HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES

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HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES

• CHILD LABOUR

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The change starts within each one of us, and ends
only when all children are free to be children.
Craig Kielburger

• Families with normal lives and a steady income
  have parents who go to work and children who go
  to school and have time to play.
• This is not the case for the 218 million child
  labourers who daily find themselves working long
  hours under harsh, dangerous and exploitative
  conditions.

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Child labour is intolerable

• Though definitions vary, child labour means work
  that is done by children under the age of 15 (14
  in some developing countries) which restricts or
  damages a child's physical, emotional,
  intellectual, social and/or spiritual growth.

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Why is this a human rights issue?

• Children who work are subsequently subject to
  abuse, both physical and sexual, from their
  employers
• They often work under conditions that are both
  unhealthy and potentially fatal. This scenario
  cannot continue.

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Globally the majority of child labourers come
from the poorer sections of society.

• Social exclusion and discrimination are important
  factors that keep children out of school and
  force them to work. Ending poverty and
  increasing access to education are therefore
  crucial tools in the fight against ending child
  labour.

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Why should we care?

• "Our greatest natural resource is the minds of
  our children." - Walt DisneyBecause of their
  unique and vulnerable position, children are
  denied the basic working rights and wages given
  to adults.

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Reduce poverty

• Improving access to education and attacking
  poverty head-on would go a long way to solving
  the challenges children face. We must help them
  in their struggle. Child labour is an issue is
  closely connected with poverty,

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Most people agree that when we speak about child
labour, we mean labour which is intolerable or
harmful to children, or which denies them their
right to fully develop, to play or to go to
school. Child labour includes Work
performed by children under the age of 15 Long
hours of work on a regular or full-time basis
Abusive treatment by the employer No access,
or poor access, to education
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What is bonded labour?

• There are 3 types of Bonded Labour
• The first is when a child inherits a debt
  carried by his or her parents.
• Another form of bonded labour occurs when a
  child is used as collateral for a loan. For
  example, a parent facing an unusually large or
  urgent expense would use this method to obtain
  necessary money.
• Finally, a child worker can enter into
  bondage to their employer by requesting an
  advance on future wages they expect to earn.

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BONDED LABOUR

• In all of these cases, the debt is consistently
  increased, through interest, to a sum beyond the
  capacity of the worker to repay. Expenses and
  interest consume all wages and also cause the
  debt to grow.
• Essentially, the child labourer becomes the
  property of the debt collector.

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Globally, 218 million children are child
labourers. 126 million of these children are
engaged in hazardous work. 73 million
working children are less than 10 years old .
Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related
accidents. The largest number of working
children-122 million-are in the Asia-Pacific
region.

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9 are in industry, including mining and
quarrying, manufacturing and construction
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• The highest proportion of working children is
  in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one third of
  the children aged 14 and under (48 million
  children) are in the labour force.
• Between 40 and 50 per cent of all forced
  labourers are children.
• 1.2 million of these children have been
  trafficked (bought and/or sold).

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Where do children work?

• Nearly 70 are in agriculture (rural
  children, especially girls, usually start working
  in this industry when they are very young, often
  between 5 and 7 years of age)
• 22 are in services, including wholesale and
  retail trade, restaurants and hotels, transport,
  personal services, etc
• 9 are in industry, including mining and
  quarrying, manufacturing and construction

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Kumar, child labourer

• "It was like a prison, we were locked inside. We
  worked from 5 a.m. until midnight making carpets
  and we slept among the machines."

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Some causes of child labourPoverty
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Poverty

• Poor families need to keep as many family members
  working as possible to ensure income security and
  survival. This makes it very difficult for poor
  families to invest in their children's education.
  In fact, educating a child can be a significant
  financial burden.In many instances "free" public
  education is in fact very costly to a poor
  family.

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EDUCATION

• Poor families are expected to purchase books,
  school supplies and uniforms, and sometimes even
  pay teachers' wages.
• Many poor families weigh the cost of sending
  their children to school against the cost of the
  income lost by sending their children to work.
• Many children live in areas that do not have
  adequate school facilities, so they work. Many
  countries do not have free compulsory education
  for all, which is an obstacle to sending working
  children to school.

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POOR HOUSEHOLDS

• Poor households tend to have more children,
  and with large families there is a greater
  likelihood that children will work and have lower
  school attendance and completion.

• Some employers hire children because they can
  pay them less money. They also offer poor working
  conditions because children are less likely to
  complain.

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Why not make child labour illegal?

• In countries all over the world, countless
  laws and policies against the exploitation of
  children already exist the political will to
  enforce them however, does not.

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FREE FROM EXPLOITATION

• 191 countries (almost every country in
  the world) agreed to recognize the right of
  children to "...be protected from economic
  exploitation and performing any work that is
  likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the
  child's education, or to be harmful to the
  child's health or physical, mental, spiritual,
  moral or social development."

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What needs to be done?

• The international community has the funds to
  provide free primary education-a necessary tool
  to combat child labour.
• Better access to education
• Social awareness and activism
• The rehabilitation of child labourers.
• Legislation and proper enforcement child
  labour laws

• In turn, governments need to devote resources to
  education so that Schooling is compulsory, of
  good quality and relevance, and is of little or
  no cost to poor families.
• Success Story In 1994, Malawi made primary
  education free. From one academic year to the
  next, enrolment increased by roughly 50 percent,
  and more of the new students were female than
  male.

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Some initiatives that can be effective in
combating child labour

• Improving child labour legislation and laws
• Enforcement of child labour legislation and laws
• Increasing quality, relevance and access to
  education

• Vocational training
• Equality for women and girls
• Replace child workers with adults
• Am I wearing a childs work?

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How do you know if what you are buying was made
using child labour?

• Consumers should check if labels state that the
  product is union made.
• Watch for the labels of campaigns such as Rugmark
  who is working to end child labour in the carpet
  industry and Fairtrade Mark.
• These types of labels provide a guarantee that
  children were not involved in the production of
  the item.
• If you don't know ...ask! The sales staff may be
  able to provide you with the information you
  need. Then contact the company explaining your
  concern.

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The Situation Today

• there are 28 million fewer child labourers than
  there were four years ago!
• This means that the work being done to stop child
  labour is truly creating positive change.
• But there is still much more to be done.

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Rugmark

• 300,000 children in India, Nepal and Pakistan are
  spending long days working in poor conditions.
• Through independent certification and educational
  programs, RugMark is working to end child labor
  in the South Asian carpet industry, but they
  cant do it alone they need your help.

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The Carpet Industry

• Join a growing group of socially responsible
  consumers who are sending the powerful signal
  that they will not support products made with
  child labor or through inhumane working
  conditions.
• Know someone who may be in the market for a
  handmade carpet? Tell them about the RugMark
  label- their peace of mind that no child labor
  was used to produce their carpet or rug.
• An estimated 14 percent of children in India ages
  5-14 are engaged in child labor activities,
  including carpet production. (The State of the
  Worlds Children 2006, UNICEF)

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There are many children who live near a garbage
dump

• Their families cannot support them so they
  search the dumps for something to sell.
• The children collect the materials and recycle
  them for a small amount of money.
• The children are at high risk as they are being
  constantly exposed to harmful gasses that come
  out of decomposing trash.
• They also may cut their feet on glass and sharp
  objects since many of them cannot afford proper
  footwear.

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Agriculture

• Of the 250 million child laborers worldwide, it
  is estimated that at least half of them work in
  agriculture alone.
• There are many different types of agricultural
  work. One of them is picking fruits and
  vegetables.
• The work is physically demanding because the
  children must bend down, kneel, climb ladders,
  carry heavy loads of fruit, and other things.

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• They also are exposed to dangerous tools and have
  to use unsafe machinery they don't know how to
  operate.
• They also are exposed to dangerous tools and have
  to use unsafe machinery they don't know how to
  operate.
• Children who work in agriculture often experience
  back pain from bending over so much, and also
  have blistered and callused hands from operating
  machinery and using tools such as rakes, hoes,
  and shovels all day long.

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A child working in the agricultural sector
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This must be prevented
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What is to be done?

• Creating international laws that countries can
  adopt in order to stem child labor.
• - the minimum age for employment for
  children. Many
• accept this is 15.
• national laws
• - banning the import of some
  child-labor-made items.
• - laws that ban child labor under a
  certain age,
• actually enforcing these laws. Laws do absolutely
  no good when not enforced,
• Governments should have a minimum family income
  that would be used to support poor families.
• Special Programs

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Special Programmes

• In Mexico and Brazil, two programs give parents
  an incentive to invest in their childs future.
• by giving families money if their children attend
  school regularly instead of working for.
• In Brazil, for example, families receive 24, and
  the program reaches 11.4 million people (a fourth
  of Brazils population).

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Naravan Tiwari

• Naravan was a child labourer for about eight
  years in the carpet industry before he was
  rescued and placed in a special programme.

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The achievement of human rights is an on-going
battle.

• Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are
  organizations dedicated to its development.
• but there are many more players on the local
  level.
• For example citizens, communities, grassroots
  organizations, and governments.
• to prevent human rights violations, raise
  awareness of human rights and responsibilities,
  secure respect for all human rights, and promote
  international cooperation to protect human
  rights.

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Remember