School of Legal Studies

COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Master of Laws (LL.M)

Assignment

NAME: visakh v sugatHan

REGISTER NUMBER: 22020683
Semester: 2ND LL.M
Subject: CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION.
Topic: SOS VISIT REPORT.
Date of submission: 21/06/2023
Assessed by:
VISAKH V SUGATHAN

INDEX

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 SL.No TOPIC PAGE No.

1 INTRODUCTION 3

2 PROTECTION OF CHILDREN RIGHTS 3

3 CONSTITUTION OF INDIA AND CHILD PROTECTION 5

4 LIST OF CHILD PROTECTION LAWS IN INDIA 5

5 STATUS OF CHILD PROTECTION IN INDIA 7

6 SOS VILLAGES IN INDIA 7

7 FOUNDER OF SOS 8

8 FEATURES OF SOS 9

9 PURPOSE OF OUR VISIT 10

10 SOS VILLAGE ALUVA 11

11 REPORT OF VISIT 12

12 CONCLUSION 16

13 CERTIFICATE 17

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“We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political
democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of its social democracy.”

INTRODUCTION
The SOS Children’s Village in Cochin was established in the year 1990. Under its
Family Based Care Programs, the village nurtures over 150 children, who are
looked after by loving SOS Mothers and SOS Aunts. SOS children village Cochin
completed its 32 years of service milestone in 2023.
The village witnesses a variety of programmes that are organised for children,
mothers and other co-workers. Festivals of national and international importance
are celebrated enthusiastically in the town, where everyone gathers together and
enjoys merrymaking. To promote team spirit, excursions and picnics are organised
for children and their family members; this serves as a time for children to bond
well with their family members.
As a part of the Clinical Legal Education course, I had the opportunity to visit SOS,
Children’s Village in Aluva, Ernakulam, to understand the intricacies of child
protection, child welfare, and development.

Protection of child rights

India has a reasonably comprehensive policy and legal framework addressing
rights and protection for children, providing opportunities to ensure that all
children have equal access to quality protection services. The core child protection
legislation for children is enshrined in four primary laws:
1. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act (2000, amended in 2015);
2. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006);
3. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (2012),
4. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1986, amended in
2016).
Over the past five years, significant efforts have been undertaken to establish
fast-track courts to address cybercrime against women and children. The

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Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill was revised in 2019 to include
harsher penalties for sexual offences against children.
In India, violence against children is pervasive and painful for millions of kids from
all socioeconomic backgrounds. In India, early marriage, domestic violence, sexual
assault, domestic and school violence, trafficking, cyber violence, child labour, and
bullying affect girls and boys. Children who experience any friendly abuse or
exploitation have lifetime repercussions.
Although there is a lack of precise data on violence, abuse, and exploitation,
overall public awareness of child abuse, particularly sexual abuse, is growing.
Several incidents that may have gone unreported are now being recorded.

Anger and shock at child sexual abuse and violence against children are
insufficient. We all need to come together to #ENDviolence against children.

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA AND CHILD PROTECTION

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The Constitution of India, which was enacted on 26th January 1950, guarantees
children’s rights. Article 21-A guarantees the right to free and compulsory
elementary education for all children aged 6-14 years. Article 24 (a) secures the
right to be protected from hazardous employment until 14 years. Further, children
have equal rights as all other adult citizens of India. Few among them are suitable
for equality (Article 14), the right to personal liberty and the process of law
(Article 21), the freedom to be protected from being trafficked and forced into
bonded labour (Article 23) etc. Child protection laws in India are framed in line
with constitutional provisions for safeguarding child rights.
More than 250 statutes in India, passed by the Union and State Governments,
deal with children. In addition to these child protection laws, we have several
criminal laws which give protection to children. These statutes include the Indian
Penal Code of 1860, the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 and the Criminal Procedure
Code of 1973.

List of child protection laws

Some of the laws passed by the Union Government include the following:

I. Children Pledging of Labour Act, 1933

This Act prohibits the pledging of the labour of children.

II. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1987

This Act seeks to stop trafficking in young persons, both boys and Girls.

III. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986

This Act prohibits children’s engagement in certain kinds of employment and
regulates children’s work conditions in certain other employments.

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IV. Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
This Act follows the fundamental premise that (a) to make a child go through
marriage is an offence, and (b) a child or minor is a person up to 18 years of age in
the case of girls and 21 years in the case of boys.

V. Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009

Right to education was only the provision in the Directive Principles of State Policy,
which had ten years within which the State had to fulfil the mandate to provide
free and compulsory education. We now have the Right to Education under
fundamental rights, making it justifiable under Article 21a. The Right to Education
Act, 2009, also known as RTE Act, describes modalities of the importance of free
and compulsory education for children aged between 6-14 years in India.

VI. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was enacted to
address sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of minors. The Act holds that a child
is any person below the age of 18 years. The Act defines different forms of sexual
abuse. The Act makes provisions for creating a child-friendly atmosphere through
all stages of the judicial process and avoiding re-victimisation.
The Act gives vital importance to the best interest of the child. It thus incorporates
child-friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording evidence, investigations,
speedy trials of offences and in-camera trials without revealing the child’s identity
through designated special courts. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act, 2015: Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act came
into effect on 15th January 2016. It aims at ensuring proper care, development,
and social reintegration of children in difficult circumstances by adopting a child-
friendly approach. The Act classifies the term “child” into two categories: ‘child in
conflict with law’, and ‘child in need of care and protection’. This Act has
provisions to protect children from any form of punishment. The law against child
beating is one such law under this provision.

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STATUS OF CHILD PROTECTION IN INDIA
While the World has made significant progress in education, nutrition and child
health in the past decade, India has been ranked 112 in the Child Development
Index. Despite the child protection act, we witness various child rights violations,
including the denial and inability to access the right to food, education, health and
rights against exploitation. While our Constitution and various Union and State
laws have provided the legal framework that allows us to ensure that all children
have a safe and nurturing context to enjoy their childhood, still vast sections of
children remain deprived of their rights.
What is Needed to Promote Child Protection?
While the constitutional and judicial framework has ensured legal and political
rights, much more must be done to ensure social and economic rights to
vulnerable communities and ensure that all children’s rights are secured. Legal
reform alone could not bring change in the rights of children. As Dr B R Ambedkar
says, “We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political
democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of its social democracy.”
Despite these efforts, children are the most vulnerable sections in the society. So a
multifaceted approach is the need of the hour. Not only the governments but all
human beings also have the responsibility to protect the interests of the children.
Governments have their limitations and restrictions. In that circumstances, public-
spirited persons and institutions can play an essential role in the promotion of the
interests of the children.

SOS Children Villages in India

SOS Villages is an independent, non-governmental and non-profit organisation working
to develop parentless children, women and children from vulnerable families. Founded
in 1949 in Austria, SOS Children’s Villages began operations in India in 1964. For over
50 years, they have reached out to 25,000 children through their 32 SOS Children’s
Villages and 32 community projects in India. SOS Children’s Villages of India was
established in 1964 at Faridabad near Delhi. SOS India has worked with children,
communities, disaster strikes, and disaster-prone areas, giving hope to weary

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communities and families. SOS India is the largest operation within the SOS
International Federation of 134 countries.
The largest nonprofit in the world, SOS Children's Villages, works to provide
children and teenagers who lack parental care or are at risk of losing it with the
love, relationships, and support they need to develop into their strongest selves.
They create families for orphans and vulnerable children, support them in making
their futures, and participate in the growth of their local communities. No of their
history, experiences, culture, heritage, religion, sexual orientation, political
affiliation, gender, disability, or place of origin, they are here for children and
young people.
SOS Children's Villages is a private, non-profit, non-governmental organisation
with its main office in Austria. The group supports children's interests and rights
globally and offers humanitarian and developmental aid to those in need. SOS
Children's Villages is currently operating in 135 nations and territories. Children
without proper parental care can find alternative families at SOS Children's
Villages. A full-time parent who is the children's parent and resides with them in
the home are children of all ages and backgrounds. This parent is typically a
woman. An average SOS Village consists of 6 to 15 homes. In addition to the
Villages, the organisation also manages a wide range of initiatives and resources
to assist socially excluded and low-income families through its subsidised primary
and secondary schools.
An average SOS Village consists of 6 to 15 homes. In addition to the Villages, the
organisation manages a wide range of initiatives and facilities, including subsidised
kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, youth facilities, social and medical
centres, and emergency response relief operations to aid socially disadvantaged
and low-income families.

At SOS Children’s Villages of India, they committed to the welfare of parentless and
abandoned children and strengthening families and communities as a preventive
measure in the fight against abandonment and social neglect.
Founder of SOS

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Founded by Hermann Gmeiner, SOS Children’s Villages is the world’s largest
organisation focused on ensuring that children and young people without
parental care or at risk of losing it grow up with the care, relationships, and
support they need to become their strongest selves. The organisation provides
humanitarian and developmental assistance to needy children, protecting their
interests and rights worldwide.
Today, SOS Children's Villages is active in 135 countries and territories worldwide.
SOS Children's Villages has been present in India since 1964 and has continued to
grow.
The organisation’s work is based on the following four pillars:
1. The Mother: Every child has a caring parent.
2. Brothers and Sisters: Every child has family ties and grows up with a sense of
responsibility and a spirit of sharing.
3. The House: A place where the child feels secure and has a sense of belonging.
4. The Village: A community surrounding the child so every child has familial roots.
One of the unique features of SOS Children’s Villages is the home-like environment and
the long-term support given to every child under our care up to the age of 24.

FEATURES OF SOS VILLAGE

 FAMILY BASED CARE (FBC):
A curative programme of SOS Children’s Villages of India that reaches out to over
6500 girls and boys in 32 Children across India. Each Village has 12-15 Family
Homes, with every home consisting of 8 children on average, along with an SOS
Mother. Holistic development, including education, nutrition, health and
psychological development, is managed until children are settled.
 FAMILY STRENGTHENING PROGRAMME (FSP):
FSP is a preventive community intervention programme that covers over 17000
children at 32 locations across India. Designed to prevent children from losing
parental care or being abandoned, this programme runs in slums & rural areas
within a 30 km radius of an SOS Children’s Village. The beneficiaries of this
program are children of the most vulnerable lot, i.e. children of widows, single
women, and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. Spanning 3 to 5 years, the
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programme aims to enable families to move out of the vicious cycle of poverty
towards greater dignity and self-reliance by ensuring children’s education and the
income-generating capacity development of the caregivers.
 UNIQUE
SOS families are unique in alternative care because of every child’s long-term
relationship with their SOS Brothers and Sisters and the SOS Mother. Additionally,
together with partners from the community, the organisation provides health care
and education to children and families if these services are not readily available.
SOS Children’s Villages of India also operates kindergartens, day-care centres,
schools and vocational training centres and also runs medical centres with an
emphasis on specialised child care and women empowerment.
 ADVOCACY
Finally, through advocacy, sos aims to improve the overall framework conditions
for children who have been orphaned or are at risk of losing parental care. We
work in the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and
promote these rights through our flagship programs. Successful advocacy based
on our experience as a practitioner brings about changes in policies and practices
that weaken children’s rights and leads to sustainable changes to improve the
situation for children and families everywhere.

PURPOSE OF MY VISIT
1. To understand the functioning of the institution as a whole.
2. To understand how the institution as such contributes towards child
protection, welfare, and overall development.
3. To identify the various measures the institution took to protect and promote
Children’s rights.
4. To understand the modus operandi of SOS Children’s Villages.
5. To know how NGOs like SOS Children’s Villages work for the protection and
promotion of children’s interests.
6. To identify the various measures the institution took to protect and promote
children’s rights in consonance with Juvenile Justice Act 2015

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7. The Main reason and foremost reason is that;
There is no doubt that law schools have an inevitable duty to spread legal
awareness in society. We can see well-established legal aid clinics in law schools,
which can make invaluable contributions to the community.
As a well-established law school, the School of legal studies CUSAT has a sincerely
working Legal Aid clinic. As an LLM Student in this prestigious institution, I also
have to take part in the activities of the legal aid clinic.

SOS VILLAGE, ALUVA

The SOS Children’s Village in Aluva was established in the year 1990. It seeks to
identify children who need support via their child welfare & development
programs.

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Under its Family Based Care Programme, the village nurtures over 150 children,
who are looked after by loving SOS Mothers and SOS Aunts.

REPORT OF VISIT
We reached the SOS village at Edathala near Aluva around 10.00 AM. We were
asked to enter our name and signature in the visitor’s register. Then we met an
official of SOS Children’s Village Aluva; her name was Neena. Then we proceed to
an assembling point near a huge mango tree. Then Madam asked us to introduce
ourselves. After her introduction, she gave us a short history of SOS Children
Villages. He talked about Hermann Gmeiner and what prompted him to start this
organisation to protect the children. We got a comprehensive picture and short
history of the SOS Children’s villages.
She then began to outline the SOS Children's Village and Aluva's operations and
activities. Fifteen families live in the village. There will be a mother in each family.
She resides there with the family's 5 to 8 kids. She must provide for her family's
children like any other mother would. When Neena’s mam talked about the
mothers, she expressed grave concern over their choosing. She said to worry that
choosing a good mother from the applicants would be difficult. Many mothers are
forced to quit their jobs caring for children since it takes specific abilities.
Rehabilitation of such children is essential because most are orphans, and some
are POCSO victims.
As a result, the SOS itself has established specific guidelines and requirements.
For the mothers, the man described the following standards and requirements.
1. Age: Between 23-40 years;
2. Marital status: Single, widowed, separated or divorced, must not have
children of their own;
3. Education: At least nine years of compulsory education;
4. Training: 2 years of intense training, including three months of theoretical
classes on
parenting, child psychology, housekeeping, counselling, and conflict

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 resolution,
followed by 21 months of practical training.

SOS Aluva, Village has total 17 houses. Of these 17 houses, 15 are reserved for
long-term children, and their mothers.1 is for short-term students. The last one is
for the POCSO Victims under 12 years of age. In addition, the village also has
youth houses, Youth Houses, wherein boys aged between 14-18 are taken care of.
Youth Houses are managed by persons known as “Fathers”.
She reiterated several times during her interaction with us about the JJ act. From
her face, we could identify how legislation like JJ Act has increased the confidence
of NGOs like SOS Villages, which protect children. The childhood concept came
after the formation of SOS Village in India. But, the idea of child care and child
welfare in India was strengthened by an amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care
and Protection of Children) Act in 2015.

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Then she spoke about the religious activities of the children in the SOS. She said
that they respect the religious identity of every child. They are not prescribing any
specific religion for the children. Children can follow any religion they like. She
also said that they consider the children's religious backgrounds when they allow
them to be a family. Then she spoke about the clothes of the children in SOS.
There is no specific uniform for SOS children. They can wear what they like. SOS
purchases clothes for them. A Child and their mother go to the shop to buy
clothes as an ordinary mother and her child goes. Usually, a child gets clothes on
his birthday and during the festive days like Onam, Christmas etc. Then she
described the education of the child. They send children either to Government
schools or Private schools.
SOS bear the whole education of the child till 24 years. After 24, the child has to
find meaning in life. She also mentioned the highly successful and educated
persons who were the inmates of the SOS Aluva. She spoke about a girl who was
an alumnus of SLS CUSAT, currently working as the head of the department in a
national law school. She said about the various other children of the SOS who
reached a top-rank posts in various fields. Then she spoke about the Multiple
Intelligence Test (MIMN), a mechanism the SOS uses to ascertain the child’s
interests and aptitude for graduate studies/higher education purposes.
Then she talked about the SOS villages' funding sources. We inquired as to
whether or not the SOS receives aid from the government. She responded that
SOS gets funding from both the government and billionaires. One of the biggest
problems facing all NGOs, including SOS, is the need for suitable financing
sources. She claimed they handled the marriage of the children modestly
regarding the ceremony. Mam questioned whether we had any doubts during the
last session. We asked various people how things operated, where to find
sufficient funding, etc. She calmly responded to each query. She was following the
interactive session.
Then, We had the chance to have a brief tour of the SOS facilities following the
interactive session. We could view the various homes, how they live, work, etc.
Finally, we were able to communicate with the kids at the SOS. We enquired
about their involvement with SOS. Then we had the chance to engage in some
enjoyable games with them.

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CONCLUSION
The healthy development of children is crucial to the future well-being of any
society. Because they are still developing, children are especially vulnerable –
more so than adults – to poor living conditions such as poverty, inadequate health
care, nutrition, safe water, housing and environmental pollution. The effects of
disease, malnutrition and poverty threaten the future of children and the end of
the societies in which they live.
The principle of children’s particular interests is also tied to the necessity to
protect children.
This principle involves two important rules ;

1) All the decisions regarding children have to be taken in the exclusive interest
of each child to ensure their immediate and future healthy being.

2) All the decisions and acts must guarantee the child’s rights. The particular
interest of children is subordinated to the protection of the child.

THE NEED TO ESTABLISH A PROTECTIVE BACKGROUND FOR CHILDREN

First, child protection must be ensured by the parents and the surrounding
community, then by the states.
Of course, the well-being of each child can not be obtained in the same way. Each
child is a unique human with specific needs. Also, their characteristics (age,
gender, health, disability or not, present or absent parents, background, etc.) will
allow identification of their needs to bring to fruition their well-being.
Nevertheless, these individual characteristics must lead to discrimination towards
children.

The role of the state for child protection.

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The states must establish a protection system to ensure the child’s healthy being
and particular interests.
An adequate system includes laws, politics, procedures and practices intended to
prevent and fight against various problems of mistreatment, violence and
discrimination that can damage a child’s well-being.
To set up an effective protection system, the States must first ratify the primary
principal international standards of protecting children’s rights and then
implement them in their legislation. They must also ensure care to specific child
profiles (disabled, refugees…)and provide satisfactory and lasting solutions.
In addition, the States must fight against the customary practices which lead to
and encourage discrimination and mistreatment towards children.

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 CERTIFICATE INSERTION

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