Child protection from their point of view

Presenting stories of hope and despair they face in their day-to-day life, 50 children in the age group of six years to 14 years from different districts of Delhi participated in a one-day children’s festival on the issue of child protection organised by Child Rights and You (CRY) and Alliance for People’s Rights (APR).

In its third year, the theatre festival focused on highlighting the gaps and aimed at creating awareness on the issue of child protection.

Children presented three short plays on the themes of “missing children”, “children engaged in home-based work” and “child labour”. The three plays — titled “

Kho Gaya Hoon Main ”, “

Ghar Mein Hai Kaam ,

Shiksha Nakaam ” and “

Karkhaana Hee Paathshaala ” — put forth the need to have a strong child protection mechanism in Delhi.

After the presentation of plays, a panel discussion was held to understand the gaps and the way forward to strengthen child protection mechanism in the State.

CRY regional director (North) Soha Moitra: “Child protection is about reducing their vulnerability to any kind of harm and abuse. In Delhi, numbers related to missing children, sexual abuse and other child protection indicators are increasing every year. The need of the hour is to work towards a ensuring an environment where children get top priority in terms of policies, schemes and budget allocations such that protection of children becomes the agenda of all stakeholders in the society.”

Adding that data from APR’s intervention areas in Delhi presents a grim reality of child protection here, Alliance convener Reena Banerjee said: “Collaboration within State machineries, Departments and the police is integral to limiting the growing number of protection issues in Delhi. Steps should be taken to map vulnerabilities of children and available initiatives/resources provided by the system. Our system currently lacks the convergence and cross-departmental linkages to ensure protection of children.”