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Child Labor, Working Conditions on ILO Conference Agenda By Lisa Schlein Geneva May 30, 2006     A child holds a small hammer that is used to crush stones in a quarry near Dawhenya, east of Accra, Ghana, Thursday, May 4, 2006 Child labor, worker safety and changing patterns in the international workplace are on the agenda of the annual conference of the International Labor Organization. In an increasingly globalized world, old patterns of work are changing and creating many uncertainties in the labor force. The ILO director general will open debate at the annual meeting on problems and challenges associated with these changing work patterns. The conference also is preparing a new Convention on Occupational Safety and Health. ILO Executive Director Kari Tapiola says the goal is to strengthen the existing treaty. "It still is one of the leading causes of death, and we have serious problems of people falling ill and dying, production being lost and so on," he said. The aim of the new convention is to lower the toll of work-related injuries and disease, which the ILO says cause some two million deaths every year. As in previous years, the conference will hold a plenary discussion on the situation of forced labor in Burma. Tapiola tells VOA, the conference will review possible further action to get Burma's military rulers to comply with the recommendations of the ILO Commission of Inquiry to end this practice. "Things have not gone better. I would say they have gotten worse, and we are also facing a situation, where people who have come to us and wanted to get some protection or redress - saying that they have been subject to forced labor - so, they have been prosecuted, and, in some cases, imprisoned, because they have tried to ask for their rights," he said. "And, this is frankly an unacceptable situation." The ILO will devote a day to a discussion of child labor. In a new Global Report, the ILO finds child labor declined by 11 percent between 2000 and 2004. But, it says 216 million children around the world still work, when they should be going to school. Pressure will be put on delegates from the ILO's 178 member states to do more to eliminate child labor. The president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, and President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will give keynote speeches at the conference. http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-05-30-voa17.cfm Top ICFTU and Global March strategy meeting outcomes on combating child labor May 18, 2006 International trade union organizations and representatives from the Global March Against Child Labor and the Stop Child Labor Campaign took part in workshop sessions hosted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labor (WCL) on 16 May 2006 in Brussels. The workshop concluded that further cooperation between the trade union movement and the Global March and Stop Child Labor Campaign should be developed on the following basis: Their common commitment to work for the elimination of all forms of child labor, according to the definitions of ILO Convention 138; The right of all children to quality education provided as a universal public service, and the obligation of all governments and the international community to ensure that this objective is met, through comprehensive and coherent action; Elimination of child labor is closely linked to full respect for and application of ILO standards, in particular the core labor standards; Recognition of the essential role of tripartism, and of the respective roles of trade unions and of non-governmental organizations which are committed to the elimination of all child labor; The need for action against the worst forms of child labor under ILO Convention 182 to take place within overall concrete strategies for the elimination of all child labor and the provision of quality education, including through social mobilization and concrete plans for the implementation of both Conventions 138 and 182; That formal education be expanded to provide for the integration of all transitional arrangements, including non formal education, so that all children have access to free quality education; That analysis and action must take into account the specific circumstances of girls and boys; The responsibility of private enterprises to ensure respect for international labor standards, in particular the core labor standards (which includes those concerning child labor), in their own operations and in their business relationships; The need for the international trade union movement, the Global March and the Stop Child Labor Campaign to exchange information on a systematic basis and examine possibilities for concrete collaboration in the future. Top Passi City in child labor priority list By Maricar M. Calubiran May 26, 2006 For having the most number of child laborers in Iloilo, the component city of Passi is placed in the priority list of recipients of the International Labour Organization-International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC). ILO-IPEC representative Sol Ebarle said they chose Passi City to be the recipient of their livelihood and training program. Though, he could not exactly say the exact figures of those children working in sugar cane plantations. Children who are working in sugar cane plantation is only one of the six worst forms of child labor in the Philippines today. The other worst form of child labor are children who are in mining and quarrying, deep-sea fishing, and pyrotechnics production, which are highly dangerous and children who are into commercial sexual exploitation and domestic work. The ILO-IPEC's action plan is based on three pillars -- supporting and mainstreaming national responses to child labor; deepening and strengthening the worldwide movement against child labor and further integrating child labor concerns in over-all ILO strategies to promote decent work. Ebarle said they will help the affected children to enroll in vocational trainings such as motorcycle repair and maintenance and get involved in the vegetable production. Children who are 15 to 17 years old can avail of the vocational training. Classes for motorcycle repair will be taught at the Passi Trade School. Instructors are all TESDA-trained. While, a non-government organization will handle the vegetable production. He added that they work in partnership with trade unions, government and non-government organizations to upgrade the lives of the children who are considered child laborers. The roots of child labor cases starts with poverty and the institution of livelihood programs will uplift the lives of the children. Aside from Passi City, the ILO-IPEC has already introduced trainings on tractor repair and maintenance and automotive repair in areas in Negros Occidental. The four areas La Carlota City, Binalbagan, Isabela and Himamaylan. The training has already started in January 2006 and it is facilitated by the Sugar Industry Foundation. http://www.thenewstoday.info/2006/05/26/passi.city.in.child.labor.priority.list.html Top Baguio wants maids registered to check child labor (Mla time) May 23, 2006 By Vincent Cabreza Inquirer BAGUIO CITY—Miriam is a 14-year-old maid from Iloilo who has nurtured a career of sorts working as a professional kasambahay (househelp) in some of Baguio’s 300,000 households since she was 10. But until this week, Miriam and about 12,000 under-aged transient workers remain invisible to the local government. Officials of the summer capital are drafting an ordinance that would change that by requiring all homes to register their domestic workers in a city listing. Councilor Leandro Yangot, sponsor of the measure, said he wanted to regulate child domestic work, which he cited as “one of the oldest forms of child labor.” Housework is tolerated because children end up working safely within the confines of a home, although statistics indicate that even this form of child labor has resulted in cases of abuse, Yangot said. The draft ordinance institutionalizes the city’s “Kasambahay program,” which will outline mandatory labor standards, decent employment and income, and access to social services. It, however, also provides law enforcers their own data bank because of petty crimes attributed to domestic helpers. “Of equal concern … are employers of kasambahays who have equal rights to protection from their abuse and exploitation. There is a need to raise the consciousness [of] decision makers and the general public … by challenging myths still surrounding the employment of adults and children in domestic work,” the measure said. The proposed ordinance will require mandatory yearly registrations, although the city will not collect processing fees from maids. Barangays are held responsible for keeping track of maids. The measure’s primary goal is to “end domestic child labor, or the extreme forms of child domestic work [which is] considered among the worst forms of child labor,” Yangot said. http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=76691 Top Governors defend stance on child-labor inspections May 21, 2006 By Chris Paschenko   How Alabama came to have just two state child labor law inspectors is a subject of debate between the former and present governors. Don Siegelman was elected governor in 1998, but lost to Bob Riley in 2002. Siegelman hopes to unseat Riley in this year's governor's race. Under Siegelman, the state increased the number of state child labor inspectors from one in fiscal year 1999 to three in 2002. Staffing levels remained the same until 2004, according to statistics from the Child Labor Coalition. Chip Hill, Siegelman's communications director, said the gubernatorial candidate made children's issues a top priority when he took office in 1999. "He made some of the greatest strides in the state's history, not only to protect children in the workplace but also in schools, day care and children's physical safety," Hill said. "The reduction of the number of inspectors on the job now shows a troubling trend in what the Riley administration is doing," Hill said, "because Bob Riley is going around publicly and on airways crowing about a fictional (budget) surplus when the state's critical needs are not being met." "One thing Siegelman is proud of is he added the Department of Children's Affairs as a Cabinet position during his tenure as governor," Hill said. "And that commissioner's responsibility was to focus solely on improving the quality of life for Alabama children." Josh Blades, Riley's campaign spokesman, called Siegelman's statement an outrageous fabrication to garner media attention. "He left this state's budget in shambles," Blades said. "Gov. Riley had a $700 million deficit when he came in office. He had some really tough decisions to make because of the deficit." Jim Bennett, commissioner for the state Department of Labor, is a member of Riley's Cabinet. He said the state is making the best of its child-labor inspector situation. "We never had over three due to budget cuts made by the Legislature," Bennett said, "which has affected all state departments. Our staff does a good job in enforcing labor laws, and the U.S. Department of Labor is also active in child-labor enforcement." Bennett said the state could easily use six or eight inspectors. "It's not like the bases aren't being covered, because we also have the federal authority involved," Bennett said. "To a business, that's a much bigger hammer than is provided at the state level." Bennett said his department takes it "very seriously" when businesses take advantage of children. "We prosecute them to the best of our ability," he said. Hill said Siegelman would, if elected, once again make children a priority. How Alabama compares to other states Alabama ranks low on nationwide child labor law enforcement statistics that were reported to the Child Labor Coalition for fiscal years. Number of inspectors 2003: 3 Rank: Tie with 1 other state for 30th out of 38. 2004: 2 Rank: 24th out of 31. Number of inspections 2003: 1,703 Rank: 10th out of 38 2004: 460 Rank: 15th out of 32 Number of violations 2003: 1,151 Rank: 2nd out of 36 2004: 110 Rank: 8th out of 30 Minors working illegally 2003: 275 Rank: 7th out of 30 2004: 65 Rank: 9th out of 24 Minor work deaths in 1999-2000, 2002-04 (2001 statistics unavailable) 88 Child Labor Coalition, www.stopchildlabor.org Top 11 Child Laborers rescued One World South Asia May 19, 2006 Mohammad Sajjad had dreamt of becoming a cricketer. His idol: Irfan Pathan. Destiny, however, landed him at a railway overbridge construction site at Ara. His job involved carrying sandbags and stone chips, weighing about 40 kg, over his head, 6 to 6. He is only 13. During the 12-hour strenuous duty, he would get only an hour-long break in the noon for lunch. Sometimes, during nights too, he would be awakened by the contractor concerned to do some urgent duty. Sajjad, an illiterate, hails from a village in Dinajpur in West Bengal. Thirteen-year-old Sanni Kumar, a Musahar boy from Kasap village in Bhojpur district, was studying in class IX when he was forced to take up the hazardous job at the same site, though this was not the world he had dreamt of. He wanted to become a teacher. The dreams of these young boys were crushed under the weight of construction materials which they were forced to carry over their heads from one place to another under the scorching sun and vulture-like eyes of supervisors who would abuse and beat them up on the slightest provocation. They were promised Rs 40 a day as wage, but were paid only Rs 15. Ironically, these child laborers had been employed by the Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation, a state government undertaking, through contractors. Sajjad and Sanni were among the 11 child laborers, who were rescued on 4th May 2006 in a joint raid and rescue operation by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and labor department. Under the Child Labor (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1986, and according to a Supreme Court verdict, any corporation or agency, if found guilty of employing child laborers, is liable to pay Rs 20,000 per child. Release certificates were given to these child laborers by the local administration which would help them in their proper rehabilitation. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/132717/1/ Top Seven child laborers buried alive May 19, 2006 Seven suspected child laborers, including six girls, were buried alive under the heap of soil in Rauna village in Chandauli district on Thursday, a police official said. A group of alleged child laborers, hailing from Gaya district in Bihar, were digging soil near a brick kiln when the mound caved in burying nine of them, Mughalsarai police station in-charge Ratan Singh Yadav said here. Two children were rescued by local people and taken to hospital, Yadav said. The bodies of the deceased, aged between six to 14 years, were dug out from the mound and sent for post-mortem, he said. The Pioneer, http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/132691/1/ Top Child Labor Prevails in Country Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)  May 17, 2006  By Phyllis D. Osabutey Its early Saturday morning and Memuna and her colleagues are getting prepared to start work for the day. They have gathered on the pavement in the Accra-Tema station lorry yard, where they dwell to make their living. Like many other children who have traveled from the northern parts of the country down to the south to work as porters in various parts of the Accra Metropolis, Memuna and a number of her friends, from Walewale in the Northern Region, have come to earn a living. Unlike the children between the ages of four and eight who sell pure water, Memuna is nineteen years old and with her two-year old son tucked at her back, she carries varying loads to get her daily bread and save some money for future use. A recent International Labor Organization (ILO) report says families still depend on children for survival in the face of widespread and extreme poverty. The world is fighting to end this situation, which is widespread in Africa and Ghana. In Ghana children as young as four years and above are forcefully sold for the survival of other family members into labor, such as mining, fishing, selling on the streets, working in stone quarries, or given to people as house helps, while others are simply left to fend for themselves. As the ILO Director-General puts it, "No child should be brutalized by exploitation or be placed in hazardous work, be denied access to education or work for his or her survival." Yet, these porter girls seem to prefer this form of labor to the extreme poverty back home. For this reason, the slightly older ones bring their younger siblings often with the permission of their parents, guardians and family members because it lessens the burden of having to take care of many children with very little. These children also work for their survival by selling mostly pure water at the lorry stations or along the streets. Memuna says, "We came out of our own will to make money." While the little ones give their daily earnings to their elderly sisters who bring them, Memuna and others of her age keep their own earnings. "I spend ¢ 7,000 in a day", she adds. What is most important to Memuna is that she saves a larger sum of what she makes in a day. She uses ¢6,000 for her feeding in the morning, afternoon and evening and the remaining ¢1,000 to pay for her shower in the evening. Memuna was first started this work as a child when she was brought by her sisters. She is now married to a farmer, who granted her permission to return and continue her work as a porter with their son, who was then one-year-old. Usually during the rainy season and the time of harvest, Memuna and many of her colleagues return home to help their relatives to farm. "When its time for planting and harvesting, I will go home and help my husband and mother, as I always do", she explains. Memuna has six other sisters, five of whom do the same business. The other one is living with her husband in Takoradi. They all work to support their mother, whose husband died years ago. On very good days, Memuna makes about ¢20,000. On not so good days, she makes about ¢10,000. To make additional money, Memuna and her five sisters prepare rice balls, known as 'tuo zaafi', which they sell in the evening and is patronized by their colleagues. "Each time I go home, depending on how hard I work, I get about one or two million to take home," says Memuna. The ILO report stated that the number of child laborers globally fell by 11% over the last four years and that those engaged in hazardous work decreased by 26% while that for the age group of 5-14 years decreased by 33%. In spite of this, the situation in Ghana and Accra, in particular, seems to be worsening as more girls find the porter job gratifying and bring their younger siblings along down south to work irrespective of the hazards. Memuna and her colleagues, young and old alike, sleep in the open without proper bedding on the pavement at the Accra-Tema station lorry park. As Memuna puts it, "This is our room, we do everything here." Not only do they have a hard time during the rainy season, but thieves attack them for their money and harass them. "When it's light out or raining and we go under the sheds and dose off, they worry us. They steal our things and, if you are not lucky, they will also rape you. They are all thieves!," stressed Memuna. Considering this situation, the ILO report could not be more accurate when it says that, "Least progress has been made in Sub-Saharan Africa, where population growth, HIV/AIDS infection and child labor remain alarmingly high." The report stresses that Sub-Saharan Africa remains the greatest challenge to the development community, as the region is least on the track to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "The region also has the highest incidence of working children and has made the least progress due in part to its staggering population growth, where the population doubles every generation," says the report. The report says that economic growth alone will not eliminate child labor, though it is important. Political commitment, through the adoption of coherent policies in the areas of poverty reduction, basic education and human rights is also critical. In addition to poverty reduction, the decision to focus on mass education is an important prerequisite for moving countries to the transition point in tackling child labor. This is true because unlike Memuna, who seems pleased with the work she is doing, Comfort, who could tell her exact age of fifteen years (as opposed to many of the others who could not tell their ages), has found it necessary to work due to financial constraints back home. When asked, "Do you have a child?," Comfort said, "Ei! I am a small girl. I want to go to school, but my father does not have money." Comfort’s mother died and her older sister brought her to Accra to work, while their only brother stayed with their father back home. Comfort dropped out of school due to the situation and has been in Accra for the past nine months. She still hopes to get support to go back to school either here in Accra or back home. Comfort and other children in her situation can only hope that governments make policy choices that open gateways of opportunities for poor people aimed at reducing child labor. The report also points out, "Though child labor is not an explicit target, action will have to be taken against child labor to reach many of the MDG targets, especially those related to education. . . In many ways, education can be viewed as a "social vaccine" against the pandemic." As agriculture and child domestic work have been relatively neglected for action against child labor at national and international levels, the ILO noted that the role of employers' and workers' organizations remain central to child labor elimination efforts and the need to tackle the challenge presented by the growth of the informal economy, where most of the world's labor, particularly the worst forms of labor, take place. The report further proposes that member states continue to pursue the goal of the effective abolition of child labor and commit themselves to the elimination of the worst forms of child labor by 2016, putting in place appropriate time-bound measures by the end of 2008. "The proposed action plan rests on supporting national responses to child labor, in particular through effective mainstreaming in national development and policy frameworks; deepening and strengthening the worldwide movement and promoting further integration of child labor concerns within overall ILO priorities regarding Decent Work as a global goal," says the report. When Ghana follows the set international standards and the positive response becomes evident in all areas of child labor, then we can join the ILO and the international community in saying, "A future without child labor is within our grasps." http://allafrica.com/stories/200605170299.html Top Brazil exchanges experiences in combating child labor with other Portuguese-speaking countries May 11, 2006 Adriana Franzin Agência Brasil Brasília - The Portuguese-speaking countries want to learn strategies from Brazil to combat child labor. The exchange of experiences will occur at the conference, Combatting the Exploitation of Child Labor in the Portuguese-Speaking World, which gets underway today (11) in Lisbon, Portugal. At the encounter the national Social Assistance secretary of the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Osvaldo Russo, will give a presentation on the Program for the Erradication of Child Labor (PETI). According to Russo, countries such as Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, and East Timor have already expressed an interest in adopting policies similar to Brazil's. "This integration is essential," he observed. Last week the International Labor Organization (ILO) praised what Brazil has done to combat child labor and characterized the country as a model for the rest of the world. From the ILO's perspective, Brazil has earned this status as a result of various strategies, including social and economic policies that have raised families' living standards and enabled children to remain in school, away from the workplace. A report released by the ILO last month shows that the number of working youth in Brazil between the ages of 10 and 17 decreased by 36.4% from 1992 and 2004. This percentage is even greater in the 5-9 age bracket: 60.9%. By integrating the PETI with the Family Grant program, the government intends to increase the number of children benefitted from 1 million to 3.2 million by the end of this year. The PETI is a direct income transfer program for families with children and adolescents prematurely engaged in the workplace. Through the PETI, families in urban areas are eligible to receive monthly grants of US$ 19.12 (R$ 40) per child, while the monthly grant for families in rural areas is US$ 11.95 (R$ 25). In return, parents must keep their children enrolled in school and in extracurricular activities when they are not in school, as well as participating themselves in vocational courses to improve their income. Top Morocco planning to outlaw child domestic labor By AFP May 10, 2006 (Middle East Times, Egypt) Morocco is preparing a law banning child labor, particularly the use of children as domestic servants, the country's secretary of state for family, children and the handicapped said on Tuesday. "Our challenge is to create a Morocco that is worthy of its children," said Yasmina Baddou during a presentation of the bill to the media, aid agencies and civil servants in Rabat.      "Child labor, particularly the employment of these little servants, is a form of violence and exploitation," she said. Baddou said that her department wanted the new law to "regulate domestic labor and punish all use of little girls as maids". The announcement came five months after the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report saying that 600,000 children aged six to 15 were employed as child labor in Morocco. Of these, 66,000 were used as domestic servants. "Morocco has one of the highest child labor rates in the Middle East and North Africa. Although Moroccan law prohibits children under 15 from working, government statistics suggest that at least 600,000 children aged seven through 14 - 11 percent of all children in that age group - are engaged in economic activity," the December 2005 report said. "Human Rights Watch's report documented cases of girls as young as five working 100 or more hours per week, without rest breaks or days off, for as little as six-and-a-half Moroccan dirhams [about $0.70] a day. "These girls are often exposed to physical and even sexual abuse, and denied schooling. Our report held the Moroccan government responsible for neglecting the basic labor rights of children, and made recommendations to improve labor standards and protect children from abuses," it added. The government's draft bill is designed to raise awareness of the problem among Moroccans who employ domestic servants and poor families with girls. It aims to combat recruitment networks, particularly in rural areas, where the use of child labor is most widespread, and to help reintegrate "little maids" into society. Baddou nevertheless took issue with elements of the HRW report on Tuesday, telling her audience: "HRW's figures and comparisons are exaggerated and lack credibility. "HRW doesn't have the same freedom of movement in other countries as it does in Morocco," she added. Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060510-031532-6445r Top

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