Nashik: Observing that, ‘children are not the future citizens of the country, but should be considered citizens today,’ a UNICEF report conducted along with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). ‘Nine is Mine’ and ‘Mumbai Smiles’, observed that ‘the violation of children’s rights is not considered as a serious human rights violation.’
The alarming results of the poll conducted on 5,000 children in the age group of 13-17 years in eight districts of Maharashtra, has brought to the fore the dangerous world for children. It is shown that they are prone to all types of violence and UNICEFrecommended increasing participation of children in all matters that are related to them.
The report observed that over half of the respondents thought that violence was a commonplace, every day matter and did not know that they were being abused. The violence against children occurs across all forms- physical, psychological, economic, sexual and neglect and was effectively polled.
While sexual violence draws serious media attention and severe public outrage, covert violence rarely generates public discourse, the report observed. One observation has been that the violence quotient at home or school or neighbourhood increases exponentially for children from socially backward castes and tribes, and disabled, while for Dalit castes and minority communities it was worse.
The objective of the poll was to identify and track violence against children by encouraging them to break the silence around abuse. The report sought to bring this issue to the fore through various policies and movements for awareness among all stakeholders, and give more attention to children’s concerns. The poll was conducted on violence against children through various parameters, and the findings were reported during a press meet in Nashik.
