My identity, my rights: From child labourer to child rights activist.

by Om Prakash Gurjar

In the village in India where I was born and raised, the notion of child rights does not exist.  Our parents rear us through their hard work with duty and determination.  If a family is able to save money, their children may be able to attend school.  More often, however, the children have no option but to join their parents in farming and caring for cattle.

When boys are born, grandmothers stand at the doorway of the home and joyously beat a thali, metal plate, to announce the birth of a male child.  In contrast, whenever a girl is born, the women of the family break a jar at the entrance of the house.  This act is also done when there is a death in the family and tells the neighbours and village folk sadness that the child has been born a girl.  The difference between a boy and a girl, and their value in the home and by society is clearly shown from the begginning.

I am the son of a Father who once borrowed money from his landlord.  In return my Father and my family were required to serve as bonded labourers (to work off the debt owed).  When I was five years old, before I could understand why I needed to work as a labourer, I was working on the landlords farm.  I worked with animals and crops, and wondered why I did not go to school like other children.  Three years later, a group of activitist of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) were travelling from village to village.  Through their efforts to raise awareness about education and their campaign against child slavery, they met me and other child labourers.  Hearing them speak was the first time I realised that my childhood was being wasted, and that there were people who cared about saving it.

After getting to know our situation, the activists diligently worked to free us from bonded labour and child slavery.  It was a difficult task, as neither our landlord nor our parents were prepared to consider that children had rights, or that there was anything wrong with child labour.  At first, my parents refused to get into any argument.  After much effort, however, the people of Bachpan Bachao Andolan persuaded them to make an effort to get me released from slavery, and the also pressured the landlord to free me from service.  Because of their work I was eventually freed.

After leaving bonded labour, I went to Bal Ashram, a home in Rajasthan, devoted to educating and training freed child labourers.  From the moment I arrived I understood what child rights are.  For the first time I saw and realised that here was a place whree children's voices are heard, their opinions considered, and decisions made after taking their opinion into account.  There was a panchayat (assembly) of child members who represented the students' interests and concerns in meetings with the managers and instructors.  Gradually, through our teachers and the other children at Bal Ashram, I came to understand there are lawas to promote and protect children like us.  I learned that these laws not only apply in India but also throughout the world.  

After being freed from bonded labour I was eager for education and also to help spread awareness about the challenges facing children like me.  The local public school where I studied charged a fee of 100 rupees.  I had read that public schools are supposed to be free.  I raised this issue to a local magistrate and demanded appropriate action.  A petition was put to the Jaipur Court, the high bench of the state of Rajasthan where I live.  The court decided that the school was obliged to return the money to the parents.  Now in the state of Rajasthan schools are not allowed to take money from parents.  Recently, when I was involved in helping free bonded child laboureres from gold thread factories together with the people of Bachpan Bachao Andolan I saw how badly the freed children were treated.  When I asked the officials to follow the rules of The Convention on The Rights of The Child they appeared ignorant that such rules exist.

I believe that through the efforts of people working for child rights all over the world, pressure must be put on the governments who have signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child to meet their obligations to children.  Awareness must be raised on this issue, and countries must be made responsible for active implementation of child rights.

(NB: This article has been edited to shorten it, and some of the language has been simplified, the full version can be found in The State of The World's Children 2010, published by UNICEF)

Raising Awareness of Child and Women's Rights - Khaleda Puts a Stop to Early Marriage in Her Community

By Casey McCarthy, UNICEF Bangladesh

Khaleda Begum, 17, is not like most other teenagers in Bangladesh.  Although she too is busy with her studies, Khaleda is a force for change in her community.  A few months ago Khaleda stopped the marriage of a 13 year old girl.

Khaleda is a peer leader with the UNICEF-supported Adolescent Empowerment (Kishori Abhijan) project in Rangpur.  As a peer leader, Khaleda takes a lot of initiatives and responsibilities to build the knowledge of other young people and to raise awareness withing their communities around key issues, especially those related to adolescents, such as early marriage, HIV and AIDS, dowry and gender.

The project Khaleda is a part of is run in association with the organisation CMES (Centre for Mass Education in Science).  As a peer leader she supports 30 young members and works within her community to register the birth of newborn babies, hold community meetings, correct misinformation or confusion, petition to get roads repaired, and raise awareness of children and women's rights.

"Before I was involved with the project, my parents didn't listen to my voice.  Now, they respect my decisions and opinions.  Before I was a child; now I am an adult," she said.

When Khaleda heard about the arranged marriage of 13 year old Sharifa from other members at the adolescent centre, she was compelled to stop it.

Khaleda visited Sharifa's parents and explained the laws surrounding early marriage and child rights but they refused to cancel the wedding.  Khaleda sought help from the local support group, staff and another child rights group.

The project involves parents and community leaders in support groups to help the adolescents in their role.  

Together, with the threat of police intervention, they were able to stop the marriage.  Khaleda and other peer leaders have vowed to ensure all early marriages are prevented in their community in the future.

"I feel very good about helping Sharifa.  She is a very intelligent girl.  Now she can have a bright future", Khaleda said.

Sharifa now attends the adolescent meetings with her mother where they are both learning about child and women's rights.

Like Khaleda, there are now 3100 adolescent peer leaders involved in the project which has been run with funding provided by the European Union.