Opinion: Violence against children and ethics of care

Of late, these claims are becoming more and more conspicuous in India, with the steep rise in the abuse of children, raising an alarming concern for everyone. In places like Bihar, child sex abuse is becoming rampant in ‘shelter homes’ where children are meant to be in a ‘safe environment’. A study conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences observed, ‘Sexual abuse varying in forms and degree of intensity was prevalent in almost all shelter homes in Bihar’. The example cited from Bihar is only a tip of the iceberg, since abuse of children in ‘shelter homes’ is prevalent across all states in India, regardless of their ranking in the development index. Irrespective of the economic status, children are vulnerable to abuse whether they attend elite academic institutions or ordinary schools run by the government, whether they are from posh multi-storied buildings or smaller dwelling places in humble localities, whether they stay inside or outside the house, whether they are on their own or go out alone. Such vulnerability of children is almost universal.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, children were considered as an offspring of the father, and not necessarily of the mother. In other words, the children lacked identity and hence their opinion was not required. Only in the 20th century, a long trying ordeal of the libertarian, human rights, and feminists’ movement resulted in recognising children as human beings. The League of Nations, established after the First World War in 1924, adopted the Geneva Declaration that recognised and affirmed for the first time the existence of rights specific to children and the responsibility of adults towards them. Soon after the Second World War, the United Nations set up the Children’s Emergency Fund in 1946, realising, recognising, and acknowledging the vulnerability of children. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights incorporated children’s rights as human rights. On 20th November 1959, the UN General Assembly adopted a Declaration of the Rights of the Child based on the League of Nations 1924 declaration with 10 principles. 30 years later, in 1989 the UN adopted the present United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that has been signed and ratified by almost all the member countries.

The ‘World Report on Violence against Children’, a study conducted in 2006 by the UN Secretary General, highlights the growing number of violence against children, which is otherwise neglected or ignored. The purpose of the study is to convey the message that ‘no violence against children is justifiable and all violence against children is preventable’. Sexual exploitation, trafficking, and child soldiers in the areas of conflict have received worldwide condemnation. Infanticide, cruel and humiliating punishment, neglect and abandonment, sexual abuse, child marriage, child workers and other forms of violence against children are also widespread. The Annual Status of Education Report 2017 observed a substantial proportion of youth in the 14-18 age group are working (42 per cent), regardless of whether they are enrolled in formal education or not.

The study concludes that violence against children happens everywhere, in every country, among various strata of societies and across all social groups. Extreme violence against children may hit the headlines but children say that every day, regular, repeated acts of violence in whatever intensity, and abuse also hurt them. While some violence is unexpected and isolated, people they know and should be able to trust inflict most violent acts against children: parents, boyfriends or girlfriends, spouses and partners, schoolmates, teachers and employers. Violence against children includes physical, and psychological in nature such as insults and humiliation, discrimination, neglect and maltreatment. Although the consequences may vary according to the nature and severity of the violence inflicted, the short- and long-term repercussions for children are often grave and damaging. According to the report, as many as eight million of the world’s children are in residential care. Relatively few kids are sheltered under such care because they have no parents, while most are in shelter homes for reasons including disability, family disintegration, violence in the domestic front and social and economic conditions such as poverty. Children in some institutions face violence from caregivers and other children. Staff may ‘discipline’ them with corporal punishments, restraints, or by locking them up.

Institutions of care such as family, school, community, and shelter homes are responsible for shaping the children for the society. Caregivers in these institutions are duty bearers who should ideally make children realise the four fundamental principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) such as non-discrimination, best interest of the child, right to life, survival and development, and respect for the views of children. It is the duty and responsibility of the institutions of care to create an environment that is conducive to realising these principles. Once again, the onus to inculcate the ‘Ethics of Care’ must be assumed by the institutions of care. The CRC and national/state policy documents stress the rights of the children within the boundaries of a legal regime but what is needed is the establishing of ‘Ethics of Care’.