Domestic
Child Labour Campaign
As part of the campaign against child
labour, a series of activities was organised.
A collaborative effort between SACCS/BBA
and National Human Rights Commission
which stated with the Ashraf case in
1996 and subsequently resulted in the amendment of
service rules of Central Government
servant which stipulates that employing
children below the age of 14 years is
illegal.
Campaign
Activities:
 |
CHILDHOOD
SCARRED
Salma
Khatoon, 13, was at the
receiving end of her employer
for a long time. Her head
was oozing with blood and
the whole body was scarred
with nail injuries when
BBA activists rescued her
through a secret raid on
the house of Dolly, the
employer at Batala House
in New Delhi on 24th January'03.
What emerged was a tale
of horror, brutality and
cruelty of the worst kind.
She was brought from Jahanabad
district of Bihar to work
for Dolly as a domestic
child labourer six months
before her rescue. She was
hit repeatedly by her employer
on the head with an iron
rod for eating a slice of
bread without permission.
She was not given any medical
treatment. This was not
a day's incident but it
used to happen daily. Dolly
was arrested and her bail
was rejected for 6 months.
The
Hon'ble Judge directed the
police and the girl's family
to ensure full protection
and medical care for the
girl. |
|
Release
of Child Domestic Servants
NGO volunteers may work with local law
enforcement units to investigate cases
of child domestic servitude whenever
it is possible. Main purpose is to identify
cases and areas where children are being
exploited as domestic servants, and
to release the children in the worst
forms of child labour. In this regard, photo and video documentation of
the raids may be useful to educate
the village community to the
hardships of children working as domestic
servants.
Rehabilitation
of Child Domestic Workers
SACCS/BBA are in the process of establishing
an extensive listing of rehabilitation
resources meant for child labours. It
is also planned to push for rehabilitation
of children with the government authorities.
The involvement of NGOs is crucial at
this point.
Child
Labour Free Home Sticker Campaign
The
Child Labour Free Home Sticker Campaign
is a door-to-door campaign against domestic
child servitude to help make communities
Child Exploitation Free. While investigating
the use of children as domestic servants
in different area, stickers are pasted
on the door whenever a child is not
found working, and the homeowner supports
the campaign. This activity can be carried
out by interested school children as
well.
School
Campaign
To
sensitise school-going children about
the hardship and suffering faced by
child domestic servants, theatre
plays can be performed at school. Mini-marches, rallies, wall-writings
and school competition(debate, painting,
etc.) can also be organised at public
places to generate awareness on the
issue. The aim of the school campaign
is not only for sensitising children
to the plight of child domestic workers,
but to encourage them to report on
cases of child domestic servitude.
Legal
Action
Public
Interest Litigation will be initiated
at the national level to bring justice
to the millions of children working
as domestic slaves in India. For that,
we are planning to document cases of
child domestic workers, in cooperation
with other NGOs, so that the case can
be argued to the Supreme Court of India.
To
build pressure against domestic servitude,
state-level NGOs will be encouraged
to approach the State Legal Board to
ensure that cases of domestic child
labourers are treated as Public Interest
Litigations (PIL).
State
governments that have not passed amendments
to the Civil Services Conduct Rules
for public servants will also be
targeted under this Campaign to ensure
that no government employee is using
any child as his or her personal servant.
State Human Rights Commission may be
of much help in this regard.
To
address the instances of brutality committed
against domestic child labourers, we
will encourage local NGOs to pursue
cases in court, or with the local
Juvenile Welfare Board.
Mass
Signature Campaign
In support of our judicial action, SACCS/BBA
have initiated a petition calling on
the Parliament of India to establish
and effectively implement a national
law protecting children from domestic
servitude. SACCS/BBA are also pressuring
the Parliament to ratify and implement
ILO Convention 182 and vigorously implement
the Civil Service (Conduct) Rules to
prohibit government officials from using
children as their personal servants,
and to allocate sufficient regular budget
for basic education, for the rehabilitation
of children rescued from domestic servitude,
and for income generating programs for
the families of children in domestic
servitude.
Commitment
from different groups among civil society
that they will not employ children as
their domestic servants
SACCS/BBAwould like to have ministers,
leaders of opposition parties, MLAs,
foreign diplomats, IAS and IPS
officers, public servants, celebrities,
and businessmen declaring that they
will not use children as domestic servants.
Following this, SACCS/BBA would like
to investigate some of them on their
use of domestic child labour.
Prevention
of Domestic Child Labour
For preventing children from entering
domestic work, painting and photo exhibition
on domestic child labour issue, and
video documentation of the rescue missions
will be displayed to their parents,
especially in far-off villages. SACCS/BBA
also plan to link the parents of domestic
servants to training and income-generating
activities as an alternative to sending
their children to domestic work. |
