Some of the footballs used by stars in Premier League matches may have been stitched by children in Pakistani homes, the league's official supplier Nike admitted today.

Nike is sacking its main manufacturer of hand-stitched balls, a Pakistani company called Saga Sports, because of concerns about "significant labour compliance violations".

The American multinational said that a six-month investigation had concluded that Saga was outsourcing many of the balls to casual workers who sew them together in their homes around the city of Sialkot, near the Indian border.

A Nike spokesman said home working was unacceptable: "If you have production in homes, it's very difficult to monitor safe labour conditions. There's also the potential for underage labour which we obviously do not condone."

The loss of Saga will mean a shortage of balls for the foreseeable future as Nike hurries to switch production to factories in China.

In a statement from Nike's Oregon headquarters, chief executive Mark Parker said: "This contract factory has persistently broken its commitments and irrevocably breached its trust with us. Most importantly, the factory has failed its employees."

Premier League balls have been provided by Nike since 2000, when the company wrestled the prestigious contract from rival Mitre. At the time, Nike described its balls as faster, more responsive and scientifically rounder than those of its rivals.

Initially, Nike paid the league close to £10m for a three-year deal and in return got publicity, corporate hospitality and licensing rights. The arrangement was renewed in 2003 for an undisclosed sum.

The Premier League was fully briefed by Nike in advance of today's decision. A league spokesman said: "We can only support Nike in taking action where they've found their standards of labour have been violated."

A series of revelations about child labour at factories around Sialkot in the late 90s prompted sportswear companies to tighten their monitoring in the area.

Nike, which was pilloried as a particularly bad offender, has since been praised by charities for cleaning up its act.

An Oxfam senior policy adviser, Samar Verma, said: "We've been working very closely with Nike to ensure the rights and conditions of people working in these factories are fair and of an acceptable standard."

He described Nike's decision to sack Saga Sports as "a very positive step in the right direction" but added: "It's a small step and the company needs to do more to ensure that trade union rights are respected."
An Oxfam report last year criticised Nike for cutting orders to factories in Asia where unions had been established. It said that irrespective of whether Nike's cutbacks were linked to the creation of unions, the company ought to prioritise suppliers which permit worker representation.

LAHORE: At the end of a three-day workshop organised by the International Labour Organization and hosted by the government of Pakistan, delegates consisting of governments, workers and employers from five participating countries, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka have agreed to expedite their efforts towards eliminating child labour in the region. The five South Asian countries have been meeting over the past three days to share experiences on their country level activities on child labour, exchange ideas and foster an environment conducive to closer collaboration on addressing child labour both at the country level and at the regional level.

In his closing address, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis expressed his country’s pleasure in hosting the workshop and thanked the delegates for their commitment and active participation in the deliberations of the workshop. He expressed his ministry and the government of Pakistan’s full-fledged support to all efforts in the region for the elimination of child labour. Guy Thijs, Director of ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), while giving an overview of the global trends from the report, said that considerable progress had been made in reducing the number of child labourers in the South Asia region but more needed to be done. Thijs said that a range of important steps still remained to be taken and these consisted generally of legislative reforms, allocation of resources and more efforts for heightening awareness on child labour issues.

In the closing session, representatives, speaking on behalf of the governments, employers and workers, expressed their thanks to the ILO for creating the opportunity for them to share ideas and expressed their sincere commitment to work together towards the noble cause of eliminating child labour.

KATHMANDU, 28 Nov 2006 (IRIN) - Child rights activists are concerned that the lack of robust laws against the sexual abuse of children is putting a large number of young domestic workers at risk.

According to a study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there are an estimated 21,000 child domestics working in the capital, Kathmandu, alone. A large number of children migrate from villages due to extreme poverty in search of a better life.

But many of the children coming to the capital end up working in difficult places like factories, brick kilns, restaurants and domestic service, according to Children-Women In Social Service and Human Rights (CWISH), a local NGO that has campaigning actively against the sexual abuse of domestic child workers.

“The worst victims are the domestic child workers who endure their abuse behind closed doors as they don’t have their parents to protect them and don’t know who to share their problems with,” said child rights activist Milan Dharel from CWISH.

Over 54 percent of child domestic workers were found to have been abused by either their employers or by neighbours or family friends, according to a baseline study done by CWISH in 2005.

Children working as domestics are particularly susceptible to sexual abuse as they are slow to complain, fearing that they would lose their jobs and have to return to their villagers.

“It’s very tough to win a case against the [sexual] abuser and the lack of specific laws against child sexual abuse promotes impunity for these perpetrators,” explained Dharel. Every year, CWISH receives more than 40 cases of child sexual abuse.

Nepal has laws against rape but nothing specific on sexual abuse as such charges are difficult to prove, according to Save the Children (SCF-Norway).

“It is high time that we amended our laws relating to children and it should be a top priority among our lawmakers to introduce a law that fights against sexual abuse,” said Sita Ghimire from the SCF-Norway.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Child Welfare Board of the government has been working on proposing a new act to the Nepalese parliament on sexual abuse.

CWISH launched a 10-day campaign on 20 Nov to raise public awareness of the issue, said Dharel.

On the occasion of Children’s Day, the Delhi government made a symbolic gesture. The Labour Department raided two zari factories in east Delhi and rescued 78 children.

This was the first instance in the last two months when the amended central Act on child labour was implemented in Delhi that any big raid took place.

Delhi Labour Minister Mangat Ram Singhal said the factories were raided in Khureji area under Geeta Colony Police Station after a definite information received from an NGO - Bachpan Bachao Andolan. 29 children out of 78 rescued, are under 14 years of age and 49 in the age group of 14-18 years. FIRs have been registered against 7 labour contractors in Geeta Colony Police Station in Child Labour Act and Bonded Labour Act. 
 
“The rescued Children have been sent to Mukti Ashram. The Department has been also instructed to take necessary measures for their rehabilitation,” said Singhal. Most of the rescued children belong to the Muslim community and are from Bihar. The Delhi government would now write to the Bihar government so that the rescued children are sent back to their home state to  their parents. 
 
Interestingly, no child labourer has so far been rescued from working in dhaba, restaurants, tea  shops and other places as mandated by the amended Child Labour Act.

According to the estimates of the Labour Department, there are at least 50 thousand child labourers working in hotels, restaurants, eating places and areas banned by the central government recently. An official of the department, on condition of anonymity said, “after being sent home, many of the rescued children return back to Delhi and get engaged in the same trade. “The raids are infrequent and do not act as deterrent for the employers of the child labourers,” the official pointed out.

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Human trafficking, including women forced to become prostitutes or minors forced to do child labour, is worse now than the trade in African slaves of past centuries, a top Vatican official said on Tuesday.

"This trafficking in human beings has intensified, persons put into slavery because they depend on certain criminals who take possession of these human beings," said Cardinal Renato Martino, former longtime Vatican envoy to the United Nations and current head of the Holy See's office concerned with migrant and itinerant peoples.

"It's worse than the slavery of those whose slaves who were taken from Africa and brought to other countries," Martino told a news conference to present Pope Benedict XVI's annual message dealing with the problems of migrants.

The cardinal singled out modern-day forms of slavery -- minors who are sold to do child labour or who are forced to be soldiers, as well as women forced to prostitute themselves -- and challenged countries to combat these problems.

"In a world which proclaims human rights left and right, let's see what it does about the rights of so many human beings which are not respected, but trampled," the cardinal said.

In the papal message, Benedict noted that more women were leaving their homelands in search of a better life. "However, women who end up as victims of trafficking of human beings and of prostitution are not few," the pope said.

In the last decade or so, many women in Eastern Europe have traveled to the West after being promised what appeared to be honest jobs, but upon arrival in the countries were forced to work as prostitute to pay off the cost of their trip.

EVEN though interventions are in place to eradicate child labour, much still remains to be done in the country and the rest of the world.

United States Embassy’s Public Affairs Officer Peter Piness said his government had taken the lead in the global effort to combat child labour, especially in its worst forms. He was speaking during the Child Labour Conference at the Tum’s George Hotel on Tuesday.

“The US Department of Labour in Swaziland, part of a larger initiative in Southern Africa, aims at combating exploitative child labour through education. Its implementing agency in Swaziland is Save the Children. The programme includes support for existing efforts to provide social services to OVC and to extend alternative learning programmes for herd boys,” Piness said.

US-DOL support
The Public Affairs officer stated that with the support of the United States Department of Labour, approximately 750 000 children had been withdrawn or prevented from child labour and provided with educational opportunities.

Piness has encouraged other nations to build on their accomplishments and to contribute to efforts to abolish child labour, including through improved enforcement of child labour and education laws as well as the promotion of educational opportunities for all children.

“Our combined actions on this front can help bring hope and a better future into the lives of millions of children around the world,” he said.

Gvt. involvement
He explained that his government was involved in the global campaign for a number of reasons. He said as a country that had ratified the ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the US is committed to working with other countries in the fight to end the worst forms of child labour.

“We need to protect children from exploitation and abuse, but we also need to invest in their future through education. Experience has shown that addressing the worst forms of child labour requires a comprehensive and integrated approach, with commitments at all levels,” Piness said. He explained that when children are forced to work long hours under exploitative and dangerous conditions, and do not have access to school, they are being denied the rights and benefits of their childhood.

“This type of exploitative child labour that the US Department seeks to address through its support for technical assistance projects around the world,” he said.

ISLAMABAD: The number of children cleaning windscreens, picking garbage and holding begging bowls in their hands is increasing in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The boys and girls, aged between 10 to 14, are seen on the Islamabad Highway, Murree Road and Peshawar Road holding detergent wipers to clean the windscreens of vehicles that stop at traffic signals.

Over 39 cases of theft have been reported so far with Sadiqabad, New Town, Waris Khan and Westrige police stations wherein the victims have lodged complaints regarding stolen mobile phones and other items during their stop at traffic signals. They said that these children gathered around their vehicles at the traffic signals, stole mobile phones or anything else kept on the dashboard, and disappeared.

The city police arrested 12 children, including young girls, under the Beggary Act and sent them to shelter houses.

Rawalpindi District Police Officer Saud Aziz claimed that the district police had launched a campaign to purge the city of the beggars often seen at intersections and traffic signals, adding that more than 200 beggars had been arrested so far.

Despite the claim, the presence of beggars and windscreen washers in the twin cities is increasing everyday.

Although the government had announced of a child centre in Islamabad in 2004, the project is in the doldrums, as the planning commission has not released funds for it.

The project proposed by the ministry of social welfare was made to provide psycho-social support to children from the downtrodden segments of society.

The centre was to provide protection to street children who need shelter through community participation.

TWO thousand Swazi children who are either victims of child labour or dropped out of school for various reasons will be back in class by August 2008.

This is part of the Reducing Exploitative Child Labour in Southern Africa (RECLISA) project which covers five SADC countries.

The four others are South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Botswana.

At the Child Labour Conference 2006 held at the Tum’s George Hotel in Manzini yesterday, RECLISA Programme Manager Mandla Mazibuko said, presently, they had succeeded in sending over 900 children from the lowveld back to school.

In order to encourage the enrollment of orphaned and vulnerable children in primary schools, the project establishes community support committees while offering training on children’s rights, HIV and AIDS, education and basic life skills. It also introduces viable income-generating projects and provide basic relief in the form of school fees and uniforms.

Overall, this strategy builds the capacity of children and communities to take charge of their own lives by improving their knowledge, sharpening their skills and changing attitudes.
RECLISA aims at preventing children from becoming victims of child labour or withdrawing them from child labour where necessary.

It also includes raising awareness of traditional leaders, politicians and civil servants through workshops and meetings.

Besides supporting enrollment of the 900 pupils so far, RECLISA also identifies and assists OVC in need of documentation to access basic social services. Project-initiated community Child Labour Committees provide oversight and build a sustainable base to highlight the importance of children’s education and discourage child labour practices.

Meanwhile, American Institutes for Research (AIR)-RECLISA’s Dr. Philip Christensen, during the first day of the conference, said the project was going well in the other countries.

A total of 10 000 children are targeted in the project.

He explained that in Botswana, their programme used dual partners to assist street children and OVC at two sites.

“Over four years, RECLISA will withdraw 1 625 of the country’s urban and rural children from child labour or prevent them from falling into child labour, while enrolling them in formal or vocational education programmes.

In Lesotho, the project focuses on herdboys and OVC in three districts while in Namibia, which is largely affected by AIDS and drought, 1775 children will be enrolled into school.

JOHANNESBURG – Many children are being used to commit crimes in South Africa, delegates at the National Child Labour Programme of Action were told in Johannesburg.

The country has some of the most exploitative forms of child labour in the world, and many children are forced into prostitution and pornography. Also rife is trade in teenagers for domestic work.

Most cases of child labour take place in the informal sector and within households.

According to a report by the International Labour Organisation, poverty and HIV/Aids were the main reasons for the growth in child worker numbers in Africa.
Director for employment standards in the Department of Labour Anne-Marie van Zyl said child labour was “more hidden” in SA, as children were not openly employed in commercial agriculture.

Van Zyl said: “Poverty pushes a child to work and their families often see no other way to survive.

“It’s unfortunate there are individuals out there who are only too willing to take advantage of their desperate compatriots. These people have no conscience about ruining the lives of children.”

The Department of Labour pledged it would bring the full weight of the criminal justice system to bear on those responsible for exploiting children.

Counselling and life skills development, healthcare and special- educational programmes would be provided to victims of child labour.

The Department of Labour has begun educating public servants on how to tackle child labour and will host workshops next year.