THE ROLE OF UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF) IN TACKLING CHILD LABOR IN INDIA : A CASE STUDY OF CHILD-FRIENDLY SCHOOL SYSTEM (2014 – 2017)

Abstract

India has become one of the highest number of children working in the worst forms of labor. Child labor refers to work that harmful for the child’s physical and mental development. Therefore, by following the Human Security Concept by UNDP Report, the author would like to explain the impact of child labor as a threat to the human security of the child specifically on the personal security dimension. As India has ratified the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1992, the Government have the responsibility to protect the rights of the children in their states through the international cooperation and in this case is with UNICEF, following the concept of Neoliberal Institutionalism by Keohane. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze the role of UNICEF in tackling the child labor issue in India. By following the International Organization theory by Archer, the author would like to explain the role of UNICEF through its three roles as instrument, arena, and actor. In addition, this thesis uses qualitative descriptive research and collects secondary data. Thus, this thesis concludes that by doing several monitoring and surveys, cooperation and recommendation, as well as the policy shifted, the Government of India and UNICEF has implemented the Child Friendly School System as the strategy to reduce the number of child labor in India, and in 2017 the number of children that enrolled and attend the schools has increased.