CHILD Protection & Rights > Child Protection Issues.

International and National Framework Against Child Abuse and/or Violence Against Children
There is a large number of conventions and declarations related fully or partially to Child Protection from abuse and/ or violence. The most important are:

International framework
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its protocols.

The UNCRC establishes numerous provisions for Child Protection from abuse and violence both in the public sphere and the private sphere.
Article 19 states that:
"1. States parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.”–

Article 28(2) sets forth a child’s right to be protected from corporal punishment in schools. Articles 32 through 36 articulate a child’s right to protection from exploitation, whether economic or sexual. Other articles protect children from torture, capital punishment or life imprisonment, while still others promote the physical and psychological recovery of child victims of violence.

Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984 and its Optional Protocol, 2002.

International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 2005 (opened for signature, December 2006)

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000

Legally non-binding resolutions and policies concerning violence against children have also been adopted by the specialized agencies and other entities of the UN system. These include resolutions adopted by the governing bodies of the World Health Organization and UNICEF . The executive committee of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has also developed policies and guidelines related to the protection and care of refugee children .

National framework:

The Indian Constitution provides in Article 39 that the State shall direct its policy towards securing:
- that the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.
- that children are protected against exploitation.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2000 deals with children in need of care and protection. It includes a child:
• who is abused, tortured or exploited for sexual or illegal acts or is vulnerable to such abuse.
• who is abused or vulnerable to abuse.
The following sections of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, deal with child abuse:
- Section 23: Punishment for cruelty to juvenile or child:
The section provides for punishment (imprisonment up to six months) if a person having the charge of /or control over a child, assaults, exposes or willfully neglects him/her, causes or procures him/her to be assaulted, abandoned, exposed or neglected in any manner likely to cause such child unnecessary mental or physical suffering.
- Section 24: Employment of Juvenile or Child for Begging: The section provides for punishment
(imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years and fine) if a person employs or uses any child for the purpose or causes any juvenile to beg.
- Section 26: Exploitation of Juvenile or Child Employee: The section provides for punishment (imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years and fine) if a person ostensibly procures a child for the purpose of any hazardous employment, keeps him in bondage and withholds his earnings or uses such earning for his own purposes.