JLS is known for its multi-faceted intervention model, which includes raid and rescue operations to liberate enslaved children and the provision of follow-up care in JLS’s rehabilitation centers. Few JLS activists have even lost their lives in raid operations and our team has frequently been attacked. The danger of retaliation through employers of child labour remains also today. We are now working in 6 states and have until now rescued more than 150 children from the carpet industry, glass industry, brick kilns, stone quarry processes, the shoe industry, Zari/ embroidery industry, the domestic sector and other hazardous occupations and processes.
How we do it - We perform rescue operations where child labour is rampant and trafficking of children for forced labour is visible. We provide legal- judicial - and administrative assistance and psycho-social welfare to the victims. We also ensure their proper rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Following the stage of identification, JLS activists file a complaint to the Deputy Collector , based on the information collected. We also collect complaints from parents, concerned citizens and children themselves. JLS activists identify places such as factories and other work spaces that employ children. Child labourers in need of immediate care and protection are identified for rescue. Relevant information regarding child labourers such as number of children employed, age of the children, work place, working conditions, type of work, type of industry, etc. is also collected. Before the rescue operation, the Deputy Collector arranges a meeting with all District Task Force (DTF) members, during which the members discuss and plan the rescue operation and fix the date of the raid.
Why we do it - Several rights have been guaranteed to children in the Constitution of India, such as equality before the law, free and compulsory primary education for children up to the age of fourteen years, the prohibition of trafficking and forced labour of children and the prohibition of child labour in hazardous occupations and processes. JLS believes in creating and ensuring a child friendly nation, in which children enjoy their constitutional rights and in which every child lives a life in dignity and is free from exploitation.