Human trafficking is acknowledged by the international community to occur both within countries (national trafficking) and by crossing of borders (transnational trafficking). The Human Trafficking Protocol does however only apply to offences that are transnational in nature involving an organised criminal group.

This means that the Trafficking Protocol excludes situations where people are being trafficked internally in a country and by someone who is not considered an organised criminal group. Hence, it is very important that state parties to the Protocol do not only follow up their responsibility to develop national anti trafficking laws covering international trafficking, but that they also develop anti trafficking laws explicitly criminalising national trafficking.

In order to combat the multifaceted problem of human trafficking, interventions must be multi-disciplinary and multi sectoral. They must among others include; the legal sector -implementing all international human rights conventions and treaties, developing regional and bilateral MOU’s with neighbouring countries on prevention and detection of trafficking, strengthening the national legal framework through the development of specific anti-trafficking laws and regulations, and strengthening law enforcement through active prosecution of trafficking offenders.

Also the social welfare and health sector -improving access to high quality and appropriate social and protection services for trafficking victims, providing health services to those infected with diseases etc; community based initiatives - supporting small income-generating projects in village communities; gender mainstreaming- raising awareness about gender sensitivity within the court systems, and among police and other law enforcement officials, as well as raising awareness on the issues throughout the general public;

And the education sector - increasing awareness about human trafficking by providing education for all. Improving the existing educational systems and ensure vocational and technical education structures and mechanisms accessible to out of school youth. Provide relevant education and training for labour markets, particularly to youth in areas of high mobility and/or vulnerable groups; the migration sector - strengthening cross-border initiatives, enhancing the number and quality of repatriation programmes, improving situation of trafficked victims in receiving country (avoiding detention and expulsion of victims), focusing on key factors which leads to the migration to neighbouring countries; and the labour sector - improving job opportunities and strengthening national labour laws. All these must be included to combat the multifaceted problem of human trafficking.

In 2003, IOM's report Seduction, Sale and Slavery: Trafficking in Women and Children for Sexual Exploitation in Southern Africa Malawi was identified as one of the key source countries for women and children trafficked to South Africa.

Cases were also reported concerning Malawian women being trafficked to other countries in the region as well as to European destinations. Since the release of the IOM report, a few other independent reports have confirmed the fact that Malawi is indeed a country where vulnerable people are likely to be lured by the traffickers’ promises of personal material growth and lucrative jobs in South Africa and other nations.

According to the recently published (5th June 2006) US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report, Malawi is still a country of origin and transit for trafficked men, women, and children. Children are also trafficked within the country for forced agricultural labour. Women involved in prostitution reportedly draw underage children into prostitution and anecdotal reports indicate that child sex tourism may be occurring along Malawi’s lakeshore.

The good news is that in the same report, Malawi has despite limited
resources, been credited for making some progress in 2005. This progress has in particular been made in the areas of prosecuting traffickers and educating the public to recognise human trafficking.

In 2005, border patrol and police officials throughout the country received anti-trafficking training from the Government and NGO trainers, based on a manual developed by the Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare. Moreover, the Malawi Law Commission submitted a draft law that specifically criminalises child trafficking to the Ministry of Justice.

However, to succeed in the fight against human trafficking, Malawi still needs to further enhance its anti-trafficking efforts through the passage of comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, strict and comprehensive implementation of such legislation, and expansion of the provision of training offered to local law enforcement officials in recognising and investigating trafficking.

Existing laws covering forms of trafficking in person are currently not well understood by prosecutors and judges, which hinders an effective system of prosecutions

In addition, there is also a need to increase knowledge and awareness about trafficking among the general public, and to involve important institutions in Malawi such as churches and schools in awareness raising campaigns.

Little has been done by the international community to combat human trafficking in the southern part of Africa when compared with the efforts made in for instance South East Asia and Eastern Europe.

This is so despite the fact that there is no reason to believe that the problem is any smaller in Southern Africa than anywhere else in the world. Moreover, few research papers have studied the specific situation of Malawi.

In order to deal with the issue properly, further research regarding the volume and causes of trafficking in Malawi is needed.

The harsh reality is that today, many Malawian men, women, boys and girls are being trafficked within the country and to other countries in the region like Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa. The size of the numbers of people being trafficked are however difficult to estimate since little research has been conducted in this field.

The international community, NGOs, local communities and the Malawi Government need to seize the opportunity to fight the problem in a multi-sectoral way before it escalates beyond control. Trafficking in human beings is now globally one of the fastest-growing businesses of organised crime, sometimes even involving perpetrators who could be members of your family, a friend, your neighbour, your teacher or someone from your church.

Don’t let Malawi be one of the countries where this horrendous crime is allowed to flourish. Do not close your eyes, because human trafficking occurs everywhere, and Malawi is no exception.


Julie Platou Kvammen is a Norwegian lawyer currently working as a Project Advisor to the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, Lao country project office.

August 23rd marks the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. We observe it on this date because two hundred and fifteen years ago slaves, in what is today Haiti, rose up and threw off the shackles of their enslavement. Thirteen years later in 1804, they triumphed, making Haiti the first nation in the world founded on the abolishment of slavery.

Shockingly, child slavery flourishes in Haiti today in the form of the restavek system. Just an hour and a half from Disney World, tens of thousands of children live as restavek, or child slaves

Child slavery in Haiti may be the ultimate symbol of a state that has failed its most vulnerable members. It lays bare the appalling lack of access to basic goods and services. It also brings into sharp focus the reality that most parents in Haiti lack the fundamental tools to demand that local and national government help them meet the needs of their children and provide them with a decent future.

Not all is bleak. In Haiti, a movement is growing of people coming together to champion the rights of the children in their community, especially those caught in the restavek system and those at risk for entering the system. Knowing that their children are Haiti's national treasure, teachers, pastors, mothers and fathers in communities like Fond des Blancs or La Gonave are engaged in doing everything possible to provide for them now and to save them from the terrible fate that has befallen so many other children in Haiti: condemned to toil as a domestic slave, a restavek.

With courageous determination, they are working to raise awareness that poverty is literally wasting the lives of their children. Without access to basic goods and services they lose too many of them to death and the restavek system. They want it to stop. They insist that their community be a place where all of their children can be safe ... drink clean water ... eat nutritious food ... go to school ... receive health services ... hope for a sustainable future. They believe that a mind is indeed a terrible thing to waste.

Democracy and development cannot advance alongside servitude. In keeping with the greatness of its victorious beginnings, it is time for Haiti to recommit to the abolishment of slavery. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) calls on the government of Haiti to take all measures necessary now to assure that every child in Haiti gets the benefit of a primary school education and is exempt from domestic bondage. .

It is nearly two decades since the Centre banned child labour in Firozabad's bangle and glassware industry.

It went beyond framing a law by intervening when it launched an ambitious national child labour project.

The idea was to rehabilitate the thousands of children who had now been plucked out of factories.

But when NDTV revisited the working class neighbourhoods we found a wide gap between the way the scheme was conceived and the way it was managed.

Around 114 special child labour schools were set up under the national child labour project in the bangle making district 18 years ago.

The schools for 50 students each were meant to meet the special needs of the working children, offering non formal education till class V, stipends, midday meals, free books, and pre-vocational training.

Utter mismanagement

But nearly two decades later the schools are special only in name. Set up in dreary quarters, there is only a single room to accommodate 50 children who are at different levels.

There is no furniture, no modern teaching materials and purposeful prevocational training. And though the children are required to pack in five years of education in three years, there is no intensive coaching.

The management says the schools are unable to attract good teachers because the salaries for teachers are fixed at 1,500 rupees a month three years ago.

"We were not taught the basics. Instead of learning alphabets we were asked to tackle words and meanings," said Asif, a child labour.

Some families are opting for private schools even though they pay for education there.

There are also complaints that the Rs 100 a month stipend scheme is being mismanaged. The payments are random and irregular.

The national child labour project has also failed to promote income generation for parents of child labour. In Bhim Nagar we meet Rajju, who after her husband's death, barely manages to earn Rs 60 a day with the help of her two children.

"I am in distress. With great difficulty I manage to get food to eat. If I get work I do it, otherwise I just sit. I have to marry off my girl also," said Rajju.

Children continue to work

A few houses away is 12-year-old Sonu who has a dysfunctional family. Sonu is paid Rs 3 for joining 300 bangles.

So low are the piece rates set by factory owners that only when two adults and two children work that the family manages Rs 3,000 a month.

The irony is that almost each child at these child labour schools continues to work.

These schools are run with crores of funds given by India's ministry of labour and the US dept of labour.

It is just one of the many schemes launched by different government departments like health, women and child development, social welfare and tribal welfare.

The neglect of this important child labour project shows that no sincere attempt has been made to either integrate all the schemes or provide quality.

It is disturbing that not a single child labour school can be considered as successful on all parameters.

Motivated from the recent UNI Apro and NWJ Youth Workshop in Indonesia in April, NWJ youth had not remained quiet but had joined hands to create a campaign called "NWJ STOP Child Labour campaign 2006" by attending local events in Japan and running a booth to introduce the activities of the trade unions in UNI Apro to combat child labour that they had learned in Jakarta's workshop.

NWJ STOP Child Labour! campaign ran from April to June and many creative activities were held including putting up articles in the NWJ home page blog and NWJ union newspaper to attract as many people as possible to create an interest about this issue. NWJ youth also travelled to Osaka and Yokohama as part of their campaign strategy to set up booths and talk to people about their experiences on child labour – Over 4,000 people came to the events!!!

Visitors from all walks of society are very interested in this campaigned and many ask questions about the campaign which was eagerly answered by the NWJ youth members. The NWJ volunteers realised that the awareness of child labour issue are increasing gradually in Japan and more people are concern about stopping child labour.

By taking steps in informing people of what they had learned about elimination of child labour, networking with other trade unions in this issue and just taking a step at a time to share what they had learned has created very positive responses from the trade union and society. If each person participates – elimination of child labour will be a reality soon.

Taking a step further to eliminate child labour, NWJ is developing a three stage "NWJ Stop Child Labour" campaign which are simple steps but clearly something that everyone can do.

• Step 1: "UNDERSTAND" the child labour problem
• Step 2: "INFORM" as many people as possible to create the awareness
• Step 3: "ACT" by joining hands on "0" child labour

The resounding success of this campaign has NWJ Youth pledging that they will NEVER stop this campaign as long as child labour exists.

http://www.union-network.org/uniapron.nsf/0/6E14B1B2C5E4F5A8C12571CA0031535D?OpenDocumen

Millions of young children are exploited and abused in jobs across India, writes Bappa Majumdar
oss India, writes Bappa Majumdar

Subhankar Baidya can't bring himself to discuss his ordeal as an abused domestic servant. Instead, the 5-year-old boy draws pictures to show the beatings and humiliations he endured until his rescue.

"I don't want to get beaten up again and wipe floors," said the traumatised boy, rescued by social workers from a suburban Kolkata house in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal a few weeks ago after complaints from neighbours of mistreatment.

"I want to play," he said.

Baidya's fate is typical of millions of Indian children under 14 who are employed to clean homes and run errands, or slog away in restaurants, tea stalls and at holiday resorts for a pittance.

The Indian government says it is determined to put a stop to these tales of misery.

Earlier this month, the Labour Ministry said it would toughen and extend child labour laws - first passed in 1986 to outlaw the use of children under 14 in dangerous factories - to punish those caught employing children in jobs like Subhankar's.

Rules

Under the new rules, which come into effect in October, children under the age of 14 will be banned from working as domestic servants or at hotels, tea shops, restaurants and resorts.

Offenders face a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of 20 000 rupees (R2 881).

While welcoming the move, sociologists and officials fear the ban will have little effect without a concrete plan to provide for children often forced into the workforce by extreme poverty.

"Children still risk their lives in dangerous jobs and unless you implement any rule it looks great only on paper," said Swapan Pramanik, sociologist and vice-chancellor of the Vidyasagar University in Kolkata.

The government says there are more than 11 million child labourers in India.

Rights groups put the figure closer to 60 million, with many still working in hazardous industries such as fireworks and glass factories, despite the 1986 government ban and Supreme Court orders demanding better enforcement.

Child labourers also work on farms, at carpet weaving factories or in textile plants where their supple hands and nimble fingers are suited to the often intricate work.

In Mumbai, India's bustling capital of films and finance, more than 50 000 children work in gold-polishing and leather-stitching factories, in stark contrast to kids from rich families who pack amusement parks on weekends.

Labour

But much of the country's demand for child labour is met by the eastern states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand where grinding rural poverty give parents little choice but to send their children out to work.

Under a 1996 court order, state governments are supposed to pay compensation of 10 000 rupees when they remove a child from a job. But activists say this rule has not provided a long-term solution.

"Monetary assistance of a few thousand rupees is no use as parents send their children back to work," said Jogesh Chattopadhyay, a top police official.

To avoid police action, activists say, those employing children produce fake birth certificates claiming the children are older than their real ages.

"During a recent study on the West Bengal jute industry we found 2 000 underage children were slogging in the mills, but on paper they were all adults," said Swapan Mukherjee, secretary of Free the Children - India, an international children's rights group operating in 34 countries.

State governments are often lax about investigating abuses, activists say.

Qutubuddin Ali, aged 11, says he loves to fly kites but has to spend more than 12 hours a day working at an unlicensed shoe factory in a house in Bamungachi, 35km, north of Kolkata, West Bengal's capital.

"I am the sole bread winner in the family," Ali, clad in torn shorts, said as he wiped eyes teary from poisonous fumes. He earns about 200 rupees or around R26 a month.

Mohammed Ilyas, a year older than Ali, cycles for an hour each morning to a factory where his job is to stitch leather.

"My father beats me and sends me back when I say no," he said as he munched on a biscuit, his lunch for the day.

Factories

Others ruin their eyesight working long hours in poorly lit carpet factories.

"Most children are irrevocably sick or deformed by the time they reach adulthood," said Mansoor Qadri of Mumbai-based children's rights group, Saathi, or Friend.

Organisations like Free the Children's Mukherjee welcome the government's latest move to end this modern-day slavery but say real change will only come when India attempts to tackle massive income disparities and social injustice.

"It is a positive move but first we should take care of extreme poverty by replacing children with unemployed men on higher wages," Mukherjee said.

There is a lot of work to do - 35% of India's more than one billion people still live on less than a dollar a day - about R6.70 -despite annual economic growth rates of about 8%. - Reuters

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3399956

Santiago, Chile, Aug 14 (Prensa Latina) Chilean President Michelle Bachelet called on Monday to end child labour in Chile, a phenomenon that is affecting around 250,000 children, according to official data.

The president held a lively meeting with a group of children at La Moneda palace, to mark the Convention on the Rights of the Children.

At the meeting, she listened carefully to each proposal by the minors that participated in the activity called "The Chile I dream of for the Bicentennial (2010)," which was organized by the Opcion foundation.

"No doubt we absolutely agree that child labour must end… and the rights of the children should be respected, and we are going to work hard to achieve it," she asserted.

She also said this is one of the lines Labor Minister Osvaldo Andrade is working on. "We want our children to learn, develop, and have fun, not to work. To work is not a task for children," Bachelet asserted.

The Minister of State in charge of Labour, Angelina Muganza has decried the number of children engaged in child labour, saying the figure currently stands at about 300,000.

The Minister, who called for joint efforts to combat the vice on Thursday August 10, during the official opening of a seminar on child labour and related issues at Hotel Novotel, said punitive measures would be taken against errant people.
Muganza urged participants to join hands and help vulnerable children engaged in hard work and other related abuses and reminded them that observation of children's rights is instrumental for development.

"I want to inform you that without children rights, the country can not achieve its future plans when stakeholders are not given access to play their role. It's in this context that children should be given first class protection and get chance to go to school for them to have a better future," she underscored.

She disclosed that the government would respect commitments undertaken at the International Labor Organization (ILO), conference in Brazil on May 4, where all countries involved agreed to end child labour by 2016.

Muganza also disclosed that the government has drawn a five-year plan to solve the child labour problem in the country.
"The government has launched a five-year plan which relies mainly on three core phases; the need to sensitize people over young children involved in labour activities like mining and quarrying, to help young children go to school and other vocational trainings and, to protect those engaged in child labour," she said and noted that cooperation with the Rwanda National police and other security agencies in the country would be instrumental in achieving the said objectives.

The one-day seminar drew participants from several stakeholder organizations.

Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State has said that the problem of child trafficking in Nigeria and other African countries was traceable to the level of poverty, across the continent.

Governor Nnamani said this yesterday when the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Co-operation and Integration in Africa, Dr. (Mrs.) Ada Chizoba Okwuosa, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Enugu.

Chief Okechukwu Itanyi, deputy governor, who represented the governor said the problem of human trafficking was a collective societal problem, which must be confronted by all.

Governor Nnamani said his government had taken deliberate steps to alleviating poverty through the provision of necessary infrastructure and empowerment of women and children to improve their welfare.

He commended the ministry for organizing the seminar in Enugu and urged them to come up with decisions and recommendations to tackle the problems of human trafficking and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the society.

Okwuosa said the Federal Government had resolved to stamp out human trafficking and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.

The permanent secretary said that the ministry had intensified efforts at sensitizing Nigerians against the dangers of human trafficking and illicit spread of light and small arms in the society.

According to her the measures were taken by the decision of the United Nations (UN) and Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) on the war and battle against proliferation, globally. "We are focusing on UN and ECOWAS programme on the war and battle against arms proliferation of small and light weapons among our people," She stated adding that she was in the state as part of the Ministry's programme of organizing workshops for traditional rulers and religious leaders to mobilize the people in the state against human trafficking and light weapons. 'We got together highly eminent traditional rulers and religious leaders across the five states of the Eastern zone to mobilize and solicit assistance in reaching the grassroots on the problem of local production and support in the proliferation of small and light weapon" she said.

Nearly every third house in the poorest districts in Jharkhand has a child who has left home in search of food and work. Now they are missing from their families and public consciousness too.

Sunita Oraon has spent over a year looking for her eldest daughter Raodi. Poverty drove 12-year-old Raodi to leave her home in Gurgujari village near Ranchi.

But no one knows where she has gone and her family fears she has become a victim of traffickers who lure poor children from these backward areas and take them to big cities.

A majority of the children were later found in Delhi, working in roadside dhabas, wholesale markets and at homes.

Sunita went thrice to Delhi. She had no address, no information, just a hope that she would trace her daughter somehow. Though she spent most of her earnings, it was all in vain.

"It's been a year. But there is no trace of her," said Sunita Oraon, a resident of Gurgujari Village.

Trafficking of children common

In adjoining karak village, Sumari Lohar's eight-year-old nephew Rajesh has not come home for four years now. Sumari contacted the woman who took Rajesh to the city.

Though the woman broker has agreed to help Sumari trace Rajesh, she wants Rs 3,000 rupees. Sumari does not have the money.

"I dint know where he is. His mother is also no more. Where can we look for her," asks Sumari Lohar, a resident of Karak Village.

The irony is that though trafficking of children is common in more than 11 districts of Jharkhand, few cases are registered at police stations.

"I am really scared of the police. They ask for money, which I don't have. I don't know what to do, I am all alone," said Ranjana Lohar, a resident of Karak Village

As a result, a large number of the vulnerable groups of working children are missing. A survey carried out by the state labour department has found that as many as 45,000 children in these 11 districts had left their homes in search of work.

Nearly 80 per cent of these children belong to tribal families.

NEW DELHI, AUG 7:  The number of children in the labour force has to decline by 0.7 million annually if child labour has to be eliminated in India by 2015, say experts.

According to a study by the Centre for Development Economics, the current pace of decline in the number of children in the labour force is 0.5 million per annum. If school participation rates increase as in the past, India, which has the highest number of children as labourers, could be virtually free of child labour by 2015.

There has been a steady decline in the number of children (age group 0-14) in the labour force in the past two decades. The number of children declined from a little over 22 million in 1983, to under 11 million in 1999-2000. Rural India accounted for 93% of the decline.

The decline in the number of rural children in the labour force in the 1990s has been noteworthy for the fact this happened despite a rise in the share of the 10-14 age-group in the total population between 1991 and 2001 for both rural males and rural females.

The reduction in labour force participation rates for both rural males and rural females in the 10-14 age group is the desirable obverse side of a significant and beneficial rise in school participation rates by children in this age-group, the study said. In the past two decades, school participation rates increased by 34 points per 1,000 for rural males and 89 points per 1,000 for rural females.

Voice of the Young on Monday held a Bantaba (forum) in Serekunda on child trafficking.

The event, with the theme “Child Trafficking – A Cause for Concern”, was the second Bantaba this year to be organised by the Voice of the Young under the guidance of the Child Protection Alliance (CPA).

The Bantaba is held every four months to bring children together to discuss issues affecting their lives.

The event, which also took the form of a march-past from Serrekunda Police Station to Father Farrel Hall in Kanifing, was funded by Save the Children in Sweden.

In her opening address on the occasion, Ms Nyaloum Sarr, CPA Legal Adviser, applauded the idea of the Bantaba, saying that it is a forum for children to learn more about child exploitation and trafficking, children’s rights and roles in fighting the menace, and the responsibility of the community to protect children from abuse and exploitation.

According to Ms Sarr, every year it is estimated that millions of children around the world, with the largest proportion in West Africa, are trafficked across the globe, exploited sexually, and made to engage in hazardous labour and other forms of exploitation.

Delivering his speech, Mr Ebou Joof, deputy permanent secretary, at the Department of State for Youth and Sports, said the theme of the event was timely, adding that there are stories that “The Gambia is being used as a transit point for trafficking children to other countries in the sub-region and to Europe”.

“This assertion,” he noted, “is also contained in the USA trafficking in person’s report in 2004.”

He further said the government “is committed” to fighting the menace of child abuse and trafficking.

He also used the occasion to call on communities as well as the children to be vigilant and to report any case of child abuse and exploitation they notice.

The Bantaba, attended by not less than 150 children, was chaired by Awa Sowe of the Voice of the Young.

Jakarta, 2 August (AKI/Jakarta Post) - The Indonesian government is joining forces with the World Bank in a pilot programme aimed at sending the country's 2.8 million impoverished child labourers to school. The programme will grant poor families up to 22 dollars per month and will be tried out in six provinces. Part of push to eradicate poverty and the worst forms of child labour in Indonesia, it will also provide health care for children and pregnant women.

"If the pilot project succeeds, it will be developed as a national program," said deputy chairman of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), Bambang Widianto, at a meeting of the Indonesia's National Committee for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child labour.

The cash grants will be transferred to poor families in West and East Java, Gorontalo, Jakarta, North Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara, Widianto said. The amount given to each family will depend on its size, Widianto said.

"Children receiving benefits will be required to visit clinics designated by the health ministry. Those aged between seven and 15 are required to attend school, and that will be verified every three months," Widianto continued.

"Pregnant women have to visit clinics or public health centres designated by the health ministry," Widianto added.

Bappenas, in cooperation with the National Statistics Bureau, is still collecting data on poor families eligible for the programme. The number of poor families and child labourers has increased to some 38 million and 2.8 million respectively in 2005, according to Indonesian government data.

Many children work in factories, fishing, places of entertainment, and prostitution and narcotics syndicates because their parents cannot afford the cost of education, Widianto explained.

The director general for labour supervision at the manpower and transmigration ministry, Marudin Simanihuruk, said his office has so far succeeded in sending more than 14,000 child labourers to school, and preventing as many as 11,400 children from being employed in fishing, prostitution, mining, the footwear industry and drug trafficking.

"The East Kalimantan regency of Kutai Kartanegara, which is rich in natural resources, has been declared child labour-free, while North Sumatra and East Java have set up local committees for the elimination of child labour," he said.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has worked with other groups, including NGOs, to carry out programs in numerous provinces over the past three years to help eliminate child labour.

Besides strengthening the capacity of provincial administrations, the ILO has also worked with labour unions and the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) to set up learning centers for child workers in West Java, North Sumatra and East Java, said ILO chief technical advisor, Patrick Quinn.

Indonesia committed to eliminating child employment just after it ratified ILO conventions in 1999 and 2000 supporting a minimum wage and calling for an end to the worst forms of child exploitation.

NEW DELHI: In a determined bid to curb the exploitation of children, the government has prohibited their employment as servants at home or in businesses.

The business classification includes factories, shops, dhabas, restaurants, hotels, and teashops. Resorts and spas also feature in the list.

According to a notification issued on Tuesday, the ban comes into effect from October 10, 2006.

The Union labour ministry has warned that anyone employing children below 14 years of age would be liable for prosecution and penal action under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.

“The government had already prohibited its employees from hiring children as domestic servants. The new notice will impose restrictions on everyone,” said a senior official.

After October 10, enforcement agencies will begin a crackdown on placement agencies.
Labour inspectors have been told to check households for violations.

The decision has been taken on the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Committee on Child Labour headed by the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research. The committee said the occupations in question are hazardous for children because, in these places, they are subjected to physical violence, psychological trauma, and, at times, even sexual abuse.

There has been no official survey on child labour in India. But NGOs such as Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and Haq for Child Right estimate the figure at as high as one crore in households, and an equal number in restaurants and dhabas.

“Though the government’s official figure for child labour employed in hazardous occupation is just 1.10 lakh, our estimate is between 6 and 10 crores,” said Kailash Satyarthi of the BBA.

Satyarthi said India was under international pressure to enact the law but doubted its implementation.

Inakshi Ganguly of Haq for Child Rights welcomed the initiative but said untrained enforcement staff and corruption might hinder its implementation. “Since there is no proper rehabilitation for rescued children, they land up again in the same places,” Ganguly said.

For its part, the labour ministry is planning to expand its rehabilitation scheme under the National Child Labour Project, which already covers 250 districts.

"Last night I got a thrashing, my master dragged me by my hair into the yard, and belaboured me with a shoe-maker's stirrup, because, while I was rocking his brat in its cradle, I unfortunately fell asleep." -- Nine-year-old Vanka Zhukov in "Vanka" by Anton P Chekov

Tiny hands working in hotels, polishing shoes at bust stops or railway stations, selling almonds in railway compartment or carrying loads in the markets are a common sight in India and other developing countries. They represent chained childhood. They are the among the 200 million child labourers worldwide, according to Global Report to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The same report says that with 127.3 million in total, the Asia-Pacific region harbours the largest number of child workers.
Also, we might have happened to come across small hands sweeping the floors or washing utensils or carrying household goods or serving tea to the guests within households. They are certainly child domestic workers or what ILO calls, 'helping hands'. Do these small children work according to rules or labour laws or as per the 'orders' of the employers? Do they get paid according to the rules or labour laws? Certainly not. There are thousands of such child domestic workers employed as maids, cooks, cleaners, gardeners, child-minders, and general house-helps all over India. The problem is undoubtedly enormous.

A UNICEF report on the status of the World's Children 2006 states that in India, which has the largest number of working children, 17 per cent of workers are under the age of 15 and that girls aged 12 to 15 are the preferred choice of 90 per cent of employing households. In some cases, young children are forced to work for long hours for low pay and in dangerous conditions (Convention No. 182).

The International Labor Organisation (ILO) has estimated that 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries -- at least 120 million on a full time basis. Sixty-one per cent of these are in Asia, 32 per cent in Africa, and 7.0 per cent in Latin America. Most working children in rural areas are found in agriculture; many children work as domestic helps; urban children work in trade and services, with fewer in manufacturing and construction.

Child domestic workers -- lonely sufferers are nearly invisible among child labourers. They work alone in individual households, hidden from public scrutiny, their lives controlled by their employers or masters. Child domestics, mostly girls, work long hours for a meagre pay. Many have no opportunity to go to school, or are forced to drop out because of the precarious economic conditions of their families. Above all, they may be fired for small infractions, losing not only their jobs, but their place of residence as well. It is also amongst the least regulated and most poorly remunerated profession in our country. The children -- especially girls working within the households as domestic helps, face various types of physical, mental and sexual abuses, as a large number of girls enter this unorganised sector. Girls are seen as natural domestic workers, seemingly trained at home in doing housework. These children are under the exclusive control of their employers and have little or no freedom, which leads to harmful effects on their psyche and health. In 1989, the ILO stated, "Youngsters working as household domestic servant may be the most vulnerable and exploited children of all, and most difficult to protect."

Sometimes, violence can be criminal and includes physical assault or injury -- hitting, beating, shoving, etc., sexual abuse -- forced sexual activity, or stalking. A study on human trafficking says India is fast becoming a hotspot for child-sex tourism.

The study sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission said, "In India, the abuse of both male and female children by tourists has acquired serious dimensions." The 748-page study called "Trafficking in Women and Children in India," also said "unlike Sri Lanka and Thailand, this problem has not been seriously tackled or discussed openly in India and has remained more or less shrouded in secrecy, making the likelihood of child abusers being caught and punished very low.

The ILO estimates that more girls work as domestics than in any other form of child labour. Yet they have received little attention, and even less protection. Government laws often exclude domestic workers from basic labour rights, labour ministries rarely monitor or investigate conditions of work in private households, and few programmes addressing child labour include child domestics.

The rescue of hundreds of child labourers in Delhi and Mumbai recently once again highlighted the scale of this violation of child rights. In November 2005, over 500 minors working in "inhuman" conditions were freed after a raid on 50 embroidery units in east Delhi. A few months before that, police rescued 465 children working in exploitative conditions in industrial units located in the congested Madanpura locality in central Mumbai.

The Supreme Court of India on February 2, 2006, while adjudicating on Public Interest litigation concerning 'Child Labour', the Honourable Judges stated that 200 million children in the age group of 6 to 14 'almost are engaged in child labour and are out of the school'. It is shameful to state that these millions of children who are 'out of school' are 'forced to do manual work.'

The Supreme Court ruling is contradictory to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which is initiated for achieving universalisation of elementary education (UEE) in a time bound manner, as mandated by 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making fee and compulsory education to the children of 6-14 years age group, a fundamental right. SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to cover the entire country and address the needs of 192 million children in 1.1 million habitations.

Although the constitution of India prohibits the employment of any child under the age of 14 years and Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, prohibits child labour, the geographical expanse and population make it very difficult to keep a track of all the households engaging children as domestic helps against paltry wages. The absence of official sources or data, actually limits a realistic assessment of the magnitude and nature of the problem.

The Consumer Utility and Trust Society (CUTS) International, in collaboration with Save the Children (UK), launched a unique project on Child Domestic Workers (CDWs) entitled, 'Hum Bhi Bachche Hain' -- We, too, are children in July 2005. The project aims to examine the issue closely and generate awareness about 'CDWs' through 34 selected schools in Jaipur city using a child-to-child approach aiming towards advocacy at the state level, involving various stakeholders to make it compulsory for all schools in the state to check and the government to prevent child domestic work.

Bangladesh has no less grim scenario: In 2002/03, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) conducted the second National Child Labour Survey (NCLS), which has been designed and conducted in the context of the commitments made by the government of Bangladesh, following the ratification of ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182) 1999. According to the survey, there are 4.9 million working children, 14.2 per cent of the total 35.06 million children in the age group of five to 14 years. The total working child population between five and 17 years old is estimated at 7.9 million.

MONROVIA, 1 August (IRIN) - In a country where more than half of the children are out of school earning extra cash to take home or because families cannot afford the fees, some 15,000 Liberian child labourers aged between five and 18 are to be sent back into classrooms.
Instead of walking to school in the morning, 10-year-old Mamie Turay walks several kilometres from the eastern outskirts of Monrovia into downtown just to sell peanuts, bringing in a profit of about $25 Liberian, or the equivalent of US $0.50.

But average primary school fees range from $500 Liberian (US $8) to 1,500 (US $25) for every four-month academic semester.

"It is not easy for our parents to pay our school fees, because they are very expensive in Monrovia," said Mamie, who dropped out of elementary school to help support her family by working.

Like Mamie, Daniel Jackson quit his Grade 6 class due to financial constraints and hasn't been back to school in the three years since. "I want to be in school, but my mother and father do not have the means [to send me]," the 15-year-old said. "My parents are not working, so they tell me to sell things so that I can bring in food money."

When Daniel's father lost his job at the country's power corporation, Daniel left school to sell plastic bags of water along the busy, traffic-clogged roads of Monrovia's western suburbs.

Child labour is a widespread and ongoing problem in Liberia and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf recently said half of Liberia's children were out of school. Although there are no exact figures, an official with the Ministry of Education said numbers could be even higher.

"We can safely say that six out of 10 Liberian children are out of school at the moment and this is because of the war that took place in this country," said the official, who asked not to be named. "The government is trying to ensure that free compulsory primary education gets off the ground."

The International Rescue Committee is helping the government with its efforts by launching a back-to-school project, entitled CYCLE (Countering Youth and Child Labour through Education), that aims to get 15, 000 children labourers off the streets and into classrooms.

"Walking down the streets of Monrovia and rural parts of the country, you see children engaged in all different types of labour. They are deprived of going to school by either selling things on the streets or engaging in physical labour, like working on farms," said Aitor Lacomba, the IRC's deputy director of programmes in Liberia, who added that it was this shocking reality that had prompted the IRC to undertake the project.

Liberia's 14-year civil war has left the country's educational system in disarray. Most schools were heavily damaged or destroyed and ensuing high unemployment levels have made it impossible for most parents to pay tuition fees. In many cases, families have withdrawn children from school for sheer survival.

"My husband was killed by rebels during the war and my children are not in school now. They are the only ones that are my helpers," said Sienneh Kwekwe, 39, a mother of two boys aged seven and four. She said she needed their help daily to haul bundles of cooking wood from a neighbouring village that is more than a two-hour trek away through bush paths from their town of Borkeza.. "If my sons do not help me to bring wood for cooking, how will we be able to eat?"

Child labour does not occur only on streets or in villages. Workers at Firestone, the country's largest rubber plantation, went on strike earlier this year over low wages and the use of child labour. Employees said their children often work tapping latex because there is a lack of educational services.

"I have six children and they were all born here in the plantation. I want them to be educated, but there is no proper schooling for them, so right now they help me to tap latex every day," said Moses Diah, whose children range in ages from seven to 15.

Late last week, top management at Firestone announced that the company is planning to eliminate all forms of child labour on the plantation.

According to the IRC, the CYCLE programme will first focus on six communities in northern Liberia, including some in Nimba and Lofa counties. "Those are the counties that were hardest hit by the civil war and whose children are being exploited the most," Lacomba said.

Within these communities, the IRC ensure that children receive an education, including creating awareness about child labour, helping parents to pay tuition fees and find better jobs, improve teacher training and repair school buildings.

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