Child beggers – a curse or inevitability

Trafficked children used as beggers:

Kids are as innocent as flowers and as shinning as glowing stars. They all are same whether they live a relaxing and comfort life or sleep on footpaths. It’s really painful to see small kids begging with their little hands in front of this cruel world, a world for which these kids are just beggars and nothing else.

Hunger force those children to beg by touching hands and shirts even they face scolding’s from people. Many of them are deliberately maimed. Arms and legs are forcibly amputated, others are cruelly blinded. The gangs also pour acid on to children’s bodies leaving them with suppurating wounds. The more they are tortured or tormented the more sympathy they gain when they beg. They are trained to approach certain kinds of people and use certain mannerisms, to extract even more money. There are many child beggars who are not mutilated, but those with the worst injuries make the most money, earning up to ten times the amount that millions in India survive on each day. In one of the incidents a boat with two little children, One of the kids had a live snake around her neck is begging.

The young child, a victim of trafficking for the purpose of begging. but trafficking for begging on the streets is a more recent trend. Children of poor, often rural, families are being captured at the borders, or parents are deceived into thinking their children will receive opportunities in the cities.

Mafia gangs bring children for “Begging” in urban cities. A child beggar of aged between five and ten collects the maximum. With a burn scar or decapitation they can earn more. As they grow older their earnings decrease. As a consequence they graduate to be big -time traders involved in drug peddling, pick pocketing, robbery and prostitution. A child beggar will only be paid 10% of his earnings of Rs.300 to 500 a day. If he fails to meet the target fixed by the contractor he is punished brutally. The girls by the time they reach 13 years switch over to prostitution.

Begging is used as a profession by antisocial elements forcing children in begging. Begging is prohibited in some cities of India by local governments.

Impact of begging on Children:

If a child does not make their target that day they are beaten and tortured.

Child beggars are addicted to solvents, alcohol and charras (powerful Afghan hashish often laced with opium).  This helps the children to forget where they are, but it also helps the gangmasters to keep them under control.

The children who are the most vulnerable to gang masters are Dalits due to their poverty regardedless in society. But whether they are kidnapped or sold into beggary, it is too high a price to pay.

Some Facts:

Human trafficking is modern slavery. Although India has the second largest child population in the world, there is no single unified separate legislation to deal with all the offences against children.

It is high time India introduced an all encompassing common act to safeguard the rights of a child. It has been 25 years since the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 came into force and some of the facts as stated:-

There are an estimated 300,000 child beggars in India, although some organizations claim it is as many as a million. Every year, 44,000 children fall into the clutches of the gangs.

The beggar mafia make more than £20 million a year

There are an estimated 300,000 child beggars in India, the vast majority are Dalits.

Riyadh police rounded up 109 beggars in the capital city during the past week as part of an intensive campaign against beggary, authorities announced on Friday.

A survey conducted by UNICEF in 2007 found that up to half of child beggars in the Kingdom entered the country with their parents.

It is reported that Saudi authorities arrest each month around 3,500 Yemeni children who are smuggled into the country to work or beg.

3500 Yemeni child beggars arrested monthly in Saudi Arabia

How can we help:

How can we prevent the innocent children from this trapof trafficking and using them for begging ?

A million dollar question with no specific solution. Some Instanances:

The Delhi government has started a new initiative to rescue child beggars. Dial 1098 next time you see a child begging and you could help rescue him or her.

"Earlier a child beggar was a criminal. Now, a child beggar is a child in need of help. The perspective has changed completely," says Chairperson Child Welfare Committee, Dr Bharti Sharma.

On getting a call, the Beggar Squad will come and pick up the child and take him to the Child Welfare Committee. The child is then counseled and in some cases sent into rehabilitation.

On January 25, 2011, Yu Jianrong, a famous human rights activist and sociologist, launched a Sina microblog in which he called on Chinese netizens to wield their camera lenses, expose child beggars and upload the pictures to the blog, a cause he believed can save the mistreated children and help battle such crimes.

BEIJING - An online campaign to publish photos of child beggars is assisting authorities to crack down on gangs that kidnap children and to help reunite kidnapped children with their families. The Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday that the public can dial 110, a police hotline, if they suspect children are being organized or forced to beg on the streets. "Addressing child trafficking and organized begging by minors needs the joint efforts of all sectors of society," said Chen Shiqu, head of the anti-trafficking office under the ministry.

‘Generation Yuvaa' an organisation they floated in 2007,  has opened an outlet at Green House in Marripalem. About 1,500 members of the youth group contribute Rs.8,000 per annum to support each child beggar to wean away from the evil. Naresh and his friends Rakesh and Solomon actively running the movement can be contacted over phone: 9985266229 or get details at www.genyuvaa.com.

All sections of the society need to work together to stop misuse and abuse of children. Stakeholders to tackle these issues include,  National Governmental agencies, NGOs,People’s forums, Corporate entities, Individual social service activists. TAPAS (Trafficking Analysis & Prevention Aiding System) is an effort led in this direction to work and strengthen the wings of the stakeholders and network of people in preventing the child trafficking and its impact on the innocent kids.

References:

International Labour Organisation Report 1995

Human Rights Watch 1996

Constitution of India

World Bank report 1995

Paper on child labour in India – Causes by Mitesh Badiwada

UN convention on rights of child report – 1992

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