Child Labour
News Service ~ December 6, 2000
Human Rights Defender Attacked - An Urgent
Appeal For Action. First UN Treaty Against Transnational Organized
Crime Adopted By Assembly. "World Doing Little To Save Children
From Sexual Exploitation" - Report. South African Child Sex
Industry Growing Rapidly. News-In-Brief
Children's
Rights Is In A Sorry State In Nepal, Yubaraj Sangroula (CeLRRd )
~ November
40 Percent Of LTTE
Cadres Are Children: Envoy,
Times of India ~ Nov. 17
Child Labour
News Service ~ 15 November 2000
Child Labour News is a
service of the Global March Against Child Labour and have been
produced by the South Asia Coalition on Child Servitude as a
non-commercial public service and may be reproduced without charge.
For further information contact: Upasana ChoudhryEditor, Child Labour
News Service c/o Global March Against Child Labour, L-6 Kalkaji, New
Delhi 110 019 ~ Tel : (91 11) 622 4899, 647 5481 ~ Fax : (91 11) 623
6818 ~ Email : yatra@del2.vsnl.net.in ~ childhood@globalmarch.org ~
Website: http://www.globalmarch.org
Joint Effort Agreed To Curb Trafficking.
Malawi's Tobacco, Tea Risk Facing Sanctions. South Africa Gets
'Thumbs Up' On Child Labour Activities. More Than 400,000 Children
Illegally Employed In Italy. News-In-Brief
Child Labour
News Service, 1 September 2000
Little Slaves Pack (Un)happy Meals.
Legislation On Child Prostitutes Questioned. Look What They Make
These Kids Do. News-In-Brief & Announcements
Street
Children In Central America Victims Of Indifference, By
Néfer Muñoz ~ Aug. 29
"Sex
Tourists" Face Prosecution At Home, By Mahesh Uniyal ~ Aug. 23
Child Labor
Code Caught Between Principles And Necessity, By Abraham Lama ~
Aug. 23
Children As
Victims And Pawns Of War In Colombia, By Yadira Ferrer ~ August 21
War-Affected
Youth Subject Of Major Global Conference, By Thalif Deen ~ August 21
After Deaths
In Japan, Nation Rethinks Corporal Punishment, By Suvendrini
Kakuchi ~ August 21
Liberian
Refugee Children Run Out Of School Funds, By Marwaan Macan-Markar
~ August 21
Poverty In
Argentina Impacting Kids Nutrition, School Performance, By
Marcela Valente ~ August 17
Child Labour
News Service ~ 15 August 2000
Officials Turn Blind Eye To Child
Trafficking. Trade Unions Survey Reveals Mass Exploitation Of
Children. Least Visible, Most Vulnerable. Imprisoned Childhood,
Ailing Youth And Uncertain Future. News-In-Brief. Announcements
What Is Best
For AIDS Orphans? By Marwaan Macan-Markar ~ July 30
NGOs Seek
Concrete Action To Protect Children In War, By Thalif Deen ~ July 26
Circus
Schools In Brazil Rescue Kids From The Streets, By Mario Osava ~
July 21
Saving
Romania's Abandoned Children, By Marian Chiriac ~ July 20
CHILD LABOUR
NEWS SERVICE ~ 1, August 2000
UN Signs Up With Big Business To Promote
Values. G8 Summit: Pledges, Yes; Funds, No. 100,000 Children Treated
As Slaves In Peru. News-In-Brief. Announcements
Sri Lanka's
Tamil Tigers Bait Children, Parents, By Feizal Samath ~ July 19
Keeping
Pregnant Teenagers In School In Chile, By Gustavo González
~ July 17
Australian
Students Target "Child Labor Firms" For Olympics,
United Students Against Sweatshops ~ July 19
CHILD LABOUR
NEWS SERVICE ~ 15 July 2000
Brazil Strikes Against Child Prostitution.
Clinton Inks Child Protection Agreement. Benin Sourcing Children For
Labour Says Report. News-In-Brief
CHILD LABOUR
NEWS SERVICE ~ 1 July 2000
Negotiations Mark Copenhagen Plus Five.
Child Labour Under Scrutiny In US. Italy Comes To The Rescue Of
Senegalese Children. News-In-Brief
A
Link to UNICEF's Report "The State of the World's Children",
(This is an External Link)
INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE ON CHILD LABOUR
Collection of Articles on: Elián
Gonzalez (Last Updated August 2)
top of page
Child
Labour News Service
December 6, 2000
Human Rights
Defender Attacked - An Urgent Appeal For Action
First UN
Treaty Against Transnational Organized Crime Adopted
"World
Doing Little To Save Children From Sexual Exploitation" - Report
South African
Child Sex Industry Growing Rapidly
News-In-Brief
*********************************************
Human
Rights' Defender Attacked - An Urgent Appeal For Action
Phillaur, Jalandhar (India): In an
unsuccessful bid, three farm owners, allegedly in connivance with the
local police on December 3, 2000 made a murderous attempt on the life
of Mr. Jai Singh, a human rights activist.
Mr. Jai Singh, Regional Co-ordinator South
Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS), has been actively working
for the liberation of bonded and child labourers for over two decades.
This was the fourth attempt to his life.
The activist alleged that the farm owners
hatched a conspiracy against him as he had last month rescued two
victimised farm labourers, Rohi Ram and Birbal Singh, who were being
exploited under the age-old 'Siri' system.
Reacting sharply to the situation, Kailash
Satyarthi, Chairperson SACCS, which has for over two decades been
engaged in liberating children from servitude, said, "It is
unfortunate that slavery still exists like a black spot on the face
of humankind."
Condemning the incident Mr. Satyarthi, who
is also the Chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour, called
for an urgent action. He demanded that "It is high time that
steps be taken to protect the victims of exploitation, as well as
their defenders'."
Time and again incidents of violence towards
the human rights activists have been reported.
"I wish to make an urgent appeal that
we all should stand together and fight this grave injustice," he added.
(For more information please contact Mr. Jai
Singh, People's Vigilance Committee on Bonded Child and Migrant
Labour, Tel.: (91 1862) 22 432)
END
top of news service
First UN
Treaty Against Transnational Organised Crime Adopted By Assembly
With increasing international alarm at the
growing power of criminal groups and their involvement in new and
alarmingly exploitative crimes, the General Assembly has adopted the
first international treaty to address these concerns.
The United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organised Crime is intended to close the major
loopholes blocking international efforts to crack down on those
engaged in a wide range of highly profitable illegal enterprises,
ranging from money laundering to trafficking in human beings. Also
adopted were two protocols to the treaty covering combating the
trafficking in women and children -- whether for exploitation as
cheap labour, or as prostitutes -- and the smuggling of would-be
immigrants, which is often carried out at great peril to the victims.
"The Convention adopted will be a
welcome tool for investigators, prosecutors and judges throughout the
world," said Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the
Vienna-based United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime
Prevention (ODCCP), which did the behind-the-scenes work that
contributed to agreement on the texts in record time of less than two
years. "This milestone measure is a living tribute to the
thousands of men and women who have lost their lives in pursuit of a
world free of mafias, drug cartels and criminal gangs."
The Convention will be opened for signature
at a conference in Palermo, Italy, to be held from 12 to 15 December
2000, and will come into force after it has been signed and ratified
by 40 countries. At least 20 heads of State will attend the Palermo meeting.
Under the terms of the Convention, countries
would commit themselves to criminalising participation in an
organised criminal group, money laundering, corruption and
obstruction of justice, as well as to eliminating "safe
havens", protecting witnesses, and facilitating the
investigation and prosecution of cases involving more than one
country. The Protocols seek to promote international co-operation and
strengthen national legislation to punish the traffickers and to
protect the victims.
What was critical, however, would be its
implementation. The first steps had been taken, but there was still a
long way to go.
(For more information, including complete
texts of the Convention and Protocols, please visit the Palermo
Signing Conference web site at http://www.odccp.org/palermo/)
END
top of news service
"World
Doing Little To Save Children From Sexual Exploitation" - Report
BANGKOK: Child sex exploitation has been
allowed to flourish around the world as national governments fail to
act on their commitments to stamp out the practice, a report said.
Four years after the Stockholm World
Congress on child sex exploitation where 122 nations resolved to
draft action plans to protect their young, only 29 had kept their
promises, said child rights campaigners ECPAT.
The findings were compiled by the committee
to End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT), one
of three international agencies that organised the Stockholm conference.
The 178-page report, titled "Looking
Back, Thinking Forward," was funded by the European Union and
the Swedish International Development Agency as part of an ongoing
plan to monitor the responses of countries that participated in the conference.
"In every continent, child victims of
commercial sex exploitation are found," ECPAT -- End Child
Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking -- said in a statement.
"Law enforcement officials impeded by
ignorance and corruption are failing to provide these children with
the protection that they are entitled to."
At the second world congress, to be held in
Yokohama, Japan, from December 16 to 20, governments will be urged to
step up their efforts to develop plans to end the abuse.
"States must be forcefully reminded of
their failure to live up to the promises made in Stockholm only four
years ago," said ECPAT International chief Muireann O Briain.
The child sex industry is continuing to
thrive thanks to several new factors, including the advent of the
Internet which has helped paedophiles form networks and gain better
access to victims, ECPAT said.
HIV-AIDS has made children the main targets,
as they are considered less likely than the adult prostitutes to
infect their clients with the disease. Some even believe sex with a
young child is a cure for the infection.
Trafficking in children, particularly in
Eastern Europe, has boomed since the break-up of the Soviet Union, it said.
Report co-ordinator, Emma Morley, said that
on the positive side, rights groups had succeeded in substantially
boosting awareness of commercial child sex abuse.
Several airlines had agreed to screen videos
warning their passengers against procuring children for sex, before
they touched down in notorious red-light holiday destinations.
Also, many countries had taken steps to
improve legislation to protect children.
"However, extremely poor law
enforcement remains a major problem," Morley said, adding that
exploitation of children often went hand-in- hand with corrupt police
forces and courts.
"Too often, victims are treated as
criminals rather than as victims," she said.
Another problem was the severe lack of
rehabilitation and recovery services for children after they are
rescued from sexual slavery.
The report urged nations attending the
Yokohama conference to act swiftly on establishing action plans and
to improve the enforcement of current laws.
(From the files of Agence France-Presse)
END
top of news service
South
African Child Sex Industry Growing Rapidly
Cape Town, South Africa - Child sex was a
lucrative market in Gauteng and the Western Cape, with children as
young as four-years-old being sold into the international racket,
Molo Songololo, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) said.
The research report was undertaken by the
Cape Town-based NGO dealing with children's issues, and is endorsed
by the Office of the Rights of the Child, which is based in the
Office of the President.
The report, the first of its kind in South
Africa, focuses on in-country trafficking of girl-children, and cross
border trafficking of girl and boy children.
The report also provides information on
trafficking routes, the traffickers, trafficking operations and the
conditions in which children are held captive.
It indicates the involvement of gangs,
transnational criminal syndicates and individuals.
The report says children are abducted from
city centres by gangs or debt- bonded by their parents.
Nigerian criminals operating in South Africa
were identified as serious offenders.
The report said the child sex industry is
one of the fastest and most lucrative criminal enterprises in the
world, with estimated profits of about 12 billion dollars.
The report, which took five months to
compile, interviewed 20 girls and conducted research in the Western
Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
The organisation said there were no accurate
figures for child prostitution in South Africa, but that in 1998, one
quarter of the prostitutes arrested in Cape Town were under the age
of 18.
"The children's desire for rescue and
safety comes across clearly as a challenge to a system and society
that currently provides little intervention or response to such
children," the organisation said in a statement.
END
top of news service
News-In-Brief
-- ILO Worst Forms Of Child Labour
Convention Comes Into Force
The ILO Convention on the Elimination of the
Worst Forms of Child Labour came into force November 19 with nearly
25% of the organisation's 175 members participating as formal
signatories. Now that the convention is in force, its signatories
must take immediate and effect action to prohibit and eliminate
slavery, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography and other forms of
abusive child labour, and ILO members who have not yet ratified the
convention must gear their policies toward the effective abolition of
child labour. All members of the ILO are also legally bound to report
annually to the organisation on their efforts to end both the worst
forms of child labour and child labour in general (as defined under
Convention 138 on Minimum Age). Forty-nine countries have ratified
Convention 182 since it was adopted in June 1999.
-- WTO Inquired About Child Exploitation In Tourism
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has
sought details from Pakistan about child abuse/ exploitation in the
tourism industry as well as the steps that are being taken by the
government to stop this practice. In an official letter to the
government, WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli made inquiries
specifically about child prostitution and child abuse in the tourism
sector. Three years ago, the WTO created the Child Prostitution and
Tourism Task Force in co-operation with countries, tourism agencies
and non-governmental organizations to counteract sexual exploitation
of children.
A global code of ethics for tourism, adopted
by consensus at the last WTO General Assembly in Santiago, pressured
countries to fight against child sexual exploitation, but Frangialli
added that tough legislation is also required in countries where the
practice is flourishing.
-- Romania Ratifies International Convention
Banning Child Labour
Romania has ratified the ILO Convention on
Worst Forms of Child Labour. The ILO programme introduced in Romania
for the first time enjoys financial support from the US
administration (600,000 USD) and will span two years. The
International Program to Eliminate Child Labour, is chiefly meant to
give assistance with averting the expansion of child labour,
consolidating the government and non-government agencies in view of
securing the implementation in a long run of the national policies
and of programs to fight child labour.
-- Paedophile's Light Sentence Weakens Crackdown
A provincial court handed former school
headmaster Jon Keeler a relatively light sentence of three years -
even though Cambodian law calls for 10 to 20 years in prison for the
charge of debauchery with a minor. The sentence drew outrage from
many child protection activists, who wanted a strong message from the
courts. The case comes as Cambodia is in the middle of a major
campaign to fight child trafficking and exploitation. The efforts
will continue to be undermined unless the courts back up enforcement
with stiff sentences, activists insist. Keeler was caught filming his
video in a park with four young girls - activists had hoped his case
would be used to set an example.
-- Nigeria, ILO Agree To Eradicate Child Labour
Nigeria and the International Labour
Organisation have signed a MOU towards the implementation of a
programme on the elimination of child labour in the country. Justice
Minister and Attorney General Bola Ige disclosed the signing of the
MOU at the opening of the first National Summit on Children in Abuja.
He said in addition to the agreement, a national plan of action had
been developed by the ministry to tackle the problem of child labour,
child trafficking and child prostitution. Ige said a draft bill
encapsulating all other child-rights related laws was being fine-tuned
before presentation to state and national assemblies.
-- Survey To Assess Number Of Street
Children In Nicaragua
In an effort to eradicate child labour in
Nicaragua, the country's Labour Ministry will conduct its first
national survey at the end of this month to take stock of the numbers
of children living in the streets. Labour Ministry official Manuel
Martinez Seville said the aim of the survey is to ascertain the main
reasons children are living in the streets. "If it is a lack of
food or problems of employment for their parents, we will work for a
quick solution to them," he said. Martinez added that the survey
will cost approximately $300,000 and will be financed in part by
UNICEF. Organisers say the results of the survey will be available
next June.
-- Raid Reveals 33 Women Captive In Bosnia
UN and Bosnian Serb police rescued 33 women
forced into prostitution in northern Bosnia, the UN Mission in Bosnia
and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) said. The women, some as young as 14, were
brought from Moldova, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. "This was the
most significant police action taken to date by police in Bosnia and
Herzegovina to address the serious problem of human trafficking,"
the UNMIBH said. UNMIBH head Jacques Klein called on authorities to
punish the perpetrators for the "repugnant" crimes to the
full extent of the law. The UNMIBH is working with the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) to transport the women home.
-- Child-Release Plan Stalled As Sudan
Shelves Talks
A Canada-sponsored plan to free thousands of
kidnapped, brutalised children from rebels in southern Sudan has
bogged down, with only a handful of youngsters sent home and key
talks postponed indefinitely. The plan, heralded as a breakthrough in
September by former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, aimed to
get a steady stream of Ugandan children released from the rebel
Lord's Resistance Army. But so far, the only abductees sent home
under Canadian auspices are a group of 16, several of them adults,
who escaped on their own from LRA camps.
-- International Programme Launched To End
Nepal's Slave Labour
The ILO has launched a major new program to
achieve the sustainable liberation of an estimated 75,000 men, women
and children in Nepal who have been freed from bonded labour. The
project will include vocational training, education, legal and
counselling services, small business loans, and other support for
newly freed bonded labourers in order to prevent them from
re-entering exploitative forms of labour. The $3.5 million project is
being funded with a grant from the U.S. Department of Labour.
-- Child Domestic Beaten Up By Ex-employer
In a shocking incident, Kishan, a 10 year
old, child domestic workers was cruelly beaten up by his former
employer, in Patna, Bihar (India) for the simple reason that he chose
to work at another place. The child, an orphan, was taken as a
domestic servant by Shyam Kishore Yadav, a police officer, a month
ago. As he was often ill-treated, Kishan ran away and started working
at a roadside tea shop. His former master found him out and
mercilessly beat him. The case has now been taken up by the South
Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS).
-- Netherlands Grants $1.2 Million For Child Protection
The Netherlands announced a $1.2 million
grant for child protection programs in Indonesia through UNICEF.
"Today's initiative is a key activity in the fight for the
rights of children in Indonesia," said Netherlands Ambassador
Baron Schelto van Heemstra. Street children and child workers must be
given the opportunity to attend school, van Heemstra said. Six
million Indonesian children ages 7 to 15 dropped out of school
following the 1997 economic crisis. Some 70,000 of them, mostly
girls, were pushed into prostitution, according to UNICEF.
-- Malawi Ups' Pressure Against Child Labour
At Tobacco Estates
Following local and international
condemnation, Malawi has formed a special unit to end abuse of child
labour rampant at the country's 30,000 tobacco estates. The country
is world's biggest exporter of air-dried burley tobacco. Key players
in the trade unions, the labour ministry, industry and commerce,
along with the sole cigarette manufacturer British Africa Tobacco
(BAT) have agreed to be part of the task force. The committee to look
into the problem is to assess the extent of the problem and propose
means to integrate those children already on farms in schools. It is
also expected to come up with penalties for farmers who continue to
use child labour.
-- Sahelian Countries Adopt Education Strategy
Six Sahelian nations on Monday pledged to
draw on their own resources to improve education, and urged
international donors to follow-up with assistance that would give
them greater independence in implementing their programmes. Officials
agreed to commit half of their education budgets to primary
education, and to set aside 4 percent of gross domestic product and
contribute 40 percent of debt relief savings to education.
END
top of page
Children's
Rights Is In A Sorry State In Nepal
Yubaraj
Sangroula ( CeLRRd ) ~ November
A JOINT APPEAL FROM:
The Centre for Legal Research and Resource
Development, CeLRRd - Community Legal Research Centres, Jhapa,
Sunsari, Udayapur, Parsa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Banke, Kanchanpur and
Dadeldhura. Kathmandu School of Law and Kathamndu School of Law
Students' Society
Sub: Call for Serious Attention
Dear Friends,
As many of you know CeLRRd, with research
support of Kathmandu School of Law, is launching legal aid services
for 1200 prisoners through out the country. While visiting jails, we
are frequently encountering cases where children are charged with
crimes without any consideration in laxity of sentences. A few weeks
ago, we discovered a case in Kathmandu where a child was found
languishing in judicial custody for not being able to pay bail bond
of a few hundred rupees. It is a matter of disgrace to say that trial
judges, who are supposed to pay serious attention to the protection
of children's rights, are not bit concerned with child psychology and
welfare while making detention order. The child we found in the jail
was incarcerated with adults awaiting trial. It is not healthy
practice. CeLRRd paid the bail bond and the boy is released. While
he, coming to Prisoners Legal Aid Clinic at CeLRRd, said he was just
14 years of age, but his age was increased to 16 years so that the
police and prosecutors could avoid the procedures they are supposed
to follow in a juvenile case.
In a widely noticed murder case in
Kathmandu, where a girl was raped and murdered in a house of a
Supreme Court Judges, a boy had been arrested and alleged to commit
the crime. The boy's father has a birth registration certificate of
the accused child, which shows the boy's age as 15 years, however, he
has been submitted in the court as a man of 16 years. The District
Court did not pay attention to this proof which is the only valid
official document for determination of the age in Nepal. The boy
named Sumod Mandal has now been languishing in Dilli Bazar shanty jail.
A similar situation is in Nepalgunj, where a
14 years old boy has been charged with the crime of robbery. His age
has been increased by three years, so that he can be sentenced with
stiffer penalty. More and more such cases are coming to CeLRRd. The
increment of age to avoid the juvenile procedure has been seen a
growing tendency. It clearly shows the dishonesty and insensitivity
on the part of criminal justice components, the police, government
attorney and the trial court.
Nepal has signed all the international human
rights instruments, including Child Rights Convention. Nepal has been
a country in the SAARC region which has a specific law on children
enacted as an instrument to give proper implementation to the Child
Rights Convention. But then why the institutions of justice are
playing such "foul games". If they understand that by
incarcerating people in the jails they can control the crimes, it
would be nothing but a foolishness.
CeLRRd has been noticing that at least one
seminar a week on criminal justice is being organized in the
Kathmandu Valley itself. Responsible and leaders of the concerned
intuitions make "prolifically nice speeches", but just
forget to see that "by feigning the age of a child in the
process of fair trial" they are not cheating the children but
the future of the country. Obviously, with these instances "the
state of fair trial in Nepal has put in crisis". A country which
carries out acts which dilute the process of fair trial does not only
dilute the "course of justice" but also ignores the
"safety of the society".
The governmental commitment with regard to
children's rights has already been proved a "lip service".
To take the instance of "Bal Chetana Samuha", a NGO founded
by children has been unduly banned by the formal but "disgraceful
and ant-rule of law" decision. Officially founded as a NGO, Bal
Chetana Samuha's registration was unilaterally cancelled even without
giving a notice to defend their cause. This is clearly a violation of
the commitment to the children's rights as well as the rule of law.
These instances should draw attention of the
concerned people in quite a initial stage, otherwise the situation
will progress to "chronic violation".
Related issues to children which should draw
attention of the people of the "Mushroom" boarding schools,
which in name of so-called" quality education, are forcing on
the head of children such stuff which are adequately enough to
misbalance their mind. They have no leisure at school, nor at home.
The homework they are forced on heir shoulders are just "crazy
stuff". Parents cheating in the name of library fee and etc. is
not only the problems, but the "eyes", the "back"
and "shoulders" pains the children report are the problem
and, thus are clear violation of the children rights.
We have a question:
Should not we do something, including
popular cases in the courts against the culprits ? We need your
suggestions and help doing research in all these kinds of cases. We
have a great experience of support in the past. We were so lucky to
receive so many good advices and arguments for case of
"Incest", where a "widow" has been criminally
charged with "incest" for her marriage to brother in law.
We have just finished the "argument of the case in the Supreme
Court". We believe that "the Supreme Court has to no option
but to quash the allegation now pending at the trial court". We
want to take up the "children's abuse in the school and criminal
trial" in the Supreme Court and foil the "deplorable
condition of injustice and exploitation". We also believe that
"people and organizations" involved in drafting the
governemntal report on the Child Rights Convention will also take the
issues in notice.
Advocate, Kishor Silwal, CeLRRd. Advocate,
Yubaraj Sangroula, KSL. Law Student, Pawana Burlakoti, KSL,SS.
Advocate, Gagendra Acharya, Shiva Raj Chauhan, Baldev Choudhary,
Rajeshor Tiwari, Gagendra Osti, Bhupendra Poudel, Jhabindra Poudel,
Atmadev Joshi, Chet Raj Bhatta, CLRCs.
If you have any advice or comments please
send these to: Yubaraj
Sangroula (CeLRRd ) or to Gregory
J. Smith, Children
At Risk Foundation - CARF's
Listserv
END
top of page
40 Percent Of
LTTE Cadres Are Children: Envoy
Times
of India ~ Nov. 17
ARLINGTON, Virginia: Sri Lanka's Ambassador
to the United States, Warnasena Rasaputram, has said that the
separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been
increasingly recruiting children to fight its war against the Sri
Lankan security forces in defiance of mounting international opposition.
Rasaputram, who was the keynote speaker at
an international seminar this week on "Terrorism and Children in
the 21st Century: National, Regional and Global Perspectives,"
at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies -- a think tank that
focuses on international terrorism -- warned, "If such a brutal
terrorist group, recognised as the deadliest terrorist group in the
world succeeds, can any country bear the consequences of fascism and
terrorism not only on adults but also on children."
In a revealing disclosure, the envoy said
that, "according to estimates taken from the dead cadres of the
LTTE, nearly 40 per cent of their fighters consists of children
between nine and 19 years of age."
"Though international and national
organisations are campaigning to stop children from being recruited
to the LTTE, there is no known mechanism by which this can be
supervised when it comes to a ruthless terrorist group like the
LTTE," Rasaputram said.
He said the children "have been
brainwashed and indoctrinated to respect their leaders as a God and
are told that after their death they will becomeeternal heroes in
their community." He said commemorative events such as Heroes
Day "tend to make them believe that even in death they will be revered."
The ambassador also acknowledged that in
high-risk operations, children had been found to perform better than
adults "as they do not think very far,"and as today's
weapons "are very light the children can carry them without difficulty."
Rasaputram also said "the regular army
and the security people are soft on children and will not shoot at
them at random when they are confronted.Children have been used to
spy on the army and in several areas approach to the army camps and
attacks have been easy as children are normally not suspected by the army."
"They creep through barbed wire and cut
them with ease and they have formed the first wave of suicide
attackers. They are used to gather intelligence and monitor army
movements with the least amount of suspicion," he added.
"The performance of the LTTE Baby
Brigade has become increasingly dramatic and they have made daring
attacks to capture weaponry and strategic grounds," the envoy
said. The LTTE recruits its child soldiers from schools and
"teachers who try to protect the children from the LTTE are
marked for elimination," Rasaputram said.
He noted that the Jaffna University Teachers
on Human Rights had documentedseveral cases where the LTTE had
eliminated several teachers who had attempted to oppose its
recruitment of children.
The envoy accused the LTTE of
"destroying an entire generation of Tamilchildren," and
even if they are lucky enough to survive being killed, "they
will always bear the psychological scars of inflicting terror on
others," since these children are also called upon to kill other
Tamil children who try to escape from the LTTE training camps.(IANS)
END
top of page
CHILD
LABOUR NEWS SERVICE
15 November 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
*************************************
** Joint
Effort Agreed To Curb Trafficking
** Malawi's
Tobacco, Tea Risk Facing Sanctions
** South
Africa Gets 'Thumbs Up' On Child Labour Activities
** More Than
400,000 Children Illegally Employed In Italy
** News-In-Brief
*************************************
Joint
Effort Agreed To Curb Trafficking
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to sign
their first bilateral memorandum to combat trafficking in women and
children, a measure expected to help protect those targeted by human
smuggling syndicates. The basics for a draft memorandum of
understanding were discussed at a two-day workshop on ending
trafficking in women and children organised by the Mekong Region Law
Centre, the National Youth of Thailand and the Coalition to Fight
Against Child Exploitation.
The sketch draft requires both governments
to provide education and vocational training along with job
opportunities to protect women and children vulnerable to
trafficking; provide better social welfare services for the
underprivileged; exchange information and develop a legal framework
for prosecution of traffickers; treat people being trafficked as
victims and repatriate them safely through diplomatic channels and;
facilitate the recovery and reintegration of victims into their communities.
Saisuree Chutikul, Chairperson of the
Sub-committee on the Elimination of Trafficking in Women and
Children, National Youth Bureau, said the memorandum was inspired by
the increasing number of children and women from Cambodia who have
been lured into working illegally in Thailand. "The Cambodians
are lured and forced into work as prostitutes and beggars in
Thailand. Some are beaten and abused when they refuse to work. The
draft will be a mechanism and channel to facilitate the suppression
of syndicates, to prevent them from continuing their work,"
Saisuree said.
According to the draft, the trafficking
category would include those people smuggled into the country for
purposes of prostitution, forced domestic labour, servile marriage,
false adoption, sex tourism and entertainment, pornography and forced
begging. Saisuree stressed that women and children who are found to
have been trafficked into Thailand tend to be deported at the
earliest opportunity, thus preventing police from obtaining key
information and evidence directly from the victims. "Those
victims are excellent sources for police and the concerned
authorities. So they should stay in shelters in Thailand to provide
information about the syndicates before being sent back,"
Saisuree said. It is not certain when the memorandum would be
completed or when it would become effective. It is up to both
countries to decide. Once the memorandum goes into force, it could be
a model for further agreements Thailand could have with other countries.
(From files of The Nation Bangkok)
END
start of
child labor news
Malawi's
Tobacco, Tea Risk Facing Sanctions
Blantyre, Malawi: The International Labour
Organisation (ILO) warned Malawi that it faced international trade
sanctions unless the small central African country immediately cut
back on its widespread use of child labour on tobacco and tea
estates. The ILO and Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) both
warned Malawi would face international censure because the practise
violated the United Nations Declaration on Children's Rights.
"Malawi currently has one of the worst child labour records.
Tobacco and tea, which are the country's major export earners, are
also the major exploiters of children," said MCTU secretary
general Francis Antonio.
Antonio conceded, however, that it was
difficult to give exact figures for labour abuses because, he said,
employers' regularly cheated on surveys on the ages of workers.
Antonio said ILO research, conducted in collaboration with MCTU and
other unions, indicated that a significant percent of estate workers
were under-aged children who were paid lower than average salaries to
work in dangerous environments. The survey, released at the weekend,
attributed growing child labour to chronic poverty in Malawi's and
increasing production costs and warned that preferential trade
agreements with European and American countries were in danger unless
the situation was rectified immediately. MCTU is meanwhile pressing
Malawi's government to pass a tough new anti- labour Bill,
effectively barring employers from employing anyone under the age of 16.
Malawi Labour and Vocational Training
Minister, Peter Chupa, admitted that the country had a child labour
problem but stressed that government was working with trade unions to
stamp the abuses out. Chupa said a recent government initiative saw
labour ministry officials impound a vehicle transporting 29 children,
aged between 11 and 19, from southern Malawi to tobacco estates in
the northern part of the country "It is pathetic that despite
Malawi's ratification of the UN convention on child labour, which
disallows the employment of children under the age of 18, some
companies still deliberately flout the provisions of the
convention," he said. "Companies which flout the
conventions provisions retard government's development endeavours and
deprive school-going youths from attaining a real education that
would benefit the country in the future." Chupa added that
Malawi's already stricken economy could "sink into an abyss"
if the international sanctions were imposed tobacco and tea exports.
The two cash crops remain Malawi's economic backbone, with tobacco
alone fetching more than 65 percent of the country's foreign earnings.
(From the files of Africa News Service)
END
start of
child labor news
South
Africa Gets 'Thumbs Up' On Child Labour Activities
Unlike many parts of the world, the use of
child labour in South Africa (SA) is not a common phenomenon. Child
labour as it is raditionally understood is a rarity in the country,
according to a survey on child labour conducted by Statistics SA
(Stats SA). Stats SA acting head, Dr Ross Hirschowitz, said that
exploitative child labour consuming large amounts of children's time
is rare in SA. The results of the survey, launched in Pretoria,
showed that out of 13,4-million children aged between five and 17,
1.4% were engaged in commercial agriculture, while only 0.4% were
engaged in manufacturing. Only 0.5% were engaged in construction and mining.
What the survey revealed was that while
exploitative labour is rare, SA children are expected to undertake
activities, which contribute both at home and in school, said
Hirschowitz. These activities do not take up much of the children's
time, nor are they harmful or dangerous, he said. Finance Minister,
Trevor Manuel, said the survey was good news and that this was also
reflected in a rise in school enrolment, currently above 95%. That is
comparable to the richest countries in the world, said
Manuel.Children's involvement in subsistence agriculture is mainly
sparked by a need to escape poverty, said Hirschowitz. The children
are involved in fetching wood and water in areas where infrastructure
is lacking. They assist in domestic chores and school maintenance as
a contribution to home and community.
Children aged between five and 17, who may
be involved in economic or non-economic activity are likely to be
African. They are also more likely to live in the deep rural parts of
the country, particularly in the former homelands, said Hirschowitz.
The survey also indicated that children's work was usually associated
with single parent families, or those living with grandparents or
without relatives. The findings of the survey, which was commissioned
by the labour department, were also welcomed by Labour Minister
Membathisi Mdladlana. He warned, however, that where child labour did
exist, government would take action against employers.
(From the files of Africa News Service)
END
start of
child labor news
More Than
400,000 Children Illegally Employed In Italy
Rome: More than 400,000 children between the
ages of 11 and 14 work in coffee shops and construction sites among
other places in Italy despite laws stating they should be in school,
a trade union report revealed. The report based on a two-year survey
showed that 47% of the children are employed by coffee shops or
restaurants, 15% by gas stations or as car park staff and 17% as
hawkers, according to the CGIL federation report which is to be
officially published soon. Another 10% were said to work as unskilled
workers, masons, plumbers or electricians on construction sites.
"It is easy to see children work in Brazil, Nepal or in the
Philippines and it is still easier to see them in India and
Bangladesh," the daily newspaper La Republica commented on the
report."But it is not hard either to find them close to us."
Child labour is rampant in economically
depressed southern Italy but many children are also found working in
the more affluent northeast of the country. In the south, children
work in companies, which seek cheap labour, said Luigi Agostini of
the CGIL's social department. But in the north they mainly help out
in family businesses. Education is compulsory in Italy until the age
of 15, but 42% of those working before that age have dropped out of
school, while the rest is trying to attend classes in spite of a busy
work schedule. The report said the latter was notably the case with
Asian immigrants who help their parents after school.
More than a half of the children also work
more than eight hours a day but forego any of the benefits enjoyed by
regular workers, such as fixed work hours or paid vacations. Their
status also makes them prone to accidents, with 13% of cases
reported. But employers have also sought to cover up a stunning 61%
of accidents, according to the report. Four out of 10 children make
less than 200,000 lire ($89) a month and only 4% gain more than one
million lire. The figures drew a bitter reaction by the head of the
CGIL Institute for Social Research, Agostino Megale, who rapped
Italian legislators for failing to vote a law, sitting in parliament,
that would impose product labels guaranteeing that no child labour
was involved in the manufacture.
(From the files of Agence France-Presse)
END
start of
child labor news
News-In-Brief
-- ILO FUNDS ERADICATION PROJECT IN EL SALVADOR
El Salvador has launched a pilot program to
eliminate child labour with the assistance of $8.5 million from the
International Labour Organization. According to this programme,
children between ages 7 and 18 working in places of high risk will be
enrolled in formal education. Labour Minister Jorge Nieto informed
that the plan will also help parents attain better employment
opportunities, providing them with access to microcredit
opportunities to generate their own business. Some 12.4% of children
in El Salvador between the ages of 5 and 17 worked in 1996. Tanzania
and Nepal will also launch similar programs.
-- SOME PROGRESS MADE ON FORCED LABOUR, ILO
REPORT SAYS
Myanmar has changed its laws to end forced
labour but has made far less progress in putting those changes into
practice, according to an ILO report released. "Progress is far
less in evidence in terms of appropriate executive measures and the
accompanying administrative and budgetary measures," according
to the report, written by a team of ILO experts who recently visited
Myanmar. Myanmar's chief of military intelligence admitted that
forced labour had occurred in the past but promised that any
violations of a national ban on the practice would be punished, the
52-page report said. The report will be the basis of discussions next
week when the ILO governing body considers taking unprecedented
action, possibly urging governments and international organizations
to review their relations with Myanmar. According to the report, the
effectiveness of any steps Myanmar takes by next week when the ILO
considers the report "will not immediately be clear".
-- JAPAN TO ASSIST FEMALE INDONESIAN STREET CHILDREN
The Asian Development Bank launched its
Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction with a $1 million program to help
female street children in Indonesia. The fund, which has $90 million
in resources, was established in May. The Indonesian pilot project,
located in the city of Yogyakarta, will assist victims of sexual
abuse and child prostitution by providing rehabilitation and medical
services. A 1999 survey of 12 Indonesian cities found that girls make
up 20% of the country's estimated 170,000 street children, but
programs to help street children have focused on boys. If successful,
the project will be expanded to other cities.
-- TOKYO CRACKS DOWN ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
Amid criticism from child protection
advocates who accuse Japan of being lax on child pornography and
paedophile activity, a Japanese law has been used for the first time
to arrest seven people for sex offences committed abroad. At least
five of the suspects are accused of making videos of Thai minors
being sexually abused. The pornography law, which was passed last
November, bans the production, sale or possession of pornography
involving minors. Interpol says 80% of the world's child pornography
literature is made in Japan. "We want to act tough on child
pornography crimes because of mounting international criticism
against Japan," police spokesperson, Fujiyasu Otaka, remarked.
-- CAMPAIGN FOR CHILD LABOUR FREE SIALKOT
Member Federal Advisory Board and
Co-ordinator for Campaign for Child Labour Free Sialkot, Abdul
Shakoor Mirza, informed that Sialkot has become the first district of
Asia to achieve cent percent enrolment of 5-7 years olds in to
schools. He added that sincere efforts were being made for purging
soccer ball industry from child labour on permanent basis. Sialkot is
the hub of cottage industries of the country, where development of
local cottage industry has assumed a model status for the developing
world. According to a survey the city is dotted with thousands labour
intensive, small and medium sized enterprises engaged in quality
production of sports goods, surgical instruments, gloves, badges,
leather goods, martial art uniforms, cutlery and musical instruments.
This export-oriented city of the country is globally known for its
skill, craftsman and quality goods production and earning more than
$600 million annually and stands next to Karachi for export of
value-added items.
-- 6,000 CHILDREN FIGHTING FOR GUERRILLAS IN COLOMBIA
More than 6,000 children are fighting
alongside guerrilla groups in Colombia, according to a report
released by the Colombian army. Some 2,000 of these children are
younger than 15. An investigation by Defensoria del Pueblo in the
regions of Arauca, Meta and Magdalena Medio found that 18% of
children involved in the armed conflict have killed someone at least
once. The report also revealed that 83% of children who enter the
guerrilla groups joined voluntarily, while the rest say that poverty
and the lack of an alternative forced them into combat.
-- 'WORLD MIGRATION REPORT 2000'
The International Organisation for Migration
(IOM) has recently released its 'World Migration Report 2000'. The
report includes readable topical and regional overviews of migration
trends, with a look to what problems may emerge in future. IOM fears
that illegal smuggling and sex trade of humans' increases in tandem.
Migrant smuggling and trafficking is becoming one of the most
explosive branches of organised crime. An estimated 700,000 to 2
million women and children are trafficked globally each year. Many
trafficked migrants find themselves forced into prostitution and/or
effective slavery to pay off their debt to the traffickers, the IOM
said. Long distance, intercontinental smuggling reportedly is
organised by well-known ethnic crime syndicates that form strategic
global alliances linked to local networks of employers and enforcers.
-- SEX TRAFFICKING: UN POLICE CONDUCTS
SUCCESSFUL RAID IN SARAJEVO
The UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina
informed that police has conducted a major operation to curb illegal
sex trafficking of women. A raid on a local nightclub in Sarajevo
yielded 17 possible victims. The UN mission said that the raid was
"one of the most significant anti-trafficking actions taken so
far by police in Bosnia and Herzegovina." 12 of the women
claimed they were held against their will. The women are from
Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. Forced and voluntary prostitution has
increased since the 1992-95 war in Bosnia. Women from Eastern Europe
often are forced to work as prostitutes after coming to Bosnia on
promises of being employed as waitresses.
-- KOSOVO: NEW POLICE UNIT CRACKS DOWN ON
SEX TRAFFICKING
The UN Mission in Kosovo has set up a
special police unit to fight prostitution and human trafficking,
which have become significant concerns in the Yugoslav province.
UNMIK police spokesperson Derek Chappel informed that the unit of 22
officers has already started operating around the capital, Pristina.
Victims of these crimes will be offered sanctuary, medical treatment,
psychologicalcounselling and the opportunity to return to their
country of origin. Those responsible for trafficking-related crimes,
as well as customers who knowingly use "trafficking victim
prostitutes," will be arrested and prosecuted, Chappel said.
"With the formation of this unit, we will be attacking
prostitution-related crime throughout Kosovo in an organised and
systematic manner", he added.
-- THAILAND URGES VISA RESTRICTIONS
Thailand's immigration bureau has renewed
calls for a clampdown on visas in an effort to curb human
trafficking. According to police Colonel Banjongsin Raksatman,
Thailand's Tourism Authority added to the problem by making the
country easily accessible to foreigners. "We allow citizens of
97 countries to enter Thailand by asking only for a visa, and those
from 56 countries to enter without visas," he said. "This
means 90% of the world's nations can get into our country
freely." As a result, Banjongsin said, trafficking that has its
roots in transnational organised crime is difficult to stop.
Meanwhile, Thailand's National Project Committee on Trafficking in
Women and Children has been working on a 10-year program for the
region that will be presented to Thailand's cabinet in the near future.
-- ALARMING FACTS ABOUT CHILD LABOURERS IN TURKEY
ILO Turkey bureau's International Program
for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) Deputy Co-ordinator, Nejat
Kocabay, informed that child labourers are frequently preferred by
businesses as they have high productivity levels and emphasises that
children can often do delicate work with their small hands better
than adults. According to the results of the State Institute of
Statistics' (DIE) public survey on productivity, 10% of the 16
million children between the ages of six and 17 are working. Kocabay,
stated that 59% of child labourers worked for their families without
being paid for their labour and that the proportion of children who
are paid wages is 39.4.
-- FIJI: A PARADISE FOR PERVS!
Fiji is fast earning an appalling reputation
as a child-sex paradise and much of the blame is laid on New Zealand
officialdom for their "laid-back disinterest". "We
must have far more vigorous action to protect young children from
abuse by New Zealand paedophiles and sex tourists," says
Auckland-based lawyer Denise Ritchie of End Child Prostitution, Child
Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT). "Our politicians and police
are lagging disgracefully behind those in countries such as
Australia. "And thanks largely to Fiji's recent political
upheaval having damaged its economy, the country is increasingly
becoming known as an alternative destination to Thailand." In
1993, about 200 Kiwi paedophiles a week were reportedly buying sex
with children in Asia.
-- TIMOR CHILDREN 'BRAINWASHED'
At least 130 East Timorese children have
been taken from their parents in refugee camps to be trained in Java
as anti-independence activists, according to reports. Those involved
are said to have links to the militias. Humanitarian investigators
and other sources hold that the children had been taken for
indoctrination by pro-Indonesian Timorese, who refuse to accept last
year's vote for independence in East Timor. The children, aged six to
17, are thought to be among up to 1,000 children removed from the
refugee camps. Many of the others are feared to have been forced to
work in factory sweatshops or as prostitutes.
-- SENEGALESE SINGER TO HEAD CAMPAIGN
AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
The ILO has nominated Senegalese singer
Youssou N'Dour as first honorary ambassador to its worldwide campaign
against child labour. "I am determined, with my music, to break
the silence on children who are suffering, because we know that those
who suffer first during conflicts and economic problems are children
and women," N'Dour commented. "Music also constitutes a
sort of small power, a force. We can use it to support just causes
like ending the suffering of working children," he said. N'Dour
informed that he wished to establish an artists' studio in the
Senegalese capital of Dakar centred on the theme of eliminating child
labour. The nomination came as an ILO Convention forbidding the worst
forms of child labour, such as slavery and prostitution, was due to
come into effect after it was ratified by 46 states.
-- VIETNAM HAS NEARLY TWO MILLION CHILD WORKERS
Nearly 5% of Vietnam's workforce, or more
than 1.9 million people, are children under the minimum legal working
age of 15, an official daily, sparking concern from the United
Nation's children's agency. The statistic was part of the preliminary
findings of an annual workforce survey launched by the labour
ministry in July. The ministry declined to confirm any of the
findings of its survey. UNICEF spokesman, Damien Personnaz, has
expressed concerns. Two years ago, the youth ministry's Committee for
the Protection of Children gave UNICEF a figure of 29,000 for the
number of child labourers most seriously at risk.
-- 'PRIMARY EDUCATION MADE COMPULSORY TO
OVERCOME CHILD LABOUR MENACE'
The NWFP Minister for Industries, Labour,
Transport, Owais Ghani, informed that the government has made primary
education compulsory to overcome the menace of child labour. A number
of model schools have already been established under workers welfare
board where government would provide free education, texts books and
uniform facilities. Four such schools would be completed next year
and planning is to have one school in each district of the province
in future.
-- NEW DEAL RAISES FEARS WITH UNITED
Shareholders United expressed grave concerns
about Manchester United's new record kit deal with Nike. Nike will
replace Umbro as United's kit manufacturers from July 2002 in a
13-year deal with a staggering pounds 302.9 million. They are worried
the Reds may be in breach of their own club charter because of the
allegations that Nike uses child labour. "Article 1.6 of the new
club charter says, 'Manchester United plc opposes the exploitation of
child labour. No orders will be placed from suppliers employing child
labour under the age allowed in the country concerned'. Shareholders
United fully support this."
END
top of page
Child
Labour News Service
1 September 2000
***************************************************
** Little
Slaves Pack (Un)happy Meals
** Legislation
On Child Prostitutes Questioned
** Look What
They Make These Kids Do
** News-In-Brief
& Announcements
***************************************************
Little
Slaves Pack (Un)happy Meals
Toys sold with McDonald's meals are being
made with the help of child labourers who work 16 hours a day and
earn 1.5 yuan an hour in sweatshop conditions.
City Toys Ltd in Shajing, Shenzhen, employs
children as young as 14 who work from 7am until as late as midnight
for 24 yuan (about HK$23) a day, packing toys for McDonald's.
The company - a subsidiary of Hong
Kong-based Pleasure Tech Holdings Ltd - is contracted to produce the
toys by McDonald's supplier Simon Marketing (Hong Kong) Ltd.
City Toys Director, Jack Lau Kim-hung, told
that he "knew nothing about the underage workers" and would
try to find out.
Young workers at the factory say they
produce Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh, Hello Kitty and other toys sold with
McDonald's meals in Hong Kong and in branches of the fast-food chain
around the world.
Investigations have found that underage
workers use fake ID cards to get jobs at the factory and are
estimated to make up about 20 per cent of the workforce.
They slept on wooden beds without mattresses
and shared a 200 to 300-square-foot (18 to 27-square-metre) room with
15 others, costing them 60 renmenbi a month.
While they had one to two days off a month,
they could not leave the district where the factory was located
because they could not afford the 350 renmenbi permit required for
them to stay in Shenzhen.
McDonald's issued a statement saying it had
a strict code of practice governing labour rights - including a
clause outlawing child labour - and carried out periodic audits.
The Christian Industrial Committee, a labour
union that visited the factory on a number of occasions over the past
two months, said the firm was exploiting workers. The group estimates
that of the 2,000 workers in the factory, more than 400 are underage.
"All people aged under 16 are forbidden
to work in China," said researcher Parry Leung Paknang.
"At Shajing town, the minimum wage is
419 yuan a month in 2000," Mr Leung said, explaining that the
minimum wage was on the basis that a worker does eight hours a day,
five days a week. "The firm therefore is against the ordinance."
The latest report by the International
Labour Organisation revealed that among children aged 10 to 14 on the
mainland, 11.6 per cent were working, which translates into 13.3
million youngsters.
(From the files of South China Morning Post)
END
Start of Child
Labour News
Legislation
On Child Prostitutes Questioned
Legislation should be amended to ensure that
child prostitutes be treated as victims and not criminals, a
conference on children's rights heard in Bloemfontein recently.
Children caught selling their bodies were
still subject to prosecution, while some pieces of legislation did
not even mention the culpability of their customers, according to
Andre Viviers, Assistant Director in the Department of Welfare.
"The majority of legislation in South
Africa were designed by people who had no understanding of the
dynamics of the child sex industry -- and with little regard for
children's rights," he said.
Statistics on child prostitution were very
unreliable, but it was believed that hundreds of thousands of South
African children were involved in the trade.
The industry was varied, ranging from
pornographic websites, videos, and magazines, to child sex tourism.
The conference also discussed the prevalence
of child labour in South Africa.
According to Mandisa Pamla, a senior
administration officer in the Department of Labour, 1996 statistics
put the figure at about 400,000 children between the ages of 10 and 16.
However, research conducted last year, has
revealed alarming statistics, she told the conference.
The research, which could not yet be
divulged, also implicated a number of government departments in
inactivity in this regard.
Pamla said the department was currently
working on a policy to clear up confusion surrounding the status of
working children between the ages of 15 and 18.
According to legislation, children were
compelled to attend school up to the age of 15, while the prohibition
on child labour applied to all those under 18. This meant that those
leaving school at 15 were not actually allowed to work for the next
three years.
This apparent inconsistency has never been
properly addressed.
The Labour Department, Pamla said, was
having difficulty identifying companies making use of child labour,
as it only had about 500 inspectors. It was therefore relying on the
public and welfare officials to report any such cases.
Also, the department's biggest concern is
replacing the income of children being removed from the employment
sector, many of whom were supporting entire families.
These matters would be looked into once the
results of the survey had been formally released, she said.
The survey was commissioned by the Labour
Department and conducted by Stats SA.
(South African Press Association)
END
Start of Child
Labour News
Look What
They Make These Kids Do
Mumbai: The stench of death holds its
macabre sway over the winding, narrow lanes of Qureshwadi near
Bhiwandi. Yet, the lakes of congealed blood, fat flies on rotting
carcasses and the revolting smell of excreta from the area's many
illegal abattoirs all pale in comparison to the gruesome sight of
children up to their arms and ankles in the entrails of slain animals.
Putting an approximate number to this
nameless horror, an ongoing report being prepared by United Nations
International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and SETU, a
non-governmental organisation estimates that over 100,000 children
between the ages of 6 and 14 are employed at the 200 illegal
slaughter houses and meat shops at Bhiwandi in Thane, Aurangabad and
Pharbani districts in the state.
The study covering 265 children found that
the children are stunted with rickety and curved limbs and a majority
of them are suffering from tuberculosis, anthrax and leptospirosis.
Infections like brucellosis (joint pain fever) and skin diseases are
rampant among these child labourers.
"From 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., these children
cut and skin carcasses, load them on to rickshaws and distribute them
in the 60-70 meat shops in Qureshwadi and Bhagbunder, the focal areas
of the study," says Dr Abdul Samad, professor of veterinary
medicine who is heading the project. It is common to see the
grotesque sight of small boys inflating the intestine to clean out
the excreta of slain animals. Girls carry headloads of meat for
delivery at the doors of regular customers.
Families of these children survive on the
monthly income of Rupees 1,200 to which the children contribute an
additional Rupees 10-20 per day, the study reveals. A majority of
them have never been to school though the district authorities have
been trying to rehabilitate them by setting up balwadis and a
'Prerna' centre for girls. Those who enrolled for primary classes,
have dropped out before they reached the third standard. The study
reveals that they mostly belong to the Quresh community and Khatiq,
classified as a 'backward class'.
Although district authorities have tried to
create awareness on education, health, nutrition and sanitation among
members of the community, they have been unable to prevent the
children from immersing themselves in the quagmire of this occupation.
END
Start of Child
Labour News
News-In-Brief & Announcements
-- EU Gives Trade Privileges To Former
Soviet State
In a groundbreaking program to encourage
poorer countries to improve their records on labour rights, the
European Union has granted trade privileges to Moldova and could soon
do the same for Russia. Moldova will receive a reduction in tariffs
of between 15% and 35% on its exports to the EU as a reward for
meeting minimum standards on issues including child labour. The EU
trade privileges granted to Moldova are so far unique, but they are
part of a broader campaign to convince developing countries that they
could gain -- as well as lose -- from linking free trade and labour rights.
-- Entertainment Sector Told To Abide By
Child Labor Laws
The Philippines Department of Labour and
Employment (DoLE) issued warnings to several movie and television
companies for their failure to secure employment permits for minors
working for them. These companies face the possible revocation of
their permits to operate if they continue to violate Republic Act
(RA7658). The law prohibits the employment of children below 15 years
of age in public and private undertakings. The violation of law holds
the employers liable as they are the ones required to seek permits
from DoLE for the minors they employ. It is also making efforts to
ensure the protection of child workers in the entertainment industry.
-- Girl Domestics - A Silent Cry
According to a recent survey conducted in
the valley by Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), 45% of the total number
of domestic workers are girls. It further estimates that there are at
least 10,000 girl domestic workers in Kathmandu of which more than 50
percent are sexually abused. The girls who are sexually abused at
their working houses are kicked out should they complain to police or
elsewhere. They land up on the street and ultimately into the sex
business. "There is no reported sexual abuse for male domestic
workers except some assaults," Gauri Pradhan, President CWIN says.
-- Mexico's President-Elect Employs Children
Children younger than 14 are working on the
ranch of Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox, sowing onions and
potatoes in contravention of laws banning children younger than 14
from working. Reforma newspaper said it found at least 30 minors and
teen-agers being trucked into the ranch, San Cristobal, in the
central state of Guanajuato, to work for about 65 pesos (about $7) a
day. Fox spokeswoman said that the ranch did not belong to Fox but
rather to his family and they must deal with it. Child Rights
advocates see the controversy as an opportunity to sweep up to
500,000 child workers off Mexican fields and put them in schools.
-- Child Labour At Suzukis Invites Grave Concern
There is a growing rate of employment of
children at Suzukis plying on various routes in Pakistan, terming it
the severest kind of child labour. Children are lured to take jobs as
conductors on daily wages package. These children become easy victims
to the diabolic temptations of their masters and spend the remaining
life as male prostitute, criminals and murderers. Some even become
tool in the hands of terrorist groups. They develop inhuman habits
and substance abuse is widespread. Social and religious circles have
demanded urgent action by government to save these children from drudgery.
-- Swiss Man Accused Of Sexually Abusing
Children In Honduras Has Previous Convictions In Switzerland, Reveals
Casa Alianza
Casa Alianza has discovered that a Swiss man
in Honduras accused of having allegedly sexually abused some 14 boys,
has previous criminal convictions in his own country for sexually
abusing children. Fritz Albert Forrer (73), is currently being
accused of having sexually abused and held captive more that 14
Honduran boys in the town of San Mauel, in the Department of Cortes.
Charges include sodomy of the little boys. The case against Forrer
and fellow Swiss citizen Rolf Hack Ernest, is being brought by the
Special Public Prosecutor for Children before the Second Criminal
Judge of Letters.
-- Tourism Officials Admit Exploiting
Children For 'Tourist Sex'
According to a research by World Vision
International-Cambodia and Ministry of Tourism, some government
officials in Cambodia are promoting and supporting the sexual
exploitation of children in the tourist industry. There was a woeful
lack of knowledge among tourist industry officials about the problem
of child sex it added. More than three-quarters of 28 ministry
officials queried said they had approached tour operators to supply
girls for tourists. In Cambodia's three main tourist centres, nearly
three-quarters of 68 street children, child vendors and
beer-promotion girls under 18 questioned said they had had sexual
relations with tourists, the survey found.
-- Suspected Child Trafficker Arrested With
97 Kids In Nigeria
A man suspected of trafficking in child
labour was arrested with 97 children in Southeast Nigeria police
informed. The man was intercepted with the children, aged between 12
and 17, in a lorry at Akwa in Nigeria's Southeast Anambra State on
their way to the commercial capital Lagos. He intended to sell the
children to neighbouring west African countries. The children told
the police that they were conveyed from Ozara, Ebonyi State to Lagos
enroute to Benin Republic and Cote d'Ivoire to work as househelps and
other menial jobs. The driver is being interrogated and would soon be
charged in court.
-- 'Safe Work, Safe Kids' Campaign Launched
"Each year, 70 teens are killed on the
job and another 200,000 are injured," said Labour Secretary
Alexis M. Herman, who recently launched Safe Work/Safe Kids, a
child-labour initiative to make sure teens have safe, constructive
early work experiences. It recognises that all share responsibility
to ensure the safety of young people. If parents, employers and
community organisations work together to get the word out on how to
work safely, kids will be safe on the job. Though most teen
employment appears safe, even the most "innocent" jobs can
pose hazards youth and their parents rarely consider.
-- Company Fined For Violation Of Child
Labour Laws
The Hardy Corp. has been fined $10,000 after
a teenager died at a company construction site in Birmingham, the
U.S. Labour Department informed. Bill Jones, District Director for
the Department's Wage and Hour Division, said the penalty was imposed
for violations of child labour provisions of the Fair Labour
Standards Act. The act bars minors from operating hazardous
machinery. Last May a 19-year-old working from the platform of a
cable-operated lift died. Although the victim was performing the work
legally, investigators found that he had been operating the equipment
from the time he was 17, and that five other underage workers were
illegally employed.
-- German Youths' Drive On Wheels Against
Child Labour Jorn Witt and Hagen Benckendorff, both in their early
twenties, launched a cycle campaign against child labour about six
months back traversing eleven countries covering a distance of 13,700
kilometre. They crossed Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kirghistan, China, Pakistan and finally,
India. They have so far raised US $7,500 in their country by way of
donations, which they presented to Unicef-India. They hope to raise
more funds to support Unicef's work in India when they return to
Germany. On their final leg, they will cycle to Calcutta, which they
hope to reach on September 10.
-- Peru's Child Labour Law Condemned
Human rights organisations condemned Peru
for passing a new law setting the legal minimum age for child workers
at 12, the youngest in Latin America. According to rights groups, the
law goes against international guidelines. Almost 2 million working
children in Peru are estimated to be under 18, including 500,000
under 12. While children's rights groups say Peru's new measure fails
to protect thousands of impoverished children, Peruvian officials
contend the law may be open to change at a later date. Peru is the
only country in Latin America that has not banned children from
working before age 14.
-- Child Labourers Freed From Carpet Factory
Acting on a complaint by Jaiprakash Singh,
district president of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan Samiti, the Naib
Tehsildar, NK Maurya and Buxa police station in-charge SN Yadav
jointly raided a carpet factory and released nine child labourers in
Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh. Two persons, including the
factory's owner, were arrested. The children hailing from Bihar were
working as bonded labourers. After release the children have been
sent back to their homes under police protection.
Announcements
-- XIII International Congress On Child
Abuse And Neglect
The 13th International Congress of the
International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse, will be held
in Durban, Republic of South Africa, from the 3 to 6 September 2000.
The Congress theme is "Implementing the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child - Myth or Reality?" - a
challenge for all professionals and role players who work in the
field of child development and protection. It aims to bring essential
resources to the continent in terms of knowledge and expertise.
(For information please contact: Kimberley
Svevo, ISPCAN Executive Director; Tel:(1 312) 578 1401; Fax:(1 312)
578 1405; Email: ispcan@aol.com)
-- International Training Course In Labour Statistics
An international training course in labour
statistics is being organised and run by the Bureau of Statistics
with the co-operation of the ILO
Training Centre. This course will take place at the ILO Training
Centre in Turin, Italy from September 4-29, 2000. The principal
objective of the course is to enhance the capacity of participants to
contribute to the meaningful development of labour statistics in
their countries.
(For further information, please contact the
Bureau of Statistics at Tel: (41 22) 799 8631, Fax: (41 22) 799 6957
or E-mail: stat@ilo.org)
-- International Conference On War-Affected Children
The International Conference on War-Affected
Children in Winnipeg, Canada from September 11-17, 2000 hopes to
galvanise the international community to take action to protect
children affected by conflict. The Conference will review progress
and examine innovative approaches, identify gaps in knowledge,
policy, and practice to better protect children. An International
Agenda for Action will be adopted that will be taken forward to the
UN Special Session on Children in 2001. It has been organised by the
Secretariat for the International Conference on War-Affected Children.
(For information, please contact Ayda Eke,
International Conference on War-Affected Children Secretariat; Tel.:
613 944 3005; Fax: 613 944 3029; Email:Ayda.Eke@dfait-maeci.gc.ca)
END
top of page
Street
Children In Central America Victims Of Indifference
By Néfer Muñoz
SAN JOSE, Aug. 29 (IPS) -- An estimated
17,000 children are living on the streets of Central America's cities
-- the result of neoliberal economic policies implemented in recent
years, a non-governmental rights organization in the Costa Rican
capital declared today.
The Commission on Human Rights Defense in
Central America (CODEHUCA), joining Casa Alianza, the Latin American
branch of the New York-based Covenant House, said the phenomenon of
kids living on the streets is growing at an alarming rate. They
calculate that Hurricane Mitch, in a single blow in October 1998,
increased the number of homeless minors by 20 percent.
The two organizations denounced the murders
of 338 street children in Honduras in just the last two years, and
they accused the police of responsibility in some of these deaths.
In a campaign launched today, the
organizations pledged to involve the presidents of the region in
developing a joint strategy to fight child poverty. The two groups
are targeting the Central American heads of state as they prepare for
the 10th Ibero-American Summit, to be held in Panama in mid-November.
The children's rights activists will present
the presidents attending the summit a letter and a copy of their
study titled "Peace Has Not Arrived: Street Children in Central
America," to pressure the region's governments into designating
more resources for children.
A contributing factor to the rapid increases
in poverty rates and the number of children on the streets is Central
America's implementation of neoliberal economic policies over recent
years, CODEHUCA President Alejandra Bonilla told IPS.
"Political repression is not the
problem it was in past decades, as illegal arrests, disappearances
and summary executions are no longer the common denominator of our
countries," she said, "but human rights violations do persist."
Casa Alianza director Bruce Harris pointed
out that "if we brought together all the street children of
Latin America, we could found a new country, with delegates to the
United Nations whose voices would be heard."
But "reality shows that they are poor
children who nobody pays attention to," he said.
War continues in Central America, Harris
added, but now it has taken the form of economic violence, created by
hunger and lack of income. It has pushed 17,000 children into
homelessness, and could add thousands more in coming years.
The CODEHUCA and Casa Alianza study
indicates some 18 million children and adolescents live in Central
America -- most of them in poverty, struggling to subsist.
The countries with the deepest problems in
this regard are Guatemala and Nicaragua, according to the report,
although it is a phenomenon affecting the entire isthmus.
Honduras, for example, has begun the new
century with a half million children under age five who suffer from
malnutrition. In Costa Rica, 51 percent of the children live in
households without fathers -- a homelife that tends to be marked by poverty.
Harris does not mince words when he blames
government for the problem of street children in Central America. The
governments, he says, think more about building roads and balancing
budgets than resolving social problems.
According to Casa Alianza and CODEHUCA
calculations, it would take $8 billion annually to reintegrate Latin
America's street children into society. The two organizations stress
that this is a small price to pay, especially when considering that
the world's golfers spend $40 billion on their sport each year.
END
top of page
"Sex
Tourists" Face Prosecution At Home
By Mahesh Uniyal
BANGKOK, Aug. 23 (IPS) -- The photography
shop owner in Amsterdam did not like what he saw when he processed
the film dropped off by a man who had returned to the Netherlands
after a holiday in the Philippines.
He informed the police, who caught the child
sex offender when he came to collect pictures of his Southeast Asia
trip. Officers eventually traced the abused youngsters and amassed
enough evidence to prosecute the man.
The arrest was possible thanks to a growing
global campaign to stop child sex abuse by nationals of one country
in another country.
The Netherlands is one of 23 nations with
"child sex tourism" laws. However, laws alone cannot tackle
this "devastating problem," agreed tourism officials and
industry representatives from 10 Asian nations who ended a two-day
meeting today in Bangkok to prevent child sex tourism in Asia.
A far better deterrent is to raise awareness
of the problem within the tourism industry and work to prevent the
crime before it can take place, they said.
The meeting was organized by ECPAT Australia
(the Australia campaign to End Child Prostitution, Pornography and
Trafficking) and the Human Resource Development section of the U.N.
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
According to the organizers, this was the
first such consultation held anywhere in the world. It was necessary
because the problem is "not going away," said Christine
Beddoe, program director of "Child Wise Tourism," ECPAT Australia.
"It is essential that all employees in
the tourism sector are trained to understand and respond to child
exploitation," she added.
More child sex offenders are seeking out new
destinations and using the Internet to spread information about child
sex hotspots, the participants at the Bangkok meeting noted.
Asian nations continue to be a popular
destination for child sex offenders from within the region and
outside. It is estimated that 1 million children under the age of 18
are sexually abused in Asian nations.
According to ESCAP, the sex tourism industry
is pushing more and more children into prostitution. However, the
problem often remains hidden and is even denied by some national
governments, speakers at the meeting pointed out.
The youngsters are not only exposed to
serious health risks like HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, they
also face social and psychological problems, making them incapable of
resuming normal lives.
However, ECPAT experts point out that child
sex tourism should not be confused with pedophilia, with pedophiles
being "only the minority of sex offenders."
"Many more cases exist of
'opportunistic' sex offenders. These are the men that visit the
brothels and bars on the fringes of a tourist destination," says
an ECPAT background note for the meeting.
"They probably would not go to a
brothel at home but they have come with a 'who cares? -- I'm on
holiday' attitude or perhaps the fear of AIDS has led them to believe
the myth that younger prostitutes have less chance of being
infected," it adds.
Poverty, broken homes, violence at home and
addiction to drugs are some of the main reasons children fall into
the trade, though they are also pushed into it forcibly in many cases.
Although children working as prostitutes
"are not always living in extreme poverty" and in some
cases have been "provided with luxury items and trips abroad,
the child should not be blamed."
"No matter what the situation, children
should never be blamed. It is under no circumstances the fault of the
child," says ECPAT.
The participants at the Bangkok meeting
agreed that it is important to foster public awareness of child sex offenses.
This would involve training for tour guides,
hotel staff and housekeepers, and taxi drivers. "Tour guides and
front office staff are often the most likely to be approached by
foreigners seeking young prostitutes," says ECPAT.
Hotel staff rarely report such incidents
because "staff are told to do everything to please the customer
and encourage tourists to come back," notes ECPAT.
This is one of the biggest hurdles to
tackling the problem, says ECPAT's Beddoe. Drawing attention to the
problem through publicity like posters and stickers tends to create a
negative image of the tourist spot, which is worrying for the industry.
One solution is to use more euphemistic
terms like "child-wise tourism" -- as ECPAT's campaign is
named -- instead of outright declarations to "stop child sex tourism."
However, as a result of the ECPAT campaign,
some hotels in the Philippines are putting notices in rooms, warning
guests that they may be stopped for questioning if they bring minors
to their rooms.
The Philippine National Union of Workers in
the Hotel Restaurant and Allied Industries has produced a training
manual to help tackle the problem of child sexual exploitation.
And the Pan Pacific group of hotels in
northern Thailand is giving job training to young people considered
vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
Tour operators in Scandinavian nations are
also working with ECPAT groups in Europe to develop a code of conduct
to crack down on child sex tourism.
Several airlines, including Air France,
Lufthansa and Alitalia, are cooperating with the campaign by
screening in-flight videos to increase awareness of child sex tourism.
END
top of page
Child
Labor Code Caught Between Principles And Necessity
By Abraham Lama
LIMA, Aug. 23 (IPS) -- A new law barring
Peruvian children under 12 from working has renewed debate over child
labor, an issue that is dividing even human rights groups and
organizations that protect children.
While some argue that children must be able
to help support their families, others believe that society should
ensure that youngsters stay in school and dedicate themselves
exclusively to their studies.
The first group argues that legal
recognition of the existence of child workers is essential to
guarantee their safety and health, as well as respect for the
fundamental rights of children forced to enter the labor market.
The new Child Labor Code sets an age limit
of 12 for working in this South American country, where according to
estimates nearly 2 million minors currently work. The International
Labor Organization (ILO), however, recommends an age limit of 14.
The ILO calculates that worldwide, some 250
million children aged five to 14 have dropped out of school or
reduced the time they dedicate to their studies in order to work. An
estimated 60 million of them are children under 11 who work in jobs
that are considered dangerous for minors.
ILO Director-General Juan Somavía, of
Chile, announced an international campaign to eradicate child labor,
proposing that develop
