Quake 'claimed 17,000 children'
Unicef fears there could be "second wave" of child deaths. The 8 October South Asian earthquake killed at least 17,000 children when their schools collapsed, the UN children's fund, Unicef, says. It said those that survived were either injured or suffered the trauma of losing friends and teachers. It also warned of a second wave of deaths if children did not get health care, clean water and immunizations. Pakistan says the quake killed more than 55,000 people, injured another 78,000 and left three million homeless. Another 1,400 died in Indian-administered Kashmir. Unicef says Pakistan government estimates show 6,700 schools were destroyed in North-West Frontier Province and 1,300 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir as children attended morning classes.
Ann Veneman, Unicef Executive Director, said the trauma suffered by the children who survived could well be worse than those who escaped last December's Asian tsunami. "The ones that survived, many have injuries. The ones that survived, also many lost friends. They lost teachers, they lost important people in their lives." Unicef estimates nearly 20,000 children "will have physical impairments after this tragedy due to injuries and amputations".
Tents pledge
Ms Veneman also said there was a continuing threat to the wellbeing of the
survivors. 'Law of the jungle' Crossing the line. "We are concerned about the possibility of a second wave of loss of life if children don't get the right interventions." Ms Veneman repeated appeals for more aid from the international community, saying it had only provided a fraction of what was needed. The UN has asked for $550m but has so far received pledges of only $327m. The UN is leading a massive relief effort to try to get aid to the millions of people affected before the harsh Himalayan winter sets in. On Monday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf vowed to deliver 500,000 tents by the end of November. Relief groups say about 800,000 people still lack shelter. President Musharraf defended the relief effort. "I am fully confident that we will meet the challenge and I will prove the cynics wrong," he said. Pakistan also said it had set up two relief camps on the Line of Control that separates Indian and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. India has set up three on its side.
The move came after the nations agreed on Saturday on a landmark opening of the Line of Control to help quake victims. Relief items can be sent in both directions and families will be able to cross at five points from 7 November - but only on foot. No vehicle crossings will be allowed. People wanting to cross will need a permit from government officials on either side.
184 child laborers rescued
SHREYA RAY, Times of India New Services, October 08, 2005
NEW DELHI:A raid conducted by the Labor department, police and NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) at a zari unit in Bapu Park, Kotla Mubarakpur, resulted in the rescue of 184 child laborers. The area, which has several such units, is estimated to house about 2,000 child bonded laborers. However, by the time the first unit was raided, the rest of the children, along the managers of the units, had fled. Most of these children, aged 8-12 years, hail from Midnapur and Howrah districts of West Bengal. The group entered the unit to find several rooms full of boys, engrossed in the intricate zari work. To start with, all the children had rehearsed answers ready and displayed staunch support for their sethjis (managers).
Ten-year-old Lal Chand, who was brought by an 'uncle,' said: "I don't miss home. I thought it would be better to work rather than just stay at home." But as the interrogation intensified, the mask of bravado started to crumble and the tears began to flow. Working hours range from 12-15 hours daily, depending on whether you have completed your target or not. If you haven't completed your target, then you're entitled to a sound thrashing and working 'over time'. Ill health or injury, work must go on. Wages differ from Rs 1,500 a month to Rs 70-100 a week, to nothing, depending on experience. And this amount must take care of meals, clothing and some money to send home. Working in such poor conditions also has debilitating effects on their health. "Their eyesight weakens drastically and they also develop problems in their legs," said a BBA member. ACP Anil Shukla said: "We are yet to ascertain whether they were bonded laborers or not. Working for the zari industry — which is banned — also involves a different course of action. So there are 3-4 acts under which we are contemplating action." The children have currently been taken to a shelter in Jehangirpuri.
Manila vows to improve welfare of Filipino domestic workers at home and abroad
23 Sept 2005
Twink Macaraig
The Philippine government is committed to improving the welfare of the country's domestic workers. This promise comes at the end of a landmark summit in Manila to address the plight of some six million Filipino maids working in the country and also abroad.
A video shown at the National Domestic Workers Summit shows the suffering of many maids working in the Philippines and abroad. All-too-familiar stories of exploitation and abuse reflect deeper issues of poverty, migration and human rights.
Diana Ingga, a domestic worker since age 9, said: "I had to do loads of laundry. I had to take care of children, clean house and cook. All those chores which a mere child should not have to do."
There are nearly two million domestic workers in the Philippines and about double that all abroad.
But despite their large numbers, domestic workers are largely ignored. This summit was to show they should not be overlooked.
The summit brought together government and non-government agencies, international and local labor leaders. They came up with a slew of recommendations and a million signatures to back their appeal.
Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said: "If we want the world to treat Filipino domestic workers with honor and dignity, we must start in our society and our own home."
Speaking on behalf of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, Labor Secretary Santo Tomas affirmed the commitment to press for the passage of Batas Kasambahay.
This is the first legislation to specifically address the welfare of domestic workers, which has languished in Congress for a decade. She also vowed stronger coordination among government agencies to crack down on illegal recruiters.
But the Labor Secretary went even further. Noting the potential strength of such a large sector, she urged domestic workers to get organized, to set their own professional standards, and to even to elect their own candidate to the legislature. It's a long way before the summit's objectives can be achieved.
But it correctly pinpointed that the process must begin with the recognition that domestic work is decent work, and at the very least deserves not to be invisible anymore.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/169873/1/.html
SYRIA : Child labor still rampant
28 Sept 2005
From a distance, the children jumping up and down the colorful hills of trash in Jedaydet Artous, a suburb of Syria's capital, Damascus, look like ghosts. At closer range, however, it turns out they are rummaging through the litter in search of any valuables they can sell to support their families.
"I don't like this job," said 10-year old Razan al-Haj Ali, who was sifting through the rubbish with her brother Ayman, 14. "But I must work to eat and help my parents."
For most of the day, they search for plastic cans and scrap metals which they later take to downtown Damascus to sell for 5 Syrian pounds (US 10 cents) per one kilo. Their hope, daily, is to come back home - four kilometres from the dump - with at least one US dollar to buy dinner.
Razan and Ayham are among millions of children whose childhood has been stolen mostly by poverty and illiteracy. To survive, they all have to do some work - ranging from rummaging through garbage dumps to more manual jobs.
For example, Khaled al-Asaad, 12, and his brother Asaad, 9, work at al-Hal market in downtown Damascus, where they help move boxes of vegetables and fruit. In return, they come back home with some vegetables and fruits which they, in most cases, pick up from the ground.
Farid al-Issa, 14, meanwhile, must juggle work with school. Waking up early each morning, he first has to go with his parents and sister to a nearby farm to dry tobacco leaves for about 2-1/2 hours. Then he leaves for school. "If I do not wake up at that time," he said. "I will not go to school."
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), many Syrian children are involved in child labor. Statistics provided by UNICEF show that between 1999-2003, some 8 percent of all Syrian children were involved - with boys slightly more than girls.
Many of these work through their families especially in rural areas and on agricultural activities, according to Mamadou Kiari Liman-Tinguiri, UNICEF representative in Syria.
A 2005 study done by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor in conjunction with UNICEF said the poverty situation in Syria had been worsened by a general downward economic trend, pushing more children to enter the labor market. Male children, it added, were more likely to work than the females.
It, however, noted that many of the child laborers also went regularly to school. Primary education is compulsory in Syria and according to various surveys, net enrollment rates are high - up to 98 and 99 per cent for girls and boys respectively. Progress has been uneven, however, and geographic disparities persist.
According to Talal Mustafa, a professor of sociology at Damascus University, "nobody talks about child labor in the countryside because it's done under the pretext of helping the family... and is socially accepted".
He added: "This steadily harms their health, personality and education."
For the families and the children, the work they do is seen as profitable.
Imad Mohammad, 15, a blacksmith, boasted of earning in one day more than what his uncle, a school teacher, earns in a month. "I had preferred to quit school three years ago because the educated do not find work," he said.
Ali, who only gave one name and does not know how old is except that his comrades are now at in the second elementary grade, spends all the day on al-Koussour street selling lottery tickets, which his brother gives him daily. He said his brother comes at midnight to take him back home, along with other neighboring children, who sit on the road selling anything from chewing gum to cigarettes and polishing shoes.
"When I feel hungry, I ask any by-passer to buy a sandwich for me," he said.
In the Housh Place area in Damascus' suburbs, dozens of children work pouring melted aluminum in hot ovens. "My hands always tremble when I carry the molten liquid," Mouneir Assaf, 16, said. "There is an obsession and a haunted feeling that I will fall down one day and be burned by this liquid. I am always afraid and do not like this job. But I have no alternative."
Issa Maldaoun, the Syrian deputy minister of social affairs and labor, said the children are actually exploited because some employers find them cheaper and more docile.
According to UNICEF, child labor refers to all children below 12 years of age working in any economic activities, those aged 12 to 14 years engaged in harmful work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of work. The worst forms involve children being enslaved, forcibly recruited, prostituted, trafficked, forced into illegal activities and exposed to hazardous work.
Globally, an estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labor. Of those, almost three-quarters work in hazardous situations or conditions, such in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49266&SelectRegion=
Middle_East&SelectCountry=SYRIA
Earnest drive against domestic child labor in Indian City
3 Oct 2005
HYDERABAD : "A child employed is a future destroyed," argues R. Venkat Reddy of the M.V. Foundation, an anti-child labor group. "No child wants to work as a domestic help," says Mr. Reddy.
Far from being charitable, this perpetuates poverty by denying school education, he notes. "There are 40,000 domestic child laborers in the city, mostly girls from the rural areas, brought here by giving some advance amounts to parents," says Mr. Reddy.
It requires a change in strategy to expose domestic child labor. A consortium of NGOs and Child Rights Protection Forum are roping in students to invigorate the cause.
About 50 students from 15 colleges in the city were invited to discussions on child labor on Saturday.
The purpose was to launch debates and discussions in college campuses, homes and apartments, so that by November 14, 2006, Hyderabadis will be able to say, “My home is child labor-free."
Student groups from Osmania College, Aurobindo College, Law College, QQJPT College, Shri Sai College, and journalism and social work students were more than willing to make a beginning through seminars and discussion groups.
A parallel attempt to create a rehabilitation and support network with help of the district administration and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is also being worked out.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/03/stories/2005100314530400.htm
Jockeys head for orphanage
6 Oct 2005
Ashfaq Ahmed
Dozens of former child camel jockeys no longer allowed to race in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cannot be sent home to their parents because they do not know who they are.
About 40 former child camel jockeys from Pakistan are now being sent to an orphanage in Islamabad because they cannot remember their parents' names.
According to new UAE laws, children below the age of 18 and less than 45 kg are not allowed to be used as camel jockeys. Following successful tests, the UAE plans to use robot jockeys in place of the boys.
The UAE authorities began repatriating the underage jockeys in March. They come from Bangladesh, Sudan and Mauritania, but the majority are from Pakistan.
"About 40 Pakistani children have forgotten who their parents are and where they lived," said Imran Haider, Head of Chancery at the Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi, who is responsible for repatriation of children to Pakistan.
"We talked to the children in an attempt to find out their whereabouts but they don't know anything. The children, who are between three and 10 years, don't even know the names of their parents," he said.
Haider said special arrangements had been made for the rehabilitation of these children. "We are sending them to the SOS Village, the most prestigious institute which provides shelter and education to orphans, homeless and handicapped children in Pakistan," he said.
He said reuniting the children with families is a very long and difficult process. "Many children left home many years ago and don't know their parents," he said.
"Sometimes DNA tests are also conducted on parents to determine their parentage."
The UAE is the first country in the region to sign an international agreement to rehabilitate and repatriate child jockeys to their home countries.
Recovered children are kept at two Child Rehabilitation Centers established in Abu Dhabi. Children undergo medical tests at the centre and are also provided with some basic rehabilitation training before leaving for their home countries.
Haider said although there are no exact figures available, there are about 3,000 child camel jockeys in the UAE and about 70 per cent of them are Pakistanis. "We have already sent 418 children during the last few months and 100 more are in the pipeline," he said.
Another batch of 24 children will be ready to leave for Pakistan next week.
The repatriated children are sent to Lahore-based Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, which is working in coordination with the UNICEF on the rehabilitation of repatriated children. It helps children find their parents.
Parents of some child camel jockeys complained that the immigration officials at Lahore International Airport are fleecing them before handing over their children.
"We have received a number of complaints from some parents, who flew with the children or those who came to receive them at the airport, regarding mistreatment by immigration staff of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at the Lahore Airport," said a social worker involved in the repatriation of child camel jockeys to Pakistan.
The official at the Pakistani mission confirmed the report saying they had already taken up the issue with the Ministry of Interior.
The children are repatriated to Lahore, where they are received by officials of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau.
Even those parents who travel with their children are separated from them. The FIA officials take the parents into custody for questioning. "Some of the parents complained that they were badly treated and their money was also taken," said the social worker.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=185321
Hundreds of millions of agricultural workers face poverty, hunger – UN report
6 October 2005
Many of the world’s 450 million waged agricultural workers, the largest labor force on earth, are suffering from some of the highest incidences of poverty and hunger, according to a new United Nations report released today which calls for the promotion of an agenda for decent work conditions in the field.
“Agriculture cannot be sustainable whilst over 40 per cent of the workforce suffer precarious employment and poor working conditions, and live in poverty,” the report said, noting that waged workers account for around 40 per cent of the total agricultural workforce of some 1.1 billion people.
Economic pressures are eroding the already low levels of protection of agricultural workers in terms of wage levels, job security, health, safety and environmental standards and social protection, according to the study, Agricultural Workers and their Contribution to Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.
Compiled jointly by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), it cited the use of child labor in agriculture as of particular concern.
Of the estimated 246 million children around the world who go to work, over 170 million, or 70 per cent, are employed in agriculture. Each year, 22,000 children are killed on the job, many of those in agriculture. Children work as cheap labor because their parents do not earn enough to support the family or to send their children to school. Children in agriculture often work 10 hours and earn less than $1 per day.
Agricultural workers, who do not own or rent the land on which they work nor the tools and equipment they use, are often poorly paid, earning wages well below those earned by industrial workers, with millions living below the poverty line and often unable to afford to buy sufficient food, the report said.
Agriculture is ranked as one of the three most hazardous industries, along with mining and construction. Risks include dangerous machinery, livestock-transmitted diseases and exposure to toxic pesticides. There are some 355,000 on-the-job fatalities overall every year, half of them estimated to occur in agriculture. Many of those killed, injured or made ill are women and children.
In many parts of the world, agricultural workers are denied fundamental human rights: the rights to freedom of association, to organize and collectively bargain with employers. Rural workers are more subject to forced labor than other categories of workers. Moreover AIDS has killed around 7 million agricultural workers since 1985 in the 25 hardest-hit countries in Africa.
The report criticized governments, development agencies, science and research institutions, agricultural banks, credit institutions as well as many civil society institutions for ignoring the often desperate situation, and called for the development and promotion of an agenda for fair and decent work conditions.
ILO's Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work should be applied and FAO and other agencies should cooperate with waged agricultural workers and their trade unions, which should receive stronger political, technical and financial support to enable them to play a much greater role in promoting sustainable agriculture, it concluded.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16109&Cr=FAO&Cr1=agriculture
Guinea must live up to its commitments on child and forced labor, trade union rights and discrimination
12 Oct 2005
The ICFTU (International Confederation on Free Trade Unions) today called on the government of Guinea to put into practice the many commitments it had accepted over the 1996-2001 period as part of the WTO Ministerial Declarations in order to rid the country of the scourges of child and forced labor and improve the lives of its workers through effective collective bargaining.
In its submission to the WTO General Council Review of the Trade Policies of Guinea, taking place in Geneva on October 12 and 14, the ICFTU highlights the fact that whilst Guinea has ratified all eight core ILO Labor Conventions, in practice much work needs to be done.
According to ILO figures, some 309,000 children are economically active in Guinea, over 31.1% of the age group, in industries such as agriculture, petty commerce, domestic work and small scale mining. Prohibitions on forced labor, whilst written in law, are not enforced.
Harassment of trade unionists and interference with union activities is widespread. In 2003, when workers at the Kindia Bauxite Company went on strike to demand a pay rise, the police went looking for the strikers at their homes but instead took away their wives and children, beating up the women and inflicting facial injuries on 10 of them.
Major gender imbalances, starting with only 7% of girls being enrolled in secondary school (compared to 20% for boys) extend to a major pay gap between men and women, with employers preferring to hire men and no positive measures being taken by the government to bridge this gap thus far.
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991222889&Language=EN
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