Millions of children in India grow up uncared for, condemned to miserable conditions. They live in abject poverty without education, medical treatment or food. Bombs over blackboards appear to be the priority.

Child marriages continue despite specific laws to restrict the practice. Child slavery is rampant, violence against children endemic and the right to education, though now established by law, exists only on paper. Children are trafficked from all parts of the country for commercial sexual exploitation, begging rackets, adoption rackets and as cheap labour.

Despite the enactment of the Juvenile Justice Act, resources to ensure effective implementation are not committed. They continue to languish in child-care institutions, which often lack even the most basic facilities. In the justice system children are often tried as adults.

Though India has a large number of laws to protect and promote the rights of children, the issue of child rights is looked at as a welfare issue rather than a rights issue. Despite policy announcements and new legislation, in practice the changes are extremely slow. In 1992 the Indian government ratified the ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child'. Years have passed since the ratification, but there are no signs that the government is inclined to take affirmative action. Since Independence, all statutes, such as the Factories Act, Mines Act, and the Shops and Establishments Act, have strictly prohibited child labour. In 1986 the government enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, which insidiously permitted the use of child labour while promising regulation. Children continue to work in hazardous industries despite the prohibition.

Children are still physically abused, raped, forced to work in inhuman conditions, tortured, incarcerated, trafficked and abandoned. Now more than ever, there is a critical need to respond to an ever increasing number of children and youth growing up in a violent society, confronting brutality on a large scale.

To combat all forms of violations against children and increase their access to the justice system, lawyers and social workers of the Child Rights Initiative (CRI) provide pro bono legal services to children at the Juvenile Justice Boards. In addition to representing children CRI is closely linked with organisations working in the field of children and provides legal and other assistance to such organisations. The CRI engages in advocacy and policy formulation, publishes ‘Know Your Rights' material, participates in campaigns and conducts training for activists, para-legals, lawyers and others.