June 12, 2007
World Day Against Child
Labor Observed With A Lingering Hope
New Delhi
World Day Against Child Labor was observed Tuesday amid some
worrying statistics and a lingering hope to fight this social evil
that threatens to strangulate the future of the world. There are
more than 12.6 million child laborers in India.
Global March Against Child labor, a worldwide movement of child
rights group, teacher organizations and trade unions, is observing
the day as 'Stop Child Labor in Agriculture Day' by organizing
rallies, demonstrations and meetings in many of its member
countries.
Active in 140 countries, the movement calls for urgent action to
stop child labor in agriculture sector. An estimated 150 million
children are engaged in this sector, which form 70 percent of the
total child labor force in the world.
Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of the movement as well as of Bachpan
Bachao Aandolan (BBA), a civil society group in India, said: "It is
unethical to eat delicious food and wear expensive clothes which are
produced by half fed, half naked and even enslaved children trapped
in agriculture worldwide."
Uttar Pradesh tops the list in India with 1,927,997 child laborers.
Andhra Pradesh and Bihar are next with 1,363,339 and 1,117,500
children respectively, working below the legal age of 14.
Gerry Pinto, advisor of Butterflies, a voluntary group working on
child rights issues across the country, said: "On this day we are
trying to swallow the frustration of being unable to do much to stop
child labor."
Saying that April 30 is observed as Child Labor Day by all the civil
society groups in India instead of June 12, which has been fixed by
International Labor Organization (ILO), Pinto said that not much
work has been done in this context.
"The problem is that all the international organizations put up
slogans against child labor but when it comes to doing some real
work like recognizing and addressing this issue and putting pressure
on the various governments to address the same, they don't do much,"
Pinto told IANS.
He said: "For instance, in September last year there was a ban on
domestic child labor and child labor in eateries and 'dhabas' in our
country. Before that in the 1986 legislation, 57 occupations have
already been identified where child labor is banned.
"But when you walk down the road you still see children working
everywhere. The implementation has not been effective. It's not
enough just to make rules."
Satyarthi echoed similar sentiments. "There is lack of political
will in India in tackling this problem effectively. We keep saying
that children are our future but the number of child laborers is
still very high," said the noted civil society activist.
The Indian government has prohibited the employment of children
below the age of 14 years in 15 hazardous occupations under the
Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986.
Yet, more than 20,000 prosecutions had to be launched against
violators during the last three years in various states and union
territories, said a statement released Tuesday by the ministry for
labor and employment.
Minister of State for Labor and Employment, Oscar Fernandes, says
his ministry and the US Department of Labor have been working on a
common project called Indus to eliminate the social menace in 21
districts of five states through effective support from the
department of education.
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