International Conference on Child Rights

22-23 September 2016
Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi

About the event:

Children represent 39% of total population of the India (Census 2011). The Constitution of India and National Policy for Children, 2013, are committed to protect, promote and safeguard the rights of children. The Constitution calls for affirmative actions to eliminate the causes of discrimination.

Despite the pro-active measures, about 1.83 million children die annually before completing their fifth birthday, most of them due to preventable causes. It is alarming that, in 2011, the Crimes against children reported a 24% increase with a total of 33,098 cases.

The Census found an increase in the number of child laborers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.66 million in 2001. In addition, nearly 85 per cent of child labourers in India are hard-to-reach, invisible and excluded, as they work largely in the unorganized sector, both rural and urban, within the family or in household-based units. The rate of crime committed by juvenile from 2013 to 2014 has increased (NCRB). And this is an issue that needs urgent attention. Prevention of juvenile crime is also an important part of the juvenile justice system, which needs to be put in perspective.

Against this backdrop, Caritas India is organising the conference with the following objectives:

  • To provide a common platform to bring key stakeholders on board, to discuss achievements and challenges with regards to promotion and protection of rights of children
  • To highlight best practices/models from different parts of the country
  • To evolve a strategy framework that synthesizes learning from these models for adaptation/replication and enables innovation and new approaches
  • Create a roadmap that would enable Caritas India to collaborate, advocate and work on priority issues by reconfirming its commitment towards promotion of rights of children

Efforts are on to secure collaboration with the Government in the light of national processes on child rights that are underway.