Vulnerable Sections

COVID 19, was an unprecedented health crisis that has resulted in nearly millions of deaths, disrupted healthcare infrastructures, ravaged economies, communities and pushed millions into clutches of poverty again. However, one aspect which was largely neglected until recently in the pandemonium is the child rights crisis due to pandemic. Children who contract COVID-19 may appear to have less severe symptoms and lower mortality rates than other age groups. But in myriad other ways, the COVID-19 crisis has had and is having a devastating effect on children, with potentially far-reaching and long-term negative impacts.

Impact Of Covid-19 On Children

For years to come, children and young people will be living with the longer term, secondary impacts of this pandemic on them, and how the world chooses to respond to those will have a far-reaching impact on children’s lives. 1. Learning loss: The pandemic has resulted in the loss of learning and skills. The World Bank’s simulations at the end of 2020 showed that the Learning Poverty indicator is set to increase from 53% to 63%.

1. More than 1.5 billion students across the world are out of school due to the pandemic. Widespread job and income loss and economic insecurity will likely result in most of these children, especially the poor, never going to school again.
2. Moreover, these uncertain economic conditions and increased poverty levels of the family are likely to increase rates of child labor, sexual exploitation, teenage pregnancy, and child marriage.

2. Child abuse: There has been an increase in early marriages, child labor, sexual exploitation, teenage pregnancies, endangering children’s physical and mental wellbeing (UNICEF report, 2020).

1. According to a report published by ChildLine India, the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have proved to be new drivers of child marriages in rural Madhya Pradesh. b.
2. Stresses on families, particularly those living under quarantines, lockdowns, and other restrictions on freedom of movement, have increased the incidence of violence and abuse against children.

3. As the global death toll from COVID-19 increases, large numbers of children will be orphaned and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. As per NCPCR 3,621 children were orphaned, 26,176 children lost either parent and 274 children were abandoned between April 1, 2021, to June 5, 2021. 4. Impact on marginalized: Marginalized communities were the worst affected. E.g., only 4% of rural SC/ST children were studying online regularly compared with 15% among other rural children as per the SCHOOL survey. 5. Malnutrition: There is reduced access to essential maternal, newborn, and child health interventions. The threat of malnutrition increased due to a halt in critical government schemes such as mid-day meals. 6. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted grave weaknesses in many countries’ protections for children, including inadequate healthcare and social protection systems, overcrowded detention facilities, and the lack of emergency action plans for large-scale school shutdowns. 7. Illegal adoptions: The children who were orphaned during the pandemic were being illegally adopted disregarding rules as per the JJ act and NCPCR guidelines. These illegally adopted children are in danger of being trafficked or used for child labour or sexual abuse.

Role Played By The National Commission For Protection Of Child Rights (Ncpcr) In Upholding Child Rights

1. NCPCR alerted all the district child protection units and child welfare committees through the Chief Secretaries and all the child welfare police officers across the country through the DGP’s.
2. Every child who has lost their parents (one or both) was mandatory to be produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Then the authority of CWC conducts an inquiry based on the Social Investigation Report of the Child.
3. Moreover, NCPCR kept in touch with the authorities to ensure other benefits to the child and that other entitlements like the child’s Right to property, compensation amount, and insurance amount are protected.
4. The NCPCR initiated action and pilot launch mapping of Children & Families vulnerable to child trafficking and matching them with benefits under various Schemes of the Government of India and State Governments.
5. It also recommended that extensive mapping to be undertaken in all the districts of all the States within the country which are potential “Source”, “Transit” and “Destination” Hotspots of Child Trafficking, as per the information available with Anti Human Trafficking Units and NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau).
6. It has launched SAMVEDNA – a toll-free tele-counselling helpline number for children affected during COVID-19. The tele-counselling support will cater to children all over India in various regional languages also.
7. Recently it has taken the issue of illegal adoptions to the supreme court, following which the court has directed States and Union Territories (UTs) to take stringent action against private individuals and NGOs who invite people to illegally adopt children orphaned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Issues In Working Of National Commission For Protection Of Child Rights

1. The governments often ignore the recommendations completely or furnish a long bureaucratic discourse on how compliance with the recommendation is not in the public interest.
2. Delayed compliance: While recommendations usually obligate governments to take action within 4-6 weeks, compliance is rare within the stipulated time and sometimes action is so delayed that it becomes meaningless.
3. Commission regarded as extension of government: As non-judicial member positions are increasingly being filled by ex-bureaucrats, credence is given to the contention that commissions are more an extension of the government, rather than independent agencies exercising oversight.

Way Forward

1. We need to adopt a whole of society child-centric approach as the costs of the pandemic on children are immediate and can persist for years, if not addressed.
2. Pandemic has exposed children to various risks. These risks can be mitigated through societal solidarity and ownership along with government intervention.
3. UNESCO has recommended that countries “adopt a variety of hi-tech, low-tech and no tech solutions to assure the continuity of learning.
4. There is a need to design programs to sustain child centered services and mitigate the negative impacts of the virus, and of containment and mitigation measures on children.

The risks posed by the COVID-19 crisis to children are enormous. Governments have a responsibility not only to act urgently to protect children during the pandemic, but to consider how their decisions now can best uphold children’s rights long after the pandemic ends.