A Study How Cry Uses Media to Advocate Child Rights

8/6/2019 A Study How Cry Uses Media to Advocate Child Rights

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PROJECT REPORT

TOPIC: A STUDY HOW CRY USES

MEDIA TO ADVOCATE CHILD RIGHTS

Presented

by:Moonmoon Dey Sarkar(2010083)

Bhanu Bhandari(2010039)

Prem Singh Bilwal(2010095)

Saurav Sehgal(2010121)


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INTRODUCTION

Who Is A Child?

According to international law, a child means every human

being below the age of 18 years. This is a universally accepted

definition of a child and comes from the United Nations

Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), an international

legal instrument accepted and ratified by most countries. India

has always recognised the category of persons below the age

of 18 years as distinct legal entity. That is precisely why peoplecan vote or get a driving license or enter into legal contracts

only when they attain the age of 18 years. Marriage of a girl

below the age of 18 years and a boy below 21 years is

restrained under the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929.

Moreover, after ratifying the UNCRC in 1992, India changed its

law on juvenile justice to ensure that every person below the

age of 18 years, who is in need of care and protection, is

entitled to receive it from the State.

What makes a person a child is the persons age.

Even if a person under the age of 18 years is married

and has children of her/his own, she/he is recognised as

a child according to international standards.


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What Are Child Rights?

Child Rights are fundamental freedoms and the inherent rightsof all human beings below the age of 18. These rights apply toevery child, irrespective of the child's, parent's / legalguardian's race, colour, sex, creed or other status.

The essential message is equality of opportunity. Girls should

be given the same opportunities as boys. ALL children shouldhave the same rights and should be given the sameopportunity to enjoy an adequate standard of living.

Why are child rights important?

Children are innocent, trusting and full of hope. Their childhoodshould be happy and loving. Their lives should maturegradually, as they gain new experiences. But for many

children, the reality of childhood is altogether different. 2million Indian babies will die before they celebrate their firstbirthday. More girl children will be killed at birth than in anyprevious year. At least 35 million children aged 6 14 years (ifyou believe the official statistics) will not be in school. 17million children in India work.

Right through history, children have been abused andexploited. They suffer from hunger and homelessness; work in

harmful conditions, high infant mortality, deficient health careand limited opportunities for basic education. A child need notlive such a life. Childhood can and must be preserved. Childrenhave the right to survive, develop, be protected and participatein decisions that impact their lives.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines basicrights of children covering multiple needs and issues.India endorsed it on December 11, 1992. The right toEducation: 50% of Indian children aged 6-18 do not go toschool


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Dropout rates increase alarmingly in class III to V, its 50% forboys, 58% for girls.

The right to Expression: Every child has a right to expresshimself freely in whichever way he likes. Majority of childrenhowever are exploited by their elders and not allowed toexpress.

The right to Information: Every child has a right to know hisbasic rights and his position in the society. High incidence ofilliteracy and ignorance among the deprived and

underprivileged children prevents them from having access toinformation about them and their society.

The right to Nutrition: More than 50% of India's children aremalnourished. While one in every five adolescent boys ismalnourished, one in every two girls in India is undernourished.

The right to Health & Care: 58% of India's children belowthe age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And 24% of thesechildren do not receive any form of vaccination. Over 60% ofchildren in India are anemic. 95 in every 1000 children born inIndia, do not see their fifth birthday. 70 in every 1000 childrenborn in India, do not see their first birthday.

The right to protection from Abuse: There areapproximately 2 million child commercial sex workers between

the age of 5 and 15 years and about 3.3 million between 15and 18 years. They form 40% of the total population ofcommercial sex workers in India. 500,000 children are forcedinto this trade every year.

The right to protection from Exploitation: 17 millionchildren in India work as per official estimates. A study found

that children were sent to work by compulsion and not bychoice, mostly by parents, but with recruiter playing a crucial


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role in influencing decision. When working outside the family,children put in an average of 21 hours of labour per week. Poorand bonded families often "sell" their children to contractorswho promise lucrative jobs in the cities and the children end up

being employed in brothels, hotels and domestic work. Manyrun away and find a life on the streets.

The right to protection from Neglect: Every child has aright to lead a well protected and secure life away fromneglect. However, children working under exploitative andinhuman conditions get neglected badly.

The right to Development: Every child has the right todevelopment that lets the child explore her/his full potential.Unfavourable living conditions of underprivileged childrenprevents them from growing in a free and uninhibited way.

The right to Recreation: Every child has a right to spendsome time on recreational pursuits like sports, entertainment

and hobbies to explore and develop. Majority of poor childrenin India do not get time to spend on recreational activities.

The right to Name & Nationality: Every child has a right toidentify himself with a nation. A vast majority ofunderprivileged children in India are treated like commoditiesand exported to other countries as labour or prostitutes.

The right to Survival: Of the 12 million girls born in India, 3million do not see their fifteenth birthday, and a million of themare unable to survive even their first birthday. Every sixth girlchild's death is due to gender discrimination.


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Child Rights in India: An Introduction

India is a party to the UN declaration on the Rights of the Child1959. Accordingly, it adopted a National Policy on Children in1974. The policy reaffirmed the constitutional provisions foradequate services to children, both before and after birth andthrough the period of growth to ensure their full physical,mental and social development.Accordingly, the government is taking action to review thenational and state legislation and bring it in line with theprovisions of the Convention. It has also developed appropriatemonitoring procedures to assess progress in implementing theConvention-involving various stake holders in the society.India is also a signatory to the World Declaration on theSurvival, Protection and Development of Children. In pursuanceof the commitment made at the World Summit, theDepartment of Women and Child Development under theMinistry of Human Resource Development has formulated a

National Plan of Action for Children. Most of therecommendations of the World Summit Action Plan arereflected in India's National Plan of Action- keeping in mind theneeds, rights and aspirations of 300 million children in thecountry.

The priority areas in the Plan are health, nutrition, education,water, sanitation and environment. The Plan gives specialconsideration to children in difficult circumstances and aims atproviding a framework, for actualization of the objectives of the

Convention in the Indian context.


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Status of Children in India:

A UNICEF report on the state of the worlds children under thetitle Childhood Under Threat , speaking about India, statesthat millions of Indian children are equally deprived of theirrights to survival, health, nutrition, education and safe drinkingwater. It is reported that 63 per cent of them go to bed hungryand 53 per cent suffer from chronic malnutrition.

The report says that 147 million children live in kuchchahouses, 77 million do not use drinking water from a tap, 85

million are not being immunized, 27 million are severelyunderweight and 33 million have never been to school. Itestimates that 72 million children in India between five and 14years do not have access to basic education. A girl child is theworst victim as she is often neglected and is discriminatedagainst because of the preference for a boy child.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

In order to ensure child rights practices and in response to

Indias commitment to UN declaration to this effect, thegovernment of India set up a National Commission forProtection of Child Rights.

The Commission is a statutory body notified under an Act of theParliament on December 29, 2006. Besides the chairperson, itwill have six members from the fields of child health,education, childcare and development, juvenile justice, childrenwith disabilities, elimination of child labour, child psychology or

sociology and laws relating to children.The Commission has the power to inquire into complaints andtake suo motu notice of matters relating to deprivation ofchild's rights and non-implementation of laws providing forprotection and development of children among other things.Aimed at examining and reviewing the safeguards provided bythe law to protect child rights, the Commission will recommendmeasures for their effective implementation. It will suggestamendments, if needed, and look into complaints or take suo

motu notice of cases of violation of the constitutional and legalrights of children.


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The Commission is to ensure proper enforcement of child rightsand effective implementation of laws and programmes relatingto children- enquiring into complaints and take suomotu cognizance of matters relating to deprivation of child

rights; non-implementation of laws providing for protection anddevelopment of children and non-compliance of policydecisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at their welfare andannouncing relief for children and issuing remedial measures tothe state governments.

What is media advocacy?

Media advocacy is the process of disseminating policy-related

information through the communications media, especially

where the aim is to effect action, a change of policy, or to alter

the public's view of issues. While a strict definition of "media"

advocacy is limited to the strategic use of mass media in

regard to a policy initiative, public health views the term more

broadly. Almost identical techniques are often used toencourage people to change health behaviours as those

directed towards changing policy; and media advocacy may be

a single element of a specific campaign as well as an ongoing

process. Media advocacy is practiced at all levels, from national

to community based campaigns. The ultimate targets of most

media advocacy are politicians and other decision makers.

Media advocacy activities may be proactive and initiated bypublic health workers, or they may be reactive. Reactive media


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advocacy involves taking action when required, especially

when opponents of health policy actively seek to mislead,

change the agenda, or divert attention to other issues.

Media advocacy may be used for an ongoing campaign,perhaps to ensure that the need for a new health screening

service is kept on the political agenda. Similarly, a health

organization may use media advocacy over a short periodto

launch a campaign to increase the uptake of a new screening

service, for example, or to publicize a new report on health

inequalities.

An example of media advocacy with several different interim

goals is an ongoing campaign against tobacco. Certain

information is directed towards politicians and other opinion

leaders whose support is needed for anti tobacco measures,

while different but related information is aimed at current or

potential smokers. While the first is aimed at changing policy,

the second seeks a behaviour change. Both, however, share

the overall goal of reducing tobacco-induced disease. In

addition, an ongoing media advocacy program on tobacco will

also involve monitoring the media for misleading information

put out by those with vested interests in selling tobacco, and

offering a prompt rebuttal.

Media advocacy is opportunistic. It exploits opportunities to use

the media to convey information to large numbers of people,

including special target groups. Those who work in media

advocacy have a good understanding of the way the press and

broadcasting organizations work; and they maintain goodrelationships with journalists, so as to be readily accessible to

supply information and comment, and work with suitable

experts who can give interviews and assist journalists

whenever necessary.

It is important to differentiate between media advocacy, an

essential part of what is often termed "public information"

work, and paid media campaigns, such as television spots orinformational advertisements in newspapers, which are a


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common feature of "public education" programs. In contrast to

the opportunistic and ongoing nature of media advocacy, paid

media campaigns involve a more programmed delivery of

education-oriented information, based on prior research, to

specific target audiences. A public-education program may

sometimes be supported by media advocacy, and vice-versa,

but more often media advocacy is practiced on its own.

How Media Advocacy Works?

Media advocacy for public health assumes that public health

advocates and journalists have something to offer each other,

that there is a convenient symbiosis between their professions.

Those on the health side have potential stories, and they want

to get coverage for them as part of a campaign to bring about

change, and journalists want new stories to fill time or editorial

(i.e., no advertising) space in their media. Journalists often rely

on specialists to help them gather, analyze, and comment on

the material they use, and sometimes to suggest stories in the

first place. Public health advocates either are such specialists,

or they can provide access to them. They also provide ideas for

new stories, new angles on old topics, and substantive

information to help the journalist to produce an article or story.

Furthermore, health is a popular topic. Most people have a

personal interest in anything affecting what is, as many see it,

their most cherished gifttheir health. Public health leaders,

therefore, by the very nature of their subject, have a head start

when competing for the attention of journalists and for space in

their media.

Anyone can do media advocacyfrom an individual or

members of a small, community-based health organization to

the largest state or federal government health agency. Few

tools are needed other than a telephone and, preferably,

personal computing equipment. In larger organizations, a press

and public affairs department will usually carry out much of the

work, involving others as required. In a smaller organizationthe functions may be part of an information officer's duties, or,


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in a very small unit, they may be performed by one person,

perhaps the chief executive.

Among the most common activities of media advocacy are the

following:

Monitoring media for coverage of relevant topics; this

service is often contracted to specialist agencies, or may

be achieved via Internet-based services.

Identifying and disseminating interesting news stories that

support the issue.

Responding to journalists' inquiries and information

requests.

Supplying access to experts who can assist journalists.

Preparing press releases and background papers.

Arranging press conferences.

Planning a media diary, including identification of special

dates and opportunities.

Responding to misleading or erroneous items in the

media.

Listing and training individuals to act as experts and

spokespersons on particular health issues.

Searching for new angles on existing stories, and new

spokespersons and organizations to back and to speak

publicly for the policya wide variety of professionals and

organizations may be recruited to support public health

policy.

To maximize the effectiveness of media advocacy, journalists

should be treated with a certain priority; and everyone who can

help with a story, such as the chief executive, key experts, and

other contacts should observe this policy. It is easier to contact

journalists than many other professionalsmost are dependent


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on keeping in touch with their sources and other key contacts,

so they tend to be readily accessible.

CRY & CHILD RIGHT ADVOCACY


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Imagine pulling out your child from school just because you are

unable to find a job that pays enough to support your family.

Imagine your daughter could not attend school just because it

has no toilets.

Imagine entire generations of your family being born into

bonded labour, with no hope of breaking free.

Imagine a country. Call it India, if you will, where 10,000

Indians died from entirely preventable causes.

Outrageous? Yet 10,000 children die every single day in India.

More than in any tsunami, flood, earthquake, famine or war.

Half of India's children are deprived of their fundamental right

to education every day. Two million Indian babies die each yearbefore they celebrate their first birthday. Millions of India's

children go to bed each night hungry, hopeless and angry. We

as a nation seem quite content to tolerate this violation of their

constitutional rights. It is because of this reality that CRY - Child

Rights and You, exists today - to amplify the voice of children.

Following are the excerpts from the CRY website:

CRY, we do not believe in charity. Nor do we run schools,orphanages or dispensaries. Instead we partner grassroots-

level NGOs working with children, their parents and

communities. 30 years of working with and for children have

taught us that resources have little to do with it. In over 6700

villages and slums across 18 States, we have witnessed

transformational change happening. All it takes is communities

becoming aware of their rights and coming together to ensure

them. Not just by enrolling children in schools butby addressing the root causes that keep them hungry,

illiterate, exploited and abused. Causes like gender, caste,

livelihoods and displacement.

None of these micro-miracles would have been possible

without people like you coming together from all walks of

life who believe in the rights of children. Over 1,500,000

children across India have opportunities they could not dreamof because you chose to make them happen. The grim reality,


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MEDIA ADVOCACY OF CHILD RIG HTS BY

CRY.Here are some of the projects that cry undertook & used media

advocacy to educate the cause:

Mumbai's Radio City 91.1FM presents 'Gift a Diwali'

Unveils a 'City Smile Initiative' in association with CRY

Mumbai's Radio City 91.1FM has joined hands with CRY - Child

Rights and You to present 'Gift a Diwali - A City Smile initiative'.

Starting October 13-26, 2008, the FM station has embarked on

this unique drive which appeals to Mumbai's Radio Cityzens to

wholeheartedly contribute to gift a memorable Diwali to make

child rights a reality nationwide.

While Radio City 91.1FM is prompting Mumbaikars to step forth

to make a difference, several celebrities have come forward topledge their solidarity towards the cause. Listeners who wish to

add to Radio City's 'Gift a Diwali' drive can drop their

contributions via cheque at the Food Court at Inorbit Mall,

Malad or the Radio City office. For more details, listeners can

sms - Smile name to 57007. All proceeds to this

initiative will go to CRY for the education and development of

these children.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Rana Barua, Executive Vice-

President and National Head - Programming and Marketing,

Radio City 91.1FM said, "Diwali is one time in the year when

everybody is spending, shopping, gifting and celebrating with

those near and dear. Every year we think of how we can make

Diwali even more fantastic for our listeners. This year, we

wanted to do something different. So we flipped the concept,

so that our listeners can spread happiness by standing up for abright Diwali and life for every child in India."


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Mr. Barua added, "CRY has been doing some outstanding work

in this space and it's just perfect for us to ally with them. We're

promoting this initiative very aggressively and I'm certain that

Mumbai will support "Gift a Diwali" unconditionally and do us

all proud!"

Ms. Smita Das, General Manager, CRY said, "Everyone today is

once again waking up to the sheer power and strength of radio

which is so much more compelling especially for its reach and

emotional connect. We're delighted to work with Radio City

91.1FM for this initiative since it enjoys such great popularity

with listeners in Mumbai. I'm certain that together with Radio

City and Mumbai's citizens, this initiative will add sparkle toCRY's campaign on child rights."

A sustained focus on understanding listeners and leveraging

the synergies of music expertise and innovative programming,

allows Radio City to deliver a unique listening experience and

be an integral part of the lives of listeners. Aggressively looking

at spreading the Radio City experience across the country,

Radio City 91.1FM is committed to growing the market and

creating superlative content for discerning audiences.

About Radio City 91.1FM

Radio City 91.1FM is India's first and leading FM radio brand.

Promoted by Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL), the

private FM network has captured the hearts of millions of

listeners across 20 FM stations in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore,

Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur,

Vadodara, Surat, Sholapur, Nagpur, Sangli, Coimbatore, Vizag,Ahmednagar, Akola, Nanded and Jalgaon. Radio City 91.1FM's

fresh and vibrant outlook, 'Whatte Fun' offers a differentiated

listening experience through melodious adult contemporary

(AC) format of music to mass premium SEC AB Adult audiences

across the nation. Aggressively looking at spreading the Radio

City experience across the country, Radio City 91.1FM is

committed to growing the market and creating superlative

content for discerning audiences. Radio City 91.1 FM


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broadcasts round-the-clock using state of the art digital stereo

FM for unmatched quality in signal strength, clarity and

brilliance.

SUPPORT SHIKSHA, LEAD A CHILD TO THE PATH OFEDUCATION

Buy large packs of Tide, Ariel, Pantene, H&S, Rejoice,

Vicks VapoRub, Whisper, Gillette Mach 3 Turbo, or

Pampers, and lead a child to the path of education.

Shiksha 2005 helped supporteducation of 11,000

children in 109 villages last year.

India has the world's largest number of uneducated children,

and you can help educate that situation! Make a beginning by

participating in Shiksha - a P&G program to help children

across India achieve their right to education, in association with

India's premier child rights organization Child Rights and You

(CRY) and Sony Entertainment Television. As Shiksha entered

its second year, Mandira Bedi, Kunal Kapoor, Rahul Bose,

Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra, Siddharth, Soha Ali Khan, Sanjana

Kapoor are among Indias leading stars who have united to

appeal to consumers to support Shiksha by buying large packs

of Tide, Ariel, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Rejoice, Vicks

VapoRub , Whisper, Gillette Mach 3 Turbo or

Pampers during April, May and June, 2006 and lead a child to

the path of education. Irrespective of sales, P&G

has committed a minimum of Rs. 1 crore to Shiksha, which will

be allocated to education-focused projects.


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According to President Kalam, "Children who belong to

weaker sections of our society are undernourished, and only a

small percentage of them manage to complete satisfactory

education. We need to think specifically for them. Education is

indeed a fundamental right of every Indian child. Can we allow

the situation to continue in which millions of these children are

forced into life long poverty?" Project Shiksha is one step to

meet this need.

Shiksha ambassador Mandira Bedi said, "We have

traditionally given a lot of respect to education and the

educated. However, the state of education today in India is

abysmal - it is shocking and unacceptable that 50% of Indianchildren do not get a proper education. 58 years after

Independence, it is high time that Shiksha remains not just a

privilege for a few but the norm for every child born in this

country.

Project Shiksha, is commendable and very close to my heart

and mind as to most of my fellow Indians. Children from

socially & economically marginalized families are more

susceptible to being deprived of their basic rights likeeducation amongst others, and are easy victims of hunger,

abuse neglect and deprivation. India has the world's largest

number of uneducated children, and I today pledge my support

to fight this injustice. I urge each one of you to join me in

supporting Shiksha, and lead a child to the path of education."

Last year, Shiksha received tremendous support from

consumers, the news media and influencers resulting in P&Gcontributing Rs. 1.26 crore which helped support the education

of 11,000 children in 109 villages. Shiksha is helping make a

positive difference by working with the State Education

Departments to re-look at existing education policies; creating

awareness to build more schools with better infrastructure;

enrolling more children into formal schools; and building all-

round development of children through education. Some key

positive actions that Shiksha 2005 made possible include...


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To make a difference to an underprivileged child's life, all you

have to do is send an SMS to the number 279. This innovative

scheme brought to you by India's leading mobile service

provider BPL Mobile in association with CRY Child Rights and

You, promises to change the lives of many children for the

better.

With this service, about 1 million BPL Mobile subscribers in

Mumbai, Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa circles will be able to do

their own small but important bit for society with just a touch of

a button. Each time an SMS is sent to 279, the subscriber

contributes Rs 10/- to CRY. At the end of the month, BPL Mobile

will pay the collected amount through this service to CRY. The

service will be on through the festive season and will end on

January 1, 2003. The campaign has already been run in the BPL

Mobile Tamil Nadu circle with a very positive response from the

subscribers leading to this nationwide initiative to help more

children in the country. The initiative is part of BPL Mobile's

corporate citizenship program. Just like everything else at BPL

Mobile, corporate citizenship is handled in a planned manner

using all the resources available in the most effective manner

and through this program BPL Mobile works with responsible

social organisations to create a better tomorrow for India.

"BPL Mobile has always been a responsible corporate citizen

and involved in a number of charitable initiatives in the past.

We are very happy to undertake this initiative since it uses our

strengths as a service and helps involve our family of

subscribers in a philanthropic act of helping provide education

to underprivileged children in our country. By extending the

support through an activity that we do best providing efficient

communications we are ensuring that this service will enable

busy but caring individuals and corporates to be involved in the

larger world we live in", said Mr F.B. Cardoso, President and

CEO, BPL Mobile.


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** About Child Rights and You ** CRY is Child Rights and You, a

registered Indian trust working towards building a people's

movement to restore to India's underprivileged children their

most basic rights. CRY harnesses the money, time and skills of

thousands of individuals and organisations to partner more

than 160 child development initiatives across India. CRY is

governed by values of respect for human dignity, transparency,

accountability, secularism, non-violence and the spirit of

innovation.


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OBJECTIVES OF OUR PROJECT

UNDERSTANDING CHILD RIGHTS.

UNDERSTANDING THE NEED OF CHILD RIGHT ADVOCACY

CRY & CHILD RIGHT ADVOCACY

INVOLVEMENT OF MEDIA IN ADVOCATING CHILD RIGHTS

HOW DOES CRY USE MEDIA TO ADVOCATE CHILD RIGHTS?

Documents

A Study How Cry Uses Media to Advocate Child Rights