Class Group: General (Semester)

Course Code: BHUM107L

Slot:C2+TC2
Faculty: Dr. Sreya Sen, SSL

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIETY

MODULE 4: CHILDREN’S RIGHTS (PART 3)
Dr. Sreya Sen
Assistant Professor
School of Social Sciences and Languages
Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT),
Tamil Nadu – 632014
Email: sreya.sen@vit.ac.in

1
 INTRODUCTION
Considerable progress has been made towards the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) since 2015. Children are in better health and stay in education for
longer, and the under-5 mortality rate fell to 39 deaths per 1,000 live births in
2017, a 6.7% decrease from 2015. However, progress also remains slow.
Conflicts, environmental, financial, health and humanitarian crises place
children at risk of multiple rights violations, violence, marginalization, and
discrimination. More than half of children and adolescents do not meet minimum
literacy and numeracy standards, and an estimated 250 million children under 5 in
low- and middle-income countries may not reach developmental potential.
Furthermore, children are more than twice as likely as adults to live in poverty.
Approximately 663 million live in “multi-dimensionally poor” households, lacking
necessities such as nutrition or clean water. 385 million are estimated to live in
extreme poverty, surviving on less than USD$1.90 a day. Overall, 945 million
children live in countries where the SDGs remain out of reach.
Children are neither the property of their parents nor are they helpless objects of
charity. They are human beings and are the subject of their own rights.
Children are individuals.
Children must rely on adults for the nurture and guidance they need to grow
towards independence. Such nurture is ideally found from adults in children's
families, but when primary adult caregivers cannot meet children's needs, it is up
to the State as the primary duty bearer to find an alternative in the best interests
of the child.
Practically every area of government policy – from education to public health –
affects children to some degree. Short-sighted policymaking that fails to take
children into account has a negative impact on the future of all members of
society.
Children's views should be heard and considered in the political process
Children generally do not vote and do not traditionally take part in political
processes. Without special attention to the opinions of children – as expressed
at home and in schools, in local communities and even in governments –
children's views go unheard on the many important issues that affect them now
or will affect them in the future.
Many changes in society are having a disproportionate, and often
negative, impact on children
Transformation of the family structure, globalization, climate change,
digitalization, mass migration, shifting employment patterns and a shrinking
social welfare net in many countries all have strong impacts on children. The
impact of these changes can be particularly devastating in situations of armed
conflict and other emergencies.
THE RIGHT TO NUTRITION
Nutritional imbalances, the right to healthy food and diet – The indicators stunting,
wasting, overweight and underweight are used to measure nutritional imbalance;
such imbalance results in either under-nutrition (assessed from stunting, wasting
and underweight) or overweight.
Child growth is internationally recognized as an important indicator of nutritional
status and health in populations. The percentage of children with a low height-for-
age (stunting) reflects the cumulative effects of under-nutrition and infections since
birth, and even before birth. This measure can therefore be interpreted as an
indication of poor environmental conditions or long-term restriction of a child's
growth potential. The percentage of children who have low weight-for-age
(underweight) can reflect wasting (i.e. low weight-for-height), indicating acute
weight loss or stunting, or both. Thus, underweight is a composite indicator that
may be difficult to interpret.
NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND
1. Health and nutrition
2. Child labour
3. Right to Education
4. Ending Violence, Exploitation and Abuse
5. Water, sanitation and hygiene
6. Critical Child Care infrastructure in hospitals for diseases induced by
pollution, virus
7. Can adoption of children be considered an important way forward?
 REFLECTION SPOT

Why do study of various populations and their human rights become crucial in
Sustainability and Society course?