April 21, 2002

Some 61 per cent of the world’s working children are found in Asia. Children beginning work at a young age have a longer period of exposure to cumulative hazards that can cause permanent disability to a child’s growing body

Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: “Please, sir, I want some more.” “What!” said the master at length, in faint voice. There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance. “For more!” said Mr Limbkins ...”That boy will be hung.” — Charles Dickens in ‘Oliver Twist’.



THEY come out of their dingy, raw-brick houses in narrow, uneven lanes, at seven in the morning, wearing their rough and shabby over-alls. They make their way through the smelly, garbage-strewn, winding pathways, and are still chewing the last morsels of last night’s bread, gulped down with hastily prepared tea. Once out of their by-lanes, they light their first of many cigarettes, when they wait for a motorbike or a car to take lift to their area of work.

The innocence of youth and the blush of facing the world so early in their lives is still on their cute faces. But, compromises with life will soon rob them off this innocence. It is the rugged world of 9-to-9 that these young, undernourished have-nots will have to face for the rest of their lives.

In the slums, at most times of the day, children between the ages of five and eighteen years are absent. Gone to school? Not really. They are probably out there, changing a rusted nut in a garage, or selling papers on the road, or learning the intricate plumbing techniques. When they pass by schools, they stop to look at the students coming out of their classes in their starched uniforms. For a moment they pause, then they move on. Their ustads teach them the science of necessity.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), approximately 250 million children of the developing countries between the ages of five and fourteen work for the upkeep of their houses and families. Among them, 120 million work full-time, while the rest continue it side-by-side with school and other activities. Some 61 per cent of world’s working children are found in Asia, 32 per cent in Africa, and seven per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Asia has the highest number of child workers found in wide-ranging economic activities. Most of them work in agriculture, mines, factories, services and small-scale manufacturing workshops that are generally not covered by national laws. Children who work in agriculture are exposed to harmful pesticides during their formative years. Others who work in construction, manufacturing and automobile repair are exposed to toxic and carcinogenic substances such as asbestos, benzene and mercury.

Children beginning work at a young age have a longer period of exposure to cumulative hazards, carrying heavy loads or adopting unnatural positions during work which can permanently disable a child’s growing body. Such children, whose physical development gets cramped during such heavy work at an early age, are likely to have lower earning prospects throughout their adult lives, and they are liable to take up beggary or become street vendors. Their dreams die young.

“We all suffer the same consequences,” says Yasin, who goes through the drudgery for economic needs. “We come across the same treatment, whether we work in a garage, a tailoring shop, at a bungalow, or on the roads. People don’t see us as children. We are bread-earners. On the road, the competition is very cruel. The only thing left for us is to continue on this track of minimal survival. Human Rights people call this child abuse, but for us there is no other way. We don’t know where to go. I want to be free and educated, but do I have a choice?”

Yasin, this fourteen-year-old child whose day begins at 6am, works till early evening. For this, he earns a nominal sum, but shares the responsibility for family survival.

In South Asia, Bangladesh and Pakistan share 71 per cent and 67 per cent active children in fishery, agriculture and forestry, respectively. No reliable statistics on child labour exist, and reports that are generated by one agency or the other generally make no attempt to accurately update or assess the actual number of children who work in commercial agriculture, or who are forced or bonded into work.

Agencies such as the ILO and the UNICEF have estimated figures or percentages of child labourers on paper, but their reports indicate simply that three is evidence that some children work in a particular sector. Although child labour is illegal below a certain age, the actual fact is that in almost every country, national government surveys often don’t collect information on working children below 15 years of age.

The convention on the rights of the children was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 20, 1989. A total of 191 countries have ratified it, excluding USA, who has signed it, but has not got it ratified. But, at least, America has a Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, which provides technical assistance to individuals and law-enforcement agencies.

Their worldwide programmes and networking help in protection for children and provide information on effective legislation to ensure that. Online reporting is available worldwide at www.cybertipline.com. On the other hand, Somalia, without a government in office and bereft of proper facilities, is unable to show any intentions towards implementation of this charter.

The education for rural or suburban communities is not easily accessible. Lack of school or inadequate school facilities can leave children with few options, but to be a part of child labour. I met some kids at Machchar Colony, one of the oldest katchi abadis of Karachi, who work all night in fish tanks to peel and clean the shrimps. By the time they come back home, they have just about three to four hours of sleep before they get up to go to school. No wonder, then, that when at seven in the morning, they walk towards school, they are almost half-asleep.

There are organizations that provide standard education at their doorsteps. Unfortunately, our governments always overlooked the expenditure on education. So far, in previous years, Pakistan has spent eight per cent on education from its total government expenditure, while its neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, has spent nine per cent, India l2 per cent, and Nepal 14 per cent on this important sector.

Pakistan’s teen labour force is active in carpet-weaving, textile, garment, leather and sport goods industries. The carpet industry stands on the delicate shoulders of these young ones. Despite a strong legal framework, child labour is widely spread in the industry. Punjab and Sindh cover the major portion of the looms in factories and home-based units.

The children involved in the carpet industry are in the categories ranging from under-14 to those between 14 and 17 years of age. According to conservative estimates, one million children out of 1.5 million, work as carpet-weavers in the country. The data on child labour force is unreliable, and the actual number, according to certain reports, varies probably between two and 19 million.

Bonded labour has long been a feature in brick kilns, agriculture, fisheries, shoe-making, power looms and the carpet industry. Trafficked children from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Burma also join this force.

There are reports that say even law-enforcement agencies tacitly support such employers who practice child slavery, forced or bonded labour. It is difficult to compile credible information due to lack of enough matter or official statistics on the subject, but there are witness accounts that say that these children are kept chained to work up to 20 hours every day, seven days a week.

They are kept in small, poorly ventilated rooms that are filled with wool fluff and dust particles. Many of these children suffer from respiratory problems, skin ailments, and chronic colds and weakened eyesight.

A big demand for cheap labour in the agriculture sector is forever there, which results in the employment of minors, because children are docile and more pliant, and they can be hired for a fraction of what is paid to adult workers. It has been reported that children work for 12 to 15 hours during planting and harvesting seasons.

The United States imports tea for millions of dollars each year. Tea leaves are needed to be plucked by small, delicate hands, with nimble fingers, so these nascent lives help alongside their mothers, to increase the daily income of their household.

Parents from the interior parts of Sindh and Punjab also send their children to urban areas to earn for them. Such kids are frequently tricked, kidnapped and then sold either into prostitution or are trafficked across the international border. Some brothel-owners actively seek children who come from long distances or other countries, because they are powerless, dependent and least able to escape.

Poverty alone, however, explains the increasing sexual exploitation of children. Another factor is the willingness of parents in some countries, such as Thailand, to sell their children into prostitution. The demand for child prostitution can also be attributed, in part, to the rise in international sex tourism, with customers from developed countries exploiting children in developing countries.

In Philippines, for instance, children aged 14 to 16, are tricked into prostitution after their parents sell them to recruiters, promising jobs as domestics or sales clerks in the city. Girls from Bangladesh are lured by false promises of jobs and marriages, and are smuggled into Pakistan, where they are sold into prostitution.

The worst case of kidnapping and child abuse in previous years was reported when sex maniac Jawed Iqbal killed hundreds of children brutally. Many children, particularly from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, are reported to be smuggled as camel jockeys in the various Gulf states. Young boys between four and ten years of age, are sold by their parents to take part in ceremonial events. The cries of these lightweight children propel the camel to run faster. The boys are bound on the back of the camels, resulting in repeated accidents, including deaths.

Many organizations have reported about the horrifying situation of child exploitation and sexual abuse in the NWFP, Sindh and Punjab. Feudalism is alive and active in the flourishing market of child abuse. Many children contract diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B, gonorrhoea, syphilis, HIV etc. They are malnourished and practise poor hygiene.

The Bureau of International Labour Affairs (ILAB) passed the FY2002 budget in December 2000, which includes $82 million to support international efforts to eliminate child labour. This budget also includes a new education initiative, which will support programmes that improve access to quality education in areas with a high incidence of child labour.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) protects children from all forms of exploitation and abuse. It’s a legal binding, and all states that are a signatory to the Convention must take all effective and appropriate measures to abolish traditional practices prejudicial to the health and education of children.

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