Khadija Hetavkar Content Writer (Legal), Rightantra Alifiya ManasawalaContributing Author, Rightantra Isha PalasContributing Author, Rightantra Innocence and childhood usually go hand in hand, but it is not always so. Exploiting children for money using methods such as begging, cheap labour, or trafficking severely endangers their physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and moral development. These children are usually recruited or abducted from disadvantaged backgrounds and minority groups, and are pushed into a completely different life with no respite or hope for the future and without anyone to protect them. All three forms of exploitation of children, i.e., labor, begging, and trafficking result in one common outcome: major human rights violations paired with the loss of childhood, snatching the opportunity for the child to grow and develop with adequate freedom. The child is deprived of the chance to attend school, socialize with peers, and receive proper nutrition all the while losing their dignity and potential which prevents them from living a normal, unburdened life. Most of these children are plagued with the responsibility to earn for their families or employers at an age when other children are gaining an education and leading a carefree life. Child trafficking is a major violation of children’s human rights. Apart from the physical and sexual abuse inflicted, the children are also forced to deal with severe humiliation, emotional trauma, fear, flashbacks, nightmares, and degradation associated with being treated as a commodity. It is evident through the impact on the victims as to how dangerous and damaging this form of exploitation can get. Child begging is an outcome of trafficking and the worst form of child labour. Children are usually trafficked from rural areas and brought to cities where they are forced to beg. Child beggars have to face various physical and psychological stressors like verbal aggression, hostility, contempt as well as stigmatizing and dehumanizing responses from the public while begging at dangerous traffic junctions in all weather conditions. The Constitution of India, 1950 under Article 24 prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in dangerous workplaces (such as factories, mines, looms, etc.) which may cause them physical as well as long-term mental harm. Despite this legal safeguard, child labourers are forced to work in harsh, hazardous conditions which creates a number of physical problems such as premature ageing, malnutrition, chronic exhaustion, early-onset osteoporosis, general cuts and lacerations which often go untreated. They are also beaten up and abused by their employers which more often than not, ends fatally. Other forms of mistreatment include:
The physical and psychological effects of being subjected to the aforementioned exploitation are traumatic and long-lasting. The children live and work in degrading conditions, completely ignored and helpless. These forms of exploitation often force children to discontinue their education which hampers their social and emotional development. The lack of interaction with people their own age in a thriving environment results in these children developing poor social skills, low self-confidence, and mental health issues. The effect and impact of these crimes on innocent children are nearly irreversible. The stigma, shame, and fear the children live with makes it nearly impossible for them to ever completely normalize. Losing their innocence along with the control over their life makes it difficult for them to recover from the trauma and live as normally-functioning individuals in society. References:
1 Comment
Rohit Bamne
3/27/2021 10:01:30 pm
Very harsh reality, the pain, the trauma these children aee going through
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
December 2021
|