INTERNATIONAL WEBINAR ON CHILD RIGHTS

Saveetha School of Law organized International Webinar on Child Rights on 15th of June, 2020. It commenced at  8 am  and successfully concluded at 8 pm. This webinar is the third edition of the International Conference on Child rights organized by the institution every year. The faculty coordinator for the event was Prof. Dr. Asha Sundaram, Principal, Saveetha School of Law and the student coordinator was Leelesh Sundaram. B, 4th year (BA. LLB). 

The webinar commenced with a session by Mr. Shanmugam, Advocate. The session was held from 8:00 am and 9:00 am. The speaker discussed different aspects of child rights with respect to the Information Technology Act. Mr. Shanmugam gave a clear over view of the affirmative actions taken by the legislature under the IT Act to curb offences against children. The speaker also elaborated on the proceedings in a court relating to offences against children. Mr. Shanmugam also discussed the precautionary steps that parents need to take for protecting children and reducing the levels of victimization.

Presentation of research papers by students commenced at 9 am. Ashish Jaangda was the first student to present his study on the effects of violent video games on children and adolescents followed by Akshaya GV on the topic ‘Neglected Street Children and Measures to Improve their Livelihood.’ The presenter quoted many case laws and the directions made by the Court in uplifting such children. She answered to the queries posed to her by the audience. Chewtha was the thirs presenter and her topic was ‘Legal frameworks for Children in Conflict with Law in India.’ She focused on the lacunae or ambiguities of many legislations by comparing some legislations with those followed in other countries. The next presenter was Deepika and hers was a study on child begging in India. She linked her topic to Article 24 of the Constitution and pointed out the flaws of Government in bringing an effective legislation. The last presenter of the session was Eorlina Pearl on the topic ‘Analysis on the Health Issues faced by Girls due to Child Marriage.’ She focused on the practice of child marriage which was still prevalent in some parts of the country. She also discussed problems that arise from child pregnancy.  The session was moderated by Mr. Ahmed Razouki.

This was followed by a presentation by Gayathri U on prevention of physical abuse of children in India. She discussed about the consequences and its relevance. Following that Harshit S Jain explained about child trafficking and laws prevailing in India. He suggested that corruption is the key reason for nullifying the efforts taken to end trafficking. Next presenter  was Hasika who presented her study on protection of children from sexual abuse. She pointed out the weakness of the legislation and social tuning that impacts sexual abuses in India. This was followed by Indhumathi who presented her study on national crèche scheme in India and its role in child development. The last presenter was Indrapriya who presented her topic on child labour regulations and constitutional rights in India. She focused on the inefficiency of the existing system. This session was moderated by Mrs. Gayathri P and Mrs. Arya R.

The next set of presentations commenced soon after, wherein Keerthan M Murali presented his study, ‘An Analysis on role played by the Indian Legislature in the Curb Juvenile Substance Abuse in Urban India.’ He began the presentation by introducing the topic and explaining the concepts of drug and drug abuse followed by a short introduction of substance abuse by teens. He concluded by providing suggestions on how the legislation can improve efficiency in curbing the problem of juvenile drug abuse. This was followed by a presentation on ‘Legal Perspective of Juvenile Delinquency with respect to India, the USA and Europe’ by Inian.I. The presenter started the session by providing an introduction to the topic and whether the present laws in our country are stringent enough to curb out or reduce the rate of crimes committed by the juveniles. The legal frameworks followed in other countries were discussed as well. The next presenter was Kavitha. D who presented her study on ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.’ She focussed on Online child PORNOGRAPHY Consumption Spikes in India during the lockdown which had made the internet an unsafe place for. Keerthana. S presented her study on ‘The Role of Juvenile Justice Act in Controlling Crimes’.  The scheme of the Act was well explained with provisions and definitions. The international laws of France, UK, USA, Italy, Canada and Germany were discussed with the age group of child offenders and laws relating to them. This was followed by the presentation by S.P.LATHIKA SRI on the topic ‘Importance of promoting cyber Security awareness among Children.’ The presenter started the session by highlighting the importance of promoting cyber security awareness among children. The session also dealt with the existing awareness campaign in India and the threat faced by the internet users. This session was moderated by Ms. Jayapreethi.

Dr. Betsy Rajasingh  moderated the session on child rights with specific emphasis to the Indian scenario. The session consisted of four final year student presenters from Saveetha School of Law. Dr. Rajasingh, welcomed the student presenters and participants, and  commenced the session with a short  introduction about child rights.  The first speaker Mr Vignesh was then invited to speak on the topic, “A Study on Effective Implementation of Right to Education in Government and Private Schools.” He commenced his discussion  talking about the  constitutional mandate regarding elementary education in India and went on to  give a comparative analysis of the differences between public and private schools.  His presentation was followed by Ms Mahima Makhija’s talk on “A Study on the Protection of Children from the Impact of Neglect and Abuse”, where she focused  on the impact of parental neglect and the consequent abuse faced by  children at a relatively young age.  Subsequently, Mr Monesh Boopalan, while dealing with his topic “ Child rights in India”  dealt at length with the legal safeguards available in India and the effectiveness of implementing mechanisms with reference to child rights.  He also discussed the international obligations relating to child rights and the consequent  domestic provisions implementing the same.  The final speaker of  the session, Ms. Namitha, spoke on the topic “A Study on the Effects of Early Exposure to Internet on Children”. In particular, she emphasized the effects of the internet boom and the consequent ill-effects  on children due to early exposure to the internet. The moderator engaged the panellists and a lively discussion ensued throughout the session, where the presenters were able to answer questions raised by the Moderator and the participants. In short, it was an engaging and enlightening session for all.

The next set of presentations were delivered by student Padmasri on ‘A Study on Use of Children as Soldiers in India’, followed by PARIDHISELVAN who presented  ‘A Study on the Impact of Poverty on Children with Relation to Crime in India.’ This was followed by presentation by PREETHI on ‘A STUDY ON RIGHT OF CHILDREN AGAINST TRAFFICKING FOR SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN INDIA.’ This was followed by R KALAIVANI who presented her topic ‘A STUDY ON RIGHTS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN INDIA.’ The session was interesting and queries were posed by the audience. The session was moderated by Ms. Aysha Fida. 

Another round of presentations were moderated by Ms. Sornalakshmi in which students presented the topics related to impact of judicial separation on children, the doctrine of parents patriarch and protection of children post adoption, child abuse and neglect, education provided to children with dyslexia and legality of home schooling. The presenters mainly focussed on the current scenarios relevant to the above mentioned topics. The most sensitive phase of this webinar happened to  be the lack of care and protection and  abuses faced by the children that paved the way for these children turning into neglected juveniles. Students also delivered their findings and suggestions related to appropriate legislations that strengthened their research. The highlight of this webinar was that of education provided to children with dyslexia and legalization of home schooling and it's impacts.

The second session of the conference was held between 12 noon and 1:00 pm. The speaker of session was Dr. Sarita Sankaran, trained social worker and child rights specialist. She spoke about psycholologial aspects of child rights wherein she advocated the need for shift from a rights-based approach to a need-based approach. Dr. Sarita discussed the mental and emotional barriers in children who are victims of abuse and exploitation. She provided an over-view on the need for affirmative action from psychological point of view.

The third session was held between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm. The session was led by Dr. Asha Bajpai, Professor and Dean (Rtd), School for Law, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The speaker of the session explained about the rights of mentally ill children and shared her experience of working with these children. Dr. Asha Bajpai appeared as an amicus curie in a su moto case of the high court of Mumbai concerning children. She shared her views for protection of such children and reintegrating them into the society. The speaker also shared her views on the trauma and abuse which the children of sex workers are subject to.

The closing session was delivered by Dr. George Richards, Associate professor, Endinboro University, University of Pennsylvania between 4:30 pm  and 5:30 pm. The speaker spoke on victimization of children and child refugees. He highlighted that community violence often excludes the different forms of child maltreatment that includes neglect and emotional abuse wherein children suffer at the hands of caretakers. The speaker also enumerated that  the distinctive forms of child victimization are routinely neglected in research. Dr. George Richards threw light on the effects of war on children and the forms of abuse that child refugees are subject to.

The afternoon session included presentations by students on their respective research topics. 

Shanmathi R presented her paper on the title Protecting Future Rights of Future Citizens: An analysis on the problem of Child Labour and gave a brief insight on the loopholes in the present labour legislations and suggested measures to completely curb the practice of Child Labour in India by amending statues with a reformative approach. Shruthi Taarana presented her paper on the title ‘A Study on Child Adoption in India’ through which she explained in detail about the need for uniformity in adoption laws to all religions. Shanthini P made a wonderful presentation on her research titled ‘Psychological Problems faced by school children’ through which she suggested measures for proper implementation of statutes which will eventually lead to the betterment of the present situation. Sri Durgapriya K G presented a her paper on the title ‘A study on prevalence of Bonded Labour amongst Children and its Abolition’ where she emphasised the need for the leaders of a society to work together in order to stop child exploitations. Soniya P presented her paper ‘A study on Children at work – a form of modern slavery in India’ where she discussed the necessity of fund allocation to educate and nurture poor children. Lastly Sajithra M dealt with her research on the topic, ‘A study on Analysis of implementing Juvenile Justice Act’ in which she criticized that reducing the age from 18 to 16 will not hold good for society. The session was quite interactive as students came up with innovative ways to tackle the current system of oppression, suppression and depression among the children of the society. The session was moderated by Dr. Asha Sundaram and Ms. Aswathy Prakash G.

The last session of paper presentations included 80 participants. Dr. Asha Sundaram, Principal, Saveetha School of Law, started the session with an inaugural speech on child rights in India. This was followed by  student presentations, covering kidnapping and abduction, , causes and Prevention of juvenile delinquency, violent music on children affecting the children’s behaviour towards others, child sexual abuse and Aasifa’s case were discussed in detail. All the presentations were followed by questions put forth by participants, which made the whole session interactive, interesting and thought provoking. The session was moderated by Ms. Priyadharshini.