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August / October 2015




Suranya Aiyar:

Save your child from UNICEF
A study of Unicef's biased and false claims about Indian parents


Part I:  Introduction
Part II:  Basic Statistical Errors
Part III:  Physical Abuse: Bias, Exaggeration and Rigged Statistics
Part IV:  Sexual Abuse: Bias, Distortion and Rigged Statistics
Part V:  Bias and Lies on Emotional Abuse and Girl Child Neglect
Part VI:  Misleading Parents and Manipulating Children
Part VII:  Conclusion



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This is a revealing analysis, well worth reading. It is some 50 pages long, but not terribly compact and the font size is large, and parts can be read on their own. It starts off going into some details in a survey which Unicef has conducted in India, and which Aiyar criticises the statistics of heavily (in terms quite easily understandable to non-statisticians). Then the paper puts the survey and its planned use in India into the international / Western perspective of 'child protection'.

The paper's author Suranya Aiyar gives a short 'autobiography' on the page following the title page. For those who are not familiar with her name I can add that she is very active and vocal on Indian social and cultural issues. From a Norwegian point of view: She was the one to take the clearest and strongest action in the Bhattacharya case, so that the mother Sagarika Chakraborti after a while got the children back in India. Cf

Suranya Aiyar:
Understanding and Responding to Child Confiscation by Social Service Agencies
9 May 2012

Petition to the Indian National Human Rights Commission: Indians want their government to guard against western CPS
16 October 2012
(first and second entry in the thread – down at the end of the first entry there are 3 links, to the petition itself + to press announcement and appended material)

Signatories to the Petition to the Indian National Human Rights Commission:
The Confiscation of the Bhattacharya Children by Norwegian Authorities - A Case Study
12 October 2012
  

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8 October 2015:



Sunday Guardian Live which is published in India (affifliated with the English newspaper The Guardian), has serialised Suranya Aiyar's study. Links to the parts of the series will be added as they appear.



Part 1:
UNICEF-style survey magnifies child abuse problem i India
By Suranya Aiyar
SundayGuardianLive, 5 October 2015

"The Ministry of Women and Child Development’s 2007 “Study on Child Abuse” report came out with an exaggerated narrative on the phenomenon of child abuse in India. The report, even today, serves as a foundational document of the ministry. UNICEF and Save the Children were among the leading NGOs that participated in the report. The report was based on a survey that used the flawed methodology of the UNICEF and allied agencies, marked by statistical errors and an arbitrary selection of respondents. Suranya Aiyar exposes all this in “Save your child from UNICEF: A study of UNICEF’s biased and false claims about Indian parents”. Here is the first part of Aiyar’s report."

  

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Part 2:
UNICEF demonises Indian parents with malicious stories on child abuse
By Suranya Aiyar
SundayGuardianLive, 6 October 2015


"The Ministry of Women and Child Development’s 2007 “Study on Child Abuse” Report came out with an exaggerated narrative on the phenomenon of child abuse in India. The Report, even today, serves as a foundational document of the ministry. UNICEF and Save the Children were among the leading NGOs that participated in the Report. The Report was based on a survey that used the flawed methodology of the UNICEF and allied agencies, marked by statistical errors and an arbitrary selection of respondents. Suranya Aiyar exposes all this in “Save your child from UNICEF: A study of UNICEF’s biased and false claims about Indian parents”. Here is the second part of Aiyar’s Report."



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Part 3:
UNICEF’s misleading report on child abuse ignores views of the juvenile
By Suranya Aiyar
SundayGuardianLive, 8 October 2015

"A misleading report on child abuse in India, guided by UNICEF and Save the Children, an NGO, serves as a reference material for the Ministry of Women and Child Development, notwithstanding its many statistical errors and evident prejudice of the agencies involved. Quite ironically, whereas the report flays Indian parents for not treating their children as individuals, it uses children as mouthpiece to highlight their plight. Suranya Aiyar exposes all this in “Save your child from UNICEF: A study of UNICEF’s biased and false claims about Indian parents”. Here is the third part of Aiyar’s report."



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Part 4:
UNICEF forced juveniles to ‘role play’ to elicit targeted response on child abuse
By Suranya Aiyar
SundayGuardianLive, 14 October 2015

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is being misled by a prejudiced report on child abuse in India, guided by UNICEF and Save the Children, an NGO. The report, which the ministry has accepted to serve as its statistical anchor, has given an exaggerated number of offenders within the family by clubbing neighbours and acquaintances as relatives. The report further floats a false notion that Indian parents indulge in a “conspiracy of silence” and are prone to cover up cases of child abuse. Suranya Aiyar exposes all this in “Save your child from UNICEF: A study of UNICEF’s biased and false claims about Indian parents”. Here is the fourth part of Aiyar’s report.
  


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Part 5:
UNICEF resorted to misusing concepts of ‘child neglect’ and ‘emotional abuse’
By Suranya Aiyar
SundayGuardianLive, 19 October 2015

Here is the fifth part of Aiyar’s report.
In this part, we scrutinise the Report’s (Study on Child Abuse: India 2007
http://wcd.nic.in/childabuse.pdf) claims about “emotional abuse” and “neglect” of female children.

WHAT IS “EMOTIONAL ABUSE”?
“Emotional abuse” is defined as “treating harshly, shouting, belittling, name calling and using abusive language while addressing children” and “comparison”, which is described as comparing siblings or other children with each other.
WHAT IS “GIRL CHILD NEGLECT"
Girl child neglect is defined by the following so-called “indicators”: “less attention, less appreciation, less food, fault finding, household work compared to other siblings and looking after siblings”.
    Regarding this portion of the Report, we will not repeat the exercise of scrutinising the statistics as we have done on its claims about physical and sexual abuse. We believe that regardless of whether or not the stated statistics stand up to scrutiny, the matters discussed in this portion of the Report have no place in a study on abuse.



  
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Part 6:
UNICEF deliberately misled child respondents, their parents about nature of research
By Suranya Aiyar
SundayGuardianLive, 20 October 2015

Here is the sixth part of Aiyar’s report.
FAILURE TO TAKE INFORMED CONSENT
MISLEADING RESPONDENTS AS TO THE NATURE AND INTENTION OF THE RESEARCH
CAN YOUNG CHILDREN MEANINGFULLY GIVE CONSENT?

  
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