Children use stage to highlight their issues

A group of children here Monday presented three short plays revolving around the theme of missing children, child labour and children engaged in domestic work.

Almost 50 children aged 6-14 years, from different districts of Delhi, participated in the day-long theatre festival "Suraksha Humara Haq" organised by Child Rights and You (CRY), and Alliance for People's Rights (APR).

The first play, "Kho Gaye Hain Hum" (We are Lost), portrayed the lives of those children who are kidnapped and are trapped in the vicious cycle of human trafficking where they are sold several times and pushed into child labour, prostitution and begging.

The second play focused on internal factors which force many children to drop out of school to financially support their families.

Aptly titled "Ghar Mein Hai Kaam", Shiksha Nakaam" (Work at Home, Education Gone), the play showed how parents pressurise their children to leave their education and join various jobs to make ends meet.

Child labour is a living example of how children are exploited physically and mentally. Highlighting this issue was the third and the last play "Karkhaana Hee Paathshaala"(Factory is Our School).

How children are physically abused and mentally tortured to meet the demands of their owners, and how they lead a miserable life of poverty was the message of the last play.

Soha Moitra, regional director, North, CRY said: "Child protection is about reducing their vulnerability to any kind of harm and abuse. In Delhi, numbers related to missing children, sexual abuse and other child protection indicators are increasing every year."

"This clearly shows that children, the most vulnerable segment are the ones who are affected for lack of a protective environment and they pay the price of an environment of gross negligence, weak implementation of laws, insensitivity and apathy and no safety nets," Moitra said.