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Child
Rights
Millions
of children in India grow up uncared
for, condemned to miserable conditions.
They live in abject poverty without
education, medical treatment or food.
Bombs over blackboards appear to be the
priority.
Child marriages continue despite
specific laws to restrict the practice.
Child slavery is rampant, violence
against children endemic and the right
to education, though now established by
law, exists only on paper. Children are
trafficked from all parts of the country
for commercial sexual exploitation,
begging rackets, adoption rackets and as
cheap labour.
Despite the enactment of the Juvenile
Justice Act, resources to ensure
effective implementation are not
committed. They continue to languish in
child-care institutions, which often
lack even the most basic facilities. In
the justice system children are often
tried as adults.
Though India has a large number of laws
to protect and promote the rights of
children, the issue of child rights is
looked at as a welfare issue rather than
a rights issue. Despite policy
announcements and new legislation, in
practice the changes are extremely slow.
In 1992 the Indian government ratified
the ‘United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child'. Years have passed
since the ratification, but there are no
signs that the government is inclined to
take affirmative action. Since
Independence, all statutes, such as the
Factories Act, Mines Act, and the Shops
and Establishments Act, have strictly
prohibited child labour. In 1986 the
government enacted the Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, which
insidiously permitted the use of child
labour while promising regulation.
Children continue to work in hazardous
industries despite the prohibition.
Children are still physically abused,
raped, forced to work in inhuman
conditions, tortured, incarcerated,
trafficked and abandoned. Now more than
ever, there is a critical need to
respond to an ever increasing number of
children and youth growing up in a
violent society, confronting brutality
on a large scale.
To combat all forms of violations
against children and increase their
access to the justice system, lawyers
and social workers of the Child Rights
Initiative (CRI) provide pro bono legal
services to children at the Juvenile
Justice Boards. In addition to
representing children CRI is closely
linked with organisations working in the
field of children and provides legal and
other assistance to such organisations.
The CRI engages in advocacy and policy
formulation, publishes ‘Know Your
Rights' material, participates in
campaigns and conducts training for
activists, para-legals, lawyers and
others.
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Criminal
Justice
The
level of barbarism in a nation's
treatment of its prisoners is perhaps
more uniform than we Indians expect.
Developed and developing countries alike
treat their convicts with a kind of
depravity, which speaks volumes about
the nature of contemporary civilisation
and its attitudes towards the human
person. Another grim reminder of the
backwardness of the Indian criminal
justice system is the continuing use of
capital punishment. Civilized nations
have moved consistently towards
abolition whereas, in India the death
penalty is increasingly enforced.
Applying even the most retrogressive
standards, Indian prisons are in a
terrible condition. Rape, buggery,
torture, custody without legal sanction,
bars and fetters, detention far in
excess of the sentence, increasing use
of the death penalty, solitary
confinement, lunacy, the brutal
treatment of women and children are
common in Indian prisons. If the
complete absence of human rights in
India has escaped notice it is because
the prison system hides behind an iron
curtain. The press, the public and the
social activist are debarred. While the
Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
provides for free and competent legal
services to weaker sections of society,
few results are seen on the ground.
The increasing powers of the police and
the complete absence of systems of
accountability necessitate constant
monitoring of torture, executions and
disappearances on the one hand, and
indiscriminate firing and mass arrests
as means of intimidating popular
non-violent movements on the other.
Oppressive legislation such as the Armed
Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), The
Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and
the Public Safety Act (PSA) are upheld
and human rights violations continue
under the provisions of these laws.
Judicial reluctance, administrative
indifference and the spread of corporate
crime (this fastest growing body of
crime ignored by the state) has led to a
situation where the poor find themselves
brutalized and isolated and the justice
system is seen as a class weapon
perpetrating and perpetuating injustice.
HRLN's work on civil and political
rights, its opposition to draconian
legislation and interventions in the
criminal justice system are formalised
through the activities of the Criminal
Justice Initiative (CJI).
One day the cry and despair of a large
number of people would shake the very
foundation of our society and imperil
the entire democratic structure. When
that happens we shall have only
ourselves to blame.”
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Emergency/Disaster
The
Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 is one of
many disasters India has been faced with
in the recent past. Despite an almost
annual occurrence of major disasters,
India is yet to develop a comprehensive
domestic strategy to manage disasters:
whether of an unprecedented scale such
as the tsunami, or smaller, such as the
Mumbai flood of July 2005. The Disaster
Management Bill was passed in 2005.
Areas of Bihar experience floods
routinely; coastal Andhra Pradesh and
Gujarat deal with cyclones; major
earthquakes have occurred in Maharashtra,
Uttaranchal, Gujarat and most recently
in J&K. In July 2005, the floods in
Mumbai once again exposed the
unpreparedness of civic authorities and
the shockingly poor state of disaster
management services in the country.
Each disaster has been met with a
massive response from the Indian and
international community. While the
initial response is undoubtedly
heartening, the crux lies in ensuring
the implementation of successful
long-term rehabilitation and
reconstruction strategies. Often, as the
relief phase ends and public and donor
interest wanes, the onus is on victims
themselves and civil society groups to
ensure that every policy announcement
benefits those it was intended for and
every rupee promised reaches the
victims. That the policies follow basic
principles of sustainable development
and envisage and allow for the
participation of the affected
communities is also critical.
Just as disasters provide an opportunity
for change, the process of recovery also
requires constant vigilance and
monitoring on many fronts. Systems of
accountability need to be in place and
continuing assistance and protection
must be provided throughout the
reconstruction and rehabilitation
process. Steps must be taken to arrest
spending on inappropriate or poorly
conceived aid programmes. Corruption and
misuse of aid money must be checked. The
utility of programmes and pattern of
government spending of huge sums of aid
must be evaluated.
To assist local organisations in
monitoring the relief and rehabilitation
activities and to assist victim
communities in navigating through the
maze of policies and processes, HRLN has
responded in times of such disasters by
providing direct legal assistance,
organising legal awareness camps and
conducting fact findings.
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Refugee
Rights
Though
India has traditionally been a host to
diverse groups of refugees, the country
has no specific laws or cohesive policy
for refugees. Neither is India a
signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention
and its 1967 Protocol on the Status of
Refugees.
The 1951 UN Convention defines a refugee
as a person…“ who owing to well founded
fear of being persecuted for reasons of
race, religion, nationality, membership
of a particular social group or
political opinion, is outside the
country of his nationality and is unable
or, owing to such fear, unwilling to
avail himself of the protection of that
country ”.
Ever changing political and economic
factors, war and human rights violations
have forced millions to flee their
homes. In India , viewed as a drain on
resources and a threat to national
security, refugees have little
protection of their civil and political
rights and no legal provisions for their
safety and welfare. They are subject to
arbitrary arrests, detention and in
violation of the basic principle of
refugee protection, non-refoulement,
often deported.
Due to the lack of a refugee specific
statute, the judicial system can only
apply laws that are applicable to
foreigners in general, such as the
Foreigners Act of 1946, Citizenship Act,
Passport Entry to India Act of 1919-20
among others. India has also ratified
the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which seek
equal treatment to all non-citizens
wherever possible as well as emphasise
non-refoulment and provision of safe
asylum to refugees.
The granting of safe asylum and the
welfare of refugees in India depends
also on ad-hoc measures adopted from
time to time by the government. Tibetans
and Srilankans receive full protection
and recognition as refugees by the
Government of India. Others such as the
Afghans, Burmese, Iraqis, Iranians and
Palestinians have UNHCR recognition.
However, people from Bangladesh are not
acknowledged as refugees either by the
government or the UNHCR.
Lawyers and social workers of the
Refugee Rights Initiative (RRI) provide
legal assistance to refugees arrested or
facing deportation. Through its
interventions and consultations the RRI
works to bridge the gap between
displaced communities and policy makers.
Through fact-finding reports, trainings
and direct representation the RRI aims
to inform public opinion about the
status of refugees in India . As an
implementing partner of UNHCR, the
organisation assists refugees in
securing, maintaining and improving the
quality of asylum for Mandate Refugees
in India .
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Secularism
and Peace
We, the
people of India , having solemnly
resolved to constitute India into a
sovereign, socialist, secular ,
democratic republic… …Preamble,
Constitution of India • 1984 Sikh Riots
– Over 2,700 Sikhs killed
• 1992 Bombay Riots – Over 1,800 Muslims
killed
• 2002
Gujarat Riots – Over 2,000 Muslims
killed
•
Continuing attacks on Christian nuns and
missionaries
After
Independence and particularly with the
adopting of the Constitution of India,
secularism became a value of civil
society in India . Even though the
partition of India was a traumatic
experience for many, with large-scale
atrocities by both Hindu and Muslim
communities, the co-existence of
religious communities was essentially
peaceful. Independent India did not see
such a recurrence of strife for many
decades.
This is not to say that the
post-independence period was one of
complete calm. There were sporadic
communal massacres but these were
limited in both scale and duration.
However, the massacre of Sikhs on the
streets of Delhi in 1984 was, perhaps,
one of the strongest ever indicators of
the disintegration of the secular fabric
of Indian society. According to official
figures, over 2,700 Sikhs were brutally
burnt, killed, and slaughtered.
Countless others were injured, women
were raped, and hundreds of homes and
shops were looted and destroyed. The
word ‘riot' is often used to describe
the events that took place, but it
camouflages the true nature of events.
There is substantial recorded testimony
of victims as well as other citizens of
Delhi to show that it was a not a riot
but a carnage. There was no large scale
rioting between Hindu and Sikh
communities. On the contrary, mobs were
specifically assigned the task of
systematically looting and eliminating
Sikh families.
As if to confirm the rapid decline of
secularism in India , Muslims were
massacred on the streets of Bombay in
1992, and in the state of Gujarat in
2002. The struggle for justice in all
these cases continues.
However, the Muslim minority was not the
only community that was targeted.
Between these two horrific large-scale
massacres, social worker Graham Staines
and his children were burnt alive in a
jeep by a fanatic right wing group, and
numerous Christian nuns and priests were
attacked and sexually molested in
different parts of northern India.
Citizens' reports, findings of
Commission of Inquiries appointed by
governments, newspaper reports and
eyewitness accounts of victims fall
clearly indicted the police and the
governments. It was not simply an issue
of the majority community running riot.
In all cases, there was, and is,
evidence of the active participation,
instigation and encouragement of the
police and governments. There have been
repeated and detailed findings of even
the official Inquiry Commission to this
effect. As a result of the connivance by
the State, few involved in the massacres
and the looting have ever been punished.
A study of the riots and carnages that
have unfolded in the past two decades
will show that the existing criminal
justice system completely collapsed when
it came to the punishment of the police
and members of the majority community.
In many cases, police officers indicted
by the Inquiry Commissions were, in
fact, promoted by the government thus
rewarding them for their heinous acts.
Religious minorities are deprived of
their rights to life and liberty and
face routine discrimination. Concerted
efforts are being made in different
parts of the country to combat the
propaganda of hate and violence and
strengthen the secular values in
society. Together with other human
rights organisations and secular groups,
members of the Human Rights Law Network
have actively intervened on courts to
ensure that justice is done for minority
communities. The Initiative seeks to
intervene in the legal area in order to
enable access to justice for the victims
of communalism through cases in courts,
and works on trainings and publications
to make people aware of their rights and
dispel myths that fuel the rise in
communal acts and crimes.
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Women’s
Justice
It is a
cruel irony that India , a country on
its way to becoming a global superpower
has the highest number of women dying in
childbirth. If the Gender-related
Development Index GDI were the best
indicator of a nations progress, then
India 's reality with respect to
maternal deaths, poor nutritional status
of women, lack of access to healthcare
and education for women demonstrates the
country's self-perpetuating
backwardness. In rural areas where
children and lactating mothers die of
starvation, the state budget for
nutrition allows them a rupee 20 cents a
day. Women naturally become the first
victims of hunger and ill health.
In India , women are marginalized, their
voices stifled and choices restricted in
many ways – both ‘modern' and
traditional. Reproductive rights are
violated as seen in the conduct of
sterilisations and the misuse of
technology for sex determination as well
as the skewed sex ratio in several parts
of the country. Patriarchal stereotypes
continue to manifest themselves in the
most violent crimes against women –
sati, dowry deaths, witch hunting, acid
attacks, domestic violence and an number
of rapes and sexual assault.
While religious fanatics use the
personal laws to debase and dominate
women, the recent communal carnage in
Gujarat highlighted once again that in
situations of conflict women are the
first targets both for ‘friendly' and
hostile forces. The specific targeting
of women of the minority communities and
caste-based violence against dalit women
is well documented.
Despite progressive labour laws,the
system keeps a large part of the female
population in servitude and bondage.
Sexual harassment at the workplace is on
the rise, women are routinely
discriminated against at work even for
parity of wages, and form a miniscule
and ever-decreasing part of organised
labour.
The last 25 years have seen much
transformation in the law. Progressive
statutes such as the Equal Remuneration
Act, the Indecent Representation of
Women Act, the Sati Abolition Act, Dowry
Prohibition Act and the Domestic
Violence Act have been enacted. Family
Courts and the Women's Commission have
been established. Though the history of
women and the law has been a mixed bag,
the brighter side shows the increasing
number of women from all classes coming
out to assert their rights, some of them
effectively using the law. Also welcome
are several judgments by the Indian
courts that have read international
standards, especially CEDAW into the
domestic laws.
The Women's Justice Initiative (WJI)
opposes all forms of gender-based
discrimination and violence against
women and aims at enabling women's
access to the justice system, as a vital
means to their empowerment. In keeping
with our philosophy, WJI provides
comprehensive free legal services to
poor and marginalized women and also
works through legal education, advocacy
and policy analysis to continue the
struggle for women's rights.
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Trafficking
In the
past decade, the volume of human
trafficking has grown to the extent that
it is now the third largest form of
transnational organised crime after
firearms and drugs. In India, the scale
of commercial sexual exploitation and
trafficking is steadily rising despite
the existence of the Immoral Traffic
(Prevention) Act, 1956.
In the language of trafficking, India
constitutes a country of origin, transit
and destination for trafficked persons.
In 1996, a report published by the
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women,
Asia Pacific, reported that there were
2.3 million women in prostitution in
India, a quarter of whom were minors, in
over 1,000 red-light districts all over
the country. Recent trends disclose the
alarming fact that the age of entry into
sexual slavery is rapidly decreasing,
against the backdrop of steadily rising
numbers of both women and children being
inducted into commercial sexual
exploitation.
‘ Trafficking is the illicit and
clandestine movements of persons across
national borders, largely from
developing countries, and some countries
with economies in transition, with the
end goal of forcing women and girls into
sexually or economically oppressive and
exploitative situations for profit of
recruiters, traffickers, crime
syndicates and other activities (e.g.
forced domestic labour, false marriages,
clandestine employment, and false
adoption).’ - United Nations General
Assembly, 1994.
Trafficking is the recruitment and
transportation of a person, within and
across national borders, by means of
deceit, violence or threat of violence,
abuse of authority or dominant position
for work or services which may result in
forced labour or slavery like practices.
Victims of trafficking are exploited and
tortured for the financial gains of
their exploiters.
An estimated 5 lacs of women and
children are trafficked every year with
an annual increase of 10% of which 20 –
30 % are below 13 years of age.
Children are mainly trafficked for the
purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation, begging, child labour or
for adoption purposes. Trafficking takes
place either from state to state or
through international borders. In most
of the trafficking cases that are tried
in court, the children are rescued after
they have been trafficked to some place.
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