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Child Labor

Anwar.
Two years ago at the age of seven Anwar started weaving carpets in a village in Pakistan. He was never asked whether he wanted to work. He was knotting carpets for 12-16 hours per day, six to seven days a week. He was given some food, little free time, and no medical assistance. He was told repeatedly he could not stop working until he earned enough money to pay an alleged family debt. He was never told who in his family had borrowed money nor how much had been borrowed. Any time he made an error with his work, he was fined and the debt increased.Once when his work was considered to be too slow, he was beaten with a stick. Once after a particularly painful beating, he tried to run away only to be apprehended by the local police who forcibly returned him to the carpet looms.¹

Statistics:

• An estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labour, with nearly 70 percent of them (about 171 million) working in hazardous conditions, including working in mines and quarries, working with chemicles and pesticides or with dangerous machinery.²
• Africa and Asia together account for over 90 per cent of total child employment.³
• Between 18 and 48 million children work in India (the government says 18 million, but child activists say it's 48 million).⁴
• In Pakistan there are 7,5 million child laborers; in Brazil 7 million and in Nigeria 12 million.⁵
• According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) 25 to 50 per cent of all children at the age of 10 to 14 years work, in Africa and in South America it's 15-20 per cent of the children.⁶
• One out of every six children worldwide is forced to work.¹⁵

The International Labor Organization (ILO) states the general minimum age for admission to employment should not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and should not be less than 15 years; but 16 years is the general minimum age to which countries should aspire. Developing countries may make exceptions to this and may apply a minimum of 14 years. Light work that is compatible with the a child's schooling may be allowed from the age 12. Children who engage in work when they have not yet attained the minimum age specified for it are classed as child labourers. ⁷

What work do children do?

Large-scale enterprises, which are generally subject to government regulation and union scrutiny, rarely employ children under the legal minimum age. Child labor is found predominantly in the 'informal sector'. The 'informal sector' generally refers to small enterprises where government regulations do not apply or are not enforced. Some products from the 'informal sector' ultimately reach the US through subcontracting arrangements with small enterprises (shoe, garment, embroidery, furniture and handicrafts industries), home based production and small-scale mining. Most working children are found toiling in the fields and fisheries of the world. As payment usually depends on achieved work, the potential family income increases if more hands are helping. The most prevalent--and the most hidden--type of forced child labor is the selling or giving away of children to become domestic servants. In exchange for promises of a better life, perhaps an education and a stipend, the children--predominantly girls--find themselves trapped in a web of grueling and demeaning work. They are often subjected to extreme physical, sexual and mental abuse. Many times they are locked inside their places of work.⁸

National situations

Asia: Half of the world's working children are found in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka) and in South East Asia (Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam). There is a large volume of trade between Asian countries and the West, particularly in the labor- intensive manufacturing industries. Such industries tend to be the major employers of child labor (clean and pack food, weave carpets, sew and embroider clothes). Bonded labor is practiced in the carpet industries of India and Pakistan, Nepal's agricultural sector and possibly in the fish processing industry of Thailand. Most working children are not found in industry though, but rather on family farms, in tea stalls, domestic service, food preparation, grocery shops, road construction, motor workshops, hawking, prostitution and scavenging.

Latin America: The number of child laborers is steadily growing. They work mainly in commercial agriculture, but also in workshops, mines and homes. Children usually participate in the industry and mining work force as 'fringe' laborers without protection, full pay, or recognition for their work.

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Africa: One child in three has to work. According to the ILO this makes the rate of child labor the highest in the world. Children under 14 sew in garment factories in Lesotho; process sisal on plantations in Tanzania; pan and mine for gold in Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire; knot carpets by hand in Egypt and Morocco; mine diamonds in Cote d'Ivoire; and mine chrome in Zimbabwe. Children are processing agricultural products in factories near commercial farms in South Africa.

When is work exploiting child labor?

When:

• it is likely to be hazardous
• interferes with a child's health, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development
• interferes with their education.⁹

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship is one of the most controversial forms of child labor. Theoretically an apprenticeship means that a child is learning the skills and disciplines of an occupation, which will be his or her lifelong trade or career. In reality, many employers exploit 'apprentices' as free labor while purporting to teach skills to a new generation. Many countries have laws that prohibit the employment of child workers under the age of 14, but still allow apprenticeships for younger children. In Egypt, for example, the employment of anyone under 12 is prohibited. Yet children as young as 7 or 8 regularly work as 'apprentices' in carpet workshops and in the leather industry where conditions are particularly hazardous. These 'apprentices' are often only paid when the employer sees fit and when he does, the pay is meager. In pseudo-apprenticeship schemes, overwhelming evidence shows that children work without pay or for very little pay with meals and lodging deducted.¹⁰

Debt bondage

Debt bondage is a modern form of slavery and recognized as such by the United Nations. Poor families receive a loan from rich employers but subsequently they become trapped in debt by high interest charges, low wages, and deductions for missed work, mistakes, meals and lodging. In some cases, the interest on the loan is so high that it cannot be paid; in others, the laborer is deemed to repay the interest on the loan but not the capital. Thus, the loan is inherited and perpetuated and becomes an inter- generational debt. Bonded laborers are most commonly found in small-scale farming, domestic service, prostitution, the brick- kiln industry, carpet factories and in mining.¹¹

Why are children employed?

Employers choose to employ children precisely because their young age makes them more vulnerable, more obediant and less aware of their rights. Some employers also use the argument that children's small size makes them more suitable for certain work than adults - whether it's their so-called 'nimble fingers' or their height .¹²

Children often replace adult labour; employers prefer them because they are cheap and docile; Payment for work activities are seldom guaranteed, and when payment is received it is often very little.¹³

What is the solution?

There is no simple solution because:

• Education: Children often have to work so that they or their (older or male) siblings can go to school.
• Survival: Street children have to work to survive.
• Tradition: The children don't need education because they are only doing the work that their family has done for generations.
• Salary: Families need the children's work/salary.
• Culture: Fear that as intellectuals the children are no longer capable of doing anything and aren't willing to do hard work.
• Definition: Everyone defines child labor differently.
• Girls: In certain countries tradition says that women don't fit into established roles if they are educated.

Education is still the most important intervention against child labor. Unfortunately many countries with a compulsory elementary school education don't have a good school system or hardly enforce these education laws, if at all. Where schools exist, families often can't pay the school fees, materials or the uniforms. Without an economic change in their condition children will not attend school. Schools must make it worthwhile for children to attend in order to make up for lost earnings. One necessary provision is that these schools be free. Another possibility is that these schools serve food supplements. The quality of education also needs to be improved so that schooling is considered an important factor in the future success of a child.¹⁴

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References:

¹By the Sweat and Toil of Children, Part II, U.S. Department of Labor
²Unicef's State of the World's Children 2005
³By the Sweat and Toil of Children, Part 11, US Department of Labor
⁴ibid.
⁵ibid.
⁶ibid.
⁷ibid.
⁸ibid.
9Unicef's State of the World's Children 2005
¹⁰By the Sweat and Toil of Children, Part II , U.S. Department of Labor
¹¹ibid.
¹²The Impact of Discrimination on Working Children and on the Phenomenon of Child Labor, Produced by the NGO Group for the CRC Sub-Group on Child Labor, June 2002
¹³International Labor Organization 2004 Child Labor: A textbook for university students 2004
¹⁴By the Sweat and Toil of Children, Part II, U.S. Department of Labor; Children in Crisis, Phyllis Kilbourn, MARC Publications 1996; Child Labor: Issues, Causes and INterventions, Faraz Siddiqi and Harry Anthony Patrimos, Human Capitol Development and Operators Policy
¹⁵International Labor Organization (ILO), www.ilo.org