| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* For the year
2000, the ILO projects that there will be 0 economically active children
between the ages of 10-14. (ILO, International
Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population
1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
* For the year 2000, 8369000 children between 16
-19 years were economically active. (ILO, Yearbook of Labour
Statistics, 2001)
* 8,256,000 teenagers
between 16-19 are economically active (ILO,
Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 1999)
* About 80% of
the 10 million teens aged 15-17 have held a job at least once during
their high school years. (Tamara Henry,
"Report on adequacy of child labor laws urges toughening", USA Today,
6 November 1998, citing the National Research Council and the Institute
of Medicine)
* There are 4 million
working children. (EI,
EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector,
1998)
* A 1997 survey,
based on federal government data, reveals that some 290,000 children
are working illegally. (EI,
EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector,
1998)
* According to
Bureau of Labor Statistics 2.6 million youth or 34.5% of 16-17 year
olds were employed in 1996. (National
Research Council Institute of Medicine, Protecting Youth at Work,
1998)
* According to
the Child Labor Coalition, more than 600,000 of young workers are
illegally employed. The total does not include children as young as
6, 7 or 8 years of age who work in agriculture. (Kathlyn
Gay, Child Labor: A Global Crisis, The Milbrook Press, 1998)
*
About 5.5 million children of the 12-17 age group were found working.
This figure does not include unlawful employment of children under
12 years. (ILO,
Child Labour: What Is To Be Done?, June 1996, citing National Child
Labor Committee, L. Golodner, Child Labor in 1994: An old problem
that hasn't gone away", 1994)
* According to
the National Child Labor Committee, more than 20,000 child labor violations
were reported to the Department of Labor in 1990. (Martie
Zad, "Lifetime Airs Shocking Realities of Child Labor Practices",
The Washington Post, 24 February 1991)
*
Federal investigators uncovered 7,000 child labour violations during
a three-day sweep in March 1990 and found 4,000 more infractions
in a review of case files, the Labor Department reported. ("More
Child Labor-Law Infractions Found", The New York Times, April 5,
1990)
LOCAL STATISTICS
* 49,000 teenagers
between 16-19 are economically active in Puerto Rico. (ILO,
Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 1999)
|
| Child
Slavery |
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* Diplomats and
businessmen from Bahrain, UAE, and other Gulf states have been caught
with slaves they have smuggled into the United States. (American
Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000)
* An Ivy League professor
has been caught with a slave. (American Anti-Slavery
Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000)
* Alien smuggling organisations
use Suriname as an intermediate destination to smuggle Chinese nationals,
including women and girls, to the United States, where frequently they are
forced into bonded labour situations. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Traffickers lure people
from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and other nations to the Northern
Mariana Islands, a United States territory promising lucrative work. Instead,
many are forced into slave labour and prostitution. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Laura Myers, "Sen Panel Hears of Marianas Abuses", AP
Online, 31 March 1998)
* Chinese women are being
trafficked into the United States for brothels in New York and north Carolina.
They are held in $40,000 debt bondage. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Chinese women 'forced into prostitution' in US", BBC,
3 March 1998)
* In mid-1997 in Queens
New York, police were informed of more than 60 Mexican immigrants including
12 children ranging in age from 6 months to 6 years, being held in 'involuntary
servitude'. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Deborah Sontag, "Deaf Mexicans are Found in Forced Labor",
New York Times, 20 June 1997)
* Trafficking in women
plagues the United States as much as it does underdeveloped nations. Organised
prostitution networks have migrated from metropolitan areas to small cities
and suburbs. Women trafficked to the United States have been forced to
have sex with 400-500 men to pay off $40,000 in debt for their passage.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution's Pernicious Reach
Grows in the US", Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996, citing Avita
Ramdas of Global Fund for Women)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
*
It is estimated that 45,000 to 50,000 people, primarily women and children,
are trafficked to the U.S. annually. (US Dept. of State,
Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
*
A recent CIA report estimated that 50,000 women and children were trafficked
into the US in 1999. Possibly 5% of that figure were children. The children
have come from Thailand, China, Africa, Mexico, Sri Lanka and other countries.
(American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage,
e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000)
LOCAL STATISTICS
*
Between August 1996 and February 1998, at least 20 young Mexican women
and minors were trafficked into Florida and southern Carolina in the US
under the illusion of jobs, but were forced into prostitution. (ECPAT
International)
*
Traffickers in Miami were receiving Asian children who were being trafficked
through Europe by Japanese and Chinese criminal gangs. In one month, at
least 15 children were smuggled into the United States for prostitution.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Pedophilia ring uncovered in Italy", USA Today, November
1997)
ADULT
STATISTICS
* 100 Russian women,
mostly from Sakhalin Island, were found in brothels.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing William Branigan, "Human rights abuses found on US island",
Washington Post, 30 March 1998)
* 5,000 women of Chinese
descent are in prostitution in Los Angeles.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Kathryn McMahon, Daniel B. Wood, "A Crusade to Free Captive
Daughters", Christian Science Monitor, 12 March 1998)
*
About 12, 16-30-year-old Asian girls and women were trafficked into Canada
each week on visitor's permits and sold into prostitution.The women are
sold to brothel owners in Markham, Scarborough, Toronto, and Los Angeles,
and forced into $40,000 debt bondage.(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Police Bust Sex-slave Ring", UPI, 11 September 1997,
citing police officials)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
*
The countries from which most people are trafficked into the United
States are: Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,
Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, South
Korea, China and Vietnam. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
*
Diplomats and business from Bahrain and UAE have been caught with slaves
they have smuggled into the United States. (American
Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000)
* The Church leaders
were illegally bringing young people from Estonia to US to use them
as domestic worker paying them less than a minimum wage. ("Missionary
group members could stand trial for smuggling children", 9 June 2000,
reprinted in Stop Trafficking Archive, July 2000)
* A local NGO reports
that girls from Costa Rica have been transported through central America
and Mexico to work in the sex industry in the United States, Canada, and
Europe. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* South Africa is a transit
point for a large trafficking network operating between developing countries
and Europe, United States, and Canada. Migrants from foreign countries,
particularly China, India, the Middle East, former Eastern Bloc countries
and other African countries, are lured to South Africa. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Alien smuggling organisations
use Suriname as an intermediate destination to smuggle Chinese nationals,
including women and girls, to the United States, where frequently they are
forced into bonded labour situations. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Malaysian women are
trafficked for sexual purposes mostly to Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and
Taiwan, but also to Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) issued a report on trafficking
of persons in September, and stated that women and girls from Colombia are
trafficked to North America and Western Europe. There were also reports
of women trafficked to Japan and Spain in increasing numbers, in recent
years. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
*
Minors are trafficked from the Philippines and China for prostitution.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing William Branigan, "Human rights abuses found on
US island", Washington Post, 30 March 1998)
* The United Nations
now lists Mexico as the number one centre for the supply of young children
to North America. The majority are sent to international paedophile organisations.
Most of the children over 12 end up as prostitutes. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Allan Hall, The Scotsman, 25 August 1998)
*
Traffickers lure people from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and
other nations to the Northern Mariana Islands, a United States territory
promising lucrative work. Instead, many are forced into slave labour
and prostitution. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Laura Myers, "Sen. Panel Hears of Marianas Abuses",
AP Online, 31 March 1998)
* Many of the young girls
that are trafficked and forced into prostitution in Canada are ferried from
city to city, from Seattle to San Francisco to Oakland to Phoenix to Honolulu
and Portland. The pimps move them every 3-4 weeks. (CATW
Fact Book, citing The Province, 19 December 1997, citing Portland Police
Officer Doug Kosloske)
* Prostitution trade
networks provide Colombian women for the markets in Spain, Britain, Germany,
Belgium and the United States. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Gustavo Capdevila, IPS, 2 April 1997, citing Radhika
Coomaraswamy, UN Special Report on Violence Against Women)
* NGOs, such
as Children of the Night and Promise in California and the Paul
& Lisa Program in New York City, have reported that they encounter
rising numbers of women working in the U.S. sex industry who are
from Russia, the Newly Independent States, and Eastern Europe. (Global
Survival Network, Gillian Caldwell et al, Crime & Servitude, 1997)
*
The main concentrations of prostituted Dominican women working abroad are
in Austria, Curacao, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Italy, the Netherlands, Panama,
Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela and the West Indies.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Trafficking in Women from the Dominican Republic for
Sexual Exploitation", IOM, June 1996)
* Trafficking in women
plagues the United States as much as it does underdeveloped nations. Organised
prostitution networks have migrated from metropolitan areas to small cities
and suburbs. Women trafficked to the United States have been forced to
have sex with 400-500 men to pay off $40,000 in debt for their passage.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution's Pernicious Reach
Grows in the US", Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996, citing Avita
Ramdas of Global Fund for Women)
|
| Child
Prostitution and Pornography |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* The US Department
of Justice estimates the numbers to be between 100,000 and 3 million.
These figures include children involved in prostitution, child pornography
and who have been trafficked into the United States. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* In the US
alone, at least 100,000 children are believed to be involved in
commercial sexual exploitation. (UNICEF,
State of the World's Children, 1997)
* 300,000 to 600,000
juveniles are involved in prostitution in the United States. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Gary Costello, Exploited Child Unit of the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children, "Danger for prostitutes increasing,
most starting younger", Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)
* There are around
100,000 child prostitutes. (US
Dept of Labor, Prostitution of Children, 1996)
*
Each year between 1.2 million and 2 million teenagers hit the street,
half of them will turn into prostitution to survive.(Kathlyn
Gay, Child Labor: A Global Crisis, 1998, citing Joan J. Johnson,
Teen Prostitution, 1992)
LOCAL STATISTICS
*
In New York City 51% of the prostituted children are estimated to
be males, and prostituted boys are also found in large numbers in
San Francisco and New Orleans. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
*
Between August 1996 and February 1998, at least 20 young Mexican women
and minors were trafficked into Florida and southern Carolina in the US
under the illusion of jobs, but were forced into prostitution. (ECPAT
International)
* Traffickers in Miami
were receiving Asian children who were being trafficked through Europe
by Japanese and Chinese criminal gangs. In one month, at least 15 children
were smuggled into the United States for prostitution. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Pedophilia ring uncovered in Italy", USA Today, November
1997)
*
2,632 youths were reported missing, more than 60% of them are listed as
endangered runaways, who often end up as prostitutes in Ohio in 1996. (CATW
Fact Book, citing State Attorney General, "Danger for prostitutes increasing,
most starting younger", Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)
ADULT
STATISTICS
* 100 Russian women,
mostly from Sakhalin Island, were found in brothels.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing William Branigan, "Human rights abuses found on
US island", Washington Post, 30 March 1998)
*
4,500-5,000 of the 50,000 prostitutes in New York are on the streets.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Christopher S. Wren, "Addicted to Crack, Prostitutes
Work Longer for Less", New York Times, 19 August 1997)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
*
There are no statistics available on the numbers of children involved
in prostitution in the United States. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* In April 2000
the largest federal prosecution of a juvenile prostitution ring
was successful in the United States. Girls between 13 and 18 from
Minnesota and Wisconsin had been recruited over 17 years and forced
to work as prostitutes in escort services and massage parlours nation-wide.
(ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
*
A local NGO reports that girls from Costa Rica have been transported through
Central America and Mexico to work in the sex industry in the United States,
Canada, and Europe. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) issued a report on trafficking
of persons in September, and stated that women and girls from Colombia are
trafficked to North America and Western Europe. There were also reports
of women trafficked to Japan and Spain in increasing numbers, in recent
years. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Russian and Chinese
women were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution to the Commonwealth
of the Northern Marianas, a U.S. Territory. Minors are trafficked from the
Philippines and China for prostitution. (CATW
Fact Book, citing William Branigan, "Human rights abuses found on US island",
Washington Post, 30 March 1998)
* The United Nations
now lists Mexico as the number one centre for the supply of young children
to North America. The majority are sent to international paedophile organisations.
Most of the children over 12 end up as prostitutes. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Allan Hall, The Scotsman, 25 August 1998)
* In Ohio, over the past
seven years, the average age when a girl enters prostitution has decreased
from 16 to 14. The demand for prostituted children is increasing. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Debra Boyer, Paul & Lisa Program, "Danger for prostitutes
increasing, most starting younger", Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)
* 16.9 is the average
age of entry into prostitution for girls. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Sarah McNaught, "The lost boys", Boston Phoenix, 23-30
October 1997, citing Delancey Street Foundation)
* 14 years is the
average age of entry into prostitution for boys. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Sarah McNaught, "The lost boys", Boston Phoenix, 23-30
October 1997, citing Sean Haley of Adolescent Services, JRI Health)
* The estimated
average age of girls who enter street prostitution in San Francisco
is 14.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Stephanie Salter, "Creating hope from lives of desperation"
San Francisco Examiner, 16 November 1997)
* NGOs, such as
Children of the Night and Promise in California and the Paul & Lisa
Program in New York City, have reported that they encounter rising
numbers of women working in the U.S. sex industry who are from Russia,
the Newly Independent States, and Eastern Europe.
(Global Survival Network, Gillian Caldwell et al, Crime & Servitude,
1997)
* Trafficking in women
plagues the United States as much as it does underdeveloped nations. Organised
prostitution networks have migrated from metropolitan areas to small cities
and suburbs. Women trafficked to the United States have been forced to have
sex with 400-500 men to pay off $40,000 in debt for their passage.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution's Pernicious Reach Grows
in the US", Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996, citing Avita Ramdas
of Global Fund for Women)
* Girls involved in
prostitution are increasingly getting younger, dropping from 14, to 13
and 12 years of age. Child prostitution in the United States began to escalate
in the late 1980's after new laws made it more difficult for officials
to detain runaway children. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Lois Lee, Children of the Night, Brad Knickerbocker,
"Prostitution's Pernicious Reach Grows in the US", Christian Science Monitor,
23 October 1996)
|
| Children
in Crime |
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* Children are involved in crime, gangs, drug-rings.
(DCI, International Child Rights Monitor, October 1994 to March
1995)
|
| Child
Soldiers |
GOVERNMENT FORCE
STATISTICS
*
The total number of child soldiers is 6,745. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database, citing Rachel Brett and Margaret McCallin,
Children: The Invisible Soldiers, 1998)
RECRUITMENT LAWS AND REGULATIONS
*
National recruitment legislation permits the entry of 17-year-olds
into the armed forces. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
*
Volunteers are recruited from 17 years of age. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database)
* The minimum age
for conscription is 18 years. (Guy Goodwin-Gill and Ilene Cohn, Child Soldiers, The Role of Children in Armed Conflicts, A Study on Behalf of the Henry Dunant Institute, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1994)
NOTES
ON GOVERNMENT FORCES
* Recent US military practice has been to assign
soldiers to units, including combat units, after completion of their
basic and technical training. Any soldier who is still 17 after
completion of his or her training may therefore be assigned to a
combat unit and deployed into combat operations. Although, the number
of such seventeen-year old troops is extremely small, less than
one-quarter of one per cent. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
* In June 1999, the Defence Department reported
that less than 100 17-year-olds served in combat units at that time,
and that these soldiers were stationed primarily in the Balkan region.
(CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
* The United States has acknowledged that 17-year
old soldiers served in US operations in the Gulf War, in Somalia,
and in Bosnia. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
* Only an extremely
small percentage are ready for deployment under the age of 18. Nevertheless,
17-year-olds have served in US operations in the Gulf War, Somalia
and Bosnia. Harassment and intimidation of young people in the military
have been reported. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
* The involvement
of children from a very young age in military school programmes
is a matter of concern. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
|
| Domestic
Child Servants |
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* Some church
leaders were illegally bringing young people from Estonia to the
US to use them as domestic workers, paying them less than a minimum
wage. ("Missionary group members could
stand trial for smuggling children", 9 June 2000, reprinted in Stop
Trafficking Archive, July 2000)
|
Other
Hazardous
Child Labour |
ASSORTED STATISTICS
* 225 children under
14 working in hazardous industries.(US Dept
of Labor, Operation Child Watch)
*
Over 20,000 minors illegally employed. (US
Dept of Labor, Operation Child Watch)
*
1,450 between 14-17 years are working in hazardous industries. (US
Dept of Labor, Operation Child Watch)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
*
Underage child workers are employed in such industries as meatpacking,
construction, in sawmills and furniture factories, as well as in the informal
sector.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
SPECIFIC
SECTORS
* Farmwork
- Children
working on U.S. farms often worked twelve-hour days, sometimes beginning
at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. They reported routine exposure to dangerous
pesticides that cause cancer and brain damage, with short-term symptoms
including rashes, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Young
farmworkers became dizzy from labouring in 100/F temperatures without
adequate access to drinking water, and were forced to work without
access to toilets or hand washing facilities. (HRW,
World Report 2001)
* Commercial
Agriculture -
Agriculture was the most dangerous occupation open to children in the United
States and caused high rates of injury from work with knives, other sharp
tools, and heavy equipment. (HRW, World Report 2001)
* Commercial
Agriculture -
An estimated 100,000 children suffered agriculture-related injuries
during the year. (HRW,
World Report 2001)
*
Commercial
Agriculture -
In the United States, over 300,000 children worked as hired labourers
on commercial farms, frequently under dangerous and grueling conditions.
(HRW,
World Report 2001)
*
Commercial Agriculture - An estimated 155,000, 15-17-year-olds worked in
agriculture in 1997. (US GAO, Child Labor
In Agriculture, August 1998)
* Commercial Agriculture
- The greatest number of children employed unlawfully work in the agricultural
and the horticultural sectors. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Garment Manufacturing
- Some 14,000 children under the age of 14, and as young as 9 years, work
in garment 'sweatshops'. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Street Children
- In New York City there are around 20,000 children on the streets.
(International Catholic Child Bureau, Children Worldwide)
* Street Children - There
are 20,000 street children. (UNICEF,
Report on Trafficking of Children for Prostitution,1998)
|
|
