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In Arabic Shantha Sinha, 58, has been India’s Ombudswoman for Children for just over a year. Founder of the MV Foundation, Shantha is also a professor of political science and works and lives in Delhi. There are 420 million children under 18 in India. It is easy to be daunted by the innumerable challenges. An important area of our work is to raise public awareness, and bring visibility of children’s rights to the public domain. Civil society is aware of the main problems faced by children, but children’s rights must be brought to the national consciousness. The abolition of corporal punishment is a very important area, as it reflects how as a society we treat our children. It is not even recognised as a violation of a child’s right. This is an issue which affects all classes of society and makes us questions whether we treat children with dignity and respect. A child rights perspective is very important because, for example, child labour laws here have in the past only protected children in certain instances, but not in agriculture where most children work. It is simply not considered child labour. Child rights ensures that all factors are looked at. A recent survey found that 46 per cent of children under five are malnourished. We also focus on children’s right to education and juvenile justice, among other areas. Child rights advocates must have a strong conviction to achieve children’s rights to dignity and freedom. If the conviction is not there, the measures will only be half-hearted. I very much admire the hundreds of volunteers working to protect child rights on the ground. They are anonymous, and do not seek recognition, but just do it because they believe it. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has certainly made a difference. The follow-up has generated activism in civil society, who can then put the government under pressure. It generates discussion over how to fulfil the CRC, and accountability, as well as creating a normative framework. These benchmarks can be very important. My job can be a very humbling experience. You see children engaged in the most heroic battles and you realise the spirit of human endeavour when you see a girl of six or seven working in the mines, and she has to battle both her parents and employers to escape. What we have done is nothing compared to them. But what is worse is when you can’t stand by them and allow injustice to happen. A lot of people say that the practicality of attaining the rights in the CRC is too overwhelming. But from a child’s point of view, it is impractical to be suffering. As soon as you start talking of it being overwhelming, you are making excuses. It all begins and ends with child rights. You can break down the barriers between nations, and it asks human beings to reach out to other human beings.