CACL – Campaign Against Child Labour is a National Civil Society Forum Initiated in the Year 1993 aiming for Total Eradication of Child Labour up to 18 Years of Age. CACL has 4000 members across 18 states of India including NGOs, Academicians, Lawyers, Social Activists, Trade Unions, Women’s Organisations, etc. CACL engaged in evidence-based policy advocacy, campaign and direct field action on the issue of eradication of child labour.

Recent pandemic and the subsequent closure of schools along with the economic crisis impacted heavily on the number of child labour which increased globally by 8.4 million in the last four years as estimated by ILO. India has the largest number of working children in the world. While the Sustainable Development Goals accepted by most of the countries of the world (including India) targeted for the total eradication of child labour within 2025. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 amended in the year 2016 is still allowing child labour below fourteen years in family enterprises and entertainment industries and between 14-18 years in so-called non-hazardous sectors. The rescue and rehabilitation of child labour is not clearly spelt out in the Act.

Considering the situation, CACL drafted a Bill on the Child Labour System Abolition, Prevention and Rehabilitation in the year 2017. On 26. 7. 2022 CACL had planned to revise the draft of the Bill with the inputs from Social Workers, legal practitioners, academicians and other stakeholders at the state and national level and push the Bill as a private Bill in the next Parliamentary Session of India.

The meeting was organised in collaboration with West Bengal National University for Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) and was facilitated by Professor Ruchira Goswami, the Head of the Centre for Child Rights, WBNUJS. The Centre for Child Rights, WBNUJS is a multidisciplinary centre that had been set up in partnership with UNICEF with the mandate of research, documentation, and advocacy on child rights issues.

The meeting was initiated with the opening remarks from Mr. Prabir Basu, Secretary SPAN and Convener CACL (WB Chapter). In his speech, Mr. Basu discussed the formation of CACL. He mentioned that CACL believes “any child who is out of school is a potential child labour”. He also informed their organisation SPAN had held the position of National Convenorship from 2008- 2012. Mr. Basu also added that he expects that the new bill will be all the more enriched from the inputs on legal aspects that will be shared by Prof. Ruchira during her session. In his speech, Mr. Basu also raised serious concerns regarding the non-availability of authentic data on child labour at the Government level.

Followed by Mr. Basu’s opening address, Prof. Dr. Nirmalkanti Chakrabarti, VC, WBNUJS in his speech mentioned that India has ratified the UNCRC and it is the obligation of the Government as well as the citizens to follow it and protect the rights of the children. He added that both administrative, as well as social structure, is important to successfully implement an Act and changing the mindset of the society is a very big responsibility.

In his next discussion, Mr. Chakrabarti shared his observations after going through the draft of the Bill. He opined that in the Bill more space is needed to be given to the NGOs as well as Law Colleges and Universities so that they get more opportunities to work towards the eradication of child labour in coordination with the government authorities.

In his next observation, he suggested that any employer who employs child labour, shall face, a substantial penalty. The amount of which would be high enough to act as a deterrent. He also suggested a defined rehabilitation process for the rescued child labour and having a strong Monitoring Committee to vigilant the entire process.

After Dr. Chakrabarti’s speech Mr. Biplab Das, Campaign Coordinator- SPAN, shared a short presentation on the concern of Enforcement of the CLRP Act, where he talked about the issues like- the absence of data on child labour, child labour in family enterprise and employment of children in entertainment industries, weak rescue system, non-functional child labour rescue task force and weak child labour rescue mechanism.

After the presentation from Mr. Das, the forum was opened for all the participants to share and discuss on their thoughts on the revised draft of the Bill.

Important issues that came up from the participants included- the role and the responsibilities of SJPU, CWC, DCPU, SMCs etc to be defined in the bill, the convergence of various task forces under one umbrella, the need for regulation of employment of children in home-based industries, non-functionality of PENCIL portal of government, the importance of mental health and counselling after the rescue of child labour, ensuring the security of the complainant, strengthening those families who engage their children in various hazardous and non-hazardous work, the addition of financial memorandum to the Bill, synchronization of the CLRP Bill with JJ ACT and RTE Act.

The closing speech was delivered by Prof. Ruchira Goswami where she pointed out her concerns by saying that a Bill cannot be made very vast, so it is better to draft a Rule along with a Bill. She emphatically suggested the participation of children in various forums which includes issues concerning the children. She also raised her concern about the concept of a child artist, which needs a clear definition. She suggested giving special emphasis on making the language of the Bill gender neutral and to prepare drafts by keeping into consideration the children with special needs. She added that the process of age determination needs to be ensured through the age-determining medical test of the children. In persuasion of the suggestion given by the VC Sir, Prof. Goswami also put forward her opinion towards introducing various bridge courses for the rescued child labour. She ended her speech by putting emphasis on arranging quarterly meetings of all the committees that are formed to protect children against various forms of abuse.

The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Ms. Asha Rosaline Ekka, Programme lead- Child Development West Bengal, Caritas India and Co-Convenor CACL. After sharing her views on the draft of the revised Bill she thanked all the participants of CACL for joining the programme and sharing their views, she especially thanked Prof. Dr. Chakrabarti and Prof. Ruchira Goswami for their valuable insights on the legal aspects of the Bill. Prof. Ruchira on behalf of WBNUJS promised support and close association in every step with CACL in future in order to create a child-friendly nation.

The meeting ended with a positive conclusion of submitting a summary of the discussion to the National platform of CACL where a final shape will be given to the Bill after receiving suggestions from all the concerned states.

The CACL members are hopeful to present the private Bill in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament and make the law towards fighting against child labour more impactful.

The CACL members joined from various organisations working towards ensuring child rights in West Bengal. Save the children, SPMUS, Lake Garden WCDG, Nari-o-Sishu Kalyan Kendra, Seva Kendra Siliguri, Bal Suraksha Abhiyan Trust, Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre, Development Professionals, MARFAT, TdH, SWI, KCCSSS to name a few.

On behalf of Caritas India, Dr. Jayanta Munsi, Lead- Child Development, Ms. Asha Rosaline Ekka, Programme lead- Child Development West Bengal, and Ms. Abhishikta Bandyopadhyay, Programme Extension Associate, Campaign and Protection (Child Development) had participated in the meeting.