Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

End crimes against us, says `Children's manifesto'

Anasuya Menon

They also appealed to the candidates to help them get back the innocence of childhood

WE DEMAND OUR RIGHTS: Children who gathered at St .Francis Higher Secondary School in the city on Tuesday to present a `children's manifesto' to the candidates contesting the Assembly elections. PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

COIMBATORE: Hundreds of children gathered at St. Francis Higher Secondary School on Tuesday. Cheering all along, they welcomed the candidates contesting the Assembly elections to their midst. Most of them did not even know what elections meant. But they knew one thing for sure - that many like them had lost their childhood to torture, abuse and beggary.

The children who assembled here to present a `children's manifesto' appealed to the candidates to help them get back the innocence of childhood.

Providing free and quality education from LKG to Plus-Two was their primary demand. Every village should provide facilities for education up to Plus-Two and children from shelter homes should be given special preference in educational and job opportunities, they said. They requested the Government to empower Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) working for children to rescue bonded child labourers. The right to enter the place of work and rescue child labourers is vested only with the Labour Department. If NGOs were also bestowed with the authority, the number of child workers could be brought down substantially, said Fr. John Dharman, Director of Don Bosco Anbu Illam.

Anbu Illam's Social Service Society and several other child rights organisations organised the event. Children from homes at Tirupur and Avanashi participated in the event. Individuals or institutions employing children below 18 years of age should be brought to book, they demanded. The manifesto sought assistance to build and maintain child help centres at Palladam, Avanashi, Tirupur and Pollachi as a lot of children from these districts poured into Coimbatore city in search of labour.

The rest of the demands related to basic issues concerning children's rights such as violence, sexual abuse, trafficking and female infanticide. Torture or abuse of children and crimes against them should be prevented and the offenders should be punished, they said.

Coalition of Child Rights Networks of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry drafted the manifesto when they organised a workshop for children in Chennai in February.

Nearly 100 children attended the two-day workshop, which helped them identify their needs and formulate them into demands. The manifesto also demanded clean classrooms and eating spaces in addition to free electricity and water supply to their schools. Liquor shops near schools and playgrounds should be relocated, it said.

Former Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Coimbatore East Constituency), T. Malaravan, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Coimbatore West), A. Soundararajan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Singanallur), S.Maheshwari, Congress (Coimbatore West) and G.Mary, Desiya Murppokku Dravida Kazhagam (Coimbatore East) were the candidates who attended the event.

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