New Delhi on Thursday welcomed the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' move to drop India from the list of nations that feature in the global institution's yearly report on the "impact of armed conflict on children".
Reacting to the development, Indevar Pandey, who serves as an official in India's Women and Child Development Ministry, hailed the development as a "big achievement".
"This is a big achievement for India, having our name removed from this list after so long… many of the systems were simply not in place earlier in Jammu and Kashmir," he told reporters in New Delhi.
"The Juvenile Justice Act was not implemented and the juvenile homes there were not functioning properly. Other infrastructure such as Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, Child Care Homes have since been established," Pandey added.
Why The UN Removed India From List
The official's remarks came after the UN acknowledged that India has taken measures to "protect children" in areas of conflict.
"In my previous report, I welcomed the engagement of the Government of India with my Special Representative and noted that the engagement may lead to the removal of India as a situation of concern," Guterres stated.
"In view of the measures taken by the Government to better protect children, India has been removed from the report in 2023," he said.
J&K Connection to the Report
Since 2010, India has featured prominently in the report alongside nations such as Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Philippines where children have been used as fighters by anti-insurgent groups to fight against their respective security forces.
In Jammu and Kashmir, militants have often used young boys to carry out attacks on the Indian army personnel and paramilitary forces.
However, the Ministry of Women and Child Development of India worked in tandem with the UN, introducing various institutional changes and policies over the past five years to take India's name off the list.