An Alternative Report on the Status of Child Labour in India

This is an Alternative Report on the Status of Child Labour in India submitted to the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child at its 22nd Session (Sep-Oct 1999 by Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL). The report examines the status of child labour in India and is a response to India’s first report entitled “the Country Report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child”. It is divided into four sections: The first section is an analysis of the 1986 Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, and highlights the fundamental gaps in the legislation that need to be immediately addressed. The second section explores the National Child Labour Programme implemented in 1987 and the failure of specific projects that were established in 1994, to rehabilitate children, working in hazardous occupations. The third section examines the Supreme Court Judgement of 1996 and the consequences this has had on policy and action. The last section is a summary and analysis of recent cases of child labour where the rights of the child have been seriously violated.