Child Labour

Child labour Jump to: navigation, search The first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours.[1] Child labour, or child labor, refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labour was utilized to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers' and children's rights. In many developed countries, it is considered inappropriate or exploitative if a child below a certain age works (excluding household chores or school-related work).[2] An employer is usually not permitted to hire a child below a certain minimum age. This minimum age depends on the country and the type of work involved. States ratifying the Minimum Age Convention adopted by the International Labour Organization in 1973, have adopted minimum ages varying from 14 to 16. Child labor laws in the United States set the minimum age to work in an establishment without restrictions and without parents' consent at age 16.

Historical Child laborer, New Jersey, 1910 During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as four were employed in production factories with dangerous, and often fatal, working conditions.[3] Based on this understanding of the use of children as labourers, it is now considered by wealthy countries to be a human rights violation, and is outlawed, while some poorer countries may allow or tolerate it. The Victorian era became notorious for employing young children in factories and mines and as chimney sweeps.[4] Child labour played an important role in the Industrial Revolution from its outset, often brought about by economic hardship, Charles Dickens for example worked at the age of 12 in the local Blacking factory, with his family in debtor's prison. The children of the poor were expected to help towards the family budget, often working long hours in dangerous jobs and low wages.[5] Agile boys were employed by the chimney sweeps; small children were employed to scramble under machinery to retrieve cotton bobbins; and children were also employed to

work in coal mines to crawl through tunnels too narrow and low for adults. Children also worked as errand boys, crossing sweepers, shoe blacks, or selling matches, flowers and other cheap goods.[5] Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades, such as building or as domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London in the mid 18th Century). Working hours were long: builders worked 64 hours a week in summer and 52 in winter, while domestic servants worked 80 hour weeks.

Two girls protesting child labour (by calling it child slavery) in the 1909 New York City labor day parade. A high number of children also worked as prostitutes.[6] Children as young as three were put to work. In coal mines children began work at the age of five and generally died before the age of 25. Many children (and adults) worked 16 hour days. As early as 1802 and 1819 Factory Acts were passed to regulate the working hours of workhouse children in factories and cotton mills to 12 hours per day. These acts were largely ineffective and after radical agitation, by for example the "Short Time Committees" in 1831, a Royal Commission recommended in 1833 that children aged 11-18 should work a maximum of 12 hours per day, children aged 9-11 a maximum of eight hours, and children under the age of nine were no longer permitted to work. This act however only applied to the textile industry, and further agitation led to another act in 1847 limiting both adults and children to 10 hour working days. [6]

[edit] Present day

A young boy recycling garbage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2006 See also: Children's rights Child labour is still common in some parts of the world, and can be factory work, mining,[7] prostitution, quarrying, agriculture, helping in the parents' business, having one's own small business (for example selling food), or doing odd jobs. Some children work as guides for tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in business for shops and restaurants (where they may also work as waiters). Other children are forced to do tedious and repetitive jobs such as: assembling boxes, polishing shoes, stocking a store's products, or cleaning. However, rather than in factories and sweatshops, most child labour occurs in the informal sector, "selling many things on the streets, at work in agriculture or hidden away in houses—far from the reach of official labour inspectors and from media scrutiny." And all the work that they did was done in all types of weather; and was also done for minimal pay. As long as there is family poverty there will be child labor. [8] According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 158 million children aged 5 to 14 in child labour worldwide, excluding child domestic labour.[9] The United Nations and the International Labor Organization consider child labour exploitative,[10][11] with the UN stipulating, in article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that: ...States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. Although globally there is an estimated 250 milllion children working.[11]

In the 1990s every country in the world except for Somalia and the United States became a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC. However according to the United Nations Foundation Somalia signed the convention in 2002, the delay of the signing was believed to been due to Somalia not having a government to sign the convention [12]. The CRC provides the strongest,[citation needed] most consistent[citation needed]

international legal language prohibiting illegal child labour; however it does not make child labour illegal.

A boy repairing a tire in Gambia Poor families often rely on the labours of their children for survival, and sometimes it is their only source of income. This type of work is often hidden away because it is not always in the industrial sector. Child labour is employed in subsistence agriculture and in the urban informal sector; child domestic work is also important. In order to benefit children, child labour prohibition has to address the dual challenge of providing them with both short-term income and long-term prospects. Some youth rights groups, however, feel that prohibiting work below a certain age violates human rights, reducing children's options and leaving them subject to the whims of those with money.[citation needed] In 1999 the Global March Against Child Labour the movement began with a worldwide march when thousands of people marched together to jointly put forth the message against child labour. The march, which started on January 17, 1998, touched every corner of the globe, built immense awareness and led to high level of participation from the masses. This march finally culminated at the ILO Conference in Geneva. The voice of the marchers was heard and reflected in the draft of the ILO Convention against the worst forms of child labour. The following year, the Convention was unanimously adopted at the ILO Conference in Geneva. Today, with 169 countries having ratified the convention so far, it has become the fastest ratified convention in the history of ILO. A large role in this was played by the Global March through our member partners. In an influential paper on "The Economics of Child Labor" in the American Economic Review (1998), Kaushik Basu and Pham Hoang Van argue that the primary cause of child labour is parental poverty. That being so, they caution against the use of a legislative ban against child labour, and argue that should be used only when there is reason to believe that a ban on child labour will cause adult wages to rise and so compensate adequately the households of the poor children. Child labour is still widely used today in many

countries, including India and Bangladesh. CACL estimated that there are between 70 and 80 million child labourers in India.[13] Even though the respective national laws state that no child under the age of 14 may work, the law is often ignored. Children as young as 11 go to work for up to 20 hours a day in sweatshops making items for US companies, such as Hanes, Wal-mart, and Target. Child labour happens for 61% in Asia, 32% in Africa, and 7% in Latin America, 1% in US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations In Asia, 22% of the workforce is children. In Latin America, 17% of the workforce is children. The proportion of child laborers varies a lot among countries and even regions inside those countries. To stop child labour the police often checks on factories that are suspected to use children.

Recent child labour incidents

Young girl working on a loom in Aït Benhaddou, Morocco in May 2008. BBC recently reported[14] on Primark using child labor in the manufacture of clothing. In particular a £4.00 hand embroidered shirt was the starting point of a documentary produced by BBC's Panorama (TV series) program. The program asks consumers to ask themselves, "Why am I only paying £4 for a hand embroidered top? This item looks handmade. Who made it for such little cost?", in addition to exposing the violent side of the child labor industry in countries where child exploitation is prevalent. As a result of the program, Primark took action and sacked the relevant companies, and reviewed their supplier procedures. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company operate a rubber plantation in Liberia which is the focus of a global campaign called Stop Firestone. Workers on the plantation are expected to fulfill a high production quota or their wages will be halved, so many workers brought children to work. The International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against Firestone (The International Labor Fund vs. The Firestone Tire and Rubber

Company) in November 2005 on behalf of current child laborers and their parents who had also been child laborers on the plantation. On June 26, 2007, the judge in this lawsuit in Indianapolis, Indiana denied Firestone's motion to dismiss the case and allowed the lawsuit to proceed on child labor claims. On November 21, 2005, An Indian NGO activist Junned Khan, with the help of Police, Labour Department and NGO Pratham mounted the country's biggest ever raid for child labor rescue in the Eastern part of New Delhi, the capital of India. The process resulted in rescue of 480 children from over 100 illegal embroidery factories operating in the crowded slum area of Seelampur. For next few weeks, government, media and NGOs were in a frenzy over the exuberant numbers of young boys, as young as 5-6 year olds, released from bondage. This rescue operation opened the eyes of the world to the menace of child labor operating right under the nose of the largest democracy in the whole world. After the news of child labourers working in embroidery industry was uncovered in the Sunday Observer on 28 October 2007, BBA activists swung into action. The GAP Inc. in a statement accepted that the child labourers were working in production of GAP Kids blouses and has already made a statement to pull the products from the shelf. [15] [16] In spite of the documentation of the child labourers working in the high-street fashion and admission by all concerned parties, only the SDM could not recognise these children as working under conditions of slavery and bondage. Distraught and desperate that these collusions by the custodians of justice, founder of BBA Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour appealed to the Honourable Chief Justice of Delhi High Court through a letter at 11.00 pm. [3] This order by the Honourable Chief Justice comes when the government is taking an extremely retrogressive stance on the issue of child labour in sweatshops in India and threatening 'retaliatory measures' against child rights organisations. [4] In a parallel development, Global March Against Child Labour and BBA are in dialogue with the GAP Inc. and other stakeholders to work out a positive strategy to prevent the entry of child labour in to sweatshops and device a mechanism of monitoring and remedial action. GAP Inc. Senior Vice President, Dan Henkle in a statement said: "We have been making steady progress, and the children are now under the care of the local government. As our policy requires, the vendor with which our order was originally placed will be required to provide the children with access to schooling and job training, pay them an ongoing wage and guarantee them jobs as soon as they reach the legal working age. We will now work with the local government and with Global March to ensure that our vendor fulfils these obligations." [5] [6] On October 28, Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, responded, "We strictly prohibit the use of child labor. This is a non-negotiable for us – and we are deeply concerned and upset by this allegation. As we've demonstrated in the past, Gap has a history of addressing challenges like this head-on, and our approach to this situation will be no exception. In 2006, Gap Inc. ceased business with 23 factories due to code violations. We have 90 people located around the world whose job is to ensure compliance with our Code of Vendor Conduct. As soon as we were alerted to this

situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in stores. While violations of our strict prohibition on child labor in factories that produce product for the company are extremely rare, we have called an urgent meeting with our suppliers in the region to reinforce our policies."[17] In early August 2008, Iowa Labor Commissioner David Neil announced that his department had found that Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking company in Postville which had recently been raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had employed 57 minors, some as young as 14, in violation of state law prohibiting anyone under 18 from working in a meatpacking plant. Neil announced that he was turning the case over to the state Attorney General for prosecution, claiming that his department's inquiry had discovered "egregious violations of virtually every aspect of Iowa's child labor laws." [18]. Agriprocessors claimed that it was at a loss to understand the allegations. In 1997, research indicated that the number of child laborers in the silk-weaving industry in the district of Kanchipuram in India exceeded 40,000. This included children who were bonded laborers to loom owners. Rural Institute for Development Education undertook many activities to improve the situation of child laborers. Working collaboratively, RIDE brought down the number of child laborers to less than 4,000 by 2007 Child labor is also often used in the production of cocoa powder, used to make chocolate. See Economics of cocoa.

Defense of child labour

Child laborers on a farm in Maine, October 1940 Concerns have often been raised over the buying public's moral complicity in purchasing products assembled or otherwise manufactured in developing countries with child labor. However, others have raised concerns that boycotting products manufactured through child labor may force these children to turn to more dangerous or strenuous professions, such as prostitution or agriculture. For example, a UNICEF study found that after the Child Labor Deterrence Act was introduced in the US, an estimated 50,000 children were dismissed from their garment industry jobs in Bangladesh, leaving many to resort to jobs such as "stone-crushing, street hustling, and prostitution", jobs that are "more hazardous and exploitative than garment production". The study suggests that boycotts are "blunt

instruments with long-term consequences, that can actually harm rather than help the children involved."[8] According to Milton Friedman, before the Industrial Revolution virtually all children worked in agriculture. During the Industrial Revolution many of these children moved from farm work to factory work. Over time, as real wages rose, parents became able to afford to send their children to school instead of work and as a result child labor declined, both before and after legislation.[19] Austrian school economist Murray Rothbard also defended child labor, stating that British and American children of the pre- and post-Industrial Revolution lived and suffered in infinitely worse conditions where jobs were not available for them and went "voluntarily and gladly" to work in factories.[20] However, the British historian and socialist E.P. Thompson in The Making of the English Working Class draws a qualitative distinction between child domestic work and participation in the wider (waged) labor market.[3] Further, the usefulness of the experience of the industrial revolution in making predictions about current trends has been disputed. Economic historian Hugh Cunningham, author of Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, notes that: "Fifty years ago it might have been assumed that, just as child labor had declined in the developed world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so it would also, in a trickle-down fashion, in the rest of the world. Its failure to do that, and its re-emergence in the developed world, raise questions about its role in any economy, whether national or global."[19] Big Bill Haywood, a leading labor organizer and leader of the Western Federation of Miners and a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World famously claimed "the worst thief is he who steals the playtime of children!" [21] According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the University of Houston, in an article published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank operating in Washington D.C., "it is clear that technological and economic change are vital ingredients in getting children out of the workplace and into schools. Then they can grow to become productive adults and live longer, healthier lives. However, in poor countries like Bangladesh, working children are essential for survival in many families, as they were in our own heritage until the late 19th century. So, while the struggle to end child labour is necessary, getting there often requires taking different routes -- and, sadly, there are many political obstacles.[22]

CHILD Protection & Rights Introduction Who is a Child? According to International Law, a ‘child’ means every human being below the age of 18 years. Childhood is characterized as a period of special consideration in human rights terms, as a period of evolving abilities and vulnerabilities relative to those of adults. Today this is a universally accepted definition of a child which comes from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), an international legal instrument agreed and ratified by 192 States in the world to promote Child Protection and Child Rights.

What is ‘Child ‘Protection? Child protection is crucial to ensuring that children under 18 years of age have the rights, confidence and environment in which they can make choices, express their views and communicate effectively with other children and adults. It is a broad term to describe philosophies, policies, standards, guidelines and procedures whose aim is to protect children from both intentional and unintentional harm and from vulnerability. Child protection incorporates both prevention and care as well as recovery and rehabilitation aspects. Children can only become change agents to improve their lives and that of their families and communities if they are safeguarded from abuse, discrimination and harm of any kind, be it physical, sexual, emotional or neglect.

What are ‘Child’ Rights? A right is as an agreement or a “social contract” established between the persons who hold a right (often referred to as the “rights-holder”) and the persons or institutions which then have obligations and responsibilities in relation to the realisation of that right (often referred to as the “duty-bearer”.) Child Rights can be defined as the fundamental, vital freedoms and the inherent rights of all human beings below the age of 18. These rights apply to every child, irrespective of the child's, parent's / legal guardian's race, colour, sex, creed or other status.

CHILDLINE 1098 SERVICE The calls would come late in the night. "Didi, can you come? There's been a fight at the station." "Didi, can you help? The police have

Events

battered Raju." And a CHILDLINE volunteer would get up and rush out to where a street child was State Children's MeetChildren's involvement in Childline..

waiting. On one of those dashes across the sleeping city of Mumbai , an idea was born. What street children in Mumbai needed was a helpline, their own helpline.

childlineindia.org.in

In 1996, Mumbai launched CHILDLINE, the country's first toll-free tele-helpline for street children in distress. It has responded to over 13 million calls from children who live and work in Mumbai , and has grown into a national child protection service that operates in 83 cities. In 12 years, CHILDLINE has worked with over 3 million children in need of care and protection. Subscribe to CHILDLINE SMS Channel

The term Child Labor is used for employment of children below a certain age, which is considered illegal by law and custom. The stipulated age varies from country to country and government to government. Child labor is a world phenomenon which is considered exploitative and inhuman by many international organizations.

What is Child Labour Child labor is done by any working child who is under the age specified by law. The word, “work” means full time commercial work to sustain self or add to the family income. Child labor is a hazard to a Child’s mental, physical, social, educational, emotional and spiritual development. Broadly any child who is employed in activities to feed self and family is being subjected to “child labor’.

Child Labour Today Child labor is a very complicated development issue, effecting human society all over the world. It is a matter of grave concern that children are not receiving the education and leisure which is important for their growing years, because they are sucked into commercial and laborious activities which is meant for people beyond their years. According to the statistics given by ILO and other official agencies 73 million children between 10 to 14 years of age re employed in economic activities all over the world. The figure translates into 13.2 of all children between 10 to 14 being subjected to child labor.

Child labor in India is a human right issue for the whole world. It is a serious and extensive problem, with many children under the age of fourteen working in carpet making factories, glass blowing units and making fireworks with bare little hands. According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child laborers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million

Causes of Child Labour Some common causes of child labor are poverty, parental illiteracy, social apathy, ignorance, lack of education and exposure, exploitation of cheap and unorganized labor. The family practice to inculcate traditional skills in children also pulls little ones inexorably in the trap of child labor, as they never get the

opportunity

to

learn

anything

else.

Absence of compulsory education at the primary level, parental ignorance regarding the bad effects of child labor, the ineffictivity of child labor laws in terms of implementation, non availability and non accessibility of schools, boring and unpractical school curriculum and cheap child labor are some other factors which encourages the phenomenon of child labor. It is also very difficult for immature minds and undeveloped bodies to understand and organize them selves against exploitation in the absence of adult guidance. Poverty and over population have been identified as the two main causes of child labor. Parents are forced to send little children into hazardous jobs for reasons of survival, even when they know it is wrong. Monetary constraints and the need for food, shelter and clothing drives their children in the trap of premature labor. Over population in some regions creates paucity of resources. When there are limited means and more mouths to feed children are driven to commercial activities and not provided for their development needs. This is the case in most Asian and

African countries.

Illiterate and ignorant parents do not understand the need for wholesome proper physical, cognitive and emotional development of their child. They are themselves uneducated and unexposed, so they don’t realize the importance of education for their children. Adult unemployment and urbanization also causes child labor. Adults often find it difficult to find jobs because factory owners find it more beneficial to employ children at cheap rates. This exploitation is particularly visible in garment factories of urban areas. Adult exploitation of children is also seen in many places. Elders relax at home and live on the labor of poor helpless children. The industrial revolution has also had a negative effect by giving rise to circumstances which encourages child labor. Sometimes multinationals prefer to employ child workers in the developing countries. This is so because they can be recruited for less pay, more work can be extracted from them and there is no union problem with them. This attitude also makes it difficult for adults to find jobs in factories, forcing them to drive their little ones to work to keep the fire burning their homes.

Child labor is a reality in spite of all the steps taken by the legal machinery to eliminate it. It prevails and persists as a world phenomenon in spite of child labor laws. The causes of child labor in the contemporary world are the same as those in U.S. hundred years ago- namely poverty, lack of education and exposure, poor access to

education, suppression of workers rights, partial prohibition of child labor and inadequate enforcement of child labor laws. Child labor is a reality in spite of all the steps taken by the legal machinery to eliminate it. It prevails and persists as a world phenomenon in spite of child labor laws. The causes of child labor in the contemporary world are the same as those in U.S. hundred years ago- namely poverty, lack of education and exposure, poor access to education, suppression of workers rights, partial prohibition of child labor and inadequate enforcement of child labor laws. Hundreds and thousands of children are toiling as bonded labor in India’s silk industry and the government is not able to do anything to protect their rights. Those children who are working in India’s silk industry are virtually slaves. Human rights organizations are calling on India to free these children from bonded labor and rehabilitate them. The children are bound to work for their employers in exchange of the loan taken by their parents or families, and are unable to leave because of the debt. They are also paid very paltry sum for their labor. Most of these children are Dalits. Dalits are called untouchables and belong to the lowest level in the hierarchy of the Indian caste system. Indian sweet shops are notorious for profiting from child labor which is tantamount to slavery. These shop also profit from illegal retail activities and use small and vulnerable children in the manufacturing process. Children as young as eleven and thirteen toil in these shops for hours on end and suffer from exertion and fatigue. They have no fixed working hours and are constantly threatened with the fear of being fired, are depressed and deprived of education and entertainment. The most inhuman and onerous form of child exploitation is the age old practice of bonded labor in India. In this, the child is sold to the loaner like a commodity for a certain period of time. His labor is treated like security or collateral security and cunning rich men procure them for small sums at exorbitant interest rates. The children who are sold as bonded labor only get a handful of coarse grain to keep them alive in return for their labor. Sometimes their period of thrall extends for a life time, and they have to simply toil hard and depend on the mercy of their owners, without any hope of release or redemption. The impoverished parents of the bonded child is usually a poor, uneducated landless laborer and the mortgagee is traditionally some big landlord, money lender or a big business man who thrives on their vulnerability to such exploitation. The practice of bonded child labor is prevalent in many parts of rural India, but is very conspicuously in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. Here the bonded child is allowed to reside with his parents, if he presents himself for work at 8 a.m. every day. The practice of child bonded labor persists like a scourge to humanity in spite of many laws against it.

These laws although stringent and providing for imprisonment and imposition of huge fines on those who are found guilty are literally non- functional in terms of implementation. However most of their efforts were sabotaged by high level government officials covering the fact that children were doing bonded work in factory promises. They deliberately employed their energy in running public awareness campaigns and made claims of creating propaganda against child labor, instead of punishing erring employers and freeing and rehabilitating the bonded

children.

Governments did take few directions on the right track initially, but most of their efforts came to naught with time. Moreover the government efforts did not reach high profile industries like bidi, cigarette making and carpet weaving. According to Cousen Neff - an official of the Human Rights watch – “Instead of living up to its promises, the Indian government is starting to backtrack, claiming the problem is being

solved.

Our

research

shows

that

it

is

not.”

Neff also identified a major link between caste and bondage in Indian society. Dalit family’s functions as bonded labor due to caste based discrimination and violence and not poverty in many cases. The caste system in India is one of the main foundations on which the edifice of bonded labor rests. Dalits or the so called untouchable are denied access to land in India, forced to work in inhuman conditions, and expected to perform labor for free. This is due to the so called upper castes boycotting them socially and subjecting them to economic exploitation. This attitude of society keeps the poor families bonded in a scourge of perpetual poverty and labor. It is now very important for all International donors to put pressure on the Indian government to enforce bonded labor and child labor laws in the country.

The term ‘child labor’ means ‘working child’ or ‘employed child’. ‘Child labor’ is any work done by child for profit. ‘Child labor’ is a derogatory term which translates into child exploitation and inhumanity according to sociologists, development workers, medical professionals and educationists. They have identified child labor as harmful and hazardous to the child’s development needs, both mental and physical. The future of a community is in the well being of its children. The above fact is beautifully expressed by Wordsworth in his famous lines “child is father of the man”. So it becomes imperative for the health of a nation to protect its children from premature labor which is hazardous to their mental, physical, educational and spiritual development needs. It is urgently required to save children from the murderous clutches of social injustice and educational deprivation, and ensure that they are given opportunities for healthy, normal and happy growth.

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD 25 July 1995

THE EXPLOITATION OF CHILD LABOR IN INDIA Testimony of the Honorable Dan Burton of Indiana in the US House of Representatives Mr. BURTON of Indiana: Mr. Speaker, much attention was appropriately focussed on human rights abuses by the Indian Government against minorities in Kashmir and Punjab during recent consideration of H.R. 1868, the foreign aid appropriations bill for 1996. However, there exists another little-known human rights problem in India, which is every bit as grave. This problem, which received little discussion, is the exploitation of child labor. The United States Government and the international community have paid little attention to the prolific employment of young children. It is time to attend to this neglect. Child labor in India is a grave and extensive problem. Children under the age of 14 are forced to work in glass-blowing, fireworks, and most commonly, carpet-making factories. While the Government of India reports about 20 million children laborers, other nongovernmental organizations estimate the number to be closer to 50 million. Most prevalent in the northern part of India, the exploitation of child labor has become an accepted practice, and is viewed by the local population as necessary to overcome the extreme poverty in the region. Child labor is one of the main components of the carpet industry. Factories pay children extremely low wages, for which adults refuse to work, while forcing the youngsters to slave under perilous and unhygienic labor conditions. Many of these children are migrant workers, the majority coming from northern India, who are sent away by their families to earn an income sent directly home. Thus, children are forced to endure the despicable conditions of the carpet factories, as their families depend on their wages. The situation of the children at the factories is desperate. Most work around 12 hours a day, with only small breaks for meals. Ill-nourished, the children are very often fed only minimal staples. The vast majority of migrant child workers who cannot return home at night sleep alongside of their loom, further inviting sickness and poor health. Taking aggressive action to eliminate this problem is difficult in a nation where 75 percent of the population lives in rural areas, most often stricken by poverty. Children are viewed as a form of economic security in this desolate setting, necessary to help supplement their families' income. Parents often sacrifice their children's education, as offspring are often expected to uphold their roles as wage-earning members of their clan. The Indian Government has taken some steps to alleviate this monumental problem. In 1989, India invoked a law that made the employment of children under age 14 illegal, except in family-owned factories. However, this law is rarely followed, and does not apply to the employment of family members. Thus, factories often circumvent the law through claims of hiring distant family. Also, in rural areas, there are few enforcement

mechanisms, and punishment for factories violating the mandate is minimal, if not nonexistent. Legal action taken against the proliferation of child labor often produces few results. Laws against such abuses have little effect in a nation where this abhorred practice is accepted as being necessary for poor families to earn an income. Thus, an extensive reform process is necessary to eliminate the proliferation of child labor abuses in India which strives to end the desperate poverty in the nation. Changing the structure of the workforce and hiring the high number of currently unemployed adults in greatly improved work conditions is only the first step in this lengthy process. New labor standards and wages must be adopted and medical examinations and minimum nutrition requirements must be established in India. Establishing schools and eliminating the rampant illiteracy that plagues the country would work to preserve structural changes. However, these changes cannot be accomplished immediately. Pressure from the international community, especially the United States Government, is absolutely necessary to bring about change in India. I believe that it is imperative for the U.S. Congress and the Clinton administration to pay more attention to the exploitation of children in India as well as other areas in South and Southeast Asia. Currently, Germany has instigated a pilot program that places a stamp on all imported carpets that are child labor free, thus urging consumers to buy these products. Because of the high price range of these carpets, similar programs can and should be given serious consideration in the United States. The Child Labor Deterrence Act of 1993, which is still under consideration, prohibits importing to the U.S. any product made, whole or in part, by children under 15 who are employed in industry. While this aspect of the bill may be effective, the United States needs to take action regarding child labor abuses, specifically targeted at India. Mr. Speaker, I call on every Member of Congress to pay more attention to this littlerecognized problem. We must acknowledge the fact that we cannot continue to sustain the exploitation of children by purchasing carpets woven by the hands of children.

PANGAEA Street Children - Community Children Worldwide Resource Library

Photo of Franklin (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) by B. Hayskar

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that is the essence of inhumanity. --From The Devil's Disciple by George Bernard Shaw

The United Nations has been attributed as estimating the population of street children worldwide at 150 million, with the number rising daily. These young people are more appropriately known as community children, as they are the offspring of our communal world. Ranging in age from three to eighteen, about 40 percent of those are homeless-as a percentage of world population, unprecendented in the history of civilization. The other 60 percent work on the streets to support their families. They are unable to attend school and are considered to live in "especially difficult circumstances." Increasingly, these children are the defenseless victims of brutal violence, sexual exploitation, abject neglect, chemical addiction, and human rights violations. This collection of readings is provided for those concerned about protecting and improving the lives of the world's street children-- our community children--and helping them to their full human potential. Your comments are welcome, as well as contributions of additional resource materials, to: [email protected]. Please provide the source, author and date for all submissions, along with links. Materials of historic background would also be helpful.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material on Street Children Worldwide is provided as a public service without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Materials relating to PANGAEA books and products, however, are protected by International Copyright Law and may not be reproduced in any form, including electronic, without the express prior written permission of the publisher. A copyright notice appears on all web pages to which this pertains.

It depends completely on the circumstances, tasks and activities carried out if this work is hazardous for the child or not. We can assume that what is hazardous for adults will also be hazardous for children. However, children are more vulnerable since they are in physical and mental development. Children are often “achievers”, they want to perform well and are inexperienced and untrained in dealing with hazards. Tools and machines are not made for them, and thus pose more hazards. They are also not organized and powerless. All those factors contribute to the fact that the same task carried out by children can be more hazardous for children than for adults. The effects of hazardous child labour vary from skin disease to asthma to (in the worst case) fatal injuries. Not only physical, but also mental and behavioural problems can be the result of hazardouschild labour.