Saving the lost children of Covid-19
Covid-19 has undone much of the progress made for child rights and protection. Where do we go from here?
The Covid-19 crisis is more than just a health crisis. It has resulted in poverty, internal migration and loss of livelihood for millions, and lest we forget, also caused untimely deaths. While Covid-19 may not impact children directly, it affects them in many ways, especially those from the disadvantaged communities.
Over decades, government-run child protection structures and services such as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Childline–a 24-hour national child emergency helpline, district-level Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), along with other public and private organisations, had achieved tremendous progress in addressing child labour, education, nutrition, mental health, prevention of violence and child marriage. But much of this has been unravelled since the pandemic.
Additionally, children are experiencing psychosocial stress and stigma as they witness their family's economic struggles, domestic abuse and experience extraordinary social and physical isolation. However, child protection structures and services—historically underfunded and now overburdened and diverted—are often helpless.
Additionally, societal notions that 'girls are a liability' and concerns for their safety and future have led to an increase in child marriages. ChildLine saw an increase of 17 percent in distress calls related to early marriages in June and July 2020, as compared to 2019. As child wives, girls become vulnerable to marital rape, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, have early pregnancy and sometimes death due to pregnancy and childbirth complications.
However, the absence of crucial safeguards to deter such activities and the additional burden of Covid-19 management on state actors has rendered these children extremely vulnerable.
More than 30,000 children have been orphaned, abandoned or have lost a parent primarily due to the pandemic. The real numbers are likely even higher. But these children have little opportunity to live a carefree childhood because of India's abysmal state of adoption and other support systems. Unfortunately, such children may fall victim to illegal adoption, child trafficking and become highly exposed to forced labour, violence, deprivation from education, child sexual abuse, and other forms of exploitation.
Additional support and human resources are required to strengthen child protection structures and services. Subsequently, these entities should be treated as essential services for children and families in all crises.
The government needs to create solid and multi-sectorial protocols to legally bind duty-bearers to support and protect orphaned or abandoned children, together with stakeholders such as family and community members, the Panchayati Raj Institutes, and child protection structures. The Integrated Child Protection Scheme officials can be the core team to synergise different efforts across districts.
The state and national governments need to invest in more robust public-awareness campaigns with endorsements from influential people against various violations of children's rights.
The various centre and state-sponsored initiatives will help children who were orphaned due to Covid-19. However, investments are needed to strengthen and capacitate child-safety and protection institutions and child protection services to provide access to education, care, and safety to vulnerable children. With the support from NGOs and corporates, governments need to invest in community-based alternative care services such as kinship care, foster care, group foster care and sponsorship.
We have to recognise that India's future is only as bright as the present of its children. Therefore, the government and other stakeholders have to prioritise the needs and issues of children as part of the Covid-19 response actions. Otherwise, the shadows of this pandemic will continue to haunt us long after it has gone.