CHILDHOOD UNDER THREAT:

Trying to relieve my exhausted mind, few weeks earlier, I was off, roaming around the capital. On the due course of my journey, my eyes stuck around some pitiful scenarios of the street children; the uncared heads upon whose shoulders lie the future of the nation. It was roughly dressed groups of the little ones, whose energies were wasted in either collecting garbage or uttering unpleasant verses and most noticeably, inhaling smoke from the dangerous cigarettes or other corresponding substances. The very sight forces me to think at least something about the situation of children in our country. The street children symbolize the deplorable condition of juveniles and of course, rights concerned with them. The street children are very small fraction of the constituents as far as violation of child rights is concerned. The concoction includes child domestication, sex slavery, involvement in criminal activities, domestic violence and many more.

48 out of hundred people in this state comprise of children, which make their cardinality somewhere around 12 million; out of which around more than 2 millions are deprived of their rights. They have lost the beauty of the stage they are in. They are children but without childhood. When I visit some houses I feel very sorry for the little kids who are punished ruthlessly for not doing the household works properly. Stats suggest that 4-5% of the children between 6 to 16 are engaged in paid work and 22% in unpaid one, and I reckon large fraction of them have to be the victim of torture. This creates a difference in their mental and emotional development, affecting not only the individual performance but also the future of nation at large.

Surfing on this very matter, I happen to find the miserable data concerned with the child sex slavery, majority of which include the females. Their minds are in such a state where they need to enjoy, learn some morale behavior, good things; but is it fair to engage them in such unruly activities? It is seriously a stain in the prestige of the nation and a huge blocking agent for its development. Available data tells us that approximately 7,000 girls between  10-18 are lured into prostitution each year within the national boundary. 4000 girls are coerced into Indian brothels annually, 18000s are trafficked annually from Nepal into bondage in India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Myanmar, etc; often with the acquiescence of state officials. Hong Kong is the second largest market for trafficked Nepalese girls after India, which contains two hundred thousand Nepalese prostitutes under 18 years of age, majority of which are in the busy city Mumbai. Surprisingly on most of the occasions, parents or relatives themselves sell those young maidens for brutal sex slavery. If this is not controlled soon, the country has to face a great damage.

A couple of months ago, 3 people were accused of drugs trafficking, out of which two of them were less than 16 years of age. This strictly means that the non adults are also targeted for illegal activities. Not only this, we can find a large number of children being used for criminal activities like theft, robbery, and so on. I also came to a conclusion that street children may be the leading preys for these sorts of activities. They can easily be persuaded, ultimately bending their energies in false direction. The newly revealed statistics show that even Al-Qaeda militants include Nepalese children between 16 to 18 years of age, most of them from among the domesticated ones in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The violation does not end up only within these examples. Almost everyone mentioned above are deprived of their right to education. This holds protagonist for every other violence. Travelling across the countryside, I discovered dreadful situation of education in rural lands, where the major focus is given to work rather than to education. It was very shocking to find the rural parents who take children as insurance and believe the erroneous fact that more children implies more income. The tiny guns are kidnapped by poverty and blindfolded by labor, due to which they are fenced off from education. This creates behavioral immaturity just because they lose their ability to distinguish between right and wrong, forcing them to follow the wrong lane.

Let us deal with those cases where children are sent to the schools, yet their rights are openly violated. The domestic and institutional violence of child rights are something that we must have become the victim of. Such an atmosphere has been created where teachers and parents regard physical and sometimes extreme psychological treatments as the only way to get rid of children’s ill behaviors. If I talk here about the researches, I may be considered a liar, but believe me, it is the worst treatment which directly affects the performance of those kids who were treated. Children are very much restricted in a type of unnecessary boundary. The existing social norm in Nepal and other south Asian nations views children as property of adults, passive recipients who should listen to their parents, teachers and elders and respect all that they say. Children, particularly girls, with disabilities and other younger ones are not encouraged to express their views; the modern way of violating child rights. It is understood that adults know better. It is not expected that children will speak in front of adults. They ask ‘Who is big? Who is aged? You or me? Why do you dare speak? Children are seen too helpless and are forced to strangle their ideas and walk behind their parents blindly. If someone is interested to study engineering he may not get permission from his parents because his parents injects emotional pressure in him, making him compelled to study some other subjects, and that, the root dwells inside the ground of generation gap.

The modern cause of violation of child rights is a wide generation gap; which has created a difference in the relationship between the two generations. A child should not be beaten, because the act of beating symbolizes violence. If any parent scolds his child or beats him for any cause, a kind of fear germinates in his mind along with some kind of hesitation. Now this creates the very generational difference, because children hesitate to expose and parents hesitate to understand. This restricts the child’s exposure towards parents or seniors regarding various issues, especially mature aspects, creating doubt on their minds which may lead them towards some serious problems. The needs and interests differ a lot and their thoughts mismatch. The new generation demand freedom but the old ones oppose the idea of freedom. This has created unhealthy relationship between these two generations. As a result of this, there is conflict in even small issues.

Sometimes, I am confused, are we on our own? Well, alone in a sense that I fell no government around. We are asked to mug up the fact that government is present invisibly throughout the nation. But where is government? What is it doing? Are blinds, deafs and dumbs only allowed to enter the government? If no, then why don’t they see the innocents roaming uselessly in the roads? Why don’t they hear the cries of 2 million innocents, who are deprived of their childhood, searching for the opportunities? Are senior posts just for filling the pockets, not to build the nation? The government feels being responsible just by making plans. Why is it not responsible to implement those plans effectively? If the government does not act sooner, then state will undoubtedly lose its balance. Children should be provided with their rights, and then only we can imagine a better future, a secure future. The government has to come up with some effective policies. It should provide free but compulsory education to all the children upto higher secondary level, as done in Britain and other developed nations. The self proclaimed modern families should try to make children as a part of their decision making team. They should focus upon fresh ideas of fresh minds. The children should be articulated with the other senior members for sustainable social change and revolution.

” There should be no poverty, but it has been created by the rich. The rich also feel superior to us just because they have money. As street children they consider us especially inferior and downtrodden.”

(-A street boy, in an Interview)