CHILD Protection & Rights > Child Protection Issues.

The study - Child abuse in India.

This study reveals the extent and magnitude of child abuse and neglect in India. It covers nearly 12,500 children and 4800 young adults in 13 States.

The report analyses three different forms of child abuse - physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse and girl child neglect in families, schools, work places, on the street and institutions. The Study complements the UN Secretary General's Study on Violence against Children, 2006. It aims at developing a comprehensive understanding of child abuse, which will help formulate appropriate policies and programmes meant to effectively end child abuse in India.
Link: http://wcd.nic.in/childabuse.pdf

Major findings of the Study:
- Boys, as compared to girls, are equally at risk of abuse.

- Persons in trust and authority are major abusers.

- Every second child reported facing emotional abuse. In more than 80% of the cases parents were the abusers.

- 2 out of every 3 children have been physically abused.

- 88,6% of children physically abused in family situations were physically abused by parents.

- More than half of the child respondents reported facing one or more forms of sexual abuse.

- 5-12 year old children are in the high risk category: across the forms of abuse, the percentage of abuse among them is the highest.

- Two out of every three school going children are victims of corporal punishment. Half of these incidents are in government run schools.

- 70% of the children have not reported abuse to anyone.

- Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi almost consistently report high rates of abuse in all forms as compared to other States.

Recommendations
The report sums up recommendations on policy and legislation, protocols, scheme on Child Protection, outreach and support services, tracking missing children, share responsibility for all stakeholders involved, capacity building, gender equality, advocacy and awareness, research and documentation and gives specific recommendations on the different evidence groups (children in school, at work etc).

An overview of violence against children in India.

Source: Subgroup Report on Child Protection for the 11th Five Year Plan. Ministry of Women and Child Development. p.15.

Page >