‘Rehabilitation of children must be an integral part of law’: Kailash Satyarthi

Of late, the big cities including Mumbai have become the epicentre of trafficking chldren for jobs which include hiring for domestic help purposes and employment in small scale garment industries. These agencies are mostly illegally run and offer ‘cheap, docile and good looking’ children. The children are trafficked mainly from North East including Jharkhand and Assam. My focus in the budget session was to pass a pending law on child labour reform. The old law of 1996 has become redundant with new laws including the Right to Education and the Juvenile Justice Act in place. Even with the new government, there isn’t any urgency in taking action against child labour.

There have been negative reports regarding rehabilitation homes for children in the state. What is your view on it?

Rehabilitation of children must be an integral part of the law itself. Children who are freed from labour should be entitled to rehabilitation programmes by the government. The best rehabilitation is re-integration with the family that includes some economic incentive to the parent so that they can earn their livelihood and education can be provided to the children in their hometown. For cases in which institutional rehabilitation is required, the entire system has to be revamped to improve the employees at the rehabilitation centers. Rehabilitation is provided under the law only to children rescued from bonded labour. India is now one of the fastest growing economies in the world and it can afford good institutional help.

What measures would you suggest to curb the incidents of drug abuse among children?

We have filed a case in the Supreme Court about it. It is a serious problem and a lot of people are taking advantage of it. We have come across employers who drug children to ensure they work for long hours. There is no proper study done by the government. The children tend to drop out of schools and end up engaging themselves in child labour and crime.

How can a Mumbaikar contribute towards reducing child labour in the city?

People should not give alms to children who are begging. There are big beggar mafias in Mumbai. They are organised. These children, found begging, could be in the list of missing children from other cities. These children are forced beggars. Secondly, people should refuse services from children hired as domestic help. If you come across any domestic child labourer in your friend’s or relative’s house, refuse the hospitality. Because you are killing somebody’s childhood. Let us begin with ourselves.

meghna.yelluru@expressindia.com