SURVIVAL: THE MOST BASIC RIGHT

They are abandoned. They do not get a chance to step into a school. They are left to fend for themselves on the streets. They suffer from many forms of violence. They do not have access to even primary healthcare. They are subjected to cruel, inhumane treatments every day. They are children – innocent, young and beautiful – who are deprived of their rights.

Children and young people have the same general human rights as adults and also specific rights that recognize their special needs. 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 rights.?

In the history of human rights, the rights of children are the most ratified. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) defines?Child Rights?as the minimum entitlements and freedoms that should be afforded to every citizen below the age of 18 regardless of race, national origin, colour, gender, language, religion, opinions, origin, wealth, birth status, disability, or other characteristics. These rights encompass freedom of children and their civil rights, family environment, necessary healthcare and welfare, education, leisure and cultural activities and special protection measures.?

So why are child rights important? We are aware of various atrocities that take place against children; it is, therefore, imperative to legally safeguard them. Human Rights, at times, falls short wherein protection of children is concerned, worldwide; hence, children need more than just the basic Human Rights to protect their vulnerabilities.

???????????Today we are going to take a closer look at one such fundamental right that children are entitled to. It’s the most basic right, the most vital one and sadly even this birth-right gets endangered and compromised for an unfortunate few.?It is the right to survival!

?Right to Survival means that every child enjoys full access to all the basic essential conditions that are needed to be born and to live life to its full potential. They have the?right?to be cared for and protected by their parents and not be separated from their families. The government needs to safeguard these?rights?and provide basic services for?children?to?survive?and thrive.

Right to Survival includes:

? The Right to be born

? The Right to minimum standards of food, shelter and clothing

? The Right to live with dignity

? The Right to health care, to safe drinking water, nutritious food, a clean and safe environment, and information to help them stay healthy

Article 6 of the UNCRC recognises that all children and young people have the?right?to?survive?and the?right?to?develop. It says the government should do as much as it can to prevent the deaths of children and young people.

The necessities that ensure a child has a decent survival are Quality health care, Safe drinking water, Nutritious Food and a Clean Environment.

To safeguard these rights, we need to work on several aspects like reversing the declining child sex ratio, providing quality service to pregnant and lactating women, Immunisation, providing safe drinking water and hygiene, reducing Neonatal Mortality and Under 5 mortality and improving child sex ratio. Making an impact in these areas requires active Intervention in these Domains.

Understanding Children’s Right to Health

Health is vitally important for every human being in the world. Whatever our differences may be, health is our most important commodity. A person in bad health cannot live life to the fullest.

For children, the right to health is vital because they are vulnerable beings, more at risk of illness and health complications. When children are spared from disease, they can grow into healthy adults, and in this way, contribute to the development of dynamic and productive societies.

Children require extra attention to enjoy the best possible health. This allows them to develop properly during their childhood and teenage years. At every step of their physical and mental development, children have specific needs and different health risks. Additionally, a newborn is more vulnerable and more exposed to certain diseases than a young child or teenager (i.e. infectious disease, malnutrition.) On the other hand, a teenager, due to his or her habits and behaviours, is exposed to other kinds of risks (sexual health, mental health, alcohol and drug use etc.)

Generally, a child who benefits from appropriate health care will enjoy a better state of health during the stages of childhood and can become a healthy adult.

Pre and Postnatal Health care.

The right to children’s health also includes pre and postnatal care for mothers.

A Healthy Mother means a Healthy Baby. Healthy Child will be born from a Healthy Mother only. A newborn will have a much lower chance of survival if the mother dies due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth.

We need to work on taking care of the health of pregnant women, eliminating/reducing neonatal and infant mortality and eliminating female foeticide.

We need to adopt certain approaches to address this issue like providing quality service to pregnant and lactating women, 100% institutional delivery, birth registration of children, bringing down maternal death rate very low. Other measures include registering all pregnant women and ensuring their regular medical check-up, maternity entitlement for pregnant women, ensuring pregnancy care, controlling childhood diseases, eliminating female foeticide at all levels, making abortion after gender determination of foetus illegal and doing mass campaigns against sex-selective abortions.

The right to health includes access to health services. All children have the right to timely access to appropriate health services. This requires the establishment of a system to protect the health, including access to essential medicine. The realization of the right to health implies that each country will put in place health services that are available in any circumstance, accessible to everyone, of good quality and satisfactory. The right to health also involves prevention and awareness campaigns

Prevention plays an essential role in maintaining public health, particularly children’s health. Health education and vaccinations prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Vaccinations are efficient because they are fairly inexpensive and they protect children against the risk of death and handicaps caused by the most common children’s diseases (tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, leprosy, polio, whooping cough, measles.) In the long term, these vaccinations can even lead to the end of these diseases in a given country.

Vaccinating children, as well as awareness campaigns, can lead to a significant reduction in health risks. Additionally, spreading basic information about hygiene, nutritional needs, etc., as well as the circulation of simple illustrations reminding people of?the fundamental rules are very efficient actions for informing populations and improving healthy behaviour.

Steps should be taken to ensure full immunisation of all children.

?Another basic fundamental requirement for survival is safe drinking water and hygiene. The government must ensure access to safe drinking water for all. Water pollution also limits the chances of getting clean and safe water. This puts the future of our children and the survival of our upcoming generations in grave danger. Safe clean drinking water and sanitation and hygiene is a pressing issue that needs to be dealt with on a large scale. We can contribute to this on an individual level as well by not wasting water at our level and saving every drop of water we can to tackle the acute problem of water scarcity. We should also ensure that we don’t litter around in public places and ensure proper waste disposal.

Certain steps that should be taken regarding this like ensuring safe drinking water in all Children’s Centres and Households, performing Water Quality Tests and Water Resource Management, providing water Connection at Anganwadis, schools and public places, installing Water quality assessment systems, making Child-Friendly toilets in schools, Female Friendly toilets accessible and mandating toilets for all Housing Projects.

Thus, we can easily realise how important of a right is this and what all aspects it covers and what all needs to be done to safeguard this vital right. It’s not just the right to survival, it’s the right to life. Hope we were successful in making you aware of the first and foremost child right.

Thank you for reading.