Federal agents claimed a decisive victory over those who exploit children through prostitution and pornography in one of the biggest child abuse cases ever.

In one of the largest coordinated enforcement actions undertaken against child prostitution rings in the US, 19 suspects were arrested and over 30 additional suspects were charged in the latest phase of “Innocence Lost,” a major investigation into criminal enterprises involved in the recruitment of children for prostitution.

As a result of this law enforcement operation, over 30 child victims were identified, bringing the total of child victims identified to more than 200 since the start of the Innocence Lost initiative in 2003. Property seizures in this latest sweep included residential homes, vehicles, US currency, electronics, jewelry, and child pornography images.

Indictments and criminal complaints were filed in four US Districts (the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the District of New Jersey, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the District of Hawaii). They charged 31 individuals with various offenses including the transportation of minors to engage in prostitution, attempting to coerce and entice minors to engage in prostitution, sex trafficking in children, kidnapping, witness tampering, possession and distribution of child pornography, illegal firearms possession, illegal drug offenses, money laundering and tax evasion. Twelve suspects were charged, but remain fugitives.

By Ballav Dahal

Conflict affects the lives of children worldwide. Data show that around 200,000 children lose their lives annually due to various forms of conflict. Of them, an estimated 8,000-10,000 children are killed while carrying or storing explosives and another 6,000 sustain injuries each year. Similarly, more than 300,000 children have been forcibly recruited as child soldiers. During the last two decades alone, the number of children killed in armed conflicts in different parts of the world stands at more than 2 million, while over 6 million have become disabled. The number of children being displaced from homes is also very high. About 20 million children were displaced by armed conflicts in several developing countries in the last decade.

Situation
The situation of children in Nepal has also been deteriorating since the last couple of years. There have been incidences of child rights violation in various parts of the country. The magnitude of violation is high, especially in the conflict-hit areas where children come face to face with the warring forces. Already marred by poverty, ill health, malnutrition and illiteracy, the children are compelled to undergo various other sufferings because of the violent conflict.

The growing incidences associated with abduction of school children, forced recruitment in the militia and merciless killings show that child rights are being grossly violated in Nepal. The school dropout rate has gone up remarkably over the years because of the violence.

Since the violent Maoist insurgency began in 1996, many innocent children have been killed. Reports show that more than 4,000 children have become orphans due to the ongoing conflict. According to a recent UNICEF report, more than 400 children have lost their lives in the course of the armed conflict in Nepal. Of them, the number of girls is 124.

Around 40,000 children have been displaced from their homes or villages during the last 10 years of the conflict. The displaced families and children have mostly shifted to the urban areas to start a living, where they are subject to discrimination and exploitation. Such victims of the conflict have also found shelter in the district headquarters. They are still not in a position to return home due to the existing terror despite the so-called cease-fire announced by the rebels.

Apart from being deprived of their fundamental rights, they face various forms of exploitation and torture. Of them, the most common type of violence forced on them is when they are involved in the worst forms of labour. They also face sexual harassment. As per another estimate, about 500 children have been handicapped while working in such hazardous conditions. The conflict has a psychological effect on the children, when they become witness to the inhuman activities carried out by the warring sides. This is the main reason for the increasing number of rural children having mental disorder.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has not abided by the minimum norms under international conventions and protocols. As per the provisions in the international conventions related to child rights, children below 18 years of age cannot be involved in armed conflict. Despite the commitment made by the Maoist leadership to free children from violence and exploitation, in practice, it has not given any serious consideration to the protection of the fundamental rights of children. In addition, development infrastructure such as drinking water projects children’s homes, bridges, telephone towers, orphanages and schools have become the targets of the Maoists.

It is indeed a matter of serious concern that the ongoing violence as well as activities of the political parties have badly affected the education sector. The Maoists have not only used the schools as a centre for carrying out their activities but have also forcibly mobilised the students in their interests. The frequent educational strikes, abduction of students and teachers and extortion have been detrimental to the country’s education sector. The strikes have paralysed the entire education sector, as all educational institutions have been shut down since the last several days. Keeping in view such problems, the civil society has been lobbying hard to make the education sector and children a zone of peace. There is no doubt that the country has lagged behind in terms of socio-economic development as the armed conflict continues. Development activities are also not running smoothly in the rural areas. Tourism is another sector that has been hit hard by the armed conflict.

Investment in children

As children are the country’s future, efforts must be made to invest in their development. Both the government agencies and the social sector must come forward with the desired policies and programmes for the welfare of children taking in view the gravity of the problem. The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the field of child rights have a great responsibility to fulfill at this critical hour. The civil society has an even greater role to play in putting pressure on the rebels to stop misusing children and respecting international conventions, including the Geneva Convention.

The rebels must also fulfill their commitment to children by stopping the violation of children’s rights. Since it is a rights-based and humanitarian issue, all the stakeholders must contribute to the protection of child rights from their respective fields.

http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/pageloader.php?file=2005/12/24/editorial/editorial1

Innocent smiles, supple hands, toddling steps and a bleak future to look forward to.

Yes, children, considered to be the future of a nation, are among the most deprived lot.

The annual flagship publication of the UNICEF-- "The State of the World's Children 2006", states seldom are the voices of the deprived children heard by those who matter. But the time is ripe to take up the cause for the children with greater sincerity, specially in the least developed and developing countries with a growing young population.

Even after five years into the new millenium, the condition of a vast majority of the children continue to be still neglected and deprived. Children born in various countries under diverse circumstances face an uncertain future caught in a web of perpetual povetry and deprivation, the report stated.

According to the report, children under-18 years form 37 per cent of population in the developing countries, while the same age group forms 49 per cent of the total population in least developed countries and 21 per cent in industrialised countries.

Percentage of children under-5 also tell a similar tale. And this despite the high infant mortality and under-5 mortality rate in these countries.

If proper care is taken, they could be the future leaders. But being poor and deprived, these children rarely get an opportunity to rise beyond the circumstances they are born in, he said.

Primary education is among the basic factors essential for a child's development and most of the children are deprived of it.

Only about 60-79 per cent of the children in India enrol in primary schools, as per the UNICEF report, and the percentage of those who complete is lesser still. Again, girls are less likely to be enrolled for a formal education.

Gender disparity is seen not only in the field of education in India, but is a worldwide phenomenon. Trafficking and early marriage are two other such sectors which sees the worst exploitation of the girl child.

Trafficking of children also leads to multiple violation of child rights. Some children are forcibly abducted, others are tricked and yet others are seduced by promises of a secure future, the report stated.

These children are mostly forced into commercial sex work, domestic service or hazardous labour. Nearly 2 million children are used in commercial sex trade where they routinely face sexual exploitation and physical violence. Of these, 98 per cent are females, while males form the remaining 2 per cent, the UNICEF report adds.

The report further elaborated that besides commercial sex work, children are also engaged in hazardous labour. In India, children are regularly engaged as cheap labour in various industries, such as carpet making, mining and fire-works, which has a toll on their health in the long run.

An estimated 171 million children work in hazardous conditions and with dangerous machinery worldwide. In South Asia, 15 per cent female and 14 per cent male children in age group 5-14 years are employed as child labourers.

Many children are engaged as domestic helps. Data on these children is hard to come by as they are rarely viewed by the general masses as child labourers.

These children, victims of child marriage or trafficking or other forms of abuse, lose the oppurtunilty of enjoying a real childhood.

They are forced into adult roles at an early age, have to shoulder responsibilities of entire families at times and in the process miss out on a proper childhood, the report stated.

Various organisations have come up with special programmes targetted at helping the unfortunate children. The UNICEF has come out with a series of Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015 and aimed at sustained and comprehensive development of children worldwide. But these objectives cannot be realised without the cooperation of the society and for that awareness has to be created.

CRCA
22 December 2005

The Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania – CRCA and the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities organised today the national workshop 'Child Labour: National and Local Mechanisms for the Elimination of Child Labour in Albania'. The workshop was supported by the Olof Palme International Center, a long-term partner of CRCA.

The workshop, which was attended also by the vice-Minister of Labour, Mr. Kastriot Sulka, aimed at identifying the national and local existing mechanisms against child labour, analyse their profile, and seek the preparation of a work plan for year 2006 among the Government and civil society in Albania on how to improve the coordination of existing mechanisms.

'The Albanian Government has seen as its priority poor and marginalised children, including child labour - said in the opening of the workshop Mr. Sulka, vice Minister of Labour - In order to fight child labour we need to have better organised and stronger institutions to implement the laws. In the next few months several reforms will take place on issues of labour and social affairs. We are happy to include the civil society in this process.'

Child Labour is one of the major violations of children's rights in Albania. CRCA believes that more than 50 thousand children are involved in formal and non-formal labour, where the main employer of the child is the family. The Albanian Labour Code does not consider such form of child labour as labour, thus there is a lack of legislation in place to protect children.

'Time has come to say STOP to exploitation of children; Time has come to say STOP to any form of child labour in Albania - said Mr. Altin Hazizaj, Director of CRCA - The parents and people in Albania shall understand that they can't do whatever they want with their children. Children are individuals with rights and no one shall be allowed to use children as beggars, vendors, for trafficking or as slaves. Albania aims to become one day a member of European Union, but we will never be such a member without respecting children and their rights.'

The workshop was attended by major public institutions and NGO's in Albania at national and local level. During the second half of the workshop the participants worked in two groups to identify the national and local mechanisms, assess their main framework and review their functioning in terms of coordination, and finally draw a one-year plan for cooperation and coordination among the actors from the Government and civil society. Mass media showed a great interest on the Forum and during the recent days the issue of child labour has received a good coverage in printed and broadcasted media.

http://see.oneworld.net/article/view/124641/1/3260

WHILE children’s organisations in the Eastern and Southern Cape have applauded the passing of the new Children’s Act, there are reservations about some contentious aspects.

Children’s Institute-UCT advocacy coordinator Lucy Jamieson said the Act was positive because it paid attention to the “prevention of and early intervention in child abuse cases, instead of just protecting already abused children”.

One major victory was the regulation or prohibition of certain religious, or cultural practices, which had the capacity to harm children.

Female genital mutilation and forced marriage have been completely outlawed, while virginity testing and male cultural circumcision may only be done on consenting children older than 16.

The Act also makes provision for a national child protection register which will have records of abused children, and a record of people unsuitable to work with children.

Under the new Act, the financial test that prevented poor people from adopting children has been removed, and inter-country adoptions have been regulated.

ACCRA: The threat by importers to boycott cocoa from countries, which use child labour on cocoa farms, poses a significant challenge to Ghana and stakeholders must ensure that they worked within the law. This is because cocoa is the backbone of Ghana's economy and the use of children as labourers on cocoa farms should be discouraged to promote the development of the children, Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, said on Wednesday. He was speaking at a meeting in Accra to draw up strategies for incorporating child labour indicators in socio-economic and demographic surveys in Ghana.

The Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are collaborating in the project to understand the extent of child labour in the country with the hope that it could be eliminated to enable the Ghanaian child to develop his or her potentials. Prof. Asenso-Okyere said the Convention on the Rights of Children placed a responsibility on the State to take appropriate steps to protect children from all forms of physical, mental and sexual abuse through the establishment of protective, investigative and preventive services. He said every child had the right to be protected from engaging in work that constituted a threat to his health, education or development. But these could only happen when the laws and conventions governing the right of children were enforced, he said, adding that not a single parent or individual had been prosecuted for infringing the Children's Act since it was promulgated in 1998.

By analyzing the economic implications of migration, the World Bank concludes that migrants are more of a boon than a burden to the world economy. Lisa Schlein talks about migration, as a Technique to reduce proverty, if properly managed. Widespread fears of job losses and global security concerns are increasingly pushing governments to restrict immigration. More and more nations are tightening controls on national borders in an effort to keep out migrants who, they claim, create social problems and are a drain on their economies. This year’s World Bank report on Global Economic Prospects shatters this widely held view. If properly managed, the report says migration can even be a powerful force for poverty reduction. Economic arguments, notably about benefits and costs of migration, can play a critical part in policy making. Unfortunately, the debate is often preemptively hijacked by negative, populist slogans. Gervais Appave is Director of the International Organization for Migration’s Policy and Research Program. He says emotional, xenophobic debates hinder the formulation of sound and balanced migration policies. Current knowledge about the benefits and cost of migration remains inadequate, diffuse and often confusing which in turn aids the cause of those politicizing the debate and helps to create a vicious circle.

http://www.star.com.jo/viewNews/DetailNews.aspx?nid=1383

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has announced a Rs15 million grant for the elimination of child labour from surgical instruments manufacturing industry in Sialkot. This was disclosed by ILO-IPEC’s senior programme officer Saifullah and project manager Binyamin at a meeting presided over by DCO Shafqat Ranjha here on Friday. District government officials were also present on the occasion.

The ILO-IPEC officers said the grant would benefit some 3,000 children through the Non-Formal Education (NFE), literacy, vocational training component and health screening programmes, besides linking their families to the recently-introduced micro credit schemes worth Rs3 million.

They said the ILO-IPEC had planned to purge the export-oriented soccer ball industry from the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL). Under this multi-phased programme, they said around 3,000 children would be withdrawn from this industry.

Speaking on the occasion, the DCO agreed to support the formation of Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) for monitoring child labour and establishing NFE literacy centres.

http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/10/nat20.htm

BANGALORE: It’s not just the children but the guardians of child rights who seem to cry for police protection. The members of the Child Welfare Committee, with special focus on domestic child labourers, are demanding police protection as they have been receiving threats from some employers.

Of the 120-odd domestic child labour cases filed before the Child Welfare Committee in the last two-and-half years, at least 10 per cent of the employers were government employees including those from the city police and department of women and child welfare.

While the cases are still under trial, an inquiry has been initiated against these officials. Some officials have refused to appear before the committee stating ignorance of the code of conduct, that prevents them from employing children below 14 years, and many others have intimidated the committee members with "having the muscle power to move things in the government."

The U.N. children's agency is worried child survivors of Pakistan's earthquake have to look for work to support their families. Most schools in the region were destroyed in the quake; some schools have reopened but most children still have no classes to go to. "It is a concern for us and we are trying to assess the situation," Zafrin Chowdhury, a spokeswoman for the agency in Muzaffarabad, said. "A lot of children are moving out of Muzaffarabad and have started to work as domestic servants," an official from the Astafada children's rights welfare organisation, said. "They have nothing else to do," another official added. "Children need their routine and normalcy back in their lives," said UNICEF education officer Ellen van Kalmthout. "It would be very difficult for them to catch up if they stay away too long."

http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/06/earthquake.htm#

BANGALORE: The High Court on Friday issued notices to the Chief Secretary, the Labour Department Secretary, the Labour Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner of Bellary district, following a PIL, which alleges that two lakh children are employed in several mines in Bellary district. The petition filed by the Committee Against Child Labour (CACL), represented by its co-ordinator Mathew Philip, stated that it had conducted a survey of Bellary district on April 15 and 16, 2005, along with three other NGOs. The survey had revealed that two lakh children aged between 5-14 years were working in several legal and illegal iron ore and granite mines in Bellary. CACL alleged that these children were engaged in hard labour like digging, breaking stones, sewing, loading and dumping and were handling toxic waste with their bare hands. This resulted in chronic health problems in children. It was against the fundamental rights as per the Constitution and the statutes banning bonded and child labour. The Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice B. Padmaraj and Justice V Jagannathan issued notices to the authorities on the petition seeking a direction for action in the matter.

SALEM: It was far from the routine for the child labour rescue brigade. After sitting through several seminars and conducting routine raids on traditional segments prone to employ child labour, they tried their hands at a different case on Thursday.

The Child Line centre Salem rescued three North Indian kids who were performing harsh feats on the streets of Salem charming the public and seeking alms.

Sources said a senior officer in the labour department spotted the three children whip lashing themselves along with their parents on Thursday morning at Vaikalpatarai street in Ponammapet.

Moved by the scene, he raised the alarm of the Child Line’s rescue desk and also, SMILE, the rehabilitation project under the National Child Labour Project.

The parents and the kids were brought to the Child Line run by the Don Bosco Anbu Illam. On questioning, it was found that the parents of the children Dhesingh (27) and Sumitra (22) were from Karatupalayam in Gobichettypalayam. They were traditional street play actors who live by charming the public on roads and streets, living a semi nomadic life. The children, Priyanka (5), Brindha (4) and Pratap (3) had been helping the parents while seeking alms.

The parents were warned, cajoled and counselled. Priyanka was taken into one of SMILE’s rehabilitation schools, Brindha and Pratap were sent to the home run by Don Bosco Anbu illam where they will be fed and taken care of till they attain school-going age. All said, the rights groups have claimed that it was illegal to snatch away children who are helping parents in their vocations. They said the labour officials themselves have declined to conduct raids on powerloom units and hotels saying the children in question worked for their parents and not by an anonymous employer.

Officials with Wal-Mart Canada have cancelled a number of contracts with manufacturers overseas following revelations made in a Radio-Canada report.

Investigative journalist Luc Chartrand of the Zone Libre program posed as an international buyer, and made his way to factories in Bangladesh which make clothing for Wal-Mart including house brands such as Simply Basic, BUM, 725, and George.

The reporter discovered a number of underaged employees earning far less than their adult counterparts, usually about half of the salary.

Following its own investigation, the company confirmed that the factories were violating its rule against employing any child under the age of 14, Wal-Mart spokesperson Yannik Deschènes said.

Wal-Mart spends millions of dollars every year to ensure that its suppliers and sub-contractors obey the company's code of conduct, the company says.

Wal-Mart reacts

Following the broadcast of a trancated version Wednesday of the report which is to air on Radio-Canada, Wal-Mart decided to pull from its shelves Simply Basic brand clothes.

70,000 children engaged in worst forms of child labour, foreign investors criticised for obstructing unionisation

Brussels , (ICFTU OnLine): Although Romania has ratified the major ILO Conventions on workers' rights and has laws on its statute books to guarantee trade union rights, in practice there are problems with forming trade unions and the right to strike, according to a report released today by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The report has been produced to complement the WTO's Trade Policy review of Romania.

In particular, there are 3.9 million economically active children in Romania, including over 300,000 child labourers in agriculture and low skilled jobs, and 60,000 to 70,000 engaged in the worst forms of child labour. Trade unions in Romania have called for faster adoption and implementation of a new law on labour inspection, in order to improve the government's capacities in this area. The government is working with the ILO and has established a programme against child labour.

Furthermore, although the government has ratified Conventions 87 and 98 on Freedom of Association and collective bargaining, significant problems remain. In particular, unions in Romania have criticised government inaction in the face of the anti-union views of foreign investors which do not accept the existence of trade unions in their companies.

The ICFTU concludes its report by saying that the government should deliver on its promises to set up labour courts (on the basis of good new labour legislation) and that it should bring its definition of essential services in line with ILO guidelines. In addition, it should take far more urgent and active measures to address the extremely high level of child labour in Romania.

The ICFTU called on the WTO to draw the Romanian government's attention to the commitments it made to observe core labour standards at the WTO Ministerial Conferences in 1996 and 2001.