CHENNAI: The sex ratio of 882 girls per 1,000 boys in the adolescent age group (10-19 years) is alarmingly lower than the sex ratio of the zero-to-six age group which stands at 927, a study conducted by UNICEF has found. Even among the adolescent groups, it is 902 for younger adolescents (aged 10-14) and 858 for older adolescents (aged 15-19). To mark 20 years of the signing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a National Steering Committee compiled a report to review the situation all over the country. This report, “Twenty years of CRC: A Balance Sheet”, has brought to light several disturbing trends from all over the country.Apart from the declining adolescent sex ratio, the overall child sex ratio too has fallen from 945 girls per 1,000 boys in 1991 to 914 in 2011. S Thomas Jayaraj, Director of Centre for Child Rights and Development and a member of the steering committee that compiled the report, said, “There has been a remarkable decrease in the number of infanticide cases reported. But since many are booked under murder, the decline is questionable.”Child labour is another issue that has been on the rise - it has risen by 12.23 per cent between 1991 and 2011. One of the members of the committee said, “Child labour is defined differently in many places. There is a high mobility of population and no statistics capture the migrant population of children, who are denied the right to education and health, among other violations.” He also said that the excluded population like tribals and migration from districts supply the child labour market.The study also highlighted the fact that between 1994 and 2009, there had been an increase in the number of crimes against children.On the flip side, there had also been positive actions after the ratification of the CRC: the 2005 revision of the National Action Plan for Children, spurt in legal reforms, education being made a fundamental right for children from six to 14 years of age and early childhood care and development finding space in the Constitution as a Directive Principle of State Policy are a few examples. The Information Technology Act 2008 too was amended to address the use of child pornography and their abuse in the print and digital formats. Speaking about the way forward, Ossie Fernandes, Director of HRF, said, “We need a compulsory national policy on children, with a time bound strategic action plan. The budgetary allowance at both the Centre and the State should be increased to cover all the children - nearly half of our population are children.”He also suggested a comprehensive code to protect child rights. In regard to this, the group has presented a memorandum to Government, putting forth seven main demands. These include repealing the current child Labour (Prohibitions and Regulations) Act 1986 and replacing it with an Act that completely prohibits child labour up to the age of 18; a review of 1974 National Policy for Children and steps to expand the scope of the Right to Education Act.
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