International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE)

On September 24, 2004, I had the chance to speak to 350 6th graders at Prairie 
Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My friend Chivy and I spent one hour talking 
about child labor. We presented some facts and figures, shared some stories, and 
showed a video to get the 6th graders to understand the life of a child laborer. 
As Chivy talked about child labor, I had flashbacks to when I was in 6th grade. I 
remembered when I first learned about child labor, how I was overwhelmed by how 
prevalent child labor was. I was shocked to find out that there are 246 million child 
laborers around the world. I was frustrated with the fact that not many people were 
doing anything about this horrific human rights violation. So my friends and I 
decided to start a group against child labor. We decided on the name “CHILD” or 
Children Helping Innocent Laborers Democratically. In working with this issue for the 
past year, I discovered that kids can make a difference. I know this because I have 
seen it with my friends as we worked on our group projects. For example, we have 
raised awareness about the issue by speaking out publicly at churches, university 
classes, and legislative forums. By seeing what kids can do, I want to rally my peers 
to help in the global movement against child labor.

This past July I met one of my heroes, Mr. Kailash Satyarthi, when he came to Iowa 
to speak at a conference on child labor. During his talk, he made it clear that the 
fight against child labor cannot be won without youth participation. I agree! That is 
why I took advantage of the opportunity to share my thoughts about youth 
involvement at Prairie Middle School. I strongly believe that kids can make a 
difference in this world either locally or internationally. It doesn’t have to be a big 
difference. We can start with small steps. But if we all take small steps, we can walk 
a long way. It is like making a small snowball and rolling it down a hill. The further it 
rolls, the more snow and speed it picks up.  In the end, it is unstoppable. I believe 
the small snowballs make up the unstoppable force that will end child labor. I think 
that if all the youth of the world do something, big or small, we could have a great 
impact. 

Now it is up to us. It is our future and we make it what we want it to be. So if we 
want it to be a future without child labor, then we need to do our part.

Quote from Teacher’s Thank you Note
September 27, 2004

“All the excitement you (Chivy) and Spencer had was multiplied by 300 here 
at Prairie! […] I can't wait to see the art these kids will create!!”

Lia Hansen, 6th-8th grade Art Teacher, College Community School District, Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa, USA

Hello, my name is Kayla. I'm a 14 year old at Broad Meadows Middle School in 
Quincy, Massachusetts. I'm like every other kid. I play basketball, and I do activities 
like drama. But on Friday's, I'm in something a little different. I go to Operation 
Day's Work (ODW), a great program that fights against the use of child labor. We 
raise money to help spread education to children in poor countries, and we try to 
stop the labor of children.

So how do you do this? Well on the day before Thanksgiving, we're spreading the 
word to schools across the country about a child labor free shopping trip, or 
"Shopping with a Conscience". Now, here's what you do:  Get a list of stores from 
your local mall. Write one store on each index card. Divide your group into teams of 
two. Put all of the index cards in a hat and randomly have each group pull out 
stores. Make sure each committee gets a "superstore" like GAP or Disney, 
Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike Town, and 6 more. Your "super-store" has already been 
accused of having child labor, so save the best for last!!

Now that you know what to do, do you know what to say in each store? If not, here's 
a good example: "Hello, I'd like to buy your clothes/food/accessories, but first I need 
to know, Does your store use child labor to make its clothes/food/accessories? Is 
everything you make guaranteed child labor free?" To leave them with this curious 
question, we have tons of postcards (received from NYC's National Labor Committee) 
saying, “We love shopping at the mall, but we won't buy items unless they are 
guaranteed child-labor-free.” Hopefully, these postcards (signed by the students) will 
be forwarded to the corporate headquarters of the stores visited on the shopping 
trip. The students at Broad Meadows hope that the Shopping with a Conscience Day 
spreads. We are willing to ship postcards to interested schools. That's just about 
everything you need to know. Now it's up to you. Do you want to help put an end to 
the abuse of children??

If you want to join us on the day before Thanksgiving, send an email to 
blindley@iccle.org with a postal address and we'll ship you postcards! Wouldn't it be 
great for one school in each state to go "Shopping with a Conscience"? 

Sincerely,
Kayla, 14, of O.D.W Broad Meadows Middle School, Massachusetts, USA
Despite its tropical beauty and rich culture, the island nation of Haiti suffers from 
immense poverty. Eighty percent of the 7,527,817 Haitians live below the poverty 
line and must resort to life-changing decisions just to put food on the table (CIA 
world fact book http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook). Often, one of the 
choices is selling their own children into slavery in hopes of giving them a better 
chance at life. However, this is not how it works out in most cases.

42.7 percent of the population of Haiti is under the age of 14, and one quarter of 
them are working. About 300,000 children are forced to work in harsh conditions. 
Children in Haiti mainly work as domestic servants and in street trades. Many are 
drawn into sexual exploitation or become “restaveks.” Restaveks are Haitian child 
slaves working at the homes of higher class families for little to no pay. Child labor is 
generally non-existent in the industrial and commercial agriculture sectors because 
of the high unemployment rate. Jobs of restaveks often include washing dishes, 
ironing, cooking, cleaning, and filling buckets of water. They work 10-12 hours a 
day. These kids do not receive a day of respite, a good night’s sleep, a long 
weekend, a birthday gift, or even a kind word. Beatings and sexual abuse become a 
part of life for many of these children. (http://www.haitichildren.com/index.html)

Abandoned by his mother at age 4 who left him on the streets of Port au Prince, 
James has worked as a construction helper carrying large five gallon buckets of 
rocks, dirt and water for 12-16 hours per day. He only earns 25 cents a day, but is 
still considered one of the “lucky ones.” Other children such as seven year old Gigi 
are not so lucky. When she was three years old, her parents died of AIDS and a lady 
“Yaya” picked her up on the street. She made her wash dishes and carry water on 
her head. The young girl also had to care for Yaya’s donkeys: feeding them, washing 
them, and even sleeping with them. She often beat her with a large palm tree 
branch and hit her on the head with pots. Other times, Yaya’s husband would 
sexually abuse her. Gigi finally gave up and ran away. That is where many of Haitian 
children end up: on the streets. For many of the young people living in Haiti, the 
choice becomes either to risk constant abuse for meager meals or to risk death out 
on the streets. (quicksitemaker.com/members/immunenation/ restavek.html)

Despite all of these horrors, Haiti does have child labor laws including a minimum 
employment age of fifteen for working in all sectors. This does not include children 
working in domestic service, unfortunately. The minimum age set for domestic 
service is twelve years old, yet many children start at four or younger! The labor 
laws also prohibit forced or compulsory labor by minors but do not prohibit trafficking 
in persons. 
(http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/media/reports/iclp/Advancing1/html/haiti.htm) The 
situation would be much less dire if these laws, despite their many short-comings, 
were enforced. The poverty in the nation is so intense that Haitians sell their children 
to make a small amount of money because without it they cannot survive. 

Child labor is not one of those things you can stop overnight. It is unfortunately 
woven into the economic systems of Haiti and the world. When it stops, there will 
most likely be a period of economic setback because there would be a whole section 
of the population that was previously self-sufficient who now need to be provided for 
economically. There might be companies who would not want to invest where there 
is a great deal of child protection because it increases the amount of money 
manufacturing would cost. (quicksitemaker.com/members/immunenation/ 
restavek.html) 

Child labor in Haiti is the result of many different factors.  There is a huge gap 
between the rich and the poor, it has a history of dictatorships, the government has 
frequently changed hands, and there was a recent foreign intervention 
(http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/ media/reports/iclp/Advancing1/html/haiti.htm). Haiti 
displays nearly every one of the ten factors of political instability. Child labor is a 
result of the failed economy and weak government more than anything. Although 
child labor is prohibited explicitly in sections of the Haitian Constitution, the 
government is weak, and child labor is too beneficial to the local economy to stop it. 
Unfortunately, child labor laws treat the symptoms not the disease. It ends up 
causing more instability than it solves because it leaves another generation of 
uneducated and abused workers that have no faith in their government.

To end this horrible human exploitation, Haiti needs the help of other nations to 
reduce poverty, not only with relation to aid, but also with trade and business deals. 
If the US government could ensure that some of its American based business in Haiti 
would not close down their manufacturing or farming operations, it could lessen the 
economic ramifications of ending child labor. This would help international relations 
by providing a new trade market for other nations, including the US. However, Haiti 
must be careful because some powerful nations have a history of signing trade deals 
that keeps the impoverished nations in that situation deliberately because it provides 
inexpensive labor.

Despite numerous challenges, there is hope for Haiti. Ending child labor would 
restore the Haitians’ faith in their government and allow children to be educated. 
Only with education for its children can Haiti reverse the downward spiral of poverty 
it now faces. 
(http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/media/reports/iclp/Advancing1/html/haiti.htm).

A U.N. doctor treats a boy's infected foot wound at a provisional clinic in Gonaives, 
Haiti. (http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20040927064109990002) 

Tirana - The CRTCA has issued a call for books in Albanian and other international 
languages for juveniles in Albanian prisons. The aim of the project, "A Book for a 
Juvenile in Prison," is to help provide reading and educational materials in Albanian, 
English, Italian, French and other languages to young inmates in Albanian prisons. 

Presently, 27 young males and five females reside in respective juvenile facilities 
(both of which are based in Tirana district). CRCA and Peace Games Italy’s work on 
this new project has revealed that, although libraries exist in almost every prison of 
Albania, most of them are of little use because they lack books and titles. This is 
unfortunate because current inmates receive language courses in English and Italian. 

The Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania invites all organizations/institutions 
and individuals who are able to donate books for youth in prisons to send donations 
to CRCA or contact organization directly. We believe that a book can enhance the 
education and leisure time of every young person. 

Albania has often been criticized for the degrading conditions of prisons and pre-trial 
detention centers, especially for juveniles. In comparison to last year when only 5 
male juveniles were held in prison, this year is showing an increase in crimes 
committed by young people. The government of Albania is responsible for providing 
literature to prisons, however, it is unable because of a tight budget. Therefore, the 
only books available to inmates are those that are donated. 

If you wish to send a book or get in contact: 

The Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania (CRCA) 
Mail Address: Kutia Postare 1738, Tirana, Albania 
Office Address: Pallatet e Shallvareve, Vila mbrapa Fushave te Tenisit, Kati 3
Tirana, Albania 
Phone/Fax:  + 355 4 242264 
E-mail:  crca@adanet.com.al
Web site:  http://www.crca.org.al/

Source:  http://www.crca.org.al/newsletters/2004/newsletter236.htm#help
Dear Regional Coordinators, 

Greetings from the youth Editorial Board of the new monthly electronic  
newsletter Youth Network for Children’s Rights (YNCR). 

As you know, the youth delegates to the May 2004 Children’s World Congress  
in Florence agreed to start a monthly newsletter. The aim of the newsletter  
is to ensure that the child participants stay in touch and inform each other  
of efforts to promote awareness and implementation of their Florence Declaration.  

We wrote to you and the child participants about our efforts and requested  
that you help disseminate the newsletter. We would like you to promote the  
Florence Declaration and contribute stories and pictures of your experiences  
and opinions on efforts to stop child labor. This is to ensure that the Global March 
remains strong, focused and committed to the elimination of the worst forms of child 
labor, a sentiment expressed by children from all over the world in Florence.  

We would like to be informed about what has been accomplished in your  
countries since May 2004. Have you developed strategies to build awareness of the  
Florence Declaration from the CWC in your region? Have you placed the Florence 
Declaration on your website? Has the Executive Board of your organization ratified 
the Florence Declaration? 

We would like to know what actions you and the National Coordinators have  
taken to widely promote and distribute the Florence Declaration. It will be  
useful to know at what level this Declaration been shared and disseminated.  
Your experiences will enlighten us and offer suggestions to others for  
continuing the work. 

We are also interested in knowing if you have found the time to look at the  
YNCR monthly e-newsletter. Do you have some comments? Have you been able to  
distribute the YNCR newsletter to the National Coordinators and the child  
delegates to the CWC from your region/country? Have you received any input  
on what they would like to see in the YNCR newsletter, or what they can contribute? 

Do you think that the newsletter can be put on your website, or on the websites of 
the National Coordinators? Your suggestions will be appreciated.  

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. 

Thank you, 

Emily Oliver, age 16, Connecticut, USA 
Maura Welch, age 15, NY, USA 
Amanda Melkert, age 17, Maryland, USA
Kumasi, Ghana - A household survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service in 
2003 has revealed that about 1.5 million children under the age of 15 were 
estimated to be working in Ghana, even though the Children's Act stipulates 15 years 
as the minimum age for employment. 

The survey said 1.031 million children under the age of 13 were in child labor in 
violation of the minimum age of 13 for light work, Superintendent Elizabeth Dassah, 
National Director of the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Ghana Police 
Service, said in Kumasi. Speaking at the opening of a two-day sensitization 
workshop on child issues on Monday, she said, the most poignant observation of the 
survey was the fact that even though the minimum age of employment in hazardous 
labor was 18 years, children as young as five to 17 years were engaged in this 
nature of work. 

The sensitization workshop, the first in a series was being organized by the Police 
Administration under the sponsorship of the International Labor Organization (ILO) 
and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Superintendent Dassah asked the 
police to wake up to the reality that, Ghana was a source of transit and destination 
country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and 
forced domestic and commercial labor. She said in spite of efforts to stem the 
problem, a lot more needed to be done as the menace of child labor was not abating 
and was endangering the lives of the children, who formed the human resource base 
of the country.  

Above all, the nature of child labor is such that it does not lend itself to easy 
prosecution. Unlike other offences where the victim willingly report to the police, the 
victim of child labor feels he or she is benefiting temporarily from the work. 

Mr. Ofosu-Mensah Gyeabour, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, who opened the 
workshop, said the plight of numerous Ghanaian children in hazardous forms of labor 
was a cause of grave concern to all. He said a demand had therefore been placed on 
the law enforcement agencies such as the police to wake up to the clarion call of 
enforcing relevant existing laws.  

To ensure a holistic approach, he said, the Police Administration would liaise with 
relevant agencies to form more child panels and family tribunals in order to speed up 
the backlog of cases involving child welfare and family related issues, adding that, 
the activities of these tribunals will go a long way to create congenial environments 
for children. 

Mr Emmanuel Otoo, Program Manager of ILO said the sponsorship of the workshop 
by ILO and UNICEF was to aid the police to be able to eradicate child labor and other 
children related issues. He noted that after the enactment of laws, the chunk of the 
responsibility to enforce them, then rested with the police but wondered whether the 
police were adequately informed about child labor. 

The workshop, he said, was therefore to strengthen the skills and sharpen the 
knowledge of the police in the area of child labor and also called for suggestions and 
proposals from the police on how to combat the problem completely from society. 

Source:
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=66792

Dream coffee full of aroma 
Simple American unlike its name 
Mysterious Brazilian like the wild Amazon 
Bitter Kilimanjaro like the history of slaves 

Dream Coffee full of joy 
Coffee House full of fragrance 
Milky Indian as a country of Holy Cows! 
Mild Indian just like Bangaloreans 

Coffee House full of hopes 

Coffee, coffee where you come from 
Coffee, coffee how you grow 
Coffee, coffee who picks you up 

Coffee plants as tall as small workers 
As green as they are 
Cherry beans as small as their eyes 
And as red as their blood. 

Coffee growing in the shadow of peppers 
Children growing in the sunshine of love. 

Coffee coffee well taken care of 
Only the children forever left behind 

Tiny hands for picking up knowledge 
Not for plucking up cherry beans! 

Have a sip of toil Remember nimble fingers! 
Gulp a drop of burden Feel tiny hands! 
Drink out moans Taste their suffering! 

Coffee, coffee where you come from 
Coffee, coffee how you grow 
Coffee, coffee who picks you up 
Do you know?

By Mioi Nakayama, Japanese Child Rights Activist, Bangalore, India,
9 September 2004
Introduction
It is a world wide phenomenon that a large number of children are exploited, 
neglected and abused in different sectors mainly due to the ever increasing poverty, 
anarchy, war and conflict. The situation is the worst in developing countries, where 
many children must work to survive. The Indian subcontinent and East Asia have 
high numbers of child laborers. Of the many countries in this region where child labor 
is apparent, Nepal is one.

Employing children and engaging them in the labor oriented activities is not a new 
phenomenon. It has been a traditional, social and economic reality of this tiny 
Himalayan Kingdom.

There is a growing tendency in the urban centers to employ children as domestic 
'servants' mostly with well-off families. Thousands of children are working as 
domestic child laborers (DCL) in urban areas. Confined within the four walls of the 
house and forced to work on the orders of others for long hours, the condition of 
urban DCLs is very sad. People often prefer to employ children over adults because 
children are docile and are ready to work hard and long without complaining creating 
any problems and trouble. 

Situation of DCL in Nepal
Few studies have been carried out in the field of DCL, but those studies focus only on 
the urban areas. Out of the total population of Nepal 22.7 million, 41 % are below 16 
yrs. (Census 2001). National Labor Force Survey (1998/99) shows that 41% of the 
total populations of the age of 5-14 yrs. are economically active. Studies on Child 
Labor Situation In Nepal (ILO/IPEC,TU1997) estimated that there are 2.6 million 
children involved in different types of work. About 90% of the child laborers are 
working in informal sector and domestic is one of the major sectors.

The latest Rapid Assessment on Situation of DCL in Kathmandu (ILO/IPEC, 2000) 
there are 21,191 DCL (aged <18 yrs.) in Kathmandu, out of this 70% are below the 
age of 14. It is estimated that total DCL in urban areas of Nepal are 55,655 (below 
18 yrs.), of them 42,674 are below 14 yrs. of age. 

Intervention
Nepal government has no specific program to address DCL. There is no specific law 
relating DCL. Child Labor (Prohibition and Regularization) Act prohibits the 
employment of children under 14 yrs. of age in general and 16 in hazardous work 
but it addressed to only formal sector. This act does not cover child laborers in 
informal sector.

There are programs being run by few NGOs and ILO/IPEC Time Bound Programme, 
which are directly addressing DCL. These programs mainly focus on advocacy, 
educational support, rescue and rehabilitation of DCL. Under the IPEC program, 
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has started to register DCL in local Ward Offices 
and running a drop-in center for DCL as a pilot program in 3 Wards out of 35. In 
these drop-in centers, they can join non-formal education (NFE) classes, are 
provided with recreation and health services. Similarly KMC has adopted a policy in 
2001, according to which, no staff or member of the KMC can employ a child under 
14 as a DCL. It is a good step in policy level, but yet to be translated in action. 
UNICEF is supporting Out of School Program (OSP) in some Munipalicites. Under this 
program, some DCLs are attending NFE classes. A NGO namely CWISH is working for 
registration of DCLs and running some NFE classes in one ward of KMC and also 
doing campaigns for awareness of employers. They have also started forums of DCLs 
for their empowerment.

CWIN Helpline (271000) has been running a 12 hr. phone hotline service to address 
issues of child rights violations and for emergency relief, support and counseling of 
children at risk. The majority of the cases registered in CWIN Helpline comprise 
exploitation and torture of DCLs. With the help of law enforcing agencies, CWIN has 
rescued numbers of DCLs, has worked with them for their socialization, counseling, 
social reintegration, capacity building and empowerment. Apart from these CWIN has 
been filing court cases along with other organizations such as LACC and CWLAC 
against the employers for compensation to the torture and inhuman treatments 
meted out against the DCLs. 

Recommendations:
A proactive approach should be taken to address the issue of DCL. There are 
grounds to bring in change in the attitude of employers. Organizations should 
work towards making the employers aware and accountable for following 
minimum standards while employing a DCL.
But along with the reformative approach, prohibitive measures should be 
taken in order to rescue and socially reintegrate DCLs working in worst 
conditions. The government and NGOs should work for the socialization, 
psychosocial counseling, health care, formal and informal education support, 
capacity building and empowerment of DCLs.
Amendment of Law: child labor law should cover informal sector, minimum 
age of employment in DCL should be defined.
Formulation of Code of conduct in every sector
Develop strict monitoring systems with registration of all DCLs by local 
authorities such as Municipalities

Mobilize stakeholders: School, Children's Forums, Local authority, Police, NGOs, 
Trade Unions, Media, Civil Society etc.

Source:  http://www.cwin.org.np/resources/issues/domestic_childlabour.htm