More than 416,000 children under the age of 18, of whom almost 225,000 are younger than 14, are involved in child labour in India's cottonseed production. Most of them are girls.

They work in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which account for nearly 92 per cent of the cottonseed production in the country.

A recent report titled ‘Child bondage continues in Indian cotton supply chain’ reveals that the total number of working children in cottonfields has risen over 2003-04.

The only state to see a decline in the rate of child labour under 14 is Andhra Pradesh (AP), which has received the most scrutiny from the media, civil society and industry. Gujarat, which has the largest area under cottonseed production in the country, accounts for 1,75,260 (42 per cent) of the total children employed in this sector.

Farmers employ children, particularly girls, in order to minimise costs. The labour cost accounts for 50 per cent of the total cost of cottonseed production.

The report has been published on behalf of the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Watch, German Agro-Action and OneWorld Net NRW of Germany.

It is based on field research and has been written by Davuluri Venkateswarlu, director of the Hyderabad-based Glocal Research and Consultancy Services.

According to the report, more than 13 Indian companies and two multinationals, Monsanto and Bayer, are involved in this “modern form of child slavery”.

The biggest among the Indian seed companies, Nuziveedu, Raasi, Ankur and Mahyco (a joint venture partner of Monsanto), make use of around 200,000 children who are employed by the farmers to whom they have sub-contracted the cultivation of Bt cotton seeds.

According to Venkateswarlu, Bayer and Monsanto have acknowledged the use of child labour on farms they have sub-contracted to farmers and have initiated programmes to address the issue.

The study is based on the analysis of primary data collected through field visits to 430 sample cottonseed farms in 78 villages in the four states. Of the 430 farms surveyed, 280 are in AP, 60 in Gujarat, 50 in Tamil Nadu and 40 in Karnataka.

http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu2&subLeft=1&autono=299575&tab=r

KOLKATA — Communists claim that they are fighting for the oppressed and the suppressed but they are ummoved by the plight of child workers, a report compiled by the federal Labour Ministry has revealed.

According to the explosive report, CPM-ruled West Bengal lags behind most states when it comes to clamping down on child labour and prosecuting those hiring children below the age of 14 as laid down under the Child Labour Act.

Since 1986, when the Child Labour Act came into force, West Bengal government conducted 90,656 raids but detected only 4,153 violations. Among the violators, 79 were prosecuted. And there were just three convictions.

The corresponding figures for Andhra Pradesh are 206,832, 70922, 31,375 and 15,294. And Tamil Nadu’s figures are 1231,060, 6122, 4165 and 917.

So are officials in Left Front-ruled West Bengal hands in glove with industries employing and exploiting child wokers to boost their profits? Even those violators who are caught, go scot free. Compared to West Bengal where only three violators have been convicted, even a small state like Goa has seven convictions to its credit. Delhi and Karnataka have 257 and 197 convictions respectively.

Ironically West Bengal is in the same league as Bihar where three persons have been convicted.
Child rights activists said Bengal's dismal figure of 79 prosecutions launched in over 4,000 cases suggests "lack of intent".

"A poor conviction rate can occur because of genuine problems cases may run into, but nothing stops the authorities from at least prosecuting the accused", said Kailash Satyarthi, a campaigner against child labour.
West Bengal Labour department officials, however, pointed to the over 90,000 investigations they have launched. “If there was lack of intent on our part, there would not have been such a high number of inspections into alleged cases of child labour”, an official argued.

Unlike several other states, industrial child labour in Bengal is restricted to a few areas, the official said.

“Child labour is mainly in two forms here — domestic labour, but more than that, agricultural labour.”

Although agriculture in itself does not find a mention on the list of hazardous occupations banned for children under 14, work involving use of pesticides, insecticides or chemicals is proscribed. “Often, the hazardous work in agriculture is hard to distinguish” the official said.

Activists and officials of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights call the explanation an ‘excuse’.

“States that have achieved some success have shown that the approach needed is one where all possible cases are investigated. If you target all children in agriculture, you will identify those who are in hazardous work”, said its chairperson Shanta Sinha.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its sixth annual report on the worst forms of child labor in 141 countries and territories that receive U.S. trade benefits. These include: any form of slavery, such as forced or indentured child labor; the trafficking of children and the forced recruitment of children for armed conflict; child prostitution and pornography; the use of children for illicit activities such as drug trafficking; and work that is likely to harm the health, safety, and morals of children.

"At a time when 211 million children work, it is important that America's trading partners support open economies that generate healthful and safe workplaces promoting education and training over exploitive labor practices," said Charlotte M. Ponticelli, deputy undersecretary of DOL's Bureau of International Labor Affairs.

The report presents information on the nature and extent of the worst forms of child labor in each of the 141 countries and territories, plus efforts under way by their governments to eliminate these practices.

The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), a partnership to combat child and forced labour in cocoa farming areas, will bring together representatives from the cocoa industry and civil society in West Africa on the occasion of its 16th Board meeting.

Senior representatives from ADM, Cadbury, Cargill, Dignité, ECA, Ferrero, Free the Slaves, Global March, Hersheys, ILO, ITUC, IUF, Mars Inc., Nestlé and the US Consumer League will be meeting in West Africa, at the of ICI's 16th Board meeting, that will take place from 02 to 05 October 2007 in Ghana. This is a unique meeting of industry decision makers and labour rights activists in the main cocoa growing region of West Africa. The meeting reinforces the commitment of all parties in the partnership to eliminate child labour in the cocoa sector.

Board members will meet officials from the Prime Minister's Office and concerned ministries in Ivory Coast. Then, during the Ghanaian National Cocoa Week, the official 16th Board meeting will take place in Accra. Representatives from the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, who coordinate the Ghana Government's National Action Plan to Eliminate Child Labour in cocoa, will exchange views with Board members. ICI provides active support to this plan.

In both countries, board members will visit active community based projects supported by the ICI that are making a real difference in the lives of children. They will also visit rehabilitation centres for abused children supported by the ICI and meet with ICI's local partners.

ICI is presently expanding its activities in Ghana, currently reaching 109 communities. In Ivory Coast, ICI is building on its pilot activities, with on-going projects in 21 communities, reaching an estimated 70,000 people. Key achievements for 2007 will be officially presented to the Board during this session, and ICI's upcoming programme and budget for 2008 will be decided.

An independent entity, ICI is governed by a foundation Board that reflects the multi-stakeholder partnership principles. Barry Callebaut, Cadbury Schweppes, Dignité, Education International, European Cocoa Association, Ferrero, Free the Slaves, Global March against Child Labour, Hershey Foods, International Confectionery Association, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations (IUF), Kraft Foods, Mars Incorporated, Nestlé, and the US National Consumers League are members of the ICI. The International Labour Office (ILO) is advisor to the Board.

Mr Wilberforce Owusu-Ansah, Atwima-Mponua District Chief Executive, has appealed to parents and guardians to take advantage of the school feeding programme and the capitation grant to enroll their children in school.

He said any parent and guardian found trafficking and engaging children in intensive labour would be dealt with.

Mr Owusu-Ansah was inaugurating a GH¢35,000 (350 million cedis) kitchen and dinning hall for Addaikrom Primary School, one of the school free feeding schools in the district last Friday.

Mr Owusu-Ansah said the district assembly in collaboration with the government would soon open more free feeding schools in addition to the existing two in the district.

He appealed to staff working in the kitchen as well as officials in-charge of the programme to desist from diverting food items meant for the programme.

He urged parents to invest their resources in educating their children instead of spending lavishly on social activities especially funerals.

The DCE warned the contractor working on the Addaikrom feeder road to speed up work to ensure free movement of people and goods to the urban centres.

CRIMINAL gangs are targeting vulnerable ports, such as Poole, to traffic children they can exploit for labour and illegal activity into the UK.

Children's rights organisation Ecpat (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) says trafficking into the country is on the increase.

And ports like Poole have become soft targets due to their relative isolation and perceived lack of awareness of the problem.

Christine Beddoe, director of Ecpat, said: "Our concern, especially at sea ports, is they are often quite exposed and there aren't specialised child protection officers at them.
"If you were a trafficker, these are the sort of places you would target.

"What is important is knowing what to look for, but there isn't the specialisation in many ports."

Children shipped in are exploited for forced manual or domestic labour, forced marriage or even prostitution.

Globally, around half a million people are trafficked each year, earning criminals up to £10 billion.

Trafficking differs from smuggling in that there is the intent to exploit the individuals who are trafficked in.

Mrs Beddoe said: "Wherever criminality can make a quick profit, children are often targeted in that."

The Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) said the second wave of Operation Pentameter, the first co-ordinated effort to tackle human trafficking on a national scale, was due to start next month.

A spokesman for the agency said: "The government is committed to identifying and supporting victims of all forms of human trafficking, including victims of sex and forced labour- men, women and children.

"Combating trafficking is part of the core BIA business of enforcing compliance with immigration laws and reducing the harm caused by illegal immigration."

The trafficking warning comes with Poole on high alert for illegal immigrants trying to enter the country from Cherbourg.

Immigrants are setting up makeshift camps at the French port as they desperately try to force a way into the UK on the backs of lorries or on ferries.

Jim Stewart, chief executive of Poole Harbour Commissioners, reassured the public there were "robust security measures" in place at the port.

On child trafficking, he said the port authority were "not aware" of such trade through Poole, but added it was the responsibility of immigration and the Special Branch.

http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.1720518.0.port_is_prime_target_for_child_traffickers.php

CHILD neglect tops human rights abuses in Uganda, according to the Ugandan Human Rights Commission.

"The most violated right was child neglect, representing 25% of complaints registered in 2006, an increment of 77% from the previous period," says the commission's report, presented by chairperson Margaret Sekaggya to the Speaker of Parliament yesterday.

In its 145-page report, the commission was concerned that child sacrifice, child trafficking, child labour, abduction, child soldiering, defilement, child prostitution and abuse were persisting in Uganda.

"Police reports reveal that there were 185 victims of combined cases of child abduction, kidnap, disappearance, trafficking and sacrifice alone during the period between January and September 2006," the report said. Most of the children trafficked internally were from Buganda region, accounting for 36%, followed by Acholi (18%) and Ankole (8%).

The commission came up with eight recommendations, including setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate the problem of child sacrifice.

Torture was second on the list of human rights violations. Although the number of complaints registered in 2006 reduced by 7.6% compared to the previous year, torture still formed the bulk of cases handled by the commission, while 71% of the awards made by the tribunal in 2006 were for torture victims, Sekaggya noted.

She urged the Ugandan Parliament to enact a law prohibiting torture and the Government to ratify the Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture.

The Human Rights Commission also criticised the fact that civilians and children were being detained in military detention facilities.

The civilians were usually brought in by the Violent crime Crack Unit (VCCU) and the Rapid Response Unit. Although the staff discipline and the relationship with inmates had improved, reducing the incidences of torture, the report noted that degrading treatment still existed.

"Some VCCU suspects in Makindye (military barracks) were found to be suffering from a Sexually Transmitted Infection that was eating away their genitals but were receiving no treatment," the commission stated.

Moreover, suspects were being detained for long periods without trial. A total of 28 detainees at Makindye had no charges against them as per the register at the time of the commission's visit and some suspects had been detained without trial for over three years, the report said. It recommended that Court Martials convene regularly and frequently to dispose of cases.

On the PRA suspects who were re-arrested after the Constitutional Court had ordered their release, the report called upon the Government to adhere to court orders and respect the independence of the judiciary. "Those who disregard court orders should be brought to book." It also called upon the judiciary to ensure speedy and fair trials.

The report further expressed concern about violent demonstrations in Kampala which had led to the loss of lives and the looting and vandalising of private property. It appealed to political leaders to desist from hate campaigns, sectarian, ethnic and racist language. It also recommended that squads such as Kiboko not be allowed to do Police work.

"The after mirth of the Mabira Forest was the emergence of the Kiboko squad which complemented the role of Police in maintaining law and order", the report states. "Although it was praised by the President, such squads have the potential to violate human rights, breed conflict and breach peace."

Sekaggya said the commission, with the support of the British High Commission, was developing guidelines on demonstrations, which "must clearly spell out the role of the Police and the demonstrators and whether the Police should actually sanction demonstrations."

The report also noted with concern the clashes between pastoralists and farmers, particularly in Kasese, Teso and Buliisa. "In Buliisa the demagogues are fanning the flames of ethnic resentment and inciting violence," the report said.

It recommended that pastoralism be progressively transformed, instead of being undermined, victims be compensated, xenophobia (hatred against foreigners) be prohibited and politicians be restrained from promoting it.

On Karamoja, it noted that the disarmament programme of the Government had had some success, "such as increased good civil military relations, apprehension of notorious raiders, the collection of many guns and ammunition and improved security." However, it recommended that the disarmament exercise be done "in a manner that does not infringe on the rights of the innocent Karimojong".

The report will be scrutinised by the parliamentary committee on legal and parliamentary affairs.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200709191127.html

A delegation of the International Labour Organization Regional Office for the Arab States visited Yemen last week.

The mission’s main task is to promote the “Decent Work in Yemen” agenda and to launch the National Policies and Program Frame Work for Combating Child Labor. During the week long visit to Yemen, the delegation also worked with their Yemeni counterparts to identify the sectors where assistance of the ILO is required. 

Attainment of decent work has been a central objective of the ILO.  The organization classifies “decent work” as productive work in which rights are protected; work that generates an adequate income; and work with adequate social protection. It also means sufficient work, in the sense that all should have full access to income-earning opportunities. It marks the high road to economic and social development, a road in which employment, income and social protection can be achieved without compromising workers' rights and social standards. 

The Yemen Observer met with several members of the delegation, including Khawla Mattar, Regional Consultant for Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; Tariq Haq, Employment Development and Strategies Officer; Jean-Francois Klein, Chief, Regional Programming Services; and Shaza al-Jundi, Chief Deputy of the Regional Programming Services. The delegation spoke about some of the problems facing the labor market in Yemen and outlined some of the steps Yemen and the ILO may take to overcome these obstacles.   

Yemen Observer: Brief us on the nature of your visit to Yemen?
Khawla Mattar: In this short visit, the delegation aim to determine the priorities of the ILO intervention and to start the implementation of decent work in Yemen. Decent work is a mechanism implemented by the ILO in many countries and is now starting in the Arab region—meaning the 12 Asian-Arab countries. It started in Oman, Jordan, Bahrain, and Syria. Yemen is the fifth country. Such work aims to find a comprehensive project to solve essential problems in the country.   

YO: How can the goal of promoting decent work be achieved? 
KM: While the Decent work concept is a package deal of our four strategic objectives, it is more than just the sum of its parts. Its added value is the integration of our strategic objectives into a policy product that responds to integrated social and economic problems. The overarching objective of the ILO has been re-phrased as the promotion of opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. Decent work is the converging focus of the four strategic objectives, namely rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue. Decent work is an organizing concept for the ILO in order to provide an overall framework for action in economic and social development. We need to start by confronting the global decent work deficit. It is expressed in the absence of sufficient employment opportunities, inadequate social protection, the denial of rights at work and shortcomings in social dialogue. 

YO: How many of the objectives have you achieved during this visit? 
KM: We are working on the dialogue stage. The delegation met with most of the ministries, civil society authorities, labor syndicates, and others who are concerned with these four strategic objectives in Yemen - either in Sana’a or Aden. We also met with UN organizations so that we could cooperate with each other to fulfill our projects.  There will be a primal and comprehensive document for the project that will be sent to all the production bodies like the government, employers and employees. This is to take their point of view and modify and reform this document and then launch it nationally in a conference or symposium. The project should be adopted and signed by the government to be responsible for its articles. 

YO: How do you find the reaction from the Yemeni government?
KM: Generally speaking the reaction was greatly positive from all bodies; starting from Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Minister of Finance, Minister of Technical Education and Vocational Training, Labor Syndicate, and others. They are prepared and motivated to support us and to start in a very near time. We also need the role of media. It has a big role to play in achieving such policies and strategies. It is the public education that needs to be modified. People think that work forms part of their children’s education and enables them to learn how to be responsible. We need media to help us in show who is a child and who is a woman in the Yemeni community. According to Yemeni law, children between the ages of 7-15 are considered juveniles, but international law considers a person a juvenile until the age of 18. This means that a girl can not marry or work before the age of 18.  

YO: How do you choose the countries to start the decent work in?
KM: This mechanism is planned to be applied in many countries, but some of them are chosen according to some principles and factors. First of all, there should be an acceptance from this country for such a project. In Yemen for example, there is cooperation with Yemen in the past. There is the project of combating child labor that started some years ago, supporting the role of worker women and her participation in the economy, and labor market information. So we have a ready ground to start a new project. There are other countries which we felt would want to start reforming the labor market so we have to help them like it happened in Bahrain.  

YO: Tell us about the labor strategy you as ILO launched in Yemen and why do you think Yemen needs such strategy?
Tariq Haq: Labor strategy was launched in Yemen two years ago, but has not been adopted by the Yemeni government yet. Yemen is facing a serous challenge. There are huge numbers of people coming out of the education system. Most of them are young who become jobless because labor market does not need them.  ILO found that it should work on the labor market and its development and economic changes in Yemen and worldwide. Today, many institutions in Yemen look to become private sectors. If this happened, huge number of employees will join that category of jobless people in the country. The strategy aims at creating a harmony between education and rapid change in the world of work. This means that it puts forward points for universities for the number of students who should be received and link it with the vocational training.  

YO: How could this strategy help labor market in Yemen?
TH: This strategy could help youth in Yemen. It searches for laws that could motivate them to start their own projects. It creates the initiative spirit to look for small projects and easy loans.  The strategy also helps the community in educating Yemeni citizens so that government will not be the owner of the big work. So he/ she should find other ways for work. 

YO: How do you see the participation of women in Yemen’s national economy?
TH: Women in Yemen currently have a very weak participation in the workforce. There should be more motivation for women to enter the labor market and the untraditional sectors. Today, all the foundations and vocational habitation programs are concerning about traditional sectors like sewing and hairdressing. Women can participate in raising the living conditions of the family and reforming the degree of poverty in the country. Poverty leads to children leaving school to join the labor market at early ages.  

YO: What about the national policies and program frame work you launched to combat child labor in Yemen?
Jean-Francois Klein: A national strategy for combating child labor in Yemen was formed some years ago and has now been reformed because of improvement in the labor market and the high number of child workers. There are some phenomena that were not known or admitted to before, like child trafficking from Yemen to neighboring countries, which we consider to be the worst kind of child labor. The strategy has been built in dialogue with concerned bodies in Yemen. Like the Decent Work Strategy, it determines the priorities. Child labor is a serious and deep issue. It has many branches that are related to the government’s labor policies and appropriations assigned for education. There should be priorities form which we can start and laws to allow us to do so. Such strategies could help in these cases. 

YO: What does Yemen need to reduce unemployment among youth?
Shaza al-Jundi: To fight poverty young people in Yemen need to have job opportunities. During this visit we have recieved many requests from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, but there are no demands for social security. In our opinion social security is strongly related to employment and creating job opportunities.  We found that the employment offices in Yemen only received three per cent of people seeking jobs. This means that they are not effective. The main reason is that there is no motivation. In many developing countries without systems of unemployment insurance or adjustment assistance to workers, the social pain created is particularly acute. In addition, hundreds of millions of the working poor and their families on the margins of developing country labor markets are largely bystanders rather than participants in the growth of the world economy. 

YO: So how do you see the labor market in Yemen?    
Khawla Mattar: Yemen is facing a big problem with the labor market. Every time we leave and come back, we see that the rate of unemployment is decreasing - especially among youth. There are many other issues that are decreasing like poverty, child labor, and job exploitation. There is an increase in the ‘unsystematic’ sectors which means that systems are weak in Yemen. The organizations are weak in their infrastructure. Ministries include a big number of staff, but lack the expert knowledge. We are here to help build capacity in these organizations; in ministries, syndicates, or companies.  Also the legal environment is not sufficient. 

180 children missing from social care after being brought illegally to UK

More than 180 children recently trafficked illegally into the UK have since gone missing without trace from social services care, according to a Unicef report warning that the government is failing to protect vulnerable youngsters brought into the country.

The study published today calling for new safeguarding measures says official figures significantly underestimate the "hidden crime" of child trafficking, which sees children as young as five brought secretly into Britain to work as domestic servants, in cannabis factories, or for sexual exploitation or under-age marriage.

According to the report, Rights Here, Rights Now, even if trafficked children are identified "their care and protection is inconsistent, ad hoc and, in some regions, completely absent". To help plug "gaps in the system", Unicef wants reforms including a professional guardian for each trafficked child to protect their interests.

Most children identified and put into care, usually living in hostels or bed and breakfast accommodation, simply disappear. They may be lured away again by criminals or the same traffickers who brought them illegally into the country, according to campaigners.

Government figures highlighted in the Unicef study reveal that of 72 Chinese children known to have been trafficked into Britain during 18 months in 2005-6, 63 (88%) have since gone missing.

Of the 140 boys identified as trafficked into the country during that period, three quarters are now missing from care. In total, 183 of the 330 trafficking victims were now missing.

The Home Office data also reveals that the children came from 44 countries. By far the highest number came from China, followed by Nigeria, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Eritrea, though 33 children were trafficked from Russia and eastern Europe - a tenth of the total. Christine Beddoe, director of Ecpat UK - a campaign group on child trafficking and prostitution that has jointly published today's study with Unicef - said official figures on trafficked children were "the tip of the iceberg".

Data collection on the issue is still much less efficient in the UK than in continental Europe, she said, but increased awareness among agencies including police and social services was revealing a problem affecting not only London but the whole of the UK.

While trafficking for sexual exploitation remains a key issue, many children are brought into the country for "domestic servitude", she added. "We are talking about the idea of home help, but in a very exploitative situation with children.

"We have cases of African families buying child labour for domestic work but also minding smaller children in the family. It is not like having a nanny. They are not considered part of the family: they may live in the family home but I have heard situations where children have been locked in the garage or having to sleep on the floor before doing the scrubbing and cleaning. It really is Dickensian type of stuff."
The use of trafficked child labour - mainly from Vietnam - to run illegal cannabis farms appeared to be increasing, Ms Beddoe added. Last week, the charity Drugscope highlighted how Vietnamese children are being used as "human sprinkler systems" to water and tend plants in UK cannabis farms, often living in lofts or cupboards and facing criminal charges rather than protection if the farms are raided by the police. On average, police are raiding three farms a day.

A report on child trafficking in the UK, produced by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and published by the Home Office in June this year, indicates that most trafficked children are between 14 and 17 years old, though the youngest child trafficked to be a domestic servant was five.
Ms Beddoe said the government figures and Ecpat's own research suggested some 60% of children identified as trafficked later go missing. "Usually they go into B&B or shared accommodation. Most is sub-standard and certainly not secure."

It was almost impossible to track what happened to the children, she said, but a handful who returned had reported being "lured away by a so-called boyfriend, and becoming a victim of rape".

Last night a 17-year-old girl who was trafficked from east Africa to a terraced house in the north of England told the Guardian she had been promised work as a model. However, when she arrived she found herself forced into prostitution.

"I asked the man about my modelling - I was excited about it - but he waved me off. The man started bringing men to the house, telling them about what I used to do in my country and I realised things were bad. They were rough with me." The girl, who did not want to be named, said she had contemplated suicide. "Then one morning he left, but the door was open. I went outside and asked a lady to show me to the train station. I got on a train to London. Escape was my only chance." She is now studying for A Levels.

The Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said his department, together with the Department for Children, Schools and Families, would publish guidance later this year on best practice on identifying and protecting victims of trafficking. The government had already published the UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking last March. He added: "A huge amount of work has been done. But there is more to do and we will work with all agencies and colleagues."

John Coughlan, joint president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, said that care did not mean a secure setting. "The best that care will be able to do is provide a safe and secure haven for children who are believed to have been trafficked ... We take the responsibility of looking after these children seriously but sadly what we can't do is prevent them running off."

“Education should strengthen values of democracy, secularism and pluralism”

NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday said laws alone would not help free India from the “curse of child labour.”

Addressing a function organised here to present national awards to teachers on Teachers Day, she said the problem of child labour could be addressed by making education more relevant.

To fight social evils
Besides making out a case for inculcating life skills along with school skills, the President said it was also necessary to prepare children to fight social evils such as child marriage, gender inequality, addiction and other social stigmas.

For strengthening democracy
Also, the education system should strengthen the values of secularism, democracy, inclusiveness and pluralism.

The President devoted considerable attention to vocational education.

Ms. Patil said the Indian reality was such that many children were not able to pursue higher studies after basic schooling.

Such being the case, vocational education needed to be revamped so that it became an attractive option.

Inadequate quality
“The unemployment of vocational school-leavers reflects the inadequate quality of vocational education and also our vocational teacher preparation,” she said.

Ms. Patil urged teachers to keep themselves abreast of new technologies to help children deal with the challenges they faced owing to exposure to varied influences via television and internet.

Teachers should help children differentiate right from wrong, truth from untruth and correct from the incorrect, the President said.

Awards for 314
The President presented awards to 314 teachers from across the country for the year 2005-06.

Among the awardees were 11 Sanskrit teachers, three teachers of Arabic and Persian, and 12 teachers dedicated to promoting education among children with disabilities.

The award carries a silver medal, a certificate and a cash component of Rs. 25,000.
“Reduce drop-out rates”

Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development M. A. A. Fatmi underlined the need to reduce drop-out rates at various levels.

This is to improve learning outcomes and prepare students for higher stages of education, he said.

Ghana's cocoa industry would suffer a major setback on the international market if immediate steps are not taken to check the use of child labour in cocoa growing areas.

Madam Patience Dapaah, programme officer for the National Programme for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour explained at a one-day workshop in Sunyani that some major cocoa trading partners had threatened to stop purchasing Ghana's cocoa because a research had revealed that children of school-going age were used on most of the farms.

The workshop was organized by the national programme under the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment for heads of department, Assembly members and opinion leaders drawn from the Sunyani municipality.

Madam Dapaah disclosed that one of the country's western partners had already stopped purchasing her cocoa, adding, the July 1 cocoa certification 'Harkin-Angel protocol', signed in 2001 that gave the nation up to 2005 to stop the practice had to be extended to July 2008 due to Ghana's efforts through West Africa Cocoa Agriculture Programme (WACAP) to help eliminate the practice.

She said the workshop was to sensitize participants who would in turn pass on the information to the various communities to eliminate all worst forms of child labour, especially in the cocoa sector.

The programme officer said a major objective of the workshop was to explore ideas to factor into the Child Rights Act as a form of defence, since children at certain ages could perform light work on cocoa farms to assist their parents.

She called on the government to strengthen the police and the immigration services to enable them to perform their duties well in handling foreigners into the country.

Madam Stella Ofori, a resource person, who gave an overview of the child labour situation in Ghana noted that some parents exposed their children to hazardous work out of ignorance, poverty and illiteracy and urged the participants to keep surveillance on children.

Media women associations in four African countries are developing a common media code of conduct, aimed at reducing unjust coverage of children issues.

A statement issued yesterday by the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) said the task would be carried out through a collective project called Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE).

Associations involved will include Uganda Media Women Association (UMWA), Ethiopia Media Women Association (FMWA), Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) and TAMWA of Tanzania.

The code will aim to implement Article 3 (1) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: 'In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.'

Each of the countries has ratified the convention.

The statement said the document would explain the need for a media code, the definition of a child, the meaning of sexual abuse and exploitation and media ethical guidelines on how to report child sexual abuse cases.

Participation of children
Children will be consulted during the drafting of the code and their views will be incorporated, the statement added.

The Regional Media Women Associations will also gather information from editors, other NGOs working with children, government and media institutions, it said.

The statement said that some media outlets were publishing stories and pictures which exposed minors who were sexually abused or exploited.

'While reporting, some media pay very little attention to perpetrators due to lack of awareness.

According to Article 17 of the UNCRC, the role of the media, among other things, is to protect the child and disseminate information which is of social and cultural benefit to the child,' the statement added.

Other project activities will include workshops for editors, training for journalists, radio slots, essay competitions for children and the production of booklets.

The project is funded by OAK Foundation and is a means to raise awareness on CSAE among children, families and communities through the media.

Zimbabwe will this year host the international march against child labour as various stakeholders step up efforts to protect children against child forced labour.

More than 150 people above the age of 14 are expected to walk 525km, a distance spanning from Harare to Plumtree between December 1 and 31. In an interview yesterday, New Hope Foundation spokesperson Mr Adam Dodzo said Zimbabwe was accorded for the first time by the Global March Organisation an opportunity to highlight various child-related concerns which include child labour.

Mr Dodzo said Zimbabwe, like various other countries from the developing world, was not spared from incidences of child labour, which is more significant in farming and mining areas. "This year the one-month campaign will unravel various child-related issues and also provide a platform from where concerns around the development of children are to be discussed," Mr Dodzo said.

He said his organisation hopes to facilitate debate and sharing of ideas on what steps should be taken to redress issues of child labour. Child experts yesterday said the HIV and Aids pandemic had worsened the plight of many child-headed homes with some children opting to work to look after other siblings.

Some children as young as 12, they said, were working as housemaids, herding cattle or as general farm labourers in order to sustain their livelihoods.

Literacy is an inalienable human right, says Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature. But according to the South African novelist, being able to read a billboard doesn’t mean one is literate.

In the beginning was the Word. The Word that was Creation. Its transformation into the written word came to us when it was first scratched as a hieroglyph or ideogram on a stone or traced on papyrus, and when it travelled from parchment to print in Gutenberg. That was the next genesis: of literacy. It was and is the miraculous ability that humans alone possess within the miracle of creation (we have devised the means to take to the air).

Our new millennium, stated as dedicated to defining and upholding human rights, surely should list literacy as an inalienable one?

Yet UNESCO reports that over 700 million adults in our era cannot read or write and more than a 72 million children do not go to school, deprived of their rightful heritage, literacy. In South Africa, where I write these words, illiteracy is almost 50% in certain rural areas. What are the reasons, world-wide or nearer wherever one’s home may be? Poverty and lack of educational facilities are the obvious ones in poor and developing countries. The disastrous economic effect is seen from the humble levels – at an automobile assembly plant in South Africa, research found that many workers on the line could follow only spoken orders, unable to read any written notification. At the level of higher education for the professions, universities are faced with the problem of students ostensibly qualified for entry who do not have the vocabulary or skilled use of the written word necessarily assumed for university courses. The shortage of suitably competent candidates for positions essential in development of governance, social services, industry and commerce, is thus evident. President Mbeki recently said that in order to serve the needs of South Africa’s fast-growing economy – the leading one on the African continent in terms of resources and infrastructure – he believes we shall have to import qualified individuals from other countries to fill the vacancies while assisting to raise the capabilities of South Africans to fulfil such positions, particularly in industry. An upgraded version of the adage, each-one-teach-one.

But we come back to the absolute. It shouldn’t need to be stated, but has to be, it seems. Literacy is the basis of all learning. Even if one goes on to the differently profound numero-ideogrammatic knowledges of science.

And on the way back to the source that is the written word we arrive at a presently prevalent intermediate condition of literacy: semi-literacy. This is no doubt exacerbated in multilingual countries where as a result of long colonization a foreign language became and remains a lingua franca, the second language, not the mother tongue, the natal Word of the inhabitant. One would accept that you are unlikely to be able to read and write the lingua franca as confidently, precisely, as, once master of the alphabet, you surely could read and write your own. But a distinguished writer and academic, Professor Es’kia Mphahlele, tells me that black South Africans emerge from their schooling semi-literate in the reading and writing of their own mother tongues just as white South Africans and those of other ethno-linguistic backgrounds are semi-literate in theirs. To be able to read the legend on a billboard and the bubble-enclosed dialogue of Spacemen in a comic book, while unable to understand the vocabulary of a poem or follow in prose literature the meaningful variations of syntax, the use of words in ways that open up new depths of self-comprehension – that is not literacy. It is not what every individual should have by human right.

The developing countries, although with more reasons for producing only the halfway to literacy, are not alone in this cultural state. Colleges in the USA report the same result of their educational system, reflection of current cultural values of their society. In Britain there is the same dismay at young men and women, born and educated in the country of the birth of the English language, who cannot read or write using the great resources of their mother tongue.

So while poverty and lack of educational opportunity are responsible for the great void in our world that is illiteracy, this tragic situation is not the prime cause, let alone the justification for the widespread phenomenon of semi-literacy.

The fact is that we are conjoined, all countries long developed or struggling to develop across the abyss between rich nations and poor, under threat of the Image against the Writ-ten Word. From the first third of the 20th Century the image has been challenging the power of the written word as the stimulation of the imagination, the opening of human receptivity. The bedtime story of middleclass childhood has been replaced by the hour in front of the TV screen; in shack settlements all over the poor countries of the globe the TV aerial signifies the battery-run screen where no book is to be found. School and community libraries don’t exist in villages and towns where video cassettes are for hire. Yes, TV images are accompanied by the spoken word, sometimes by text, but it is the picture that decides how secondary the Word’s role shall be.

The American -writer William Gass defines best the Written Word, in its home, the book: ‘We shall not understand what a book is, and why a book has the value many persons have… If we forget how important to it is its body, the building that has been built to hold its lines of language safely together… Words on a screen have virtual qualities, to be sure…but they have no materiality, they are only shadows, and when the light shifts they’ll be gone. Off the screen they do not exist as words. They do not wait to be reseen, reread; they only wait to be remade, relit.’

Yes, the Image of text, of the Word, disappears off the screen; to recall it, along with the other visuals, you have to have an apparatus, a cell, a battery, access to an electric power connection. The book needs none of these. Simply held in the hand it can be read, turned to again and again, on a bus, in the subway, in the bath, on a mountain top, in a queue.

This is no fuddy-duddy turning away from progress. The vast advances in communications technology are an information revolution that has great possibilities for social development if well used, which means made economically available to the millions in the world whose lives will otherwise be bulldozed by the financial oligarchy of globalisation.

But information does not, it cannot, ever replace, outmode illumination – searching knowledge of the human intellect and spirit that, all readers know, comes in communication with the Word in its infinitely portable, available home between hard or paperback covers.

NEW DELHI: Private companies will have to ensure that they do not use child labour. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights plans to enlist private sector cooperation to enforce the child labour ban.

"We will be speaking to private companies to remove any products that have been made with the use of child labour," Shanta Sinha, NCPCR chairperson, said.

The commission will also ask banks not to lend credit to those companies that use child labour. "We will ask banks to include the ban on child labour in their terms and conditions so that before they lend credit, companies must ensure that no child’s rights have been violated," Sinha said.

The NCPCR has also submitted a set of suggestions to the Planning Commission linking a ban on child labour with universalisation of education.

"Child labour is banned in some sectors and regulated in others. We have found several lacuna in the law and want to see that all children have the right to education, health and protection," Sinha added.

Amongst the loopholes in the child labour prohibition act were the absence of agriculture in the list of prohibited sectors. Sinha said a child working for his family did not constitute as labour either. "This clause needs to be re-looked at," she said.

Elaborating on the task before the commission, Sinha said it would ensure the welfare of children from 0-18 years of age with special emphasis on children between the ages of 0-6 years.

Arresting dropout rates in school education while increasing funding for child protection schemes are expected to be on the commission's agenda.

Provide better protection for children
Dr George Oppong Ampong, Executive Secretary of the Defence for Children International (DCI), a Kumasi-based children rights organization has said that child trafficking should be condemned outright in the society.

He therefore stressed the need for Ghanaians to give protection to children to enable them play positive role in the nation's socio-economic development.

Dr Ampong was speaking at a day's workshop on child trafficking at the weekend. It was jointly organized by the Social Research Associates, a consultancy firm and the DCI for 21 participants in Kumasi.

The aim of the workshop was to equip the participants with skills and expertise to help them educate people and communities in the Kumasi metropolis to halt child trafficking.

He advised them to adopt effective campaign strategies to sensitize people to know the dangers associated with the practice.

Dr Ampong announced that the DCI in collaboration with the Social Research Associates would launch anti-child trafficking campaign in Kumasi and appealed to the participants to identify problem communities and educate them on the need to address it.

A Hong Kong labor rights organization says child labor in China is a widespread, systemic and increasingly serious problem. The group says the cause of the problem lies in the failures of China's education system. Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong.

When news of the brickyard slavery scandal in China's Shanxi province broke in June, the Chinese public was shocked to hear that some of the laborers forced to work in inhuman conditions were children.

But in Hong Kong, the China Labor Bulletin group, which conducted field research in China, says child labor is widespread in the country and is becoming an increasingly serious problem.

There are no official data revealing how many children are working in China. There are strict laws against hiring children under 16 and Beijing this week announced it will set up a ministry-level panel to combat human trafficking - aimed at protecting women and children from forced labor and prostitution.

But Han Dongfang, founder of the China Labor Bulletin, says laws often are ignored in provinces and towns - mainly because of a lack of staff.

"For example, in a county labor bureau you have only less than 10 people working there, but you have how many factories, how many towns you need to keep watching," he said.

Han says the government needs to address why so many children in China drop out of school before finishing the mandatory nine years of education.

He thinks the root of the problem is the education system. One factor is the minimal funding many schools receive, especially in the countryside. That means parents must pay fees, which many cannot afford.

Han says another problem is that China has concentrated funding on universities in the past two decades while neglecting vocational training. Parents of less academically skilled students often see no point in keeping them in school.

"As parents you have to calculate economically for the benefit, why [do] you send the children to school after 12 year[s] old if this kid has no future for university? And you don't send them to school, you [would] rather let them work earlier, make more money," added Han.

He says it was good news when the Chinese government announced last year that it would put more funding into basic education. But he says Beijing also needs to create proper vocational training programs.

"That's easier for them to find a job and it will get more qualified, trained, skilled workers right away when they are 20," he said. "Then you will have a better economy and a better quality in the different industries."

Han also urges the government to allow trade unions and other civic groups to monitor and report on the child labor situation.

Efforts to fight child labor particularly in hazardous occupations were further solidified with the recent signing of the Commitment To Action Against Child Labor.

Secretary Arturo D. Brion of the Department of Labor said that the signing highlighted the stakeholders' support to the proposed Philippine Program against child labor covering the period 2007-2015.

The DOLE press report disclosed that the signing took PLACE during the National Conference on Child Labor, and was attended by some 300 partners from labor and employers groups, the academe, government, and other sectors that supports the National Program Against Child Labor of NPACL.

With the DOLE as lead agency, the social partners include the Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare, Department of Justice, Department of Health, National Economic and Development Authority, Philippine Information Agency, Council for the Welfare of Children, National Statistics Office, National Council of National Development, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and Federation of Free Workers.

Secretary Brion said that the stakeholders HAVE committed to fully support the implementation of the Philippine program to prevent and eliminate all forms of child labor.

Under the new proposed strategic framework for 2007-2015, a national monitoring system against child labor will be installed, with all regions maintaining a regular and reliable database on child labor estimated to affect some four million Filipino children, 2.4 million of them in its worst or most hazardous forms, the DOLE press report disclosed.

Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, countries such as Kyrgyzstan have not managed to recover. Some villages only hope for economic survival is to pull their young boys out of