Transcript HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES CHILD LABOUR

HUMAN RIGHTS
ISSUES
CHILD LABOUR
The change starts within each one of us, and
ends only when all children are free to be
children.” – Craig Kielburger
• Families with normal lives
and a steady income have
parents who go to work and
children who go to school
and have time to play.
• This is not the case for the
218 million child labourers
who daily find themselves
working long hours under
harsh, dangerous and
exploitative conditions.
Child labour is intolerable
• Though definitions vary,
child labour means work
that is done by children
under the age of 15 (14 in
some developing
countries) which restricts
or damages a child's
physical, emotional,
intellectual, social and/or
spiritual growth.
Why is this a human rights issue?
• Children who work are subsequently
subject to abuse, both physical and
sexual, from their employers
• They often work under conditions that are
both unhealthy and potentially fatal. This
scenario cannot continue.
Globally the majority of child labourers
come from the poorer sections of
society.
• Social exclusion and
discrimination are
important factors that
keep children out of
school and force them to
work.
Ending poverty and
increasing access to
education are therefore
crucial tools in the fight
against ending child
labour.
Why should we care?
• "Our greatest natural resource is the
minds of our children." - Walt Disney
Because of their unique and vulnerable
position, children are denied the basic
working rights and wages given to adults.
Reduce poverty
• Improving access to
education and attacking
poverty head-on would go
a long way to solving the
challenges children face.
We must help them in
their struggle. Child
labour is an issue is
closely connected with
poverty,
Most people agree that when we speak about child
labour, we mean labour which is intolerable or harmful
to children, or which denies them their right to fully
develop, to play or to go to school.
Child labour includes:
• Work performed by children under the age of 15
• Long hours of work on a regular or full-time basis
• Abusive treatment by the employer
• No access, or poor access, to education
What is bonded labour?
There are 3 types of Bonded Labour:
• The first is when a child inherits a debt carried by
his or her parents.
• Another form of bonded labour occurs when a child
is used as collateral for a loan. For example, a parent
facing an unusually large or urgent expense would
use this method to obtain necessary money.
• Finally, a child worker can enter into bondage to
their employer by requesting an advance on future
wages they expect to earn.
BONDED LABOUR
• In all of these cases, the
debt is consistently
increased, through interest,
to a sum beyond the
capacity of the worker to
repay. Expenses and interest
consume all wages and also
cause the debt to grow.
• Essentially, the child
labourer becomes the
property of the debt
collector.
• Globally,
218 million children are child labourers.
• 126 million of these children are engaged in hazardous
work.
•
• 73 million working children are less than 10 years old .
• Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents.
• The largest number of working children-122 million-are in
the Asia-Pacific region.
9% are in industry, including mining and
quarrying, manufacturing and
construction
• The highest proportion of working children
is in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one
third of the children aged 14 and under (48
million children) are in the labour force.
• Between 40 and 50 per cent of all forced
labourers are children.
• 1.2 million of these children have been
trafficked (bought and/or sold).
Where do children work?
Nearly 70% are in agriculture (rural children,
especially girls, usually start working in this industry
when they are very young, often between 5 and 7
years of age)
• 22% are in services, including wholesale and retail
trade, restaurants and hotels, transport, personal
services, etc
• 9% are in industry, including mining and quarrying,
manufacturing and construction
Kumar, child labourer
• "It was like a prison,
we were locked
inside. We worked
from 5 a.m. until
midnight making
carpets and we slept
among the
machines."
Some causes of child labour
Poverty
Poverty
• Poor families need to keep as many family
members working as possible to ensure
income security and survival. This makes
it very difficult for poor families to invest in
their children's education. In fact,
educating a child can be a significant
financial burden.
In many instances "free" public education
is in fact very costly to a poor family.
EDUCATION
• Poor families are expected to purchase books,
school supplies and uniforms, and sometimes even
pay teachers' wages.
• Many poor families weigh the cost of sending their
children to school against the cost of the income
lost by sending their children to work.
• Many children live in areas that do not have
adequate school facilities, so they work. Many
countries do not have free compulsory education for
all, which is an obstacle to sending working children
to school.
POOR HOUSEHOLDS
Poor households tend
to have more
children, and with
large families there is
a greater likelihood
that children will work
and have lower
school attendance
and completion.
Some employers hire
children because they
can pay them less
money. They also
offer poor working
conditions because
children are less likely
to complain.
Why not make child labour
illegal?
In countries all over the world, countless
laws and policies against the exploitation
of children already exist: the political will to
enforce them however, does not.
FREE FROM EXPLOITATION
191 countries (almost
every country in the
world) agreed to
recognize the right of
children to "...be
protected from
economic exploitation
and 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."
What needs to be done?
•
The international community
has the funds to provide free
primary education-a necessary
tool to combat child labour.
•
In turn, governments need to
devote resources to education
so that:
• Schooling is compulsory, of
good quality and relevance, and
is of little or no cost to poor
families.
•
Success Story: In 1994, Malawi
made primary education free.
From one academic year to the
next, enrolment increased by
roughly 50 percent, and more of
the new students were female
than male.
• Better access to education
• Social awareness and activism
• The rehabilitation of child
labourers.
•
Legislation and proper
enforcement child labour laws
Some initiatives that can be effective
in combating child labour:
• Improving child labour
legislation and laws
• Enforcement of child
labour legislation and
laws
• Increasing quality,
relevance and access to
education
• Vocational training
• Equality for women and
girls
• Replace child workers
with adults
• Am I wearing a child’s
work?
do you know if what you are
buying was made using child
labour?
How
• Consumers should check if labels state that the
product is union made.
• Watch for the labels of campaigns such as Rugmark
who is working to end child labour in the carpet
industry and Fairtrade Mark.
• These types of labels provide a guarantee that
children were not involved in the production of the
item.
• If you don't know ...ask! The sales staff may be able
to provide you with the information you need. Then
contact the company explaining your concern.
The Situation Today
• there are 28 million fewer child labourers
than there were four years ago!
• This means that the work being done to
stop child labour is truly creating positive
change.
• But there is still much more to be done.
Rugmark
• 300,000 children in
India, Nepal and
Pakistan are spending
long days working in
poor conditions.
• Through independent
certification and
educational programs,
RugMark is working to
end child labor in the
South Asian carpet
industry, but they can’t
do it alone — they need
your help.
The Carpet Industry
• Join a growing group of socially responsible
consumers who are sending the powerful signal that
they will not support products made with child labor
or through inhumane working conditions.
• Know someone who may be in the market for a
handmade carpet? Tell them about the RugMark
label- their peace of mind that no child labor was
used to produce their carpet or rug.
• An estimated 14 percent of children in India ages 514 are engaged in child labor activities, including
carpet production. (The State of the World’s Children
2006, UNICEF)
There are many children who live
near a garbage dump
• Their families cannot
support them so they
search the dumps for
something to sell.
• The children collect the
materials and recycle them
for a small amount of money.
• The children are at high risk
as they are being constantly
exposed to harmful gasses
that come out of
decomposing trash.
• They also may cut their feet
on glass and sharp objects
since many of them cannot
afford proper footwear.
Agriculture
• Of the 250 million child laborers worldwide, it
is estimated that at least half of them work in
agriculture alone.
• There are many different types of agricultural
work. One of them is picking fruits and
vegetables.
• The work is physically demanding because
the children must bend down, kneel, climb
ladders, carry heavy loads of fruit, and other
things.
• They also are exposed to dangerous tools
and have to use unsafe machinery they don't
know how to operate.
• They also are exposed to dangerous tools
and have to use unsafe machinery they don't
know how to operate.
• Children who work in agriculture often
experience back pain from bending over so
much, and also have blistered and callused
hands from operating machinery and using
tools such as rakes, hoes, and shovels all
day long.
A child working in the agricultural
sector
This must be prevented
What is to be done?
• Creating international laws that countries can adopt in order to
stem child labor.
- the minimum age for employment for children. Many
accept this is 15.
• national laws
- banning the import of some child-labor-made items.
- laws that ban child labor under a certain age,
• actually enforcing these laws. Laws do absolutely no good
when not enforced,
• Governments should have a “minimum family income” that
would be used to support poor families.
• Special Programs:
Special Programmes
• In Mexico and Brazil, two programs give
parents an incentive to invest in their
child’s future.
• by giving families money if their children
attend school regularly instead of working
for.
• In Brazil, for example, families receive
$24, and the program reaches 11.4 million
people (a fourth of Brazil’s population).
Naravan Tiwari
• Naravan was a child
labourer for about
eight years in the
carpet industry before
he was rescued and
placed in a special
programme.
The achievement of human rights
is an on-going battle.
• Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
are organizations dedicated to its development.
• but there are many more players on the local
level.
• For example: citizens, communities, grassroots
organizations, and governments.
• to prevent human rights violations, raise
awareness of human rights and responsibilities,
secure respect for all human rights, and promote
international cooperation to protect human
rights.
Remember