By IANS,
New Delhi : Various NGOs of the capital came together Friday to deliberate on a common child protection policy, which will be adopted by all organisations, aiming to go a step ahead of the Juvenile Justice System Act which talks about child protection.
Formulated by Udayan Care and Quality Institutional Care and Alternatives for Children, the Delhi Declaration on Child Protection Policy 2009 chalks out various responsibilities that an organisation committed to child care should adhere to.
According to Kiran Modi of Udayan Care, every organisation working on child welfare must have its own child protection policy.
“After every organisation writes its own child protection policy, they should be put for discussion amongst the various stakeholders and the best practices adopted,” Modi told IANS on the sidelines of a positive mental health and child well being programme here.
The policy states that every organisation should take care of parameters, for example, a child has the right to be protected from abuse – physical, sexual, neglect and emotional, should be sent to school and most importantly being consulted in programme planning and implementation.
Talking about the Juvenile Justice (JJ) System Act, Modi said that its clauses must be strictly adhered to in order to uphold child rights.
She, however, said that the JJ Act gives broad guidelines to institutional child welfare, and therefore it is necessary that each of the organisations working in this field puts in its working principle in various subjects on paper.
“For instance, the JJ Act talks about every child being sent to school, but it depends on a particular NGO what kind of schooling they think would be good for the kids they look after. Udayan Care stresses on its kids being given formal education, some other organisation may prefer a non-formal education,” Modi said.
“Therefore, in various other parameters too, it is necessary to point out an organisation’s working principles and put them together in a paper which is formally put in paper and seen by a compliance officer that they are actually implemented,” Modi said.
Although it was to be signed by all participants, some NGOs sought some time in deliberating over the declaration. The declaration will then be sent to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for approval.