.

 

Summary

By

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave, New Delhi 110029, India.

Phone 9811729093 / 26183978  Email:  icyoindia@...

 

 

Summary

India

 

ECPAT India report is in the context making review of ten years have passed since the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) was held in 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden. The report reminds that the Stockholm Congress was a landmark event, providing testimony that convinced the world that sexual violations against children exist in all nations, irrespective of cultural differences or geographic location. It marked the first public recognition by governments of the existence of CSEC and resulted in a commitment to a global Declaration and Agenda for Action, which was formally adopted by governments across the globe, including India as a guide to the specific measures that must be taken for counteraction.

 

The Agenda for Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children provides a detailed framework and categories of actions to be taken by governments in partnership with civil society organizations and other relevant actors for combating commercial sexual crimes against children. Broadly, these actions are focused on: 1) Coordination and Cooperation; 2) Prevention; 3) Protection; 4) Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reintegration; and 5) Child Participation.

 

Since 1996, many actors around the world have focused their efforts around this common Agenda for Action and more government and non-government entities have linked, to ensure positive change for children and to protect their right to live free from sexual exploitation. ECPAT, Indian Report says that the Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children was developed as a direct consequence of a July 1997 Supreme Court decision that mandated India to undertake such a plan.  

 

Objective of this report

 

This report aims to provide a baseline of information on actions taken and remaining gaps for addressing CSEC in each country, based on the framework of the Agenda for Action, to enable more systematic assessment of progress on implementation of this commitment.

 

It also seeks to contribute to other international mechanisms that exist to protect children’s rights; the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography so as to strengthen the implementation and action against commercial sexual exploitation of children at all levels.

 

Another important objective of these reports is to stimulate the exchange of experience and knowledge among countries and different actors to create a dialogue that can further work against CSEC. While much has been achieved over the last 10 years, many gaps still remain. The implementation of the Agenda for Action is urgently required, for as the reports clearly illustrate, there is a compelling need for global action to protect children from these inhuman violations.

 

Over the years the various alliances has made progress in improving protection for children from commercial sexual exploitation. However, the increasing sophistication of resources available to those who seek to exploit children have grown in equal measure. Responding to these challenges requires far more coordinated and targeted work to be undertaken to avoid retrogression.

 

Experience demonstrates that the level of responsibility and role that a government takes to set and uphold standards of protection, like the lead taken for protecting children’s rights, determines the nature, quantity and quality of what the country achieves for its children. Governments can and have accelerated progress for implementation of the Agenda for Action, often opening new and important channels for such work. Nevertheless, their actions have not been uniform and, as these country profiles attest, far more urgent work must be done to protect children from such heinous violations, as these are still perpetrated with impunity in many countries.

 

The India report features: (i) an overview of the main CSEC manifestations affecting the country; (ii) analysis of the country’s National Plan of Action (NPA) against CSEC and its implementation (or the absence of an NPA); (iii) overview and analysis of coordination and cooperation efforts during the period under review; (iv) overview and analysis of prevention efforts; (v) overview and analysis of protection efforts, which includes detailed information on national legislation related to CSEC (see www.ecpat.net for further details); and (vi) priority actions required.

 

Major Findings of the Report

 

The report highlights that there is lack of information in the areas of Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reintegration; and Child Participation. There is need for generating more data on it.

 

Currently the land and livelihood have emerged as a major concern world over. Quoting statistics it says, more than 40,000 tribal women and children (mostly from the States of Orissa and Bihar) were forced into economic and sexual exploitation due to their marginalisation and lack of access to resources. Thus landlessness are one of the main causes of high incidence of trafficking/migration.

 

The Central Advisory Committee on Child Prostitution monitors the overall NPA implementation, while State Advisory Committees have been constituted to do so at state level. However, State Advisory Committees do not yet function in all states.

 

Child protection still not prioritized, in the union budgetary allocation is mere 0.034% (2005-2006)

 

Unclear legal definitions limit the protection of children against child Pornography

 

India does not have extraterritorial legislation that can be used to prosecute Indian nationals who commit crimes related to the commercial sexual exploitation of children outside of India.

 

The Juvenile Justice Act provided for the establishment of a special Juvenile Police Unit authorized to deal with children, but these units have not been formed in most States. Every police station should have at least one specially-trained officer designated as the ‘juvenile or child welfare officer responsible for handling cases involving children in need of care and protection or in conflict with the law. While special police officers have been assigned, they have not received the necessary training or infrastructural support to properly deal with cases involving commercially sexually exploited children.

 

There appears to be a lack of awareness about commercial sexual exploitation within law enforcement agencies and how the laws can be applied to better protect children. Judges also handle massive caseloads with little or no support, such as assistance with researching laws and legal procedures, and often do not have the time or opportunity to learn about the latest developments on national and international laws and legal procedures that can be applied in cases involving sexual crimes against children. Furthermore, the investigating and prosecuting agencies lack good coordination to effectively bring perpetrators to justice.

 

Priority Actions Required

 

v      State Advisory Committees must be made functional in all States to allow for the effective implementation of India’s Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children. Action planning at state level should also be expedited. The budget allocated for NPA implementation at both levels must be increased.

 

v      The Children’s Commission should be immediately formed at national level (the related bill is currently pending). State counterparts should be institutionalised and their staff trained as soon as possible. Channels for child participation should be ensured in all such institutions/commissions.

 

v      A larger number of Child Welfare Committees need to be set up at district level, with properly trained staff who are equipped to deal with CSEC cases; their coordination with law enforcers as well as with the State and the Central Advisory Committees must be enhanced.

 

v      Religious and culturally-sanctioned prostitution of children, particularly among scheduled tribes and castes, must be systematically combated: the government’s Tribal Development Programme must foster partnerships with civil society organizations to continuously implement programmes that sensitise such communities, and rescue and support prostituted children - particularly in areas such as Bihar, MP, UP and Rajasthan.

 

v      More in-depth studies on the commercial sexual exploitation of boys are needed to support effective campaigns and interventions against this phenomenon. A national level network/forum on prostitution of boys should also be established as the foundation for adequate responses, exchange of information and programme intervention.

 

v      State action plans should include provisions to tackle boys’ prostitution, whenever enough information about the phenomenon is already available, such as in the states of Bihar, UP, MP, Rajasthan, Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh.

 

v      Care facilities and human resources should be made available to adequately support sexually exploited boys. These services must be based on minimum standards of care, which are yet to be developed. Moreover, greater access to viable alternative livelihood options must be made available to sexually exploited boys.

 

v      To prevent re-trafficking and further exploitation of CSEC victims, reintegration programmes such as the Kishori Shakti Yojna, initiated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, should be widely replicated in the most affected state districts, including UP, MP, Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana.

 

v      Partnerships must be developed between the Panchayats (elected bodies responsible for administration at district level, usually in charge of local development issues), police and NGOs to improve collection of evidence, expediting cases and effecting successful prosecutions in CSEC cases. In addition, community-based organisations must work more closely with the police to provide legal assistance to victims and also to ensure that the police systematically lodges each FIR with the relevant details and actively pursues cases.

 

v      Efforts must be made to actively involve the Panchayats in monitoring the situation in their areas, including checking children who come into and leave villages. A system for record keeping must be created and more awareness raising programmes must be conducted at the Panchayat level The Gramsabhas (groups formed by NGOs and district authorities to identify traffickers and missing children) should be institutionalised in all key states.

 

v      An enhanced system for the rescue and repatriation of children trafficked from Bangladesh to India must be urgently established, possibly based on the model proposed in a recent UNICEF study.

 

v      India must ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Trafficking Protocol) and ILO Convention No. 182.

 

v      Indian law on prostitution must be amended to specifically address children, clearly define which activities and types of remuneration are prohibited, and criminalise all acts of obtaining, procuring or providing a child for prostitution, as required under the Optional Protocol. In addition, legal protection against sexual exploitation must be granted to boys. A ‘child’ should be defined as a person up to 18 years of age, as required by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

 

v      The Penal Code provisions on child trafficking must include all the activities that constitute trafficking as per the Trafficking Protocol. The law should be amended to also provide protection for Indian girls (not only foreign girls, as is currently the case) and boys (who have no legal protection). In addition, the legislation should be reviewed to criminalise trafficking in children for any purposes and not only for prostitution.

 

v      The proposed amendments to the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act should be enacted into law as soon as possible.

 

v      India’s laws on child pornography must be amended to clearly define and prohibit child pornography according to the standards set forth in the Optional Protocol, which India has ratified. The scope of the laws must extend beyond visual representations and cover audio materials and simulated images. Further, boys must be granted legal protection against child pornography.

 

v      The Information Technology Act must be amended to criminalise all acts of producing child pornography for the purpose of offering, making available, distributing, transmitting through a computer system; using computer systems and other information technologies to groom children; as well as possessing child pornography on a computer system. As one of the leading nations in the development of new technology, India can no longer ignore the abuse of children that information and communication technology (ICT) is facilitating.

 

v      In the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, sex selective abortions are rampant, resulting in a dangerous sex ratio that causes many women and children from less affluent states to be trafficked to these regions for marriage. Thus, the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act 2000 should be enforced more stringently in such states to prevent female foeticide; moreover, the Prevention of Child Marriage Bill 2004, already tabled in the Parliament, should be passed with immediate effect.

 

v      Systematic training of police officers assigned to deal with crimes against children must be put in place so that they gain expertise on how to conduct their interventions to protect the best interests of the child: that is, collect evidence for effective prosecutions, work with vulnerable children, communicate with and support child victims of crime.

 

v      Efforts to increase birth and marriage registration nationwide must be prioritised, as these are valuable protective mechanisms against CSEC.

 

v      Capacity building of the police, government departments and local NGOs to address child pornography would be highly recommended, as there is a lack of such expertise in India and the problem is escalating.

 

ICYO

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Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs
in India. It's family consists of over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India. 

 

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN),

Affiliate with ECPAT International, Thailand;

Member- Indian Network for Combating Trafficking (INCT); ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population & Development (IAPPD); International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO); Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD); World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.