Conviction under Pocso alarmingly low: Kailash Satyarthi

Chennai: “Every child in the world could be ensured education, if four-and-half days of the annual global military expenditure is utilised,” said child rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, while addressing the media on Saturday.

Conventional wisdom, approach and strategies are not enough to solve the problem. Children have not acquired enough priority, he added. Reiterating the need of support from young people, he said that they should work together to terminate the social evils.

Explaining about his newly launched campaign, “100 Million for 100 Million”, he said, “Hundred million youngsters would be given a platform to help the abandoned 100 million people in the world. The five-year campaign would use social media and offline models to protest against the government policies, that are not child-friendly.”

Hundred million children in the world are victims of violence, are denied education, freedom and suffer from poor hygienic conditions and malnutrition.
Many are bound to die due to the absence of cure for diseases, Kailash Satyarthi mentioned.

“It is necessary that young people take leadership roles and act as saviors of children, to create a fearless society,” he said, adding that the campaign is being rolled out across the world.

Demanding child friendly and fast track justice delivery mechanism, Kailash Satyarthi said that the conviction rate in child abuse cases, registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) has been alarmingly less (0.6 per cent).