In the 30 years since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the lives of millions of children in India, and globally, have been improved through its implementation. Children across the world are being recognized as individual rights-holders. UNCRC@30 was observed with the release of Report on Children’s Review of the Status of Implementation of UNCRC in West Bengal, on the 18^th of November 2019, in Kolkata, under the aegis of the Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL)-West Bengal.

Today, while we celebrate the progress that has been made for children so far, it is critical to take stock of what lies ahead and enable action to keep up the promise we collectively made 30 years ago. Thus, in light of UNCRC@30, the Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL)-West Bengal chapter facilitated and organised the Children’s Review of the Status of Implementation of UNCRC in West Bengal, on 18^th of November 2019, at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata.

The objective of the report is to uphold the voice of the children in the ambit of ensuring child rights. The report mirrors the exact situations of the children in different districts of West Bengal, those going to schools, child workers, out-of-school and dropped-out children, street children, survived various forms of exploitation and abuses, children living in tea gardens and children with disability across nine districts of West Bengal. The report will inform and be part of the Alternative Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child for India’s review at the UN next year.

Towards this, 30 Child leaders hailing from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and circumstances were identified by the CACL member organisations, who were then oriented and capacitated on the exercise in the month 24-25 August. They reached out to the children in their neighbourhoods, interacted with 162 fellow children, and based on their narratives, prepared a children’s report on the status of implementation of UNCRC in the state of West Bengal.

The report release marked an exemplary moment for the UNCRC when the entire event was conducted and hosted by children exercising their ‘Right to Participation’ in the real sense. The event was graced by the presence of Child Leaders from various CACL partner organisations across the state, esteemed dignitaries from Government Mrs. Gomu Lamu Tshering, Joint Secretary, Department of Labour, WB; Mr. Prasun Bhowmick, Member, WBSCPCR, Mr Prabhat Kumar, UNICEF; Prof. Subrata Shankar Bagchi, Child Rights Specialist and Ms. Tulika, Disability Rights Activist.

The Child Leaders and members of the Editorial Board, Ms. Luci Kumari and Sujan Sardar presented the alternative report and highlighted the findings of the report.

Some Key Findings

At School:

• 60 % must pay fees for their school education
• 32 % have no access to safe drinking water in their schools
• 12 % said they don’t have separate toilets for girls in their schools
• 60 % said toilets in their schools are not cleaned regularly
• 23 % said they get punishment in schools

At home: 

• 14 % don’t have three meals a day
• 25 % have no toilets at home
• 26 % don’t have safe drinking water available (at home)
• 64 % said they did not have an option of sharing an opinion at home

Socially:

• 50 % said that there is child marriage in their locality.
• 14 % said they worked for money (78 percent said they did not), but interestingly, 23 percent said their friends worked for money.
• 11 % had faced physical abuse and the same percentage had been touched inappropriately.

The Child Leaders shared their life stories and issues they want the government to address.

Md. Salman (name changed) was once child labour, three years ago, cutting threats on caps for 18 hours a day.

“My hands and back would pain, as I had to sit for hours cutting threads. But now I am studying in class VIII, I feel happy”.

Life for Roshni (Name changed) is very hard, but she is a fighter; sitting on her wheelchair she narrated her challenges.  “I am not able to go to school, as schools do not have teachers to cater to my special needs; ramp is there is school, but my wheelchair cannot enter the classroom as the door is small and the corridor is narrow. Toilets are not accessible. I wish to study like other children in my locality”, he said.

Following this, the dignitaries answered several questions raised by Child Leaders on the grim realities of Child Labour, Child marriage, etc. and shared various help-line numbers and appropriate departments for complaints and redressal mechanism.  Mr. Prabir Basu, the Convener of CACL Bengal chapter, said that the survey and the report were aimed at assessing the progress in achieving the rights of children listed by the UNCRC ratified by India in 1992. The last such report had been submitted in 2014, and “There has not been much progress between then and now”, he lamented.

Taking the campaign against child labour forward, Co-Convener, Ms Asha, Caritas India, thanked the children and its member organizations who supported this unique process and appealed for their solidarity from all fronts towards total eradication of child labour and all rights to all children.  Caritas India is co-convening the Campaign Against Child Labour in West Bengal since 2018.