Child Exploitation in India

This paper will be exploring how a right of a child is being deprived and how their rights are being exploited. The child is the future of tomorrow. The main focus of this research paper would be on sexual exploitation. The law of the nation, India would be explored, critically analyzed and evaluated on their working of the law which governs the law. The status of child exploitation is given a brief description. This research paper will be outlining the new civil definition of sexual exploitation. In furtherance, the research will be stating the facts and figures of an international organization such as UDHR, UNDP etc.Child exploitation’s two main causes which are poverty and illiteracy is researched and an analysis is given for them respectively.

Human right is known to be the real gem of an individual’s life but do an individual gets their rights and can they express their rights. The child is considered to be the one of the most vulnerable class in society to be exploited, the innocence of their mind is pure and it is taken away by the burden of fulfilling different things for other people’s. Child abuse consists of all the factors like physical mistreatment, social mistreatment, mental mistreatment of a child, or neglecting a child, looking at the point of view of a relationship of responsibility which results in harm to the child. Neglect of a child could an be evidence for continues misconduct or a single incident or omission that declares, or should reasonably be expected to result in, serious physical or mental hurt or a substantial risk of death to the child. Neglect can consist of, but is not limited to, the failure to provide sufficient food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, and medicine. It could also comprise the failure to make a reasonable effort to provide protection to a child from abuse, exploitation or neglect by unknown.

Exploitation of a child refers to the use of the child in work or other activities for the benefit of others and to the detriment of the child’s physical or mental health, development, and education. Exploitation includes, but is not limited to, child labor and child prostitution. Both terms, however, indicate that advantage is being taken of the child’s lack of power and status. Status of sexual exploitation Child molestation is known as the common name for childhood sexual abuse, it is a kind of abuse in which someone uses a child for sexual pleasures.

DIfferent kind of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual simulations with a child (whether by will or force, or by other means), appropriate exposure (of the genitals, female nipples, etc.), grooming children, or using a child to produce child pornography child exploitation have different settings, including houses, schools, or workplaces (when a child is employed as labour). Child marriage is the most common sexual abuse for children and it is still prevalent in countries such as India, UNICEF issued a statement that child marriage "represents perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls". Effects of child sexual abuse can be devastating and it includes, chronic depression, traumatic, insomnia, early abortion, slow mental development of brain are the few to name, the spirit of a child is broken when they are exploited sexually.

A more common example which comes to mind in child sexual abuse is family relations, usually, the child is sexually exploited by their relatives and they are forced to perform various acts which are humiliating and unethical.The female child is more prone to sexual exploitation by their elder brothers or uncles and incest in performed. Explaining the factual side of the spectrum the global prevalence of child sexual abuse has been estimated at 19.7% for female and 7.9% for males. Most victims know their offenders already, approximately 30% are relatives of the child, most often brothers, fathers, uncles, or cousins; around 60% are other family relatives, such as family friend or neighbors, sexual exploitation by an unknown individual is in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases. Most child sexual abuse is committed by males, studies on female child molesters show that women commit 14% to 40% of offenses reported against boys and 6% of offenses reported against girls. A Pedophile is a person who is has a strong feeling to exploit a child sexually, young teenagers are exploited more often.Under the law, child sexual abuse is often used as an umbrella term describing criminal and civil offenses in which an adult engages in sexual activity with a minor or exploits a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification.

According to Indian law, a child is incapable of giving consent and if a sexual act is done with the consent of a child it will still amount to sexual exploitation of child, and condemns any such action by an adult: "An adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act which never can be considered normal or socially acceptable behavior." Causes of sexual exploitation Poverty and widespread unawareness about the education of a child is the major cause of child exploitation. With the cases of other families in India, their livelihood depends on the earning of their children, usually economical weaker section sell their daughter to prostitution. Particularly when living in camp settings, these traditional wage earners are often unable to find relevant work in their new environment. Traditional wage earners’ decreased income often leads families to seek supplementary income from other members. At the same time, many children, particularly adolescents, have reached an age where they are physically able to perform the same work as adults. Many are asked to take on a greater responsibility for the economic survival of their family or asked to work for no pay within the home in order to enable other members to work. This work is often performed by girls, spending long hours doing housework and minding younger siblings, and is not only performed unnoticed but impacts their ability to attend school. Girls are deprived of their rights. Which children work, the kinds of work they do, and their working conditions will be affected by levels of poverty and social inequalities based on gender, ethnicity, age, class, and caste. As children and adolescents (and their families) make decisions concerning whether or not to forgo education in favor of work, they weigh the importance of earning extra income in the present in relation to the possibility of securing greater income in the future through education. The availability and relevance of school and vocational training to a child’s prospects of future work, therefore, affect this decision.

Lack of access to adequate education may be a contributing factor to why children work, but even if education is provided, it may not keep all children from working. In most situations, school terms and school times are not adjusted to fit in with the pattern of children’s work. Many children and adolescents are solely responsible for themselves and the economic welfare of their families. Where schooling is not free, some children may have to work in order to earn money for their school fees or expenses (e.g. books and uniforms). Poverty and lack of education are common reasons why children work, but this does not justify the condoning of labor that is harmful and exploitative.

Parents of working children are often unemployed or underemployed, yet their children are offered jobs because they accept less pay, are more malleable, and more easily exploited. Rights secured by various organization and international bodies Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that the child has right to be protected without discrimination, from abuse and neglect ,States parties shall take all proper legislative actions, administrative actions, social actions and educational actions to protect child from different kinds of physical , mental violence, injury , abuse, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parents, legal guardians or any other person who has the duty and responsibility to take care of the child. In other words, the government is completely responsible for the child’s well being in every place of care such as homes, colleges. When such a government fails to perform its duty, it deprives the child of access to help, and it leads to the continuation of mistreatment for a long period of time.

Physical coercion against the child will lead to child abuse. According to, punitive corporal punishment, either within the family and schools is adverse with the child's right to physical forthrightness. According to article 37 “no one is allowed to punish children in a cruel and harmful way”, children who break the law should not be treated cruelly,they should not be put in prisoners with adults, should be able to keep contact with their families, or should not be sentenced to death or life imprisonment without possibility to realize. It was stated by a human right committee that coercion and undue influence should also be included and extends to phenomenal punishment. In respect to punishments in schools, CRC article 28(2) states that discipline in school should respect children's dignity. This includes article 19 which states that children have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, physically or mentally. Common practices may need to be rechecked to notice whether they involve any kind of physical or mental violence. If these practices are beneficial, or harmless then communities should be a boost to continue them in such a way that they maintain their identity and preserving their culture. However some of the practices are harmful to the society, well being and development; most often, the female section are the ones which was mainly affected by harmful traditional practices. Basic examples of the practiced harmful tradition are Female Genital Mutilation and early Childhood marriage as per the concern of UNHCR. These practices are internationally condemned due to the grave health risks they may require as well as the human rights principles being violated.

The CRC requires. States to take all effective and appropriate ways to diminish old practices that put in danger the well being of a child (article 24(3)). It is the responsibility of the States to denounce violence against women and not invoke any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their duties with respect to its abolishment. The group which mostly faces the abuse or are vulnerable to abuse are the Disabled children due to their difficulties in communication. The UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities of 1994 noted that persons with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to abuse in the family, community, and institutions. The state has the duty to ensure that the child victims of armed conflicts, torture, maltreatment receive correct treatment for their physical and psychological recovery that fosters the health and respect of the child victim as per article 39 of CRC. Laws in India for child sexual exploitation India is a country with a dynamic and vivid culture but they have the problem of child trafficking, human exploitation, and other illegal works. In India laws governed which gives protection to child sexual exploitation and punishes the criminals are Goa Children's Act, 2003, is the only specific piece of child abuse legislation before the 2012 Act. Child sexual abuse was prosecuted under the following sections of INDIAN PENAL CODE:

However, the IPC could not effectively protect the child due to various loopholes like IPC 375 do not protect male victims or anyone from sexual acts of penetration other than traditional vaginal intercourse.IPC 354 does not give meaning to the statutory definition of "modesty". It carries a weak punishment and is a compound offense. Also, it does not protect the modesty of a male child. In IPC 377, the term unnatural offenses are not defined. It only applies to victims penetrated by their attacker's sex act and is not designed to criminalize sexual abuse of children. Child exploitation is a major problem in India and it is still prevalent and needs a great awareness and strict government implementation of the law to bring an end to it. Children’s sexual exploitation has been a problem for India from the start.