Poverty is the main cause of the increase in child labour, 17-year-old Rabecca Mulenga has said.

And United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) country representative Dr Stella Goings said child labour was a global problem, which required immediate attention.

In an interview, in commemoration of the World Day Against Child Labour, which fell yesterday, Rabecca said most children were forced into labour due to poor standards of living in the country.

Rabecca said some children were orphaned and had to engage in work to fend for their families.

"Child labour is a big problem in Zambia. It is harmful to children's health. Poverty forces many children to work in order to survive. HIV and AIDS also leave children orphaned and they end up heading households. This entails children taking the lead through all sorts of jobs," she said.

Rabecca said there was need to sensitise parents on the dangers of child labour, as some were ignorant on the effects of engaging children in labour.

She said parents had to instil good values in their children and to invest in their education.

"If children are the future leaders then there is need to take them to school. Zambia will only develop if future leaders are educated," she said.

And Dr Goings said the increase in economic challenges had in most cases forced families to engage their children in labour.

Dr Goings said most children had been robbed of their childhood by engaging in work.

"Child labour in Zambia is driven by poverty. UNICEF estimates that out of 2.2 billion children in the world, about one billion lose their childhood early due to labour. Economic challenges have led to the increase in the number of children engaging in labour. HIV and AIDS has also increased the number of orphans further compounding the problem. These orphaned children are subjected to hazardous works such as stone crashing and working on farms," Dr Goings said.

"Poverty has also led to an increase in human suffering and families are in most cases left with no choice but to send their children to work because it is an issue of survival."

Dr Goings said there was need to provide children an opportunity to go to school.

She hailed government for its efforts in promoting a decent living for children by discouraging child labour.

"We need to protect children from hazardous situations. We need to give them the right to be children. Children have a right to leisure, education, security and health. Communities should also take a leading role in taking care of children, they should be aware of what is happening to children. It is not entirely up to the government to stop child labour," she said.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200506131248.html

Women and Children's Affairs Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, has called on members of parliament to contribute hundred thousand cedis each, to support the Neonatal intensive care unit.

The unit has been formed for individual and corporate institutions to contribute to it and help mothers who cannot pay for services rendered by the hospital after they had given birth.

Hajia Mahama said this when she made a statement in parliament to commemorate African Union day of the African child. The theme for the occasion is "The African orphan, our collective responsibility".

She noted that orphans are vulnerable children who find themselves as a marginalized group in society, a situation which has been made worse by the increase in the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

She stated that it is estimated that in Africa, there are about 12 million orphans as a result of parents dying from AIDS and 16% of the orphans are under 6 years of age, adding that though Ghana is considered as one of the countries with relatively low prevalence compared to other countries, the pandemic has orphaned over 200,000 children in the country.

The minister who is also the MP for Nalerigu/Gambaga said Ghanaian communities have traditionally absorbed orphans within the extended family system but the trend has over the years reduced, due to the breakdown of the extended family system.

She mentioned that stigmatization and discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS on the part of society has contributed to extended families shirking their traditional responsibilities of care and support for orphans. She said women, as always in crisis situations,are rising up to the occasion, with their men behind them and acknowledge the work of Queen Mothers Associations in the country for adopting, finding and placing orphans in families in their communities as well as identifying support packages for their care.

All the 1,035 are enrolled in school and GAC is at this moment covering educational requirements bills for 400. She entreated all orphan homes also rendering services throughout the country to enroll all the children in schools because orphanages are not necessarily schools on their own and commended them for rendering this service. "Orphanages should also not be considered as businesses to reap profits".

On her part, the deputy minister for manpower development and employment, Akosua Frema Osei Opare, said the term: "Child Labour" does not encompass all economic activity undertaken by children but rather, refers to employment or work carried out by children, that does not conform to the provisions of national legislation, the Children's Act and international instruments such as the ILO Conventions 138 and 182, which define the boundaries of work undertaken by children that must be targeted for abolition.

She said the Children's Act defines exploitative Labour as work that deprives the child of his/her health, education or development. It sets the minimum age for admission to employment at 15 years for general employment, 13 years for light work, and 18 years for hazardous work.

The Act she said, defines hazardous work as work posing "a danger to the health, safety or morals of a person", and provides an in-exhaustive list including sea-going, mining and quarrying, porterage of heavy loads, work involving the production or use of chemicals, and work in places where there is a risk of exposure to immoral behaviour.

She explained that as the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) documents points out, child labour is a national problem, not only because it contributes to children dropping out of school, but also because by keeping children out of school, it breeds another cycle of people who would most likely end up in poverty later.

And the fact that child labour interferes with education has significant implication for social and economic development at individual household and societal levels.

She noted that government, on its part, has over the years, taken adequate steps through legislation, policies and other initiatives to protect the rights of children and promote their well-being.

Mrs. Osei Opare who is also the member for Ayawaso West Wuogon, disclosed that the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment through the Child Unit and the Department of Social Welfare is collaborating with the ILO to monitor child labour in selected districts as part of a process of eliminating the practice in Ghana.

She appealed to all Ghanaians, religious leaders, chiefs, queen mothers and mps to help in various ways to eliminate this practice and provide a better future for our children.

For, as the writer of a song says, IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD Contributing to the statement, the MP for North Dayi, Akua Dansua said as the African union recognizes African children as future leaders, they should do all in their power to assist them. She urged African leaders to use the occasion of Africa day to end the senseless wars and resource institutions that are responsible for the welfare of child orphans.

The MP for Builsa North, Agnes Chigabatia, suggested that irresponsible parents be punished by making them face the full rigors of the law.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170889.html

Mr Nelson Sulemana Nyadia, Livelihoods and Advocacy Manager of Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS)/Campaign for Female Education, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to providing humanitarian services to communities has called local communities, district assemblies and development agencies to curb the menace of child labour. He said despite education to eliminate child labour and trafficking, policy makers continue to grapple with the problem because some community leaders and other stakeholders had not committed themselves to fight the menace.

Mr Nyadia was addressing the chief and people of Sagnerigu, a farming community near Tamale, at the Northern Regional launch of the World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) at the weekend. The occasion was meant to sensitise the public on the dangers involved in engaging children in hazardous work and how chiefs and other community leaders in the area could assist to eliminate child labour from the region.

RAINS/CAMFED organized the forum with sponsorship from International Labour Organization (ILO)/International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) as a means of fighting child labour issues particularly from the quarries. Mr Nyadia said more than 2,000 children were engaged in child labour in the three northern regions with large numbers in the quarries and surface mining communities of the Upper East Region and called on district assemblies to commit themselves to the fight against it.

Mr Iddrisu Dajia, the Northern Regional Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said it was important for child rights advocates to use enough forums to educate the public about the rights of children especially to education and the need to avoid engaging children in exploitative labour. He said child molestation issues in the Northern Region was as a result of the negligence of some parents to educate their children and the love for material gain and called for a change in the trend.

Mr Dajia said it was sad that Ghana was the first in the sub-Saharan region to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child but could not fight child rights issues in the country. He appealed to the public to continue to regard children as the greatest resource of the nation and take good care of them to grow into good adults to develop the country.

The Sagnarigu Naa, Dr. Andani Andam in a speech read on his behalf, expressed worry that some people in the Northern Region always use poverty as a basis for not enrolling their children in school and advised the communities to send their children to school. He expressed concern about shepherd boys and stressed the need to withdraw them from the bush and enrol them in schools to ensure that no one was left out of the educational race. Dr Andam said child rights abuse cases were rampant in Sagnerigu and that the launch would change the people's attitude towards child molestation particularly child trafficking, shepherding and the Kayayee (porters) phenomenon.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=84130

"We are going to vigorously pursue this" says State Attorney General The authorities in the U.S. State of Connecticut have uncovered proof of 11 child labour law violations in three different Wal-Mart stores. They concern young workers using heavy machinery such as equipment to crush cardboard. Young workers have also illegally been made to work late at night, after the 22.00 deadline set by law.

In February this year, Wal-Mart was fined USD 135,540 to settle federal child-labor charges. In that connection, a sweetheart deal between the Bush administration and the Bentonville-based multinational was discovered, which gave the company a two week advance warning before workplaces were inspected.

Commented on the latest child labour bust, Rich Harris, a spokesman for Connecticut governor M. Jodi Rell, said to NBC 30 News that it's "worth considering toughening the fines" against employers that "wilfully and repeatedly" violate child labour laws.

Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Attorney General, has been strongly critical of the deal between Wal-Mart and the U.S. Labor Department. He promised that the state athorities will now vigorously pursue Wal-Marts labour law violations to the end.

http://www.union-network.org/unicommerce.nsf/0/C17E849A56B8C30BC125702600471 D31?OpenDocument

Volunteer Services Overseas VSO- Rwanda and the Ministry of Education have joined the Global Education Campaign (GCE) in order to achieve the education objectives in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) by the year 2015.

This was during the annual celebrations to mark the Day of the African Child, on the 16th of June, at St. André Secondary school in Nyamirambo, Kigali. The theme of the campaign was "send my friend to school"

"Over 3000 messages from Rwanda's school children will be sent to leaders of the G8 summit which is due in the first week of July to remind them of their promise to implement the education for all in the MDG's by the year 2015," Phil Hudson the Country Director VSO, said.

He also added that the messages will be accompanied by signed pledges by Government representatives and various key players in the education sector in Rwanda, including UNICEF who are to be presented at the summit.

Hudson revealed that US$5.2 billion was needed to implement education strategies in Africa, yet twice the amount is used in the West on wars and ice-cream.

"This money is nothing to the Western World but meaningful to us here. There is need to share resources and watch leaders live to their promises," he recalled.

In a report to the G8 "friends", it is estimated that only one in two African children gets primary school education while 22million African girls do not attend school at all.

Students at St. André portrayed the situation of the African child as alarming especially for the girl child through the play "Mureke inshuti yanje yige" (Send my friend to school)

"There is need to send girls to school, because they are future leaders too. Though poverty is the main problem in Africa, we call upon world leaders and parents to send children to school," Allan Mizero, a students leader said.

"Day of the African child" started in 1976, when Soweto children in South Africa were brutally murdered by the former Apartheid regime after a demonstration on rights to education.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200506200994.html

YOUNG PEOPLE LAW

The matter of the trafficking in persons in Jamaica has been in the news recently, following the report by the United States of America that Jamaica has been downgraded from the 2004 assessment of being ranked at Tier 2 in human trafficking to now being ranked at Tier 3, which is the lowest level of the three-tier system. A possible consequence of this "demotion" is the suspension for a year of economic aid from the United States of America as well as from international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to Jamaica.

On a positive note however, the resulting discussions have increased the public's awareness of human trafficking and provides an opportunity to garner the energies of the wider society in providing possible solutions to this problem.

What is the meaning of trafficking in persons? Are we aware of the implications for children?

It is therefore necessary for us to firstly, examine whether children can be victims of such trafficking and secondly what, if any protection our laws accord to our children.

Trafficking in Persons includes:
the movement or recruiting of persons by the use of threat, force, fraud, deception, abuse of power or as a consequence the vulnerability of the person being moved or recruited. It also includes the giving or receipt of payment in order to have control over the person being moved/ recruited where the purpose of the movement/recruitment of the individual is for the purpose of the exploitation of that person. Additionally, the selling of children is a form of trafficking.

A child defined in section 2 of the Child Care and Protection Act, 2004 as "a person under the age of eighteen years", is protected from trafficking by this Act.

Section 10 of the Child Care and Protection Act expressly provides that "no person shall sell or participate in the trafficking of any child". This means that trafficking in children is against the law.

Further, the penalty for this offence is quite serious. Any person who is convicted of this offence faces the possibility of a term of imprisonment at hard labour for a period of up to 10 years as well as the possibility of being fined.

It can be argued that poverty and inadequate economic opportunities are factors that take children away from the protection and security of their homes and families, into the urban centres, into night clubs, onto the street, at the stoplights, selling and begging, thereby increasing their vulnerability to incidence of trafficking.

To what extent does the law offer protection to our children against these activities and ultimately, the reduction of the likelihood of our children being targets?

Firstly, except where specifically permitted by the Minister of Labour, it is illegal to employ children under the age of 13 years.

Section 33 of the Child Care and Protection Act provides that "No person shall employ a child under the age of thirteen years in the performance of any work.

Further, more extensive protection is accorded by section 34 of this Act which expressly provides that "No person shall employ a child (a) in the performance of 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 or social development or, (b) in night work or an industrial undertaking.

A person who is convicted of acting in breach of sections 33 and 34 of the Act faces the possibility of a maximum penalty of being fined up to $500, 000 as well as being imprisoned for a term of up to six months.

The law (Child Care and Protection Act section 39) also expressly specifies that it is an offence to employ a child in a nightclub or to use a child for any conduct that is indecent or immoral.

A person who is convicted of this offence faces the possibility of being fined up to $1 m or a term of imprisonment of up to one year.

It is also an offence to allow or cause a child to beg.

Apart from the Child Care and Protection Act, the Offences Against the Persons Act specifies the offence of Carnal Abuse, which is having sexual intercourse with a girl who is under the age of 16 years.

It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the law firstly recognises the possibility of children being victims of human trafficking and additionally, has safeguards for the protection of our children. Not only in the express statement of the law against "trafficking" but also through the other provisions including that against, child labour, sexual exploitation and begging.

However, the law cannot operate in isolation and the responsibility of protecting our children undoubtedly lies in the collective efforts of all, after all our children are tomorrow's people.

Thalia Maragh is an Attorney at law, Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights, 131 Tower Street, Kingston

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/TeenAge/html/20050620T200000-0500_82775_OBS_TRAFFICKING_OF_PERSONS_AND_CHILD_CARE_PROTECTION.asp

Dhaka, June. 12 (AP): Hundreds of underage workers who toil in the sweatshops of Bangladesh's tannery, welding and chemical industries rallied in the impoverished nation's capital on Sunday to demand an end to child labour, organizers said.

Clad in red T-shirts, they carried banners and placards that read ``Adults will work, children will go to school'' and ``We want child-labour-free Bangladesh'', in commemoration of the World Day against Child Labour.

About five million Bangladeshi children aged 5-17 work to support their families, according to the U.N.'s International Labour Organization.

One of them is Nazmin Akter, 10, who has been working at a plastic manufacturing factory in Dhaka for six months to support her parents who live at a slum. Akter has no weekly holiday and works at least 10 hours a day, earning just 250 takas (US$4) a month.

The owner of the factory or her senior male colleagues sometimes beat her if she makes a mistake.

``I hate to work, but I do that just to help my parents,'' Akter told The Associated Press at the rally. Her mother works as a maid and her father pedals a rickshaw on the streets of Dhaka, a city of 10 million people.

Now, Akter studies for two hours each day at a center run by Ahsania Mission, a Bangladeshi charity organization that organized Sunday's rally with the support of the International Labour Organization.

Akter attends the school in the morning before going to work.

``I don't want to work in this factory in future, I want to study in high school,'' Akter said.

Ahsania Mission works to get employers to send their child workers to the school and make factory work safer. It also encourages parents to send their children to school instead of work.

``We are trying to bring a change, but it's really difficult to be successful here,'' Asma Begum, a teacher of the mission's non-formal school, said, adding poverty is the main reason for such a dreadful situation. ``Still, the situation has improved substantially,'' she said.

``Our first mission is to eliminate hazardous environments at work places,'' Mahbub Morshed, who mobilizes employers to improve work environment, said at the rally. ``Child labour in Bangladesh is a reality, but we want to eliminate it,'' Morshed conceded.

Children in Bangladesh are engaged in about 430 forms of child labour, of which 67 forms are hazardous and dangerous for children, according to United Nations Children's Fund.

Morshed said about 1.2 million children are engaged in hazardous work in tobacco, tanneries or chemical factories and welding workshops.

Shampa Khatun, 8, who also attended Sunday's rally, said she worked at a tannery factory for six hours daily with her mother.

``I wash leathers with chemicals,'' Khatun, who earns takas 150 (US$2.5) a week, said, showing her wounds in hands. She said she does not use any gloves at the factory she works.

``I have sent her to work as my husband is unable to work due to his illness,'' Khatun's mother Rani Begum, said after the rally. ``What can I do with my sick husband without sending her to work?''

Mohammed Yunus, an owner of a car repair workshop, told The Associated Press that he had improved the work environment of his workshop after understanding the significance of child rights issue.

``But, it's not enough. I have still many things to do,'' Yunus said. Four children are employed in his workshop, he said.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200506121528.htm

Monday, June 13th 2005

Leslie Bowrin, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Regional Child Labour Project Manager, who was delivering remarks at Friday morning's launch of the public display for the World Day Against Child Labour on the Brian Lara Promenade, would go on to reveal some hideous truths about child labour -a well-kept secret of the Caribbean region.

"Children have been found to be engaged in urban street work, such as vending, loading, transporting, begging, engaged in agricultural activities using hazardous materials and exposed to harsh elements, found scavenging on landfill sites, being exploited for illicit activity, whether for commercial sexual activity or the drug trade, and exploited as domestic servants," said Bowrin, referencing the ILO's pioneering child labour research in seven Caribbean territories.

The downtown Port of Spain event was part of the World Day Against Child Labour, established in 2002 to highlight the global movement to eliminate the practice of child labour, particularly in its worst forms.

A press release dispatched from the ILO's Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean to all major Caribbean media houses, supports Bowrin's statement. According to the release, rapid assessment studies done by the ILO in 2001 and 2002 in Belize, Barbados, Bahamas, Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago revealed the worst forms of child labour. Other than national surveys done in Belize and Jamaica, the release conceded, there were no studies effectively quantifying the magnitude of child labour in the region.

"While there are no extensive statistics on child labour in Trinidad and Tobago, a rapid assessment study done by the ILO in 2002 in particular occupational areas reveals that there is in fact evidence of what is regarded as the worst forms of child labour in this country," said the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro-Enterprise Development representative when his turn came to address the audience on the Promenade.

The Labour Ministry has played a significant role in the fight to eliminate and prevent child labour in Trinidad. Shanmatee Singh, Director of Research and Planning (Ag) at the Labour Ministry chairs the Cabinet-appointed, multi-sectoral National Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour in Trinidad.

In other Caribbean territories, national child labour committees have also been established, comprising members of non-governmental organisations, employers' and workers' organisations, labour ministries and other major social ministries such as education, youth and health. The child labour committees are charged with policy formation and programme development toward the elimination and prevention of child labour.

To date, twelve Caribbean member states have ratified ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and ten member states have ratified ILO Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Employment. (See www.ilocarib.org.tt)

Here in Trinidad, the child labour Committee has spearheaded the ongoing pilot rehabilitative programmes in the Beetham, Forres Park and Aripo landfills.

"The YMCA was contracted to work with children on Beetham Estate to offer them alternative options in terms of training and counselling," explained Bowrin, adding that the programme, which started in the 2004 long vacation, targeted 40 children for direct withdrawal from child labour and targeted a further 90 for prevention.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_features?id=83177245

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Tom Harkin says the cocoa industry must deliver on its promise to wipe out forced child labour on farms in West Africa or face legislative action.

"I hope the industry will do what they said they were going to do. If not, then I'm going to be looking at legislation," Harkin told Reuters. "It could be anything from 'B' to 'T' — from boycotts to tariffs."

Harkin, who spoke in a telephone interview late on Wednesday, was a key force behind the development of an industry-wide protocol in 2001 that aimed to eliminate forced child labour on cocoa farms, particularly in West Africa, the top growing region.

The multibillion-dollar chocolate industry has agreed to present lawmakers with a plan to implement a monitoring and certification system by July 1. The industry has repeatedly said that it is on target to meet that deadline.

Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, said he planned to meet with representatives of the chocolate industry on June 21.

"I would like to hear from them what they promised. That is, a timeline with detailed descriptions of how they are going to put in place a monitoring system, how they are going to put in place a system for social rehabilitation for these children, and a certification (scheme)," he said.

The Harkin-Engel Protocol, named after Harkin and Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, also a Democrat, was developed in response to reports of child and slave labor conditions in West Africa's cocoa industry.

A 2002 survey by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture showed an estimated 284,000 children worked in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Guinea and Nigeria.

Hundreds of thousands of small family farms under 12 acres in West Africa provide more than 70 percent of the world's cocoa crop. Ivory Coast is the No. 1 cocoa producer.

U.S. and European chocolate industry associations signed the voluntary protocol, together with U.S. and Ivory Coast governments, international labor unions and several nongovernmental organizations.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=833613

New Delhi: Twenty Nine children, working in inhuman conditions at a zari unit in Delhi were released on 6th June 2005.

In a massive crackdown on an industrial unit in the congested Raghunagar, Dabri locality of West Delhi, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) under the leadership of Shri Kailash Satyarthi rescued 29 children working in exploitative conditions. This raid was conducted on a complaint lodged by 8 year old Huaib Ansari, who had managed to run away from the zari factory.

Huaib complained that the zari contractor gave him only one meal and used to beat him often.

BBA has been engaged in a drive against child labour and inhuman working conditions for last twenty five years. Most of the rescued children were trafficked from their villages in Sitamarhi district of Bihar. The rescued children aged between 7 to 12 years were forced to work from 9:00 am in the morning till 3:30 am in