Child rights activists have said that several aspects surrounding the welfare of children have been ignored in the 2016 amendment to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. At a consultation held on Sunday in the city, they said the amendment contradicts the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child as it neglects to define the number of hours children can work.
“It legalises family and family-based occupations, removes restriction on the hours of work to be put in by the child and moreover there is no clarity on what kind of family enterprises the child can work in,” said A. Devaneyam, Chennai district convenor, Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Suba Thenpandian, member of CACL said that there was also a need to define who is a child. He said that under the Juvenile Justice Act, a child is a person who has not completed 18 years of age and according to the amendment, a child means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age or such age as may be specified in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, whichever is more. “Each law has its own take, unless this is clear, eradicating child labour will be difficult,” he said.
R. Vidyasagar, former Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF pointed out that there was also a need to improve quality of education in all government schools to help keep the child engaged to learn and grow. “They need an environment where they are willing to learn, else they will drop out and get back to work again,” he said.
To help abolish child labour, CACL has also proposed a draft Child Labour System (Abolition, Prevention and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2017. “In the draft we have stressed on the need to rehabilitate rescued children and have stricter enforcements. We will soon be meeting the authorities concerned in the Centre to discuss about it,” said Mr. Devaneyam.
