HA NOI — A joint investigation launched by the inspection team of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs earlier this year revealed that although there was a decrease in the number of cases of child abuse, the nature of the cases had become more serious and alarming.

According to the result of the investigation, which took place in January in Ha Noi and HCM City, over the past three years there have been 450 cases of child abuse prosecuted in Ha Noi. Of these, 66 were child sex abuse cases and 40 were child battery cases. The most recent and alarming case was that of Nguyen Thi Binh, a domestic servant severely abused by her employers for thirteen years.

"I was hit every day either by the master or the mistress, for even the most tiny mistake I made. I was forced to kneel naked on the floor in cold weather, beaten with a rod made of electric wires, and attacked with pincers and struck in my genitals," said Binh.

Trinh Thi Hanh Phuong, Binh’s mistress, was later sentenced to 45 months in prison and her husband Chu Minh Duc received 39 months’ probation. They were also made to compensate VND50.4 million (US$3,150) for the loss of Binh’s health and spirit.

In HCM City, more than 200 children were abused in the past three years, among which 78 were abused sexually. A typical case was that of Nguyen Thi Ngoc from District 8 of the city, who hired three children and forced them to beg for money on the street. When they brought back little money, she would use an iron rod to beat them.

Some parents in the city also received money from Chuong Van Hung, a resident of the city, to let him hire their children and make them sell goods at night. If they did not bring back VND100,000 ($6.25) per day, they would be hit and have nothing to eat and made to sleep on the pavement.

According to Ninh Thi Hong, vice inspector of the MoLISA, the number of child sex abuse victims must be higher, but due to reluctance and embarrassment the parents as well as victims do not report their cases.

"Besides, the co-operation between functional offices are still loose, while the responsibility of each unit is not made clear, which makes the protection of victims and witnesses ineffective," said Hong.

The inspecting team proposed that MoLISA co-operate with the Ministry of Home Affairs to suggest that the Government allow each commune and ward employ a staff working in labour and social affairs. Strict punishment should also be applied to parents who make their children earn money on streets as well as to those who abuse street children.

According to the reported numbers of the past three years, there were 352 cases of child labour from six to sixteen years old in Ha Noi, of which girls accounted for 74 per cent. They earned from VND500,000 to VND750,000 per month (up to $46). Meanwhile, in HCM City the figure is 750, each of them earning from VND300,000 to VND700,000 ($43) per month. —VNS

Home Affairs Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin Sunday said it is necessary to implement all the charters including the SAARC charter relating to human trafficking to combat trafficking of women and children.

"Besides, the government, international organizations and other NGOs will have to come forward in preventing women and child trafficking. The government has to take realistic initiatives in this regard," he told a workshop.

Ministry of Home Affairs organized the workshop on 'Finalization of National Plan of Action (NPA) for combating trafficking in Women and Children at Jatiya Mahila Sangstha.

The Adviser said curbing human trafficking should not be enough but those who were the victims of trafficking need to be rehabilitated in society so none can neglect them.

He said the government set up a monitoring cell at the Home Ministry in 2004 where government organizations and NGOs are working jointly to stop the trafficking.

Mentioning various reasons behind human trafficking, Matin said poverty is one of the main reasons behind it. "If we really want to solve this problem, we must improve the economical condition of our country," he said.

He appreciated different aspects of the draft of National Plan of Action for combating trafficking in Women and Children in Bangladesh. Home secretary Abdul Karim said despite being an overpopulated country, the rate of human trafficking is much lower since 1996 compared to neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan and Nepal.

"Stop Human Trafficking!"

This is the message the Caraganons want to convey as the Caraga Regional Inter-Agency Committee against Trafficking in Persons - Violence against Women and Children (IACAT-VAWC) implements the roadshow campaign against human trafficking on April 1, 2008 in Butuan City.

Dubbed as the Filipino Initiative against Trafficking in Persons (FIAT), the roadshow campaign will be participated by at least 1,500 government and non-government organizations, local government officials and employees, barangay officials, people's organizations, church and women's groups, students and the media from Butuan City and the five provinces of Caraga Region. The participants will march from Rizal Park to Urios Gym to show their support to the national campaign against human trafficking.

The cities of Butuan, Bislig and Cabadbaran and the provinces of of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Dinagat Islands have earlier demonstrated their commitment to organize the local inter-agency committee against trafficking in persons (IACATs) in their respective localities. The local IACATs are tasked to coordinate and monitor the implementation of anti-trafficking programs and activities to prevent human trafficking, protect victims and convict human traffickers in their respective areas.

Caraga is a possible source of victims and a strategic transit area considering the airports, seaports and number of bus terminals in the region. Although the exact number of victims is yet unknown, human rights monitor estimate that several thousands of men, women and children are trafficked in the country each year. They are lured by promises of good jobs or marriage, and some are forced into involuntary servitude. There are also parents who see no alternative for breaking the cycle of poverty and often willingly send their children away.

The passage of the Republic Act 9208 known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 laid the ground for a stringent response of stakeholders against trafficking. The law stipulates provisions of aid to victims of trafficking and the organization of Inter-Agency Councils against Trafficking (IACAT) tasked to monitor the implementation of the law. Since the passage of the law, the country has made modest but significant progress in the fight against trafficking. As a result, the US State Department in 2006 Trafficking in Persons report removed the Philippines from the watch list.
While considerable efforts were made in the area of prevention and protection, frontline agencies and anti-trafficking advocates acknowledge that much work has to be done. The need to focus national and local attention and resources to the problem and develop a more integrated, holistic and rights-based response particularly to trafficking hotspots has to be sustained.

The FIAT national steering committee is composed of the National IACAT, Multi-Sectoral Network Against Trafficking (MSNAT), Philippines Against Child Trafficking (PACT) and the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP). The IACAT is a government-led, multi-agency body with civil society representatives, while MSNAT, PACT and CATW-AP are groups of non-government organizations, the academe, workers groups and government agencies. The roadshow campaign is supported by the Rule of Law Effectiveness (ROLE) Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Asia Foundation (TAF).

LAHORE: A seminar on ‘Child Labour: Issues and Challenges in Pakistan’ was organised by the AGHS Legal Aid Cell at a local hotel on Thursday.

Rights activist and AGHS Child Rights Unit Director Hina Jillani, addressing the seminar, said that advocacy for children’s rights, especially child labour, had lessened in recent years due to the political turmoil that the country was going through.

She said that both the employers and the parents were responsible for the menace of child labour. She said that child labour was more at those places where women were not allowed to go out and work. Hina Jillani said that the laws that existed in Pakistan suggested that the government authorities concerned wanted regulation of child labour instead of its elimination.

Labour Department Director Saeed Awan said that Pakistan had ratified the ILO-138 minimum age convention, according to which a child should be at least 15 years of age before he could start working. He said that the government and non-government stakeholders should facilitate each other to reduce child labour. He also said that the last survey on the number of working children was conducted in 1996, according to which 3.3 million children were involved in child labour across the country. “The next survey on the issue might be planned by the end of this year,” he added.

Awan said that till 2007, the department had approached 26,000 children involved in the carpet weaving industry and 8,000 children in the football industry. He said that a large number of children were involved in domestic and agricultural work, self employment and working at small workshops. Senior journalist Hussain Naqi and human rights activist Shahtaj Qizalbash were also present on the occasion.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Chairperson Shantha Sinha talks to PRASAD NICHENAMETLA on the Commission's first year.

Set up with the mandate of protecting the rights of the country’s children, the Commission has completed one year. How do you see the work done by the body in this one year?

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007, but actually started working from July onwards. As it was the first year, most of our time was spent in understanding the issues, some of which required immediate attention and some a long-term strategy. All over the country, we held consultations and conducted field studies as I think if we have a consensus over what child rights are, the rest all will be easy to deal with. Overall, I would say that the first year was exploratory in nature.

But there was some action also. Due to our interference, migration of children from Rajasthan to Gujarat to work in the production of hybrid cotton seeds has stopped to some extent. As many as 1,500 children, who were on their way to work in Gujarat, were returned to their homes. We also called for joint sittings of both states to tackle the issue, which will show its effect in the coming months. Likewise, our presence has made some difference in some other places.
Incidents like Nithari killings are still fresh in the minds of people. What has the Commission done there?

By the time we took charge, Nithari case was being pursued by the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women. We are aware that the issue concerns us more than others but as already some statutory bodies have taken up the matter, we did not take up Nithari. Anyway, it is not just one commission which can deal with such subjects, we need support of all the bodies in such efforts.

Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes told Parliament recently that the government was not proposing to amend the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 to prohibit all forms of child labour in the country and wanted to take a sequential approach to the problem...

The present policies only target some children and leave out the rest, this is not right. All children who are out of school should be treated as those involved in work and should be sent back to schools. There should be a campaign in the country for total abolition of child labour. Instead of going according to the system’s readiness, we should start looking from the child’s angle and what he/she needs.

It is very much possible to abolish all forms of child labour and rehabilitate them. But for that we need conviction that all children who are working should be in schools. If we give half-hearted attempts, they will lead to corresponding results.
Even the National Child Labour Projects seem to have failed in tackling the child labour problem.

The NCLPs don’t address the question of abolishing all forms of child labour and instead focus on children in hazardous industries. Even after provided with much money, they were able to rehabilitate only about 400,000 children till now. The programme should be implemented not as a scheme but as a policy that involves multiple components like total abolition of child labour, social mobilisation, awareness of the parents and transitional education centres. We should start focusing at ward and panchayat levels where the child will be a face instead of mere statistics in the records.

We also recommended a new National Child Labour Eradication Policy to replace the one formulated in 1987, which will re-examine all laws and policies regarding working children and ensure consistency in the constitutional and legal provisions.

But it seems not so simple. Many a times, parents, due to their economic condition, are forced to send their children to work.

I don’t agree with that point. Given a chance, every parent wants his child to be in school, in spite of him being poor. This I have seen while working with MV Foundation (an NGO with which Sinha was associated earlier and is dedicated to rehabilitating child labour and mainstreaming them). No parents want to exploit their children. It is the society which feeds their minds that you cannot send your child to schools. Let us change these arguments first.

In fact, our schools are not ready for first-generation learners. We have not done enough to see that all these children are in schools. More than economic assistance, every parent should be provided with that social impetus to send their children to school. I think the Right to Education Bill, if implemented, will provide that momentum.

What is your take on the proposal to provide biscuits in place of cooked food in anganwadis?

Throughout our field visits, we have observed that fresh, hot food is an efficient way to increase the nutritional levels of the children. We already have arrangements for this, so instead of looking for another option why don’t we strengthen the existing systems? Moreover, with community ownership/partnership in such programmes, the child rights will also be protected.

Are you happy with the allocations made in the Budget for the welfare of children?

The basic thing to be provided to a child is education. For that, we have to allocate at least 6 per cent of the GDP for education.

There is no uniformity in definition of a child and his age. While UN Convention on the Rights of the Child puts it at 18 years and below, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act recognises child labour as below 14 years.

Yes, this is an issue. We need to arrive at a benchmark.

You were in academics and actively associated with NGOs like MV Foundation to eradicate child labour. How do you see your responsibility now as the first chairperson of the Commission to protect rights of children in the country?
It is difficult to answer how the change has been, as it is the same work in a different position. But the impact of the Commission will be far more. It is a duty endowed upon us and we have to act very responsibly.

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LAS VEGAS —  More than 400 children were found working as prostitutes in Las Vegas during a single month last year, according to a national report that calls the city a hub for child sex trafficking.

"You've got a lot of really good people trying to solve this problem in Las Vegas, but it's a big problem," said Linda Smith, president and founder of Shared Hope International.

The nonprofit, based in Vancouver, Wash., released the 165-page report Monday. It said "high-risk conditions of Las Vegas" including easy access to alcohol and drugs, 24-hour gambling, and a "hyper-sexualized entertainment industry" fueled a problem it dubs "domestic minor sex trafficking."

The study, produced with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, also finds the region possesses inadequate services to help those it calls victims of the sex trade.

Researchers compiled data in 2007 from 16 Las Vegas-area agencies including the FBI, police, Clark County Family Court, county juvenile authorities, the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and the Salvation Army.

"Outreach workers in one organization identified over 400 prostituted children on the streets of Las Vegas in May 2007 alone," the report said. It said a group called Stop Turning Out Child Prostitutes found some 1,496 minors faced prostitution-related charges in the area since 1994.

Las Vegas was one of 10 U.S. locations for which the agency completed reports. Others included Salt Lake City, Dallas, Bexar County and Fort Worth, Texas, the New Orleans area, Clearwater, Fla., Erie County, N.Y., Independence, Mo., and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Las Vegas police Lt. Karen Hughes said police last year arrested 157 juveniles on prostitution-related charges, and 153 the year before.

"That doesn't mean there aren't more girls out there," she said. "It's tragic."

Federal officials have recognized Las Vegas as an area where human trafficking is a concern, and a cooperative effort was launched in 2006 called the Anti-Trafficking League Against Slavery. Anchored by Las Vegas police, ATLAS involves the FBI, Salvation Army, women's and family shelters and rape crisis programs, Nevada Child Seekers and the Boyd Law School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

But officials express frustration that after a program to provide counseling and treatment for teen prostitutes closed recently, there was no local safe house specifically for sexually trafficked children, Smith said.

Officials said they agreed with report findings that trafficked children are treated as criminals instead of victims.

"These kids don't really belong in juvenile justice but don't fit anywhere else in the system," said Family Court Judge William Voy. "They're out there being victimized but also committing a delinquent act, prostitution. There is no alternative but the detention center."

Voy, who spends one day a week hearing cases involving juveniles accused of prostitution has been working with others to open a safe house for juveniles, but plans are still in the early stages.

The issue of child trafficking is on the increase, in four districts in the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions, which calls for pragmatic efforts by all to address the problem, which is a social canker that must be eliminated in the country.

The children, who are mostly trafficked from the Ada, Keta, North and South Tongu districts, are normally engaged in island communities in the Krachi-East and West districts, as well as the Sene District, in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The Executive Director of Partners in Community Programmes (PACOP), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), working in the area to rescue trafficked children, and reuniting them with their parents, Mr. George Achibera, made this known at a three-day training workshop for volunteers, in the island communities, on counseling and rescuing skills to assist trafficked children in three districts of Kete- Krachi.

Mr. Achibera disclosed that in 2007, and the beginning of 2008, sixty trafficked children, who were engaged in fishing along the Volta Lake, were rescued noting that there were about 1,000 of such children in the fishing communities on the island, and announced that his outfit was conducting a research into the exact number of trafficked children in the three districts.

He explained that out of the 60 rescued children, 25 have been sent to the Social Welfare Department, of the Women and Childrens Ministry for the necessary counseling, after which they would be reunited with their parents, while the rest are currently being taken care of by the Social Welfare Department at Kete-Krachi, and would be transferred to Accra later.

The Executive Director of PACOP expressed concern about the risk involved in the type of work the children, who were between the ages of six and twelve, do and pointed out that in course of their work, they found out that most of the times, these children were forced to wake up at 2 a.m., to embark on fishing expeditions, during which they were made to dive deep into the lake to remove nets, resulting in some lives being lost.

Mr. Achibera, therefore, charged the volunteers to intensify education on the need for parents to be responsible in the upbringing of their wards, saying most of the problems associated with child trafficking, bordered on ignorance on the part of parents, who give their children out to do jobs, which they did not teach them, just because they were paid a token sum to involve them in what he described as inhuman acts.

He said the most serious aspect of the trafficked children, was that they were denied the opportunity of schooling and good health care by their so-called masters, adding that if the necessary steps were not taken now, child trafficking would become the grounds for breeding deviants and criminals in society.

The children would grow up to understand that they did not like the work they were doing, and could create jobs for themselves, which would not be acceptable by society.

Mr. Achibera commended the International Organization for Migration and Geneva Global, an American NGO, for their continuous support in rescuing trafficked children in the operational area of PACOP, as well as admired the assistance of the two Krachi assemblies.

On his part, the Krachi-West District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Douglas Koranteng, attributed the act of parents giving their children out for money, to the high poverty level of such parents, adding that the attitude was dehumanizing, since monies the parents collected, before releasing their children, was nothing to write home about.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's protracted and increasingly bloody civil war is making the country more vulnerable to human trafficking, a senior United Nations official said on Tuesday.

People fleeing conflict-torn areas in Sri Lanka's north and east, where fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and state security forces has raged since 1983, opened the door to people smugglers keen to profit from the vulnerable, the United Nations said.

"The conflict you have is quite clearly going to be a major factor in increasing vulnerability of some of the country's young people," Gary Lewis, representative of the U.N. Office for Drugs and Crime in South Asia, told Reuters.

"Migration is the key in which traffickers and traffic victims meet," Lewis said after a briefing in Colombo.

Sri Lanka, a developing nation of 20 million, has one of the lowest incidences of people smuggling in Asia, despite the ongoing conflict which has claimed 70,000 lives.

Lewis's office estimates at least 150,000 people are trafficked within South Asia each year, led by India and followed by Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

But with fighting intensifying between government troops and the rebels, the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR says around 188,000 Sri Lankans have been forced from their homes since April 2006.

There are also tens of thousands of others living long-term in internal refugee camps after two-and-a-half decades of war, many in rudimentary conditions in tents.

"As soon as you disrupt a child from their home environment, there is movement and there is lack of physical contact with those who love and care for them," said Lewis, referring to children living in what were supposed to be temporary tent camps.

"You are going to get increased vulnerability on trafficking and also children being abused," Lewis said.

Though poverty, natural disaster and demand for cheap labor and prostitution also contributed to human trafficking in Sri Lanka, conflict could accelerate the problem.

"You will get dysfunctional families. You will get young men turning to crime," Lewis said.

BAFATA REGION, Guinea-Bissau, 26 March, 2008 – At a remote police station in eastern Guinea-Bissau, Amandou Jau, 12, waited patiently to be reunited with his father. Amandou had been rescued from the clutches of a child trafficker who had sought to smuggle him across the border into Senegal. 

Sadly, this is a not uncommon story in a region where young boys are regularly abducted.

Often, as in Amandou’s case, the trafficker will approach the boy’s parents in the guise of a religious teacher offering their child a free education. Amandou’s father believed he was doing the right thing by sending his son off to a free religious school. He was unaware that the stranger’s true intention was not to educate Amandou, but to force him to beg on the streets of Senegal for the trafficker’s own profit.

"When I saw my boy again, I cried," said Amandou's father, Mamadu Bailo Jau. "I never imagined that he would be in this situation… I will now keep him at home, and will never send a child away like this again." 

Awareness is the best defense

UNICEF is working with its partner, the non-governmental organization SOS Talibé, to inform parents about the realities of child-trafficking in Senegal. Estimates suggest that as many as 100,000 children are prisoners of the streets there, and that most originated from Guinea-Bissau.

"They exploit the families and the children,” says SOS Talibé Coordinator Malam Baio. “They take advantage of the innocent for their own gains. This is wrong and against Islam. The right thing to do is to protect the children." 

Protecting children is not easy when two-thirds of the country’s population lives below the poverty line. Parents in Guinea-Bissau want to provide what is best for their children, but all too often they lack the necessary means to do so. Such parents are highly susceptible to being duped by false promises of a free education for their child – Amandou’s parents were no exception.

Long-term effects of child-trafficking

One of the long-term consequences for trafficked children, says Mr. Baio, is that they “are raised without learning any marketable skills, so when they reach adulthood and are no longer effective at begging on the streets, they frequently turn to crime to survive.”

To address this issue, SOS Talibé seeks to offer the children in their care a dual education system in both Arabic and Portuguese.

For its part, UNICEF is providing immediate assistance to victims of child trafficking, as well as supporting studies on the best methods of preventing trafficking and exploitation. Efforts are being made to raise awareness among parents and community leaders through training sessions on child-trafficking prevention and victim assistance.

By educating the community about child trafficking, UNICEF and its partners hope to provide parents with better tools to defend against those who prey upon their children – and, in time, drive traffickers out of business for good.

Children trafficked into the state are for either domestic work or other forms of labour (including begging) or commercial sexual exploitation and become victims of abuse and often turn to alcohol to escape and endure the problems they encounter.

GOA, A former Portuguese colony on the western coast of India is one of the popular tourist destinations for foreigners during the tourist season. The small state ranks high as far as human development and per capital income in comparison to the rest of the country. The high level of per capital income is fuelled by its overseas Indians contributions, tourism industry and mining economy.

But there is darker side to the human growth and a fall out of the tourism trade- Child labour, exploitation of migrant children and trafficking of human’s.

Goa since the start of the 70s has attracted a large number of unskilled and semi-skilled workers from other states. The migration fuelled due to the non-availability of manual labor within the state. Further the developmental activity initiated in the State and the booming tourism business, continues to fuel demand for more labour from across the state borders.

And that was not enough there is seasonal migration. With the onset of the every tourism season hordes of migrant labour force move into Goa from across the state borders from Karnataka and Maharashtra to do business on the beaches or work at the temporary seasonal shacks. One of the migrating tribal groups is the Lamani community, whose numbers have increased significantly ever since they first entered the state in the late 70’s.

The children of the Lamanis’ are the high-risk group who are vulnerable to fall into the trap set by the different vice dens of the tourism trade. These children are sometimes not accompanied by their parents but come to Goa with relatives or with some close neighbors in search of employment in order to escape poverty and hunger. But there are agents or an organized racket, which exploits the children for commercial gains. Agents, who bring children and women into the state to make them work as domestic labourer.

These underprivileged children are one of the identified groups who are vulnerable children in the context of child labour, child abuse and the commercial sexual exploitation.

Who are trafficked into Goa for labour or sexual exploitation?

Children trafficked into the state are for either domestic work or other forms of labour (including begging) or commercial sexual exploitation and become victims of abuse.

Children likely to fall for the bait for a better life and exploitation by unscrupulous agents are from children abandoned by their families, children of prisoners, children whose parents are either alcoholics or substance abusers. The vulnerable group extends to children from broken homes, children who belong to single parent families or are born to unwed mothers, children living in areas affected by communal riots. And there are some child laborers who run away from home and have come here in search of work.

Where they work

The children are mainly employed in an unorganized sector, selling plastic bags, fish, vegetables or fruit in the markets, rag-picking, off-loading fish and vegetables from trucks that come to the main markets. Some find way to work as domestic workers, at construction sites, in garages, in shops as sales persons or helpers, in small hotels and restaurants, and shoeshine boys.

On the beachside they can be seen selling peanuts, beer or handicrafts to tourists or as masseurs on the beach. In the construction activity they work as sand-sifters along the coast where sand is loaded for the construction business. They can also be found working on fishing trawlers. And they also entertain you as gymnasts performing different tricks to entertain passer and tourists in different cities and on the beaches to earn their lively hood.

Some take to begging on the beaches either forced by their agents or their families to sustain themselves and their families. For majority of them school is a distant mirage, while some drop out of school as they think it is not a feasible option, others find it very difficult to cope with the formal system of education.

The children are also vulnerable for exploitation by the pedophiles. Goa, which is one the hot destination for pedophile and where the first case of pedophile broke out in and the state thereafter, has brought in tough legislation to curb the menace. Foreigners manage to earn the trust and confidence of the young children by showering them with gifts and money and enticing them into their vice den. Most child abuse victims often turn to substance abuse and alcohol as a route to escape and endure the problems they encounter.

With the start of the tourist season a few weeks away groups working with children have challenges to encounter in prevention of abuse with children in different sectors of Goan society. Groups work on prevention of trafficking of minors into prostitution, rehabilitation programmes for victims of trafficking and abuse, conduct awareness programmes about child rights in schools and with Parent Teacher Associations,

Goa like the rest of India has a 24 hour toll free phone help line service that reaches out to children in distress but to put an end to the exploitation of children in different sectors. Goan society should join hands with the right groups in putting an end to the exploiting of the tender minds. Every effort should be made to give them their rightful right to have their freedom as children.

Inspectors at Jordan's Labour Ministry have set a 2008 target to remove from the labour market about 3,000 children, many of whom, they say, are subjected to physical and sexual abuse. The plan is part of a long-term strategy to remove some 38,000 children from the labour market.

Most employed children work in hazardous jobs, in places like chemical factories, car repair workshops and building sites that pose serious risks to their health and even their lives, said Ghadah Darawsheh, head of the child labour division at the Ministry of Labour.

Children under 16 are encouraged by the ministry to return to school or obtain job training, while those aged 16-18 are taught about their rights, including the minimum wage and working hours.

Darawsheh said tackling the issue was not as straightforward as it might seem: Many families depended on their children's earnings, either because the father cannot work or because the family income is not enough.

"We will be dealing with children on an individual basis, but what is important is to take them out of the labour market," Darawsheh told IRIN, noting that the government was trying to provide financial alternatives to such families.

Abdullah (not his real name) sells strawberries at traffic lights in the up-market area of Khalda from 8am till 6pm. The 14 year-old said he supports his mother and three little brothers.

"My father has a heart condition and cannot work," said Abdullah, who is often harassed either by older children in competition with him or by municipal workers. He also has to endure scorching heat and scant food and water.

Most working children are concentrated in heavily populated areas such as eastern Amman, Zarqa, 30km to the east, and Irbid, 120km to the north.

Girls are part of the army of workers, but officials say tracking them is difficult. Some are employed as cleaners in private homes, while others pick fruit and vegetables on farms.

Officials and activists admit their task will probably be made more difficult by the recent price increases. In early February the government liberalised fuel prices and lifted subsidies on basic commodities causing the prices of many items to jump 50-200 percent compared to 2007 levels.
The government increased the salaries of public servants by US$65 to offset the impact of higher prices, and welfare beneficiaries were given a US$10 increase on their US$50 monthly allowance, but thousands of other families are not cushioned at all. The minimum wage of $140 per month has remained unchanged.

Department of Statistics figures indicate that 14.5 percent of Jordan's 5.7 million people are living below the poverty line, while figures provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) suggest this figure is 27 percent.

"We are very worried that many citizens who were above the poverty line will become poor as a result of high prices - a situation which will automatically translate into having working children," said Nihayat Dabdoub, manager of the Social Support Centre for Working Children and Drop-outs.

The organisation is involved in a programme of its own to remove nearly 1,500 children from the streets of eastern Amman, many of whom are subject to abuse.

Figures on abuse of working children are not available and many officials say the issue is often swept under the carpet. Most of the sexually abused victims are boys, but social sensitivities in this conservative society impose serious challenges for activists.

"There are numerous cases of child abuse, but we have noticed children often keep to themselves and prefer not to reveal information either out of fear or a sense of guilt," said Dabdoub.

The latest figures in 2004 from the department of statistics suggest that there are at least 38,000 children working, but officials say the number could be much higher. The government is currently working on a census to determine the number of working children as well as the type of work they are engaged in.

IT IS almost unthinkable to have Easter without Easter eggs. This year we will spend more than $200 million on them.
And as a father of (now grown-up) children, I have witnessed over many years the joy they bring. Yet there are hundreds of thousands of other children who are profoundly effected by Easter eggs and not for the better.

They are the children who work in the cocoa plantations of West Africa – they toil to produce cocoa that goes into the 924,000 tonnes of chocolate Australians eat each year.

It is estimated that in the West African nation of the Ivory Coast alone more than 600,000 children work on cocoa fields.

Research in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together make up 60 per cent of the world's cocoa, reveal up to 80 per cent of children in the cocoa fields are being exposed to dangerous practices such as unprotected use of chemicals, carrying heavy loads, brush burning and using machetes. About half of these children do not go to school.

There is also evidence of children being trafficked. The study estimated up to 12,000 children had been trafficked for cocoa in West Africa.

I have just returned from West Africa where I have seen the problem. I have seen the mug shots of the traffickers; spoken to children, cocoa farmers, authorities and local organisations desperately trying to help trafficked and exploited children. It was an experience that saddened me but also made me determined to do all I can to change the plight of these children.

It is difficult to estimate the scope of trafficking of children for cocoa in the Ivory Coast but what evidence police have uncovered reveals it is a sophisticated network involving fake identity papers and established smuggling routes.

The trafficked child will often live with the cocoa farmer's family but as a second-class citizen. That child won't go to school, won't get paid and will do the dirtiest and most dangerous work on the cocoa field.

World Vision Australia has launched the Don't Trade Lives campaign, designed to focus public attention on the modern-day trafficking and enslavement of people across the world.

More than 200 years after British parliamentarian William Wilberforce successfully campaigned for the abolition of state-sanctioned slavery – slavery still exists. It is estimated that trafficking enslaves 27 million people worldwide today.

In September 2001, members of the chocolate industry signed a voluntary protocol – the Harken Engel Protocol – to establish credible standards of public certification that ensured cocoa production was free of the worst forms of child labour practices in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

This process was to be completed by July 2005. The industry failed to meet this deadline and it has now extended to July 2008. It is also critical that manufacturers outline a plan of action by Christmas to ensure the chocolate we eat is free of human exploitation.

We don't want people to stop eating chocolate or to boycott some brands; this will only further hurt the children we are trying to help. But consumers must send a message to chocolate makers that they are watching.

To help people make the right choice, World Vision had made available a "Good Chocolate Guide". People can also find out more about this problem and what action they can take at www.donttradelives.com.au.

Chocolate and Easter eggs bring so much joy to children in Australia but let's do all we can to ensure it doesn't continue to bring misery to children on the other side of the world.

Tim Costello is chief executive of World Vision Australia.

16 Mar 2008, NEW DELHI: Moving swiftly to avoid being rapped for "child labour" under a US gazette notification issued last year, the government expects perspective plans — covering entire supply chains in sensitive exports like gems, sports goods, apparel, carpets and handicrafts — to be ready within a month.

The plans aim to institute a "social audit" which makes manufacturing processes in industries likely to be found violative of child labour laws subject to external scrutiny, the results of which will be put up on websites of export promotion councils (EPCs).

The "clean" certificates are seen to be a pre-emptive measure against action in the US.

"We have to look at the supply chains. This means that even if a carpet manufacturer is not using child labour, exports could be hit as the supplier of zari that goes into the product is found to be using children," minister of state for commerce, Jairam Ramesh, told TOI. The US notification had substantially expanded the area of scrutiny with regard to child labour.

Under the US law, enacted in August last year, it was possible for anyone to lodge a complaint with regard to child labour being used in an export to that country. This had obvious implications for India, as the law could be used by activists as well as commercial rivals. "If a case is registered and it goes into the US legal process, it can be very time consuming," said Ramesh.

The government was also spurred into action by exposes in the British media last year of children working under abominable conditions in Delhi's Shahpur Jat area for a sub-contractor to the well-known apparel retailer Gap.

There is concern that lax implementation of anti-child labour laws would leave exportsvulnerable to bans. What is also worrying the government is that there are no concerted efforts to check use of children as labour. Even after adverse exposure in international media, the attitude of suppliers and sub-contractors has been unrepentant and it is also not clear to what extent exporters take the trouble of ensuring that they do not fall afoul of laws in US and other western nations.

A note circulated by to concerned ministries points out that all sub-contractors and suppliers have to conform to laws relating to child labour.

"This is an era of traceability and EPCs (need) to examine supply chains in their industries," it states. The entire process of a social audit needs to be completely transparent and be made a public document.

The government has decided that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Shanta Sinha would interact with EPCs on a quarterly basis to monitor that action points identified are implemented.

The commission will examine how plans for elimination of child labour in areas like Varanasi, Bhadohi (carpets), Jalandhar (sports goods) and Surat and Bhavnagar (gems and jewellery) are progressing.

The government hopes to involve child rights NGOs in the social audit and such organisations have already been consulted. The external audits which will be set up have to work with local administrations on "issues arising out of employment of children belonging to migrant communities and children subjected to trafficking".

A 13 Year old Child could know the solution of Child Labour then why are mature citizens having difficulty to understand.
The last of the final examinations were over and Dad confirmed a day earlier that we were leaving for Mangalore for our holidays.  My other classmates and friends too were equally gleeful as they boasted of their own travel plans, some to European countries and some to the East. As expected, our flight arrived at our destination in time and just as we cleared the customs and immigration formalities and got out of the airport something stuck me.  A small boy with a torn shirt and shabby pants offered to carry my little suitcase to the waiting car.  I asked him why, as I could carry it myself.  He said, Amma gave me just two rupees and I can buy some Idlis for my little sister sitting over there." I became inquisitive and asked him "Don't you have a father or mother?  The little boy tearfully said "No, they died when we were small."
 
As our car then throttled across fields and valleys, my mind started pondering as to why should this boy work by struggling to carry a suitcase when he too could have, like me, looked forward to play with relations and friends.  Then it stuck me "maybe he has, but he cannot, because his priority is to feed his sister and himself."
 
After reaching our home and freshening up and enjoying gulping up a couple of Tender Coconut (juices and the tasty pulp), I tried to rest it out for sometime but the whole afternoon and then came the night..I could not get an answer. I just could not reason out as to why this little boy and his sister had to work and not enjoy their childhood like any other child or like me..???? The question that shook me completely was "If God has created all of us in the same way why can’t He ensure that all of us also live our childhood in the same way."
 
As days passed and I accompanied my parents here and there all around on our way, I could see so many children on the road, begging for money, asking for food, working in fields, restaurants, small tea and food stalls, working in garages, ironsmith shops, brick kilns, bakeries, shoe repair shops, and in many houses rolling beedies inhaling the tobacco dust.  etc. Many children in this world are starving!! During one of the wedding parties, my heart melted as I noticed small children sorting out in the dustbin, and looking for small pieces of meat or little rice or any other leftover food stuff and even consuming them with joy.. And sometimes we are forced to think; why does God permit all this to happen? Why does God not protect all his children alike? Doesn't he love them anymore??  But we can't totally blame God because sometime, somewhere we too are responsible for all this.
 
All of us know that still somewhere in rural areas where people don't have food to eat and water to drink, children start working at a very young age. Many children are forced by their parents to work in factories, and as a result they grow up as illiterate. They live a very difficult life. "We can do only one thing and that is pity them". This is usually the sentence which most of us say and curse the government. But what do we do?? Do we actually donate anything? May be sometimes.just some amount of money and then we are satisfied... But is the problem solved? Do you think that child labour can be abolished that easily? NO!! In fact we make it even more worse because the parents or the owners of the children think that if people pity the children they might get even more money and make them work harder than ever, and some unscrupulous people even kidnap children,  maim them and then send them out to beg and earn at their cost.
 
Can we stop this? Yes surely we can by many means like, creating awareness among people.  Protesting against those people who send their children to work. Insisting that the government apply strict laws against such people. Opening welfare homes for rehabilitation. And the most important thing is to provide free education for poor children.  Like we hear in the state of Tamil Nadu where healthy midday meals are provided free for every child who attends school as an incentive, even in remote rural places.
 
"But what can we ourselves do in this situation?" If this is the question on your mind then I think we can solve it.  We can surely go and impart our knowledge to those children. We go on vacation to China, Japan, New York etc for vacation but instead of that if we just go and spend some time with those children, the peace of mind we get is just unexplainable. We can sponsor a child for his/her education so that they too can become like one of us.
 
Many children complain that we don't get this and we don't get that.  Sitting at the dining table we make a fuss saying we don't want this or that but let’s wait for a minute and just think about those children. Do they get even one percent of what we get? No, and that's why we say "Be happy for what you have got and don't complain." Thank and pray to God that you will never have to live like one of them.
 
And by reading this, if anyone wishes to help a child for his/her education, then my purpose of writing this article will be fulfilled!!!

Lots of in and out is happening on the fourth day at the ongoing Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week. 

Designers at stalls are busy selling and showing their clothes to buyers, but at the same time they have taken out some time to raise and support one of the sensitive social issue of our country- 'Child Labour '.

FDCI has designed a 'pledge wall,' which says 'A pledge for a better future' at the venue where all the designers are writing there views and urging to stop child labour.

"Our youth are the future; please do not use child labour. It is a sin beyond that ruins the innocence," writes Ashish Soni, who is going to present his show along with designer Ananmika Khanna at the grand finale.

"Don't talk just support child education & be with them for support everyone needs," writes the designer duo Ashish & Vikraj.

Designer Charu Prashar's message shows her love for children. "I love kids, have two of my own. Do you make your children work? So how can you think of other children working. Abolish it!Deepika Govind shares her nobel views, "Everytime I see a child on the street. I think of mine. I pray that besides banning child labour. We help them; let them live life with dignity."

PLATFORM for Labour Action has rescued 20 child domestic workers from Katwe II parish, in Makindye division.
The children, majority of whom girls were rescued after a taskforce instituted by Platform for Labour Action (PLA) carried out a rescue search operation. PLA is an NGO that promotes and protects the rights of vulnerable and marginalised communities.The NGO uses messages of empowerment, action oriented research, policy dialogue and legal aid.

PLA's Executive Director, Ms Lilian Keene- Mugerwa, told journalists on Monday that the 20 rescued have been taken to various vocational training skills to acquire skills that will help them set up income generating activities.

Last week, the children received mattresses, suitcases, beddings, scholastics materials and tuition fees from PLA.
Ms Mugerwa said PLA has since 2005 been working with local leaders and other NGOs to rescue domestic child labourers.

The project targets 150 child workers and those who are at a risk of becoming child workers.

Ms Mugerwa said when the children are rescued, they are counseled and helped to return to school. Those who wish to go back home are re-united with their parents or relatives.

The Chairman of Katwe I Parish, Mr Paul Lukombira Kabi said there were many domestic child labourers in his parish and most are exploited and sexually abused by their employers.

Mr Kabi also said most of the domestic child labourers are orphans and the situation is worsened by the brokers who take them to people in Kampala as housemaids.

He said most children hail from Masaka, Luweero, Jinja and Mbarara. Statistics at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development indicate that out of 2.7 million children in Uganda, 54 per cent are domestic workers.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803111272.html

KOLKATA,  March 11: More and more children are going missing from West Bengal, claimed a child rights agency Save the Children.

After conducting a study, in collaboration with the department of women and child development, for over a period of four years, it was revealed that around 16,000 children go missing from the state every year, with 271 children missing from three blocks ~ Sandeshkhali I, II and Pathar Pratima in North and South 24-Parganas respectively.

Experts are of the opinion that though child labour has been recognised as exploitative and hazardous, yet the rampant practice of child labour is visible in the city as well as in the nearby districts.

According to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report approximately 45,000 children go missing every year and and one out of every four children remain untraced. 

The recent survey conducted by this organisation revealed that 78 per cent of the child workers receive less than Rs 500 per month, 32.2 per cent have had their private parts touched by the abuser, 20 per cent had been forced to have sexual intercourse while 32 per cent of the families have no idea where their daughters are working and 27 per cent admitted that they knew that they are responsible for their harassment which ultimately led to their children disappearance.  

Claiming that strong anti-trafficking committees has rescued many children from 46 villages in West Bengal, Ms Shireen Vakil Miller, head of advocacy and policy, Save the Children said: “We will continue our programme so that children get back their rights and can enjoy a happy, healthy and secured childhood.” Citing the Nithari case as well as the recent incident in Howrah where children could not be traced for a period, Ms Miller said “mainly children of low-income families are easy prey for traffickers.”

While there are laws to prohibit child labour in the city, they are not properly implemented in the city.

Mr Rabi Lal Maitra, state law minister said: “There are some flaws and weaknesses in anti trafficking laws and we are delving on such laws how we could modify and reorient those laws so that traffickers could be punished.”

“Compared to other countries of South Asia anti trafficking laws are not properly implemented in India,” he added.

Rekha, Seema and Kajali (names changed), all below 14 years of age were forced by their parents to work as a domestic labour help for years and now they are salvaged by this child rights agency, which caters for the rehabilitation programme of the children as well as shouldering the responsibility of returning back the trafficked children to their parents.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=22&theme=&usrsess=1&id=194726

Washington, March 12 (IANS) The US has given India an overall clean chit on its human rights record, but suggests it still faces numerous serious problems including extra-judicial killings, disappearances, and torture and rape by security forces as well as by terrorists. The Indian government “generally respected the rights of its citizens; however, numerous serious problems remained,” said the State Department’s 2007 Human Rights Practices report released here Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“In the long run, we are confident that citizens who sacrifice for their dignity and their rights will prevail, just as the Havels and the Mandelas did before them,” she said, calling it America’s duty to support the “courageous champions of human rights” around the world.

“Change may, indeed change will, take time, but change will come. As long as citizens around the world champion the universal values of human rights, there is hope,” Rice added.

The report, which makes critical references to the state of affairs in India’s neighbourhood - Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka - said in India “serious internal conflicts affected the state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as several states in the north and east”.

“While the civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were several in