By Madhur Sharma
For 41 years, the mountainous country of Nepal has been celebrating National Children’s Day on August 20 (Bhadra 4). Since the restoration of democracy in 1990, the main celebration committees have been formed under the chairmanship of the Prime Ministers in power, to mark and celebrate Children’s Day.
This year, a 51-member main celebration committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers. This committee has given directives to organize few programs, including free medical check-up for children, by all governmental hospitals and health centers across the country. Same history is being repeated; all previous governments have formed celebration committees, celebrated Children’s Day, and dissolved committees after the celebration. We do not find any new agendas in this year’s program for our children, especially to address the current conflict situation, other than the publication of the main slogan: “Save Children from Violent Conflict”.
During the celebration time, various key personalities, students, INGOs, NGOs and social workers will gather in the Bal Mandir premises, to participate in the Children’s Day celebrations. Celebration committee members and guests will deliver speeches, and the audience will listen. Speeches promising immediate action, then distribution of a packet of sweets to children! Speeches highlighting the exploitation of children! And when the program is over, the meaning of their words will be forgotten; children will go back to their same old place, and so will VIP speakers.
In reality, the children’s situation is deteriorating by the day.
Children in a rally organised to mark the Children Day in Kathmandu, Saturday.
Children in a rally organised to mark the Children Day in Kathmandu, Saturday…..
We need to realize that the root causes of the problems in Nepal are poverty, economic gap between the rich and the poor, social discriminations. Due to these problems, children’s physical and mental development is slowing down. Especially those children below the poverty line are facing more difficulties than others. Many children today are living without a family; some have lost their fathers, some their mothers, and some both parents. Some children have been forced to leave their home villages, due to conflict and poor socioeconomic conditions. It is due to poverty and social discrimination that more and more children are fleeing from their villages; they are living and working on the streets of urban cities. According to CWIN’s estimate, 5000 children are on the streets. Some children even flee to India, in search of menial work.
Many children are living without proper care, health service and education. How can these below-poverty-line children obtain proper health care from the government’s only children’s hospital in Katmandu, and from a child specialist that has to provide his/her services to 1,04,066 children? According to the government estimate, nearly 15,000 children, below five years of age, die every year, due to diarrhea alone.
Childhood is when the process of physical and mental development begins. Basically, children learn what they hear, see and talk. When they are involved in different developmental activities or personality development methods, this will have a great influence on their lives. If they are influenced badly by the social, political or economical sectors, its result will be negative. Conflict creates exploitative conditions in working children too. It is said that a year’s war affects 10 years to darken a country, and a ten years’ war affects 100 years. Therefore, everybody can guess how our children’s future will be darkened, if the present conflict is not stopped, and if minimum requirements are not met to protect their rights.
Nepal’s armed conflict disturbs the children psychologically. They will react with emotional reactions, such as anger, sadness, fear, trauma, tension, etc. They cannot focus on their academic development, after hearing or watching news about conflict-torn children like them. Although the exact report on this issue is hard to find, conflict-affected children often show depression; they always live in fear of something – be it on the streets, or with their families.
From time to time, the media has highlighted children carrying dummy guns, and using them to play with each other as rivals, instead of playing with educational toys for physical and mental development. Many children flee from their home villages to urban cities in search of good education, security and personal development. However, due to social and economical discriminations, the situation is just the opposite for them. According to the European Union Troika over 400 children have been killed and more than 20,000 children displaced due to conflict. We can guess how many other children must be indirectly affected by conflict, and by social and economical disparities.
Nepal does not have many human and natural resources left at present. If we ask the Nepali youths about their childhood life, they will say that before conflict started, they were living in peace. Now Nepali children are adversely affected by the vicious cycle of violence. This violence will continue to affect them in the forthcoming days/years. As a result, children will get exposed to evils, such as sexual abuse, fear, poverty, death, etc., instead of benefiting from the good qualities of life.
The Nepali government has already ratified various international conventions, including the UN Convention on Rights of Child (CRC), 1992. CRC defines a child as any person less than 18 years of age. The provisions of CRC (apart from those referring to military recruitment and participation) protect all children, not merely those under 15 years. In 2004, the Central Child Welfare Board, under the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, presented a ten year National Plan of Action for Children, by considering adoption conventions and international law. But in reality, we have not yet seen any progress on the government’s part to formulate and reform legal provision and activities, as committed. Most of the protection forms (law, rules, and regulations) are drifting away from protecting the children’s rights to live be with family/community, health, personality development, and their rights to be nurtured and protected.
Few months back, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 39th session in Geneva highlighted the issues of Nepali Children. During this session, the committee recommended to the Nepali Government to undertake effective measures to eradicate traditional methods/ systems, by implementing such effective programs to reinforcement of existing legislative structures and policies to protect the rights of Nepali Children. Let’s us hope that, from this Children’s Day, the government will try to do its best. Not only that, we need to involve the community to analyze the prevailing situation of children, and to take action to protect their rights.
Can we expect these recommendations to be followed by this Royal Government constituent National Children’s Day Celebration Committee? Or is the committee only for saying: “Happy Children’s Day”? If not, what more can we expect from the surgeon? A butcher cannot be a surgeon. Will the Children’s Day Celebration Committee 2005’s main slogan “Save Children from Violent Conflict” be implemented, or not? Only time will prove. But let’s make this slogan into a constructive one.