The government has been urged to double its efforts in curbing sex exploitation and child labour in the country.

The US government has said it will strengthen civil society organizations involved in the fight against sex-child tourism and human trafficking in the country by funding their programs.

While briefing the press after holding a consultative meeting with stakeholders from the tourism sector in a Mombasa hotel, Dr Mark Lagon, who heads the US State Department in Combating Trafficking in Persons expressed concern that sex-child exploitation and forced labour has in the recent past increased in the African continent.

He called on the authorities to put in place comprehensive laws that will mete out severe sentences on the culprits.

The envoy identified the abyss of widespread poverty in the continent coupled with criminality, corruption and growing demands as the underlying factors fueling the sexual exploitation of children, forced labour and human trafficking around the globe.

The official while acknowledging that US citizens account for a large segment of those behind the scourge, disclosed that through the ''protect act'' in his country U.S. citizens involved in child prostitutions and other related crimes abroad are not free from being held accountable for the same.

Dr.Lagon,said in liaison with African countries, the State Department will offer training opportunities to police, judicial staffs and stewards in the classified tourist resorts and hotels in a bid to confront the demand for sex trade tourism.

Ambassador Lagon who is also the chair of the interministerial committee in human trafficking in the U.S. is in the country for the third leg of his weeklong tour of the continent and has already visited Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

The official will wound up his whirlwind visit in South Africa.

Mr.Mohamed Hersi,Chairman of the Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers said more than 60 classified Coastal resorts have signed the recently introduced code of conduct for hotels and tourist resorts aimed at compelling them to protect children from such exploitations.

Mr.Hersi said with the code of conduct, the tourism industry that is the economic mainstay of the coast is expected to commit itself to training their staffs on the issue of sexual exploitation of children thus contribute to fighting the vice.
The code of conduct is being implemented in collaboration with the government, Kenya Tourism Federation, Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers, Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association and Kenya Tourist Board among others partners.

MODERN-DAY SLAVERY: African children are being used to obtain illegal housing and other welfare benefits, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

London: African children are being sold for "modern-day slavery" in Britain by impoverished parents on promise of better life, a media report said on Sunday.

"Hundreds of young children are being sold and trafficked to Britain from Africa to be exploited as modern-day slaves," the Sunday Telegraph reported.

"Teenage girls – including some still pregnant – were willing to sell their babies for less than ₤1,000," said the daily, which conducted an investigation into the trafficking.

It said that one trafficker in Lagos claimed to be buying up to 500 children a year.

In Britain, these children are used to obtain illegal housing and other welfare benefits. They "are exploited as domestic slaves, forced to work for up to 18 hours a day, cleaning, cooking and looking after other younger children, or put to work in restaurants and shops," the daily said.

According to the report, these children are also subjected "to physical and sexual abuse, while others even find themselves accused of being witches and become victims of exorcism rites in 'traditional African churches in Britain."

"They are being cynically used by adults as slave labour and to defraud the state and then when they get older and have served their purpose and no longer attract entitled to benefits they are thrown out on to the streets with no papers even to prove who they are," Debbie Ariyo, an executive director of the London-based charity Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, was quoted as saying by the daily. Left to fend for themselves, many fall into crime and the sex trade.

A recent figure by the Government's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre claimed that 330 children, many of them from Africa, have been trafficked to Britain over the past year. Many, however, believe that this is just the "tip of the iceberg".

Hundreds of young children are being sold and "trafficked" to Britain from Africa to be exploited as modern-day slaves, it can be revealed.

The illicit trade in children - sold by their parents, some while still babies, to criminal gangs and people traffickers - has been uncovered by a Sunday Telegraph investigation.

An undercover reporter was offered several children for sale by their parents in Nigeria: two boys aged three and five for £5,000, or £2,500 for one, and a 10-month-old baby for £2,000. Teenage girls - including some still pregnant - were willing to sell their babies for less than £1,000.

One international trafficker, tracked down in Lagos, claimed to be buying up to 500 children a year.

Impoverished African parents are being lured by the traffickers' promises of "a better life" for their children, thousands of miles away in cities including London, Birmingham and Manchester.

But, once brought to Britain, the children are used as a fraudulent means to obtain illicit housing and other welfare benefits, totalling tens of thousands of pounds each a year.

From the age of seven, rather than being sent to school, they are exploited as domestic slaves, forced to work for up to 18 hours a day, cleaning, cooking and looking after other younger children, or put to work in restaurants and shops.

Some of the children are also subjected to physical and sexual abuse, while others even find themselves accused of being witches and become victims of exorcism rites in "traditional" African churches in Britain.

Campaigners called last night for the Government and the police to take "urgent action" to end this "21st century child slavery".

"These children are being abused under our noses in our own country," said Chris Beddoe, the director of End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, a British-based coalition of international charities.

"It is totally unacceptable. We need urgent action to identify these children as they enter the UK, find those who are being abused and offer proper protection to those who escape or are freed from their abusers."

Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister responsible for the prevention of trafficking, described child traffickers as "evil" and said anybody who could buy and sell babies was "sick".

But David Davis, the Conservative shadow home secretary, said: "The Government has utterly failed to take decisive action to tackle human trafficking.

"A Conservative government would take a range of practical measures - developed in detail over the last two years - to curb all aspects of this evil trade, which threatens Britain and the most vulnerable in our society."

A recent survey by the Government's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre claimed that 330 children, including 14 aged under 12, many of them from Africa, had been trafficked to Britain over the past year.

The police and campaigners believe, however, that this is just the "tip of the iceberg" and that the true figure is likely to be in the thousands.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal how the trade starts more than three thousand miles away in Africa where babies are sold to predatory traffickers, able to persuade desperately poor and often illiterate parents to hand over their children. The children are then sold, at high profit, as "home helps" to African families in Britain and in other European and North American cities.

The traffickers use a network of corrupt officials and co-traffickers to obtain passports and visas, often giving the children new names.

Many of the young victims are flown directly from Lagos in Nigeria to London's airports. Others are taken, via other west African states such as Ghana and Benin, to "transit" cities, including Paris.

A growing number of the African slave children arrives in Britain unaccompanied, as asylum-seekers, or with "private foster parents".

Debbie Ariyo, the executive director of the London-based charity Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, said: "This trade is a disgrace. These children are not going to loving homes.

"They are being cynically used by adults as slave labour and to defraud the state and then when they get older and have served their purpose and no longer attract entitled to benefits they are thrown out on to the streets with no papers even to prove who they are. These are damaged, traumatised children and we have to end this misery."

Campaigners said that many of the slave children - psychologically and often physically damaged at 18 - were thrown out of the houses of their "owners".

They are left to fend for themselves, usually with no papers or documents to prove who they are. With nowhere to turn, many fall into crime and the sex trade. Those that come to the attention of the authorities when they commit a crime or go to social services for help are usually brusquely deported as illegal immigrants.
The Government will unveil new measures next month aimed at giving more protection to victims of child trafficking.

Mr Coaker said: "We have tightened our visa requirements and our ports of entry and we are gathering intelligence to help us stop this horrific trade."

A senior Scotland Yard officer said: "The traffickers and the people who buy the children and use them as domestic slaves have no regard for their wellbeing and we are determined to catch those involved in this vile business.

"But this is a hidden crime, going on largely in Britain's African communities and we would urge people in those communities to contact us if they suspect that any child in their area is being abused. We need their co-operation. They must not turn a blind eye."

Godwin Morka, the executive director of Lagos's anti-trafficking unit, Nathip, admitted that child trafficking was "rampant" in many Nigerian states. "We know these children are not going to happy homes and we are doing what we can on limited resources."

The International Labour Organization (ILO), in collaboration with Enslavement Prevention Alliance West Africa (EPAWA) an anti-Trafficking NGO on Saturday launched the 'Red-Card' campaign to combat trafficking of women and children.

The red card campaign is a symbolic representation of cards handed over by referees to people with serious violation of rules in a game as in violation of human rights, especially during the tournament.

Mr Matthew Dally, National Programme Coordinator for ILO said the move was also to say no to trafficking in women and children for exploitative Labour during, before and after CAN 2008.

He said it was estimated that about 1.2 million children were trafficked annually out of which 200,000 occurred in Africa. It is also estimated that in West Africa, between 200,000 to 800,000 people were trafficked each year.

Mr Dally said according to the Ghana Statistical Service report of 2003, most of these children were engaged in exploitative Labour.

"The ILO is working hand in hand with the world's most popular sports; we hope to galvanize the global campaign against child Labour with this potent symbol-the red card that means out of the game."

He said the campaign had added a new symbolic element to the global struggle against child Labour. "The initiative will seize on the popularity of the Cup of Nations to generate the widest possible public awareness of the harsh reality of trafficking in women and children".

Mr Moses Kanduri, Programme Officer EPAWA noted that international sporting events had become fertile ground for human trafficking for sexual exploitation and added that preventive measures such as the red card could be seen as a sure way of combating the menace.

" The simple message, "Red Card" against trafficking of women and children sends a clear message to every Ghana2008 attendee that such illegal and harmful activities will not be tolerated in Ghana", he added and urged the media to play an effective role in the fight.

Mrs Angelina Baiden Amissah, Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports launching the cards, lauded the two bodies for such an initiative to combat the menace.

She said government had, over the years put up numerous measures to curb the practice: the ratification of ECOWAS ECCAS agreement to combat trafficking in persons especially women and children, (Abuja 2006), the ratification of ILO Convention No. 182 on the elimination of worst forms of child Labour in June 2000 and the establishment of Ghana national Commission on Children, among others.

Mrs Baiden-Amissah said to cement government commitment, the Ghana Component of the ILO/IPEC project to combat child trafficking for exploitation in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Benin was also launched in March 2002.

LAHORE, 21 January 2008 (IRIN) - A disturbing new trend in people smuggling is emerging in Pakistan: More and more children are being sent by their parents on hazardous journeys in a bid to reach wealthier countries, with several instances of such trafficking reported recently in local newspapers.

Of the more than 2,200 persons deported to Pakistan in 2007, mainly from Oman or Iran (from where many hoped to reach European destinations), 15 were children under 18, according to figures maintained by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Two of the children sent back were Muhammad Zulfikar, 12, of Bhimber District in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and Waqar Hasan, 14, from the town of Mandi Bahauddin, near Gujrat, a town 120km north of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab.

Zulfikar had been apprehended on the Turkish border and Waqar on the Iranian frontier. Both boys had hoped to make it to Greece.

"I wanted to follow in the footsteps of the many people from my area who have gone abroad and made a fortune," Zulfiqar said after being handed over to the FIA, the government agency responsible for tackling human trafficking.

According to Arif Bokhari, the FIA's assistant director, the "trend of trafficking teenage boys" is rising in Pakistan's populous Punjab. He blamed parents who "paid out large sums of money to agents" for subjecting children to such hazards.

Hostel

Under an agreement between the FIA and the Lahore-based Child Welfare Protection Bureau (CWPB) of the Punjab government, both Zulfikar and Waqar are now at the bureau's well-run premises, attending school and living with some 200 other children at the hostel.

Other victims of child trafficking, including former child camel jockeys rescued from Gulf States over the past few years, are also housed at the facility.

"We educate and rehabilitate these children," Zubair Ahmed Shad, programme director at the CWPB, told IRIN.

He also explained that the "children saved from traffickers and living with us are doing well", and pointed out there had been a sharp decline in trafficking to Gulf states since the United Arab Emirates (UAE) banned the use of child jockeys in March 2005.

But other children are not as fortunate as Zulfikar and Waqar, who, despite their ordeal, are alive and well.

In 2006, a family from the town of Gujranwala, about 80km north of Lahore, reported their son missing - apparently while on his way to Greece - only to learn later that he had died during the ordeal.

The agent whom the parents had paid to organise the hazardous journey was arrested, but the victim's family declined to testify against him after he promised to take two other sons overseas free of charge.

"Economic desperation"

"It is the economic desperation of people that leads them to do such things," said Akhtar Hussain Baloch of the Islamabad-based Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, which has campaigned against child trafficking for many years.

Recognising such realities, the authorities have in recent years worked to mitigate this, putting forward the Prevention of Human Smuggling Control Ordinance, which was enforced by the Pakistan government in 2002.

Under the law, tougher punishments are envisaged for anyone found involved in trafficking people, including prison terms and fines for parents.

Additionally, as part of its measures to curb smuggling, in 2006 Pakistan's FIA published a "red book" listing 165 agents in various places from Pakistan to Greece, and has sought Interpol assistance to tackle them.

Trafficking of girls

While boys in impoverished parts of rural Pakistan, particularly towns in the southern Punjab, are more likely to be trafficked overseas, girls are trafficked more often within the country, and sometimes sold into what amounts to little more than sexual slavery, says the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

HRCP has reported that in most cases, they are given away for amounts of money ranging from US$1,300 to $5,000 by impoverished parents, sometimes in "marriage"; and sometimes to agents who promise lucrative jobs as domestic servants in large cities.

Many of these girls, according to child rights groups, end up as sex workers. Some are no older than 10 at the time of the "sale".

"Hundreds of girls are trafficked within the country each year. There are markets in the North West Frontier Province where these victims are sold like cattle," I.A. Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said.

Human rights activists denounce Uzbek state for forcing pupils to leave schools to pick cotton at low wages. Profits go to politicians. Clothing retailers join the boycott, but the campaign is proving controversial. Teacher tells of her experience.

Tashkent (AsiaNews/Agencies) – In Uzbekistan child labour in the cotton industry has become a “deliberate state policy” aimed at “acquiring extra profits.” In an open letter on 17 January, about 140 Uzbek dissidents and activists have denounced the use of child labour, a practice that goes back to Soviet times, but one that has spread on a ‘mass scale’ since independence with thousands of students taken out of schools in the fall, including students as young as 9, and forced for weeks to pick cottons for little pay in bad working conditions. For this reason the signatories of the open letter call on the international community not to buy Uzbek cotton to put pressure on the government.

Nadejda Atayeva, head of a Paris-based Association on Human Rights in Central Asia, told Radio Free Asia that “efforts to solve the problem inside the country did not bring any success so far.” For this reason various groups made an appeal in November to the European Union and the governments of the United States, Russia, and China, as well as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, the UN's Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the International Labour Organisation to stop Uzbek cotton sales and end subsidies.

Cotton revenues are a major source of hard currency for Uzbekistan, with around US$ 1 billion in annual exports. It is especially lucrative for the ruling elites whilst ordinary Uzbeks get very little out of it and would not be affected by a boycott.

Juliette Williams, head of the Uzbek boycott campaign for the Environmental Justice Foundation, a British-based NGO, said that British retailer Marks and Spencer just announced it will no longer buy cotton from Uzbekistan and is telling all its suppliers “to make sure that there is no Uzbek cotton in the production process to make clothes.”

Earlier other international companies had announced that they, too, would stop buying Uzbek cotton, including Britain's Tesco, the world's third-largest retailer.

Western companies are not likely to suffer since they can always rely on supplies from elsewhere like Bangladesh.
By contrast, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), a US-based group that promotes the world cotton trade, called the allegations by Uzbek activists "exaggerated" and "absurd."

ICAC said that it was not true that Uzbek children had to breathe in defoliants and pesticides whilst working in the fields.
For their part Uzbek authorities always rejected the charges, saying that the Uzbek law “forbids any form of child labour in cotton fields and other agricultural sectors.”

But Atayeva, a former schoolteacher who was fired from her job in Uzbekistan for refusing to send sick schoolchildren to the cotton fields, said that the “appeal is based on our concern over the fate of Uzbekistan's children, who are deprived of a proper education at the expense of collecting 'white gold’.”

Lawyers who allege that a United Arab Emirates leader was part of a ring that enslaved child jockeys will have until May to serve Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum with the lawsuit, a federal judge ruled this week.

The lawsuit was filed last fall in Lexington, but lawyers who represent the former jockeys have had a hard time finding the Dubai ruler.

If lawyers cannot serve Sheikh Hamdan, who has horse farms in Kentucky and is a frequent patron of Keeneland sales, it's possible that the lawsuit against him and other unnamed co-defendants could be dismissed for the second time in two years.

An attorney who represents the former child jockeys and their families said this week that the problem of serving the Sheikh -- or formally notifying a party of a lawsuit by giving him court documents either in person or at his residence or business -- probably will be solved before the deadline.

Lawyer John Eubanks said he did not think the royal family was trying to dodge being served with the lawsuit; both sides want to make sure that all federal court and international diplomatic rules are followed.

"I don't think this is a deliberate measure," Eubanks said.

Lawyers for the families of the children filed a motion in federal court in Lexington on Jan. 8 asking for more time to serve Sheikh Hamdan, citing multiple problems with finding the second-most-powerful man in Dubai. Federal court rules give 120 days for a defendant in a lawsuit to be served.

The lawsuit was filed in September during the Keeneland fall sale in Lexington. Sheikh Hamdan, who is Dubai's deputy ruler and the finance and industry minister, left the sale before he could be served in person with the documents, court documents say.

Lawyers for the former child jockeys then tried to serve a lawyer who has represented the Maktoum family in the past, but the lawyer declined to accept the lawsuit on his client's behalf. Because of their position in Dubai, it also has been difficult to find an international process server to serve the lawsuit on the royal family, court documents say. Sheikh Hamdan allegedly has several palaces and residences in Dubai; lawyers were unsuccessful in tracking down official addresses.

U.S. District Court Judge Karl Forester, in a decision released Monday, agreed to allow the plaintiffs' attorneys an additional 120 days to untangle international rules.

Joseph G. Finnerty III, lead counsel for Sheikh Hamdan, said in a statement that he thought the discussion about "service is simply part of the legal process."

The lawsuit alleges that Sheikh Hamdan and members of the Maktoum family knew about and were part of an extensive human-trafficking ring that brought young boys from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and other African and South Asian countries and placed them in desert camps to race or care for camels. The lawsuit alleges that some boys as young as 2 were used. Other child jockeys were allegedly injected with drugs to keep them from growing and others were said to have been sexually and physically abused. The lawsuit has several unnamed defendants.

The lawsuit originally was filed in Florida in 2006 but was dismissed by a federal judge in July 2007 on jurisdictional grounds.The judge said there was not a strong enough legal connection between Sheikh Hamdan and his business interests in the United States. Serving the royal family was not a problem in the Florida lawsuit. Lawyers were able to serve Sheikh Hamdan during the 2006 Keeneland sale.

Lawyers for the families of the children have asked the court to send the court documents to Sheikh Hamdan's office at the Ministry of Finance and Industry in Dubai. They also plan to ask Forester to issue a letter rogatory -- a way to serve a foreign official through the U.S. Department of State, but that is often a lengthy process that involves translating the complaint into Arabic. The Sheikh could not be served at his Kentucky farms because the Florida courts ruled that they were shell corporations whose ties to Sheikh Hamdan were too broad.

Finnerty said Sheikh Hamdan and his legal team are ready to defend "this baseless lawsuit on substantive grounds."

Finnerty pointed to a program started by the United Arab Emirates and UNICEF to stop the use of young boys in camel racing in the United Arab Emirates and to unite the former jockeys with their families.

"Anyone who honestly reviews the facts will conclude that there is no role for the plaintiffs' attorneys or for the U.S. courts where international diplomacy has succeeded in creating a program hailed by UNICEF and human rights activists as an historic initiative and a model for the region," Finnerty said.

Malalane - Thirty Mozambican children were rescued in Mpumalanga's KaMaqhekeza township near Malalane over the festive season.

Vusi Ndukuya, an anti-child trafficking officer at the Amazing Grace Children's Centre in Malalane, said the children included seven boys aged 10 to 16 who were smuggled from Mozambique.

He said he was doing research for the UK-based Save the Children organisation when he found the boys working as hawkers at the KaMaqhekeza taxi rank.

"Their handler is also Mozambican. He smuggled them into the country and they stayed with him at his home in KaMaqhekeza," he said.

One of the boys, aged 14, said his brother-in-law had "given" him to the man after pretending they were going to Johannesburg to find his father.

Instead, he found himself working for a stranger, selling airtime, cigarettes, facecloths and other items at the KaMaqhekeza taxi rank.

He said he and the six other boys get paid R60 for every R260 worth of goods they sell.

Ndukuya said the boys were taken to the Amazing Grace centre and plans were being made to return them to their families in Mozambique.

He said he also found other children working at the KaMaqhekeza, as well as Sibayeni taxi rank. They had either been kidnapped from their villages along the border or run away from home, only to be enslaved by South Africans who put them to work as hawkers or domestic servants.

Over the past four years, Ndukuya has saved an estimated 100 children who were smuggled across both the Mozambican and Swaziland borders into the Nkomazi area, which is made up of 152 impoverished villages.

Ndukuya, who lives in Driekoppies, near the Swaziland border, said his worst case was in 2006 when a father kidnapped his 12-year-old daughter in Swaziland and smuggled her into South Africa and sexually abused her.

Her teacher grew suspicious when the girl's school performance dropped and confronted the child, who told her what was happening to her at home.

Ndukuya has attended workshops organised by the Children's Rights Centre in Durban and done studies in forced migration through Wits University.

He is also doing a BA degree in International Relations through Wits.

In 2006 and 2007 he helped produce a TV documentary about child labour for SABC 1. Last year, he also helped produce a documentary for SABC 3's ZSpecial Assignment.

He organised a children's rights exhibition in Nelspruit last October, which was followed by a roadshow in Nkomazi to raise awareness about child pornography.

Wits University then asked him to do research into children who don't have proper documents like passports and identity books.

Last year, Ndukuya received the provincial Premier's Excellence Award in the category for community and volunteer work and a R10 000 cheque, which he has ploughed into his research

The Yukon Federation of Labour issued a call today for child labour legislation for the territory.

The fact an employer (with the exception of the mining industry) in the Yukon can hire anyone of any age to work is a “national embarrassment”, reporters were told this morning

There are no regulations in the Yukon around employing children with the exception of the mining industry, federation president Alex Furlong pointed out at a news conference.

Nunavut is the only other territory or province in the country not to have any child labour regulations set out, he said.

The toll of young people being injured on the job continues to rise. The number of injuries last year rose 20 per cent, he said.

“There does not seem to be any apparent reason for this gap in our legislation and regulations,” Furlong told reporters. “It is simply something that until recently has not been on our radar screen.”

Within the last 10 to 15 years, all political parties have formed the territorial government at one time and had an opportunity to bring in legislation, Furlong argued.

It will only be a matter of time before he’s reading off the name of a youth killed on the job during the annual April 28 Day of Mourning ceremony, held to remember those who have died on the job, he commented.

In issuing his call to the government to bring in legislation to address child labour in the territory, Furlong also asked parents and the business community to make the issue front and centre.

“It must be on top of the radar screen. We need to address it,” he said.

With the Yukon saddled with one of the worst safety records in the country, Furlong said, “everything is stacked up against us,” and something needs to be done.

It’s long past the time for excuses as to why something hasn’t been done earlier, the federation leader added.

While Furlong didn’t have the number of youth who work in the territory, he noted from his own personal observations there seem to be younger and younger workers in the community.

The federation is willing to work with the government on any regulations or legislation to protect children in the territory, he said.

Part of the discussion that needs to happen is whether there should be an age requirement or some other method such as signed parental consent for a young person to work, Furlong suggested. He’s had youth under the age of 12 serve him at businesses in the Yukon, he added.

The territory is unique in that there are many family businesses where youth may be working for their families, and that would also have to be considered in any new regulations as well.

Whatever new standards were to come out would likely be better than what’s in place now, Furlong said.

He later noted the territory needs to look at a minimum age standard, then look at the industry and whether a parent’s or minister’s consent may be required as well.

Walking into businesses where staff are younger than his own kids are, Furlong said, he has to question why society isn’t allowing kids to simply be kids at that age.

His own 12-year-old has been asking for permission to get a job for the last year because she knows other kids her age who work.

With legislation from other jurisdictions available, Furlong said, new regulations for the territory shouldn’t need a lengthy period to be put in place. It could take six months or sooner, he said.

NDP Labour critic Steve Cardiff said the legislation is among a number of items that need to be updated and modernized.

In this case, the work needs to be done sooner rather than later for the protection of children in the territory.

He would like to see something done this year to deal with the issue.

“It’s a gap that’s been identified,” he said, noting the urgency of the issue.

As for what the minimum age of a worker should be, Cardiff said that should depend on the industry, with break-downs in the legislation for various jobs.

As he noted, a younger worker may be able to take on a babysitting job or newspaper route, for example.

Furlong argued the business community may take issue with the move, due to the widespread labour shortage.

“I am sure the business community is going to say ‘we have a severe labour shortage,’ and I can hear it now, but let them look a parent in the eye when a child gets killed on the job in this territory, and let them explain to them about their labour shortage,” Furlong said.

Contacted following the press conference, Rick Karp, president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce president, said while the issue still has to be discussed among its members, he personally agrees with the proposal.

“They have our applause and support,” Karp said, noting he has trouble when he sees a 10- or 11-year-old working.

That said, he also pointed to Furlong’s statement calling for consideration for the number of family-run businesses in the territory.

He noted that though he has trouble with younger youth working, research shows that older high school students who hold part-time jobs of 15 or fewer hours per week tend to be more responsible and do better in school.

There has to be a balance that allows older youth to work while protecting them as well, he said.

The labour federation also criticized Karp for earlier comments he made on the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board (WCB) stating it would audit businesses that don’t sign up for the Choices program.

Furlong and the federation’s executive director, Doug Rody, argued Karp’s comments on that and other issues have done nothing to contribute to a solution in reducing the number of workplace injuries.

“I’m profoundly dismayed at the leadership of the Whitehorse business community,” Furlong said.

The business community needs to step up to the plate and have safe workplaces for employees, he said.

“They need to do their part.”

Rody argued the 1,960 claims filed to the WCB last year are in fact “real numbers” on injuries that happened at the workplace.

That it’s 65 per cent of those that are usually accepted as claims only means they didn’t require off-site medical attention or time off work, he said. Rody was responding to Liberal WCB critic Don Inverarity’s concerns about the number of injuries in 2007.

He went on to note that part of the purpose behind the Choices program, which provides financial incentives for employers, is to work with them to make sure they are complying with the act. If an employer has signed on, they are obviously working with the board to make sure they meet regulations they need to.

“Why would an investigator investigate an employer who’s already working with the board to ensure they are in compliance with the act?” Rody asked.

That leaves investigators with two groups to look at – workers and employers who haven’t signed on to Choices, he said pointing out it was Karp who lobbied for the WCB to hire an investigator.

“Now, when the investigator is investigating, Mr. Karp is complaining,” Rody said.

This morning, Karp continued to defend his earlier comments. He argued the WCB needs to work in more of a partnership with businesses and by auditing those that don’t sign up for a voluntary program, they are not doing so.

Many businesses may have never had a claim, but might also not have the time to spend on Choices, he argued.

Karp addressed Furlong’s question about what he’s done to promote safety in the workplace. He said the chamber has been involved in a partnership with the Northern Safety Network, provided information to members through their bulletin and tapped into federal funds to promote safety.

“We’ve been very a active,” he said, adding that as a business owner, he has found management and staff are often talking about safety, and there has been only one claim – five years ago, he said.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) applaud Tesco’s breakthrough decision following ongoing discussions with the campaigning group to place a ban on all cotton sourced from Uzbekistan for its clothing range, homeware and corporate purchases.

The decision comes following a 3-year investigation on cotton production in Uzbekistan conducted by the EJF that led to the recent BBC Newsnight exposé on forced child labour in Uzbekistan, as reported by Simon Ostrovsky of London based TV production company Insight News TV.

Alongside a ban on raw cotton from Uzbekistan, Tesco, the world's third largest retailer, has also announced its intention to implement a system to monitor its supply chain, thereby introducing far greater transparency and traceability in the clothing and textiles process.

“We have spent three years campaigning to have Uzbek cotton removed from the market while it continues to be produced with forced child labour, to the detriment of the environment and only to the benefit of the ruling elite” Steve Trent, Executive Director of EJF says. “This ground-breaking move by Tesco – unprecedented from a major UK retailer – has the potential to change a multi-billion dollar industry. Transparency within the supply chain is essential in stopping abuses such as those seen in Uzbekistan”.

Pressure has been mounting on Uzbekistan, the world?s third largest cotton exporter, following EJF's award winning report „White Gold: the true cost of cotton’ and the subsequent BBC Newsnight investigation that exposed the continued use of state-sponsored child labour in Uzbek cotton fields.

New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the government to constitute a State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) - an agency any abused child in the capital could approach directly.

A bench headed by Chief Justice M.K. Sharma asked the Delhi government to initiate the process of constituting the commission at the earliest.

'Constituting a commission will bring smiles to thousands of children who were facing abuse at every step,' said the bench while asking the government to take up the matter seriously.

Once it is set up, a child can directly report any abuse to the commission.

Gaurav Duggal, appearing on behalf of the central government, informed the court that it was ready to give the necessary powers to the Delhi government.

The commission, comprising six people, would be empowered to launch an inquiry into any violation of child rights, and protect children requiring special care, minors in distress, juveniles, children in conflict with law, and those affected by HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, riots, communal violence and terrorism.

The proposed panel would be on the lines of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child to which India is a signatory.

A 2005 law calls for the setting up of a panel at the national level too.

The commission members would include leading figures from the fields of education, child health, juvenile justice, elimination of child labour, child psychology and laws relating to children.

The bench also directed the government to take steps to constitute a 'children's court' - also envisaged in the 2005 law - in each district for 'speedy trial of offences against children or cases relating to child rights'.

Government, in a move to reduce the worst forms of child labour in the country’s cocoa growing areas to the barest minimum by 2011, had set up a National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) in Cocoa (NPECLC).

The strategic objective of NPECLC among other things, include the development and implementation of interventions for elimination of worst forms of child labour in cocoa areas.

One of the key activities of the programme is to conduct a survey to determine the extent and nature of worst forms of child labour in the country’s cocoa sector.

The deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Frema Opare-Osei, who disclosed this in Accra last week, told journalists that NPECLC had in 2006 conducted a pilot labour survey in six cocoa growing districts in Ghana to identify sources, types and periods of labour needs in these areas.

The NPECLC’s survey, according to her, revealed among other things, that 91 percent of children working in cocoa farms in the country were enrolled in school. “Sixteen out of the 610 children interviewed said they do not attend school,” the survey noted.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has given Ghana up to July 2008 to design and implement a certification process that would document and publicly report on the state of the worst forms of child labour practices in at least 50 percent of the country’s cocoa growing areas.

The directive formed part of the “Harkin-Engel Protocol” signed in 2001 in the U.S with a call on cocoa manufacturers and chocolate producers to design and implement a certification process that would document and publicly report on the state of labour practices in their particular cocoa sectors.

The Protocol defined the worst forms of child labour (WFCL) as practices such as slavery, compulsory labour, bondage, prostitution and pornography. It also included work that is hazardous with a child’s education and health.

Last week, a delegation from the U.S. Congress including representative Elliot Engel of New York, Senator Thomas Harkin of Iowa, and Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont, met with the Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Nana Akomea, and other senior Government officials at the Finance Ministry in Accra.

The Congressmen who were in the country for a three-day visit, embarked on a trip to Sekyere Krobo, where they toured a cocoa farm and met with representatives of partner non-governmental organizations who are working to reduce and eliminate the worst forms of child labour in the production of cocoa-related products.
Hon Opare-Osei gave the assurance that Ghana would be able to meet the set deadline stated above.

She said: “Though Ghana is not a signatory to the “Harkin-Engel Protocol”, failure to implement it would have indirect negative effect on the demand of Ghana’s cocoa in the US market.

“If our cocoa products have been labeled as ‘Child Labour products’, nobody in the US would buy it,” Hon Frema Opare added.

LONDON [15.01.08] – UK retail giant Tesco has asked its suppliers to stop sourcing cotton from Uzbekistan after an investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation found children were being forced to work in the former Soviet country’s cotton industry.

In a letter to its suppliers, Terry Green, CEO of Tesco Clothing said, “the use of organised and forced child labour is completely unacceptable and leads us to conclude that whilst these practices persist in Uzbekistan we cannot support the use of cotton from Uzbekistan in our textiles.”

Green also called for Tesco’s suppliers to improve supply chain transparency, “We understand that cotton is an internationally traded commodity and that raw cotton sources are not always easily identifiable,” he said. “However from autumn/winter 2008, onwards we will require you [suppliers], wherever possible, to identify the source of raw cotton used in Tesco textiles products and document this.” He also noted that Tesco reserves the right to randomly audit records to monitor the source of raw cotton.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has applauded Tesco’s decision following ongoing discussions between Tesco and EJF about the possibility of placing a ban on all cotton sourced from Uzbekistan for its clothing range, homeware and corporate purchases.

Steve Trent, Executive Director of EJF said, “This ground-breaking move by Tesco – unprecedented from a major UK retailer – has the potential to change a multi-billion dollar industry. Transparency within the supply chain is essential in stopping abuses such as those seen in Uzbekistan”.

The decision by Tesco comes following a 3-year investigation on cotton production in Uzbekistan conducted by the EJF that led to the recent BBC Newsnight exposé on forced child labour in the country.

“We have spent three years campaigning to have Uzbek cotton removed from the market while it continues to be produced with forced child labour, to the detriment of the environment and only to the benefit of the ruling elite,” said Trent.

EJF says that Uzbekistan receives around £500 million annually in export revenues from its cotton crop. Europe is a major buyer of Uzbek cotton.

“We are urging all retailers to follow Tesco’s move to send a message to the government of Uzbekistan that its flagrant human-rights abuses cannot continue. Tesco has proven that the sourcing of cotton fibre and the tracking of supply chains are entirely possible and there is no excuse for all other retailers of cotton goods not to pledge a commitment to do the same,” concluded Trent.

Our society seems to be loosing sight of the illegality and effects of the over exploitation of children. Child labour has been on the ascendancy over the years to the extent that it is loosing the needed sanctions and wrath. Our children have turned to be the breadwinners in their families. This should not be accepted to stay but should be frown upon.

The welfare of the child

All over the world, the welfare of the child is of paramount importance. In various international treaties, special consideration is given to needs and welfare of the child. In 1989 for example, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Right of the Child, which entreats state parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure the well being of the child.

Interestingly, Ghana was the first country in the global community to ratify the Convention. Institutions including the Department of Social Welfare, Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DVVU), and the Family Tribunal have been established to oversee the enforcement of the rights of the child. However, the zeal with which Ghana ratified the Convention is not equally matched by its faith and determination to implement its avowed provision in the domestic jurisdiction. Act 560
The main legislation for the enforcement of the right of the child in Ghana is the Children's Act 1998 (Act 560), which both in substance and spirit is almost a carbon copy of the Convention on the Right of the Child. Act 560 defines a child as any person below the age of eighteen years. The Act prohibits child labour particularly, exploitative child labour. Exploitative labour according to subsection 2 of section 87 of the Act is any labour that deprives the child of its health, education or development.

Children and Work

Generally child labour at night is absolutely prohibited by section 88 of the Act. Night work is defined as work between the hours of eight in the evening and six O'clock in the morning. Furthermore, the minimum age for child labour is perked at 15 years whereas the minimum age for light work (work which is not likely to be harmful to the health or development of the child, and does not affect the child's attendance at school or the capacity of the child to benefit from school work) is perked at 13 years (sections 89 and 90 respectively). The prescribed minimum age for apprenticeship is 15 years. The minimum age for the engagement of a person in hazardous work is eighteen years. Work is hazardous when it poses a danger to the health, safety or morals of a person. It includes: going to sea; mining and quarrying; porterage of heavy loads; manufacturing industries where chemicals are produced or used; work in places where machines are used; and work in places such as bars, hotels and places of entertainment where a person may be exposed to immoral behaviour (section 91).

Protection of Children

Article 32(1) of the Convention on the Right of the Child urges state parties to protect children from economic exploitation and '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.' State parties to the Convention are also obliged, under article 36, to protect children from all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspect of their welfare.

Exploitation of Children

Regrettably, contrary to the above provisions, numerous cases of over exploitation of children are occurring day and night. In virtually all the main streets of Accra, Kumasi and other major cities in the country, young children particularly, girls are seen engaged in various kinds of trade like selling water, bread, biscuits, carrying load for money, working at chop bars, operating space to space business and serving as conductors for vans and vehicles. They chase vehicles here and there, putting their lives in danger. The most pathetic part of the story is that those who carry load for money for instance are taken advantage of. They are made to carry load heavier than they could bear and given money not commensurate to the weight of the load. Vehicles knock some down as they chase vehicles to sell their goods. Besides, the girls become victims of sexual exploitation.

Our Communities

Can we say we are not aware of these? Undeniably, this is something we see every blessed day. Most of these children are school drop outs. What has become of article 25 of the constitution which makes primary and basic education, not only free but compulsory? In mining communities, children are used for 'galamsey', risking their lives instead of going to school. In fishing communities, the situation is no different. Children are used for fishing activities. Likewise in the farming areas, instead of sending their children to school, parents used them for all kinds of farming activities. When one travels to kente weaving communities like Bonwire in the Ashanti region of Ghana, it is pathetic to see children being used by their parents and guardians for their kente business, depriving them of the benefits of schooling.

Our Homes

What about our homes? Children have been engaged as domestic servants, maltreated and paid remunerations far below the value of their services. What kind of future leaders are we raising for our motherland? Childhood is supposed to be one's happiest moment in his lifetime, where the innocent child is supposed to be trained in happiness and under conducive and enabling environment. The child because of his vulnerability is supposed to be treated with extra care, love and respect

The Way Forward

The writer is of course not oblivious of the efforts being made to ensure the well being of the child in Ghana but suggest that more needs to be done. The Convention on the Right of the Child, which Ghana is a party, makes it a responsibility for state parties to take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates. It also entreats state parties to recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate freely in cultural life and the arts. The government has both moral and legal responsibility not only to recognize the right of the child, but also an equal responsibility to enforce these rights. One way of solving this problem is through enforcement of our laws. I will therefore call upon the various responsible institutions including the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs to rise up and save our children.

I will also call upon my dear Ghanaians to help by reporting as necessary as possible, cases of child labour especially, exploitative labour to the responsible institutions like the CHRAJ. Parents are also entreated to be responsible. They should give birth to the number of children they can properly cater for. As one social commentator rightly observed, 'it is no calamity nor disgrace to be barren, but is outrageously disgracefully to give birth to a child that you cannot cater for.'
Tomorrow's Ghana is much influenced by today's children. Therefore, let us all come together and fight to eradicate child labour. Bill Graham Osei Akomea

http://allafrica.com/stories/200801141037.html

New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday pulled up the central government for the delay in constituting a State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and asked it to give powers to the lieutenant governor to initiate the process within a week.

Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Reva Khetrapal ordered the central government to speed up the work for constituting the commission.

"Constituting a commission will bring smiles to thousand of children who were facing abuse at every step," said the bench while asking the government to take up the matter seriously.

Once it is set up, a child can directly report any abuse to the commission.

The powers of the commission, comprising six people, would involve launching an inquiry into "any violation of child rights" and "protect" children requiring special care, minors in distress, juveniles, children in conflict with law and those affected by HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, riots, communal violence and terrorism.

The proposed panel would be on the lines of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child to which India is a signatory.

The 2005 law also enumerates the setting up of a panel at the national level too.

The six members of the commission would include leading figures from the field of education, child health, juvenile justice, elimination of child labour, child psychology and laws relating to children.

The bench also directed the government to take steps to constitute a "children's court" - also envisaged in the 2005 Act - in each district for "speedy trial of offences against children or cases relating to child rights".