2004-04-27 06:37:09

By Bernadina Kayumbe

It true that law by itself cannot bring about the abolition of child labour in any country, Tanzania included.

But the struggle against it cannot be won without laws and effective enforcement and follow-up though, there exists many other factors, some of economic in nature interplay to bring about these difficulties.

Laxity by the law makers coupled with poor knowledge of the laws affecting children and their rights, by the citizens, can be cited as some of the pitfalls hampering tireless efforts by the media and the NGOs to effectively sensitise and ultimately eradicate child labour in the country.

All countries with the population existing below the international poverty line of one US dollar per day have to grapple with the ever increasing migration of children to look for “greener pastures” in the city, or in the plantations.

“Employers” too take advantage of the legal void and ignorance of the children and their cash trapped parents to really exploit them. Well, is it not true for most of us Africans (even the elite) to overlook even the most basic of our rights and obligations? How much more would it be for the illiterate or the children?

The State of Tanzanian labour legislation on employment of children gives rise to serious concern. To begin with, there is considerable ambiguity as to whether there is minimum age for admission to employment, and if so, whether this minimum age corresponds to the minimum ages of compulsory schooling.

The legislature does not cover or indicate the areas that children should or should not be engaged. Some of these areas of employment are actually dangerous for the children.

As the nation is weeding out some of unfavourable laws in order to attract investors, one wonders if the lawmakers have set conditions that will ensure that no underage children will be employed in their firms.

There is virtually no enforcement of current legislation. The current labour inspectorate is understaffed ill equipped and poorly trained. This translates to the fact that the inspectorate would probably cover only the Cities big towns leaving out the smaller towns.

Corruption in essence is really an impediment when it comes to effective administration of any legislation. Just like all other arms of the government, the Labour Ministry is not exempt. Penalties for infringements of national law are extremely low (standing at Tsh 20,000 for the last well over 35 years).

The current task is to ensure that the awareness is created and the legislation immediately enforced. The police need to have an unit to monitor the illegal employment of children. Penalties should be raised.

Indeed, if the penalties provided for in Employment Ordinance of 1957 would be raised to current rates it would now be now over TSh 60,000, which is still very low.

Legally registered companies as usual manipulate loopholes by not registering all the employees. Children in most cases are employed on casual basis such that unless an impromptu inspection is carried out, it is very difficult to ascertain the number of kids engaged.

Asians ( I donÆt mean to racist) have in the three East African countries been known to misuse children, as the wages they are likely to pay them are certainly smaller than that of grownup persons.

The role of law enforcement should be viewed in a wider context. Intimidation and harassment of the culprits would instead of alleviating the situation. Systematic sensitisation of the general public, identification of the areas that need immediate support, assist in implementation.

Unless the national resources and time are tentatively committed to reassessing and eradication the problem by reviewing the legislation and following it up to make sure that the it is implemented to the letter, then the problem might tame longer to solve.

SOURCE: Mirror

Source: http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/mirror/2004/04/27/9684.html

Washington, Apr 26 :

The World Bank has lauded India for the "remarkable progress" it made in alleviating poverty as well as educating children through the Universal Elementary Education programme.

In a progress report under the Education for All - Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) and poverty alleviation, on the Millennium Development Goals, it said the incidence of poverty declined from 45 per cent in the 1980s to 36 per cent in the 1990s and to 26 per cent in the early 2000s.

"Between 1992/93 and 1998/99, net enrolment of 6 to 10 year-olds increased from 68 to 82 per cent. Much of this expansion was attributable to improved access, especially for girls and rural children. The number of out-of-school 6-to-14-year-olds declined from 39 million in 1999 to 25 million in 2003," the Bank said.

The Government of India, it said, is deeply committed to universalising access to elementary education of satisfactory quality by 2010.

To provide a comprehensive policy and budgetary framework for achieving these goals, the government has launched the 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,' the National Programme for Universal Elementary Education. It also introduced a Constitutional Amendment to make elementary education a fundamental right of every child.

The goal of the Programme is consistent with the Millennium Development Goal for education and goes beyond it, covering 8 years of elementary education in a tighter timeframe, it said.

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=13922

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Washington: The special fund for education sought to be created two years ago by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with contributions from affluent member countries has a shortfall of nearly $752 million.

The fund called the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) was seen as a major step towards achieving universal education and a compact between several donor and developing countries. It was said at the time that if developing countries came up with sound and credible plans to expand education access and quality, donors would not let them fail for lack of funding. The 12 initial countries identified as most in need of help were Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Vietnam and Yemen. The donors in order to ensure that funding for education remained linked directly to performance, established the Education for All Fast Track Initiative, but only the Neterlands, Belgium, France and Sweden have so far backed it with a fair share of resources.

Responding to a pledge by donor countries at a press conference here that they would ensure education for all children by 2015, Oxfam, one of the world's leading charities, called on rich countries at the weekend to “go Dutch” and deliver their share of the fund required. While congratulating the donors on their pledge, Oxfam reminded them that only the Netherlands is currently putting in the kind of effort required, while no other rich country was doing enough. The group said to combat poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), overall aid must reach the UN target of 0.7 percent of GNP. Only the Netherlands has provided that, while none of the G-8 states have delivered against their earlier commitment. According to Oxfam, it would take an additional $5.6 billion in aid to ensure that every child could go to school, which is the equivalent of just three days of global military spending, Currently, donors are only giving $1.4 billion a year. US, Germany and Japan all need to increase their aid to basic education by at least 10 times as their fair share. The United States, Oxfam pointed out, currently gives around $300 million to education funding but needs to give $3,000 million. Against it share of $390 million to Fast Track, the US gives just $5 million. The United Kingdom gives around $100 million to basic education but need to increase it to $400 million, Oxfam said.

World Bank president James Wolfensohn, along with eight representatives of various countries and regions, told a news conference Sunday that “we're now on track and this is the moment of truth” for the donors to come forward and meet their pledges. He said the time was short as the future of the world's most needy children was at stake. He said illiteracy was inseparable from underdevelopment. He stated that at the current meetings, new pledges had been made, though there were still “bumps” in the road which he hoped would be removed. He said some counties had shown good progress. In Bangladesh today there were more girls than boys in school and in Mozambique the number of children in school had been doubled.

Ms A Van Ardebbe, Dutch development minister, said investment in education was the best way to reduce poverty. She said “time is not on our side”, adding that her country was ready to triple its support. French development minister X. Darcos said the international community must back primary education, adding that his country would increase its contribution to 54 million Euros in the next three years. President Jacque Chirac was a great advocate of the Education for All (EFA) programme and France was ready to work with the world community to bring about the “monumental change” that was needed in this area, he added. Norwegian development minister Ms H. Johnson said the world spent $850 billion on military programmes every year and FTI's requirements were just one-third of what was spent on video games in the annually. She said Norway would double its contribution by 2005 as there was “no time to lose.”

Kailash Satyarathi, representing an Indian NGO told the news conference that “education is not charity; it is life itself.” He said those who were denied an education ended up with their childhood stolen from them.

He said mere pledges were not enough, adding, “the money should be on the table.” In an emotional voice, he asked, “Is eradication of illiteracy too much to ask for,” adding, It is not a big deal, provided the political will was there.” —Khalid Hasan

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-4-2004_pg7_56

25, 2004, 13:30

IN the context of economic realities child labour has become a major phenomenon in Bangladesh. More and more of children have started working in farms, factories and households. They have to work for long hours without an assurance of obtaining due wages. Those working in family farms only get food and shelter without any wages. The type of work in which child labour is utilised is all too many. They are obliged to work in hazardous environments. Some of the children fall sick due to hazardous work but they are not offered treatment facilities.

As reported in a section of the press the use of child labour has increased in general and in northwestern region in particular. The total figures might have reached ten million by the end of the past century. The involvement of children in different avocations has increased and as many as fifty types of works have been assigned to child labourers. Child labour is used for domestic work like cleaning of floors, clothes side by side with manual work for breaking bricks and carrying loads from place to place. Child labours, specially the domestic helps, have no fixed working hour. They rise early in the morning and go to bed quite late at night.

As per provisions of existing laws in the country, a child below the age of fourteen years should not be engaged in any work. Instead, a child is to be enrolled in school for a little bit of education for guidance in future life. There are laws in this regard. The major laws relating to employment of children have been enacted in the earlier decades of the past century. The prevention of child labour was enacted in 1933, in the subcontinent and that at a time when such preventive laws were not enacted in many other countries. The number of laws relating to child labour is around twenty-five in Bangladesh. Beyond this, as a member of the International Labour Organisation, Bangladesh is pledge bound to provisions of ILO convention on child labour.

Reports on use and misuse of child labour appear in the press. At a time when a child is expected to play with his/her playmates, he/she is forced to work in hazardous workplaces. It is more so due to the prevailing poverty in the country. Poor parents allow their children to work in factories, shops, garages, launches and steamers both as attendants of passengers and also as carriers of luggage of such passengers. The wages for such work are quite low.

As the avocation, in which a child labour is used, is not all that clear, no effort is made by the employers or parents of such child labourers to update the skill needed. The process of learning by doing remains the only channel through which a child may attain the skill needed. As a result, the ultimate end of obtaining a job and doing the same for earning a living remains uncertain. The so-called helpers and attendants in transport sector are child labourers without any fixed wages.

The prevailing problems visavis child labour have, time and again, been discussed in local, national and international forums. Experts on the subject and other participants in such forums suggested measures to eliminate child labour. Unfortunately, for the people of Bangladesh, and more so the poor among the millions, have yet to get the redress. The governments in office and relevant quarters including NGOs have not yet taken substantive actions and programmes for elimination of child labour.

The socio-economic realities in Bangladesh are all too much different for containing child labour. Millions of poor parents have to be enabled with due support from official and social quarters including donors to enrol their children in schools in preference to engaging them in work places. They should be supported by the richer section of the people and that by following precepts of religious codes. The sooner the corrective measures are adopted the better may be the chance of eliminating child labour.

Source: http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_8607.shtml

25 April 2004

By Andrew Walker
BBC correspondent in Washington

Rich countries of the G8 are being pressed to provide funding needed to achieve an objective of ensuring that every child has an education.

Finance and development ministers have been warned that efforts to achieve a number of other objectives for tackling poverty are not on track.

The meeting of the joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund committee is being held in Washington.

A World Bank report says aid funding for education must increase.

One of the agreed international objectives known as the "Millennium Development Goals" is that by 2015 every child should have, at least, a primary education.

A report to the finance and development ministers meeting here at the World Bank in Washington warns them that the target is likely to be missed on current trends.

The rich countries, especially the large economies of the G8, are being pressed to provide more resources for the effort by poor countries and by some smaller aid donor nations as well.

Norwegian Development Minister Hilde Johnson says rich countries can make education for all possible.

"We have a choice. We can if we set our priorities right offer every child on earth access to basic education, irrespective of where she lives and how poor she is," Ms Johnson said.

"It's up to us and we just have to deliver on our promises and not let her and her friends down."

She says there are a number of developing countries with realistic plans for expanding primary education that lack only funding from aid donor countries.

According to a World Bank report, aid funding for education needs to increase almost four fold if the target is to be achieved.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3658369.stm

Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 2:51 pm

Press Release: Save The Children

Tail-end ranking for New Zealand on league table of 22 OECD nations

Save the Children New Zealand has called on the government to take action during Education for All week (19-23 April 2004) by increasing its level of support for basic education in developing countries.

In November 2003, the New Zealand government received an ‘F' on its report card from the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) for the quantity and quality of funding directed offshore towards upholding every child's right to an education. New Zealand ranked last overall on a league table of 22 OECD (developed) nations, revealing that it invests too little in aid and not enough of that aid is spent

on basic education.

More than 100 million children worldwide have no access to education, 60 million of whom are girls.

This week's “World's Biggest Lobby”, organised by the GCE, takes place exactly four years after 182 countries met in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000 and committed to provide education for all by 2015.

Save the Children New Zealand's Executive Director John Bowis said that while Save the Children and other members of the GCE work tirelessly on providing access to education for millions of children, the support of OECD countries like New Zealand is crucial.

“Although New Zealand's International Aid and Development Agency (NZAID) has indicated that basic education is a priority, which is welcomed, a substantial and rapid increase in spending is needed for this country to meet its global commitment to help achieve education for all by 2015,” said Mr Bowis.

“In areas like Indonesia's West Timor Province, New Zealand is making a difference. By supporting Save the Children's emergency education programme there, the New Zealand Government has helped Save the Children provide an education and improved teaching methods for approximately 16,000 refugee and local children,” he said.

“Imagine how much more positive change could be achieved if New Zealand were to meet the internationally recognised aid target of 0.7 per cent of its Gross National Income.”

“Education is one of the most important rights guaranteed to children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which New Zealand adopted in 1993. There is much more for this country to do for some of the world's poorest children.”

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/ED0404/S00074.htm

Express News Service

Friday, April 23, 2004

New Delhi, April 22: The 29 children rescued from a circus at Palakkad in Kerala will soon be reunited with their families in Nepal.

In a joint raid with the district police, members of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) had rescued the children from the Great Indian Circus on April 17. The organisations today announced that the children will soon be sent home with the aid of another NGO, the Nepal Child Welfare Foundation (NCWF).

The rescue team from BBA — Ajay Singh, Rajiv and Unni Krishnan — had first visited the circus as spectators. They later went backstage to meet the children and found the kids were often tortured and paid only Rs 10-20 per month.

The chairperson of SACCS, Kailash Satyarthi, said: ‘‘Last year, we had conducted a study to probe into the condition of child labour in the circus industry. During the study, we found that of the 5,000 artistes employed in 35 circuses, about 500 were children below the age of 14 and most of them are brought from Nepal.''

Following this, the NGO organised a conference with the Indian Circus Federation and other circus-owners which resulted in the release of 10 children in January.

‘‘BBA carried out some propaganda with the aid of our Nepal partners and registered 200 such cases of child employment from Makwanpur district of Nepal alone,'' said Satyarthi.

Although, the rescued children are happy, they are unsure about their future. ‘‘I had been working for 6 years at the circus. We thought we would find some good work, but we were tricked,'' said 18-year-old Hari. ‘‘Two years back, when the circus was in Tamil Nadu, I tried to escape. But, I was caught, beaten up, stripped and tied to maut ka kuan,'' he added.

Sixteen-year-old Phulmaya, who had been with the circus for five years, was brought to Kerala by her father Bir bahadur. A deal of Rs 12,000-15,000 was struck for her and her siblings. Indra Dahal, NCWF co-ordinator, said: ‘‘We are planning to give free education to these kids before we hand them over to their parents.''

Source: http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=82539

Daily Trust (Abuja)

April 22, 2004
Posted to the web April 22, 2004

Ikenna Emeka Okpani

The Minister of State for Education, Hajia Bintu Musa, has stated that Nigeria may not meet the goals of Education For All (EFA) unless there was improvement in gender disparity and school enrolment and in funding the EFA goals.

Addressing newsmen as part of activities marking the EFA week celebration, the Minister said the business of education was capital intensive and that one of the major challenges facing the achievement of the Education For All goals was funding.

She, however, observed that the country was undaunted especially with pledges of support from the international community to countries which are seriously committed to the actualisation of EFA goals.

Hajia Musa said there was need for greater private sector collaboration in achieving EFA goals.

According to her, despite the private sectors contribution to the Education Tax Fund which has yielded over N80 billion, there was need for the private sector to offer more in that direction.

"Government also recognises that the private sector has been holding fort in the areas of Early Childhood Care, Development and Education (ECCDE). However, baseline data of facilities in ECCDE provided by the private sector is required to enable them to ascertain the gaps. Government hopes to further collaborate with the private sector, whereby the UBE and NERDC will elaborate policy and curriculum in ECCDE," he said.

Hajia Musa said the government was committed towards ensuring that every child is given the right to free and compulsory basic education through the three education vehicles of UBE, NMEC and NCNE.

She said the government's Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme was a strong expression of government's action in the country towards achieving the goals. She observed that there was upward enrolment of pupils into primary schools.

Achievements recorded so far she said include:

· "Establishment of state EFA fora in all the 36 states of the federation and FCT to design the National Action Plan for EFA.

· The passage into law of the UBE Bill by the National Assembly to give the UBE programme the necessary legislative backing."

She said, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has continued to develop and improve the curriculum to ensure quality in basic education. "It has also developed orthographies in 36 Nigerian languages to enable children to learn in their mother tongue as prescribed in the National Policy on Education. In addition, it has also developed curriculum of infusion of HIV/AIDS preventive education into key subjects."

Hajia Musa said the theme of the EFA week celebration, "Children missing an Education" was a clarion call to all Nigerians to rise and address the challenging issue of out-of-school children who are missing education.

The 2004 UNICEF report on the state of the world's children reveals that about 121 million children worldwide are out-of-school. 65 million of these children are girls while 56 million are boys.

The global EFA week celebration is to mark the anniversary of the world education forum where Nigeria joined over 160 countries in April 2000, in Dakar to reaffirm their commitments to deliver Education For All by 2015.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200404220648.html

April 20, 2004

New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS):

A group of 30 Nepalese children, who were sold to an Indian circus by their parents six years ago, have been rescued and will reach here Tuesday.

The children, who had been working in a circus in Kerala as virtually bonded labourers, were traced by the NGO South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) Saturday. The children included 21 girls.

"The group had to work for 20 hours daily, doing more than three shows most of the days," SACCS spokesman Kailash Satyarthi told IANS.

"The children, who were illiterate, could not speak the local language and were left completely helpless as they did not even know which state they were in."

"The 30 had been bought more than six years ago for an advance of Indian Rs.1,000 to the parents, a large amount for the poor Nepalese population," said Satyarthi.

"The children too had been promised a good pay and were told that circus life was one filled with fun."

"The families, from near Hatauda in Nepal, had been promised Rs.2,000 every month. But they started panicking when there was no payment and no news from their children either."

When the father of two girls who had been working at the circus for 10 years went to get his daughter back, he was given Rs.500 and warned never to return.

"They told him that his daughter did not work there any more," said Satyarthi.

That sent the alarm bells ringing for the other parents and 10 of them approached the NGO to help them.

"We had been trying to trace the children for over a month. It was exceedingly difficult as the circus had changed its name from 'King Bharat' to 'The Great Indian Circus'.

"Plus, circuses do not have permanent addresses as they are always on the move. They also keep selling and re-selling their staff regularly," said Satyarthi.

The Great Indian Circus that employed these children were finally located in the small town of Shoranur in Palakkad district of Kerala.

The children were rescued Saturday with the help of police and will arrive in the capital Tuesday night.

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/newsdaily/news/features.php?
action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=12579