Child Slavery

 

Country Child Slavery Afghanistan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Little information is available on forced or compulsory labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Albania NATIONAL STATISTICS * There are around 3,000 enslaved Albanian children used for begging and cleaning windows and cars without payment, in Italy and Greece. (CRCA, The Vicious Circle, 2000) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There are reports that children are trafficked and forced to work abroad as prostitutes and beggars. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Algeria GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Armed terrorist groups reportedly kidnap young women and keep them as sex slaves. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * The Government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children and generally enforces this prohibition. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Andorra GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour, including that performed by children, is not specifically prohibited by law. No cases are reported. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Angola GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebel forces are alleged to abduct children, who are used for forced labour and in military service, and women, who are used for forced labour, including as sex slaves. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)   Antigua and Barbuda - Argentina - Armenia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour is banned by law. No instances have been cited. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Australia ADULT STATISTICS * In 1995, about 300 Thai women were held in the sex industry under debt bondage in Sydney. (CATW Fact Book, citing Maria Moscaritolo, "Australia takes aim at Asian sex slave trade", Reuters, 26 May 1998) Austria GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There is protection by law against forced and bonded labour. The legal working age is 15 years. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Azerbaijan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No law related to forced labour exist. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Bahamas GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The constitutional prohibition of forced and compulsory labour, including that by children, is respected in practice. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Bahrain GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Workers from the Philippines, Ethiopia, India, Russia, and Belarus have reported being forced into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) * Diplomats and businessmen from Bahrain have been caught with slaves they have smuggled into the United States. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) Bangladesh NATIONAL STATISTICS * An estimated 496,000 children are in slavery. (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Sample Survey of Child Labour in Bangladesh, October 1996) * More than 9,000 girls are trafficked each year from Nepal and Bangladesh into bondage in India and Pakistan, often with the acquiescence or cooperation of state officials. (CATW Fact Book, citing Amnesty International press release, 22 April 1998) LOCAL STATISTICS * 1,000 children of Tungapara are in slavery in the Gulf, India, Pakistan and other countries. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Charles Jacobs, Slavery: Worldwide Evil, April 1996) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children who work in domestic service may work in conditions that resemble servitude and prostitution. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Reports from human rights monitors indicate that child kidnapping, and trafficking for labour bondage and prostitution continues to be a serious and widespread problem. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Barbados - Belarus GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Workers from the Philippines, Ethiopia, India, Russia, and Belarus have reported being forced into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation in Bahrain. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) * No cases of forced labour or bonded child labour have been reported. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Belgium GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced or bonded child labour is recorded. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Belize - Benin GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Trokosi slavery extends out of Ghana and into remote regions of Benin and Togo. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) * Some financially desperate parents indenture their children to "agents" recruiting farm hands or domestic workers, often on the understanding that money paid to the children would be sent to their parents. According to press reports, in some cases, unscrupulous individuals take the children to neighbouring countries. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Bhutan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No laws are in force. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Bolivia ADULT STATISTICS * Over 10-20 million people are subjected to debt bondage largely in India, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Philippines. (Debt Bondage: The Challenge for the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Criaditos are indigenous children of both sexes, usually 10 to 12 years old, whom their parents indenture to middle and upper-class families to perform household work in exchange for education, clothing, room, and board. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Some rural indigenous workers are kept in a state of virtual slavery by employers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Bosnia and Herzegovina GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * A significant number of women are manipulated or coerced into situations in which they work in brothels in conditions close to slavery. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001) * Child servitude or forced labour is not known. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Botswana - Brazil NATIONAL STATISTICS * In March the ILO reported that observers have cited over 3,000 girls who were subject to debt servitude and forced into prostitution in the state of Rondonia. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001, citing ILO) * Although the MLE found no children working as forced labourers during the year, in 1999 the Pastoral Land Commission reported 25 children under the age of 16 found working in conditions of forced labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001) * 22% of child labourers are working in slavery-like conditions. (ILO, Targeting the Intolerable, November 1996) LOCAL STATISTICS * Before 1997, 2,500 children were in charcoal-making in Mato Grosso do Sul, mostly as slave labour. (SEJUP website, citing Folha de Sao Paulo) ADULT STATISTICS * There were an estimated 19,940 slave labourers in 1993, which increased to 25,193 in 1994. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * Over 10-20 million people are subjected to debt bondage largely in India, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Philippines. (Debt Bondage: The Challenge for the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * A considerable number of children work under conditions approximating forced labour or debt bondage in the mining industry and the plantations. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * The Committee expressed concern about the widespread problem of forced labour and debt bondage, especially in rural areas. (UN Human Rights Committee, Comments on Brazil, 1996) * In Amazonia the type of forced child prostitution meets every criteria of slavery. (US Dept of Labor, Prostitution of Children, 1996) * There is forced child labour/debt-bonded child labour in the charcoal industry. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994, citing Anti-Slavery International, Alison Sulton, Slavery in Brazil, 1994) Brunei Darussalam - Bulgaria GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Cases of forced or bonded labour have not been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee reported that the Slavovitsa Labour Educational School employs forced child labour to produce articles sold in domestic and international markets. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * According to the report, minors are used as prison labourers for agricultural and industrial tasks as well. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) Burkina Faso GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government prohibits forced or bonded child labour but does not enforce this prohibition effectively. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * Many families entrust their children, mainly boys aged five or six, to the care of a religious leader, or marabout, with whom the boys live until the age of 15 or 16. The children, perform various tasks in the marabout's school or household. In addition, begging is considered to be part of the child's learning process. These students, known as garibou, live in poor conditions with up to 3,000 other students. (CWA, "Child Prostitution in Vietnam", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, July -September 1994) Burma (Myanmar) ADULT STATISTICS * Since 1992, the military has forced at least 2 million people across the country to work without pay on the construction of roads, railways and bridges. (Human Rights Watch/Asia, "Burma: Children's Rights and the Rule of the Law", submission to the UN CRC, January 1997) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Allegations of the use of child labour include reports that children are being used as forced labourers in infrastructure development projects and military support operations. There are also reports that children are being drafted as soldiers. (US Dept of State, Report On Labour Practices In Burma, 2000) * Widespread forced labour, including forced child labour, continued to contribute materially to the construction and maintenance not only of irrigation facilities important to the cultivation of some export crops including rice, but also of roads and some railroads important for the transportation of exports to ports. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * The army raids villages and towns for forced portering, whereby they force villagers to carry its supplies and ammunition for offensives in the border regions or for routine operations. (UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) * Juntas force locals to work on commercial projects for the army such as paddy and fishpond and tree-planting operations, which the local farmers have to build and maintain. (UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) * Women and children are randomly picked by the local police or the military for carrying heavy loads of ammunition, food and other supplies between army camps. They are not paid for their work. (ICFTU, Burma: SLORC's Private Slave Camp, June 1995) Burundi GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There were reports that soldiers used children for forced labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001) * Throughout 2000 opposition forces also continued to use children for forced labour. (CSUCS, Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001) Cambodia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Cambodian men, women, and children are trafficked internationally, principally to Thailand for various forms of bonded labour, including street begging. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) Cameroon LOCAL STATISTICS * There were credible reports that slavery continues to be practiced in parts of northern Cameroon, including in the Lamidat of Rey Bouba, a traditional kingdom in the North Province. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children are trafficked from and through Cameroon to other West African countries for indentured or domestic servitude, farm labour, and sexual exploitation. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) Canada ADULT STATISTICS * About 12, 16-30-year-old, Asian girls and women are trafficked into Canada each week on visitor's permits and sold into prostitution.The women are sold to brothel owners in Markham, Scarborough, Toronto, and Los Angeles, and forced into $40,000 debt-bondage. (CATW Fact Book, citing "Police Bust Sex-slave Ring", UPI, 11 September 1997, citing police officials) Cape Verde - Central African Republic - Chad GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There are no reports of forced labour practices in the formal economy, but there were isolated instances of forced labour by adults and children in the rural sector, by local authorities as well as in military installations in the north. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * The prohibition on forced and bonded labour by children is not effectively enforced, and there are reports of slavery, forced and compulsory labour of children among rural farming and herding communities. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) Chile - China ADULT STATISTICS * From 1991 to 1996, Chinese police freed 88,000 kidnapped women and children and arrested 143,000 people for participating in the slave trade. (CATW Fact Book, citing Liu Bohonhg, Dorinda Elliott, "Trying to Stand on Two Feet", Newsweek, 29 June 1998) * 3,000 women and children were rescued after being abducted and sold into slavery in Southern China during the past two years. (CATW Fact Book, citing Sophia Woodman, "Trafficking of Women in China", Voice of America, 27 September 1995) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Alien smuggling organisations use Suriname as an intermediate destination to smuggle Chinese nationals, including women and girls, to the United States, where frequently they are forced into bonded labour situations. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Traffickers lure people from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and other nations to the Northern Mariana Islands, a United States territory promising lucrative work. Instead, many are forced into slave labour and prostitution. (CATW Fact Book, citing Laura Myers, "Sen. Panel Hears of Marianas Abuses", AP Online, 31 March 1998) China, Hong Kong SAR GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Brothels in Hong Kong employ minders to prevent girls from running away. In 1994, a woman attempting to escape was murdered. (CATW-Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific, 1996)   China, Macau SAR - China, Taiwan - Colombia NATIONAL STATISTICS * Child prostitution rings working in sex shops throughout Colombia were raided in September 1998, freeing 370 minors aged 12-16. The children were being held in slavery-like conditions, abused and forced into prostitution. At least 145 of the children where found in Cartegena, a busy sex-tourist destination. (CATW Fact Book, citing "Colombia launches crackdown on child prostitution", Reuters, 26 September 1998) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children but is unable to enforce this prohibition effectively. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) Comoros - Congo GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There are reports of pygmy-children enslaved by Congolese patrons. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)   Congo, Dem. Rep. GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Insurgent groups from neighbouring countries have abducted a number of Congolese children to be labour or sex slaves, or to serve in the military. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) Cook Islands - Costa Rica - Cote d'Ivoire GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Thousands of Malian children were trafficked and sold into indentured servitude on Ivorian plantations. In September 1998, a private Abidjan daily newspaper exposed the widespread practice of importing and indenturing Malian boys for field work on Ivorian plantations under abusive conditions. Mali was not the only source of forced child labour used in the country. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Children from Benin have been taken to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Gabon, and sold into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000, citing Benin press) Croatia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The Ministry of Social Welfare enforces the ban on coerced labour. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Cuba GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children, however, the government requires children to work without compensation. All students over age 11 are expected to devote 30 to 45 days of their summer vacation to farm work, labouring up to 8 hours per day. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)   Cyprus GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Legal protection against oppressive practices are generally observed. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Czech Republic GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour are reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Denmark GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No instances of forced child labour are cited. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Djibouti - Dominica - Dominican Republic GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights stated in 1991 that the Dominican government actively encourages forced labour by children on sugar plantations. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) East Timor - Ecuador GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The law prohibits forced or bonded labour by children, and there were no reports of such practices. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Children are being trafficked from Ecuador to Venezuela. The children work in virtual slavery conditions as street vendors, domestic workers and prostitutes. They are abducted, sold by parents or lured by false promises. (CATW Fact Book, citing Vladimir Villegas, Congressional Human Rights Commission, Estrella Gutierrez, "Child Traffic in Venezuela Tip of the Iceberg", IPS, 11 January 1998) Egypt GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children in carpet factories are working under slave-like conditions. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) El Salvador NATIONAL STATISTICS * The report on the State of the Nation in Human Development of El Salvador (Estado de la Nación en Desarrollo humano de El Salvador ,1999) emphasizes that hundreds of girls from El Salvador are taken illegally to Guatemala with the promise to be employed as domestics and end up exploited and forced to be prostitutes. The procurer of the girls in Guatemala qualifies their situation as "slavery". According to the NGO Casa Alianza , the number of girls from El Salvador in this situation could be as high as 2,000. (DNI, "La prevención y eliminación de las peores formas de trabajo infantil y adolescente un reto para la democracia y el desarrollo humano." DNI- Costa Rica, 2001) Equatorial Guinea - Eritrea - Estonia - Ethiopia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Involuntary servitude and slavery were officially abolished in 1942, but there are numerous anecdotal accounts of young people, especially girls, being sent by their families into involuntary servitude in Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Peninsula states to work as house servants and nannies, some of whom are kept in bondage. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) Fiji - Finland GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) France GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Trafficking for domestic slavery is present. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) * Some diplomats have domestic slaves. They are usually foreign nationals and diplomats from places where slavery already exists, such as the Gulf and North Africa, but also include native French. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing Kevin Bales, Disposable People) Gabon GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children from Benin have been taken to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Gabon, and sold into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000, citing Benin press) Gambia - Georgia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Germany GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No reports of forced child labour have been filed. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Ghana NATIONAL STATISTICS * At least 2,510 women and girls are bound to shrines through the localised Trokosi system. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Over 100 boys were reportedly contracted out to Lake Volta fishermen. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There have been newspaper reports of children being sold into slavery for either sexual exploitation or labour, such as 10- to 12-year-old boys toiling in the service of fisherman in exchange for a yearly remittance to their families. A June 1999, report described this practice as rampant in 156 fishing villages along the Afram River and settlements along the Volta Lake in the Afram plains. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001) * The Constitution prohibits slavery, but it exists on a limited scale. Trokosi, a traditional practice is a system in which a young girl, usually under the age of 10, is made a slave to a fetish shrine for offenses allegedly committed by a member of the girl's family. In rare instances, boys are offered. The belief is that, if someone in that family has committed a crime, such as stealing, members of the family may begin to die in large numbers unless a young girl is given to the local fetish shrine to atone for the offense. The girl becomes the property of the fetish priest, must work on the priest's farm, and perform other labour for him. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Greece GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There is a rising phenomenon of 'children in the street' the majority of whom carry out forms of forced labour. (EFCW, Children Who Work in Europe, June 1998) Guatemala - Guinea GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Many families entrust their children, mainly boys aged 5 or 6, to the care of a religious leader, or marabout, with whom the boys live until the age of 15-16. The children perform various tasks in the marabout's school or household. Begging is considered to be part of the child's learning process. (CWA, "Child Prostitution in Vietnam", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, July -September 1994) Guinea-Bissau - Guyana - Haiti NATIONAL STATISTICS * 'Restavek', the practice of sending children to serve as unpaid domestic labour for more affluent city dwellers, exists in the country. UNICEF estimated that 25,000 to 300,000 children, 85% of them girls, are victims of this practice. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Restavek is a prevalent feature of Haitian society. The 1984 Conference Report estimated that 109,000 Haitian children worked as restaveks, 65,000 girls and 44,000 boys. If 109,000 children is an accurate figure today, 5% of Haitian children between the age of 5 and 18 works as domestics. (Minnesota Lawyer International Human Rights Committee, Restavek: Child Domestic Labour in Haiti, August 1990, citing E.Clesca, La domesticite juvenile est elle une consequence du sous development ou le produit de la mentalite d 'un peuple) Honduras - Hungary GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour is prohibited by law. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Iceland GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been recorded. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) India NATIONAL STATISTICS * There are no universally accepted figures for the number of bonded child labourers. However, in the carpet industry alone, human rights organisations estimate that there may be as many as 300,000 children working, many of them under conditions that amount to bonded labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * The labour commissioner estimated that there were 3,000 bonded child labourers in the Magadi silk twining factories in Karnataka. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Some NGOs estimate that the number of bonded labourers is 5 million persons. However, in a report released during the year, Human Rights Watch estimated that 40 million persons, including 15 million children, are bonded labourers. The report notes that the majority of bonded labourers are Dalits, and that bondage is passed from one generation to the next. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There are 5 million adult bonded labourers and 10 million child bonded labourers. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * An estimated 15 million children are working under bondage. But other estimates suggest there are 15 million alone in agriculture. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * Human Rights Watch estimates that there are 300,000 children working in the carpet industry, 270,000 of whom are bonded labourers. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children: Consumer Labels and Child Labor, 1997) * 10 million children were in bondage in 1996. (Volunteers for Social Justice, Jai Singh, statement to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) LOCAL STATISTICS * 15% of the 100,000 children working in the carpet industry of Uttar Pradesh are in debt-bondage. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * 70-80% of the 8,000 to 50,000 children in the glass industry in Ferozabad are bonded. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * 30-40% children in the match and fireworks industry are bonded. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * Half of 100,000 girl prostitutes between 10-14 in Bombay are from Nepal and kept in brothels against their will. (Penelope Saunders, "Sexual Trafficking and Forced Prostitution of Children", 29 October 1998) * A report prepared by advocate Mohammed Siraj Sait and NGO activist Dr Felix Sugirtharaj submitted in the Supreme Court in February 1996 estimates that there are some 1 million bonded labourers in Tamil Nadu. Bonded labour was found to exist in substantial numbers in all the 23 districts of Tamil Nadu and in over 20 occupations. The largest proportion of those in bondage were adult men, with the largest single group working in agriculture and the next largest in stone quarries. It was found that the largest numbers of bonded children were in four industries: silk-weaving, growing flowers, silver work and rolling bidi (local cigars). In the age group below 15, accounting for almost 10% of all those in bondage, there were almost as many girls as boys. (UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) ADULT STATISTICS * 90% of the 100,000 women in prostitution in Bombay are indentured slaves. (CATW Fact Book, citing Robert I. Freidman, "India's Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption are leading to an AIDS Catastrophe", The Nation, 8 April 1996) * Over 10-20 million people are subjected to debt-bondage largely in India, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Philippines. (Debt Bondage: The Challenge for the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) * There are 15 million bonded workers. (UNICEF, Atlas of South Asian Children and Women, 1996) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Domestic media reported that child labourers were being sold in an organised ring at the annual Sonepur cattle fair in Bihar. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * In West Bengal, the organised traffic in illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is a source of bonded labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Persons sometimes are sold into virtual slavery. Many boys, some of whom are as young as 4, end up as riders in camel races in West Asia and the Gulf States, especially in the United Arab Emirates, or begging during the Haj. Girls and women end up either as domestic workers or sex workers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * In the following industries, there is a reasonable basis to believe that products were produced using forced or indentured child labour: brassware; hand-knotted wool carpets; explosive fireworks; footwear; hand-blown glass bangles; hand-made locks; hand-dipped matches; hand-broken quarried stones; hand-spun silk thread and hand-loomed silk cloth; hand-made bricks and bidis (hand-rolled cigarettes). (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There are element of bonded labour in the gem industry. Parents of 80% of children who worked full time had taken loans against their children's labour. (ICFTU, "Union Investigation Reveals Dirty End of the Diamond and Precious Stone Business", 1997) * A large number of bonded children were found working in 4 industries i.e. silk weaving, flower growing, silver work and rolling bidis. ("India court investigation reveal scale of bonded labour", UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) * It takes up to 15 years for girls held in prostitution via debt-bondage to purchase their freedom. (Robert I. Freidman, "India's Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption Are Leading to an AIDS Catastrophe", The Nation, 8 April 1996) * Bonded child labour is evident in the Indian carpet industry. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994) Indonesia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Several thousand children are forced to work on fishing platforms off the east coast of North Sumatra in conditions of bonded labour. They live in isolation on the sea and work 12 to 20 hours per day. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Iran GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No information on laws against forced child labour and such practices. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)   Iraq GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No information about forced child labour is available. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Ireland GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Effective enforcement of laws against forced labour are undertaken. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Israel GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced child labour does not exist. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * Women trafficked from Eastern Europe, were stripped and sold naked as slaves to Tel Aviv traders. (CATW Fact Book, citing The New York Times, 11 January 1998) Italy GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Trafficking in women and girls for prostitution and forced labour to Italy is a growing problem. The women and girls are usually from Albania, Nigeria, former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * In Milan, women abducted from the countries of the former Soviet Union were auctioned. (CATW Fact Book, citing Michael Specter, "Traffickers' New Cargo: Naïve Slavic Women", New York Times, 11 January 1998) * According to the Council of Europe, Roma children are smuggled into Italy from the former Yugoslavia to work as forced labourers in gangs where they are trained and then sold into crime rings in large cities. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) Jamaica - Japan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced or bonded labour does not occur in general, but women are trafficked to Japan and coerced into prostitution. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * In recent years there has been a surge in the smuggling of illegal immigrants from China. These illegal immigrants often are held in debt-bondage to make them pay off the smugglers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Jordan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour is constitutionally prohibited except in occasion of war or natural disaster. No cases involving children are known to exist. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Foreign domestic servants often are subject to coercion and abuse, and in some cases work under conditions that amount to forced labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Abuse of domestic servants, most of whom are foreign, is widespread. Imprisonment of maids and illegal confiscation of travel documents by employers is common. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Kazakhstan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been reported. No laws have been formulated. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Kenya ADULT STATISTICS * A tradition for generations, servitude was officially outlawed in 1980 but 400,000 black Africans still serve as slaves, either formally or informally. (UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 1997) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * In past years, there has been anecdotal evidence that citizens were trafficked to Saudi Arabia under the guise of employment opportunities, and that South Asians were trafficked into the country to work in sweatshops. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There are some cases of children being loaned as workers to pay off debts in rural areas. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Kiribati GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced and bonded labour by children does not occur. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)   Korea, Dem. People's Republic GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There is no prohibition on forced labour by children. School children are assigned to factories or farms for short periods to help meet production goals. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Korea, Rep. - Kosovo GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour, including that performed by children, is prohibited by law and generally is not known to occur. However, the province served as a source and transit point for trafficking in women and girls for the purpose of forced prostitution. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Kuwait GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Some foreign workers are treated as indentured servants. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * The government does not specifically prohibit forced and bonded labour by children, but such practices are not known to occur. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There is forced child exploitation for camel-jockeying. (ICFTU-APRO, Sub-Regional Seminar on Child Labour, October 1993) Kyrgyzstan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The law forbids forced or compulsory labour, as well as forced or bonded labour by children, and generally it does not occur, however, women and girls are trafficked for the purpose of forced prostitution. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Laos GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government is increasingly concerned about Laos children being lured for sexual exploitation and slave labour in other countries. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Although there is no reliable data available on the scope and severity of the problem of forced and bonded labour, there are indications that the numbers are considerable. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There is no problem of child forced labour. (ILO-IPEC, Country Paper: Laos, September 1999) * Children are trafficked from Laos to Thailand for prostitution and sweatshop work.(ILO-IPEC, Child Labour: Trends and Challenges in Asia, August 1997) Latvia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There is generally no evidence of forced or bonded labour involving children, which is prohibited by law. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Lebanon ADULT STATISTICS * The majority of the 170,000 female Sri Lankans who are currently working in Lebanon are shamefully exploited. (Marie Odile and Xavier Favre, "The Beirut slave trade", Le Monde diplomatique, June 1998) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * In the absence of a prohibition against it, children, foreign domestic servants, and other foreign workers sometimes are forced to remain in situations amounting to coerced or bonded labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Investigations pointed out the presence of child slavery. The last survey, to study this phenomenon, was conducted on July 24th, 1995. (Lebanese Union for Child Welfare, National Report of Lebanese Associations, submission to the UN CRC, May-June 1996) Lesotho - Liberia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The Constitution prohibits forced labour including that performed by children; however, this was widely ignored in rural areas where farmers were pressured into providing free labour on 'community projects' that often benefited only local leaders. The government denied allegations that unpaid labourers were forced to harvest crops on President Taylor's private farm. There were reports of forced child labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Some former combatants, including some in the security forces were accused of forcing children to work. Early in the year, a child rights advocacy group released a report on forced child labour in the south-eastern counties. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Forced child labour is prevalent in Sinoe county. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Libya GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Reports of bonded labour are frequent. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There have been reports of trafficking in persons. Libyans have been implicated in the purchase of Sudanese slaves, mainly southern Sudanese women and children, who were captured by Sudanese government troops in the ongoing civil war in Sudan. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Liechtenstein GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour is banned by law. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)   Lithuania GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been reported. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Luxembourg GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The effective enforcement of labour laws is observed. No cases of bondage have been reported. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Madagascar - Malawi GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * A local NGO has reported that in urban areas it is not uncommon to find young girls working as domestic servants, receiving little or no wages, and existing in a state of indentured servitude. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Malaysia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Bonded labour is rare. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)   Maldives GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government does not specifically prohibit forced and bonded labour by children, but such practices are not known to occur. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)   Mali ADULT STATISTICS * Mauritania's haretine (black Africans) are slaves to the beydanes(white Arab-Berber nomads). The beydanes often roam with their slaves into Mali. According to Moctar Teyeb of El Hor, at least 100,000 are in the Mali desert. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There are no reports of forced or bonded child labour in Mali. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Thousands of Malian children were trafficked and sold into indentured servitude on Ivorian plantations. In September 1998, a private Abidjan daily newspaper exposed the widespread practice of importing and indenturing Malian boys for field work on Ivorian plantations under abusive conditions. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There were some reports that the de facto slavery long reported to have existed in northern salt mining communities has evolved towards wage labour in recent years, however, reliable current evidence about labour conditions in those remote facilities remained unavailable. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Debt-bondage still exists in the salt mining communities north of Timbuktu. It has to be stated, however, that the number of people treated in this way has decreased. (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding observations on Mali, 1994) * Many families entrust their children, mainly boys aged five or six, to the care of a religious leader, or marabout, with whom the boys live until the age of 15 or 16. The children perform various tasks in the marabout's school or household. Begging is considered to be a part of the child's learning process because. These students, known as garibou, live in poor conditions with up to 3,000 other students. (CWA, "Child Prostitution in Vietnam", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, July -September 1994) Malta GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATION * Strict enforcement of the laws against forced labour is observed. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Marshall Islands GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The law does not prohibit forced or bonded labour, but such practices are not known to occur. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Mauritania NATIONAL STATISTICS * There are an estimated 1,000,000 haretine (black African) slaves. A large percentage of these are children. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing Moctar Teyeb of El Hor, testimony to the US Senate, 28 September 2000) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Mauritanian slaves are sometimes exported to Sheiks in Qatar and the UAE. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing Moctar Teyeb, Tikkun Magazine) * The government prohibits forced and bonded labour, including by children, but does not enforce this prohibition effectively. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * The traditional practice of slavery continues to exist, caste distinctions including the traditional existence of a slave castes is prevalent in both Moor and southern communities. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There continues to be unconfirmed reports that slavery in the form of forced and involuntary servitude may persist in some isolated areas. Unofficial voluntary servitude persists, with some former slaves continuing to work for former masters in exchange for monetary or non-monetary benefits such as lodging, food, or medical care. Many persons, including some from all ethnic groups, still use the designation of slave in referring to themselves or others. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * SOS-Esclaves in an April 1997 report characterised slavery as a persistent social reality, whose occurrence among disadvantaged classes is far from negligible. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * According to a 1993 US State Department Report, Mauritania has the world's largest concentration of chattel slaves. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Charles Jacobs, Slavery: Worldwide Evil, April 1996) Mauritius - Mexico - Micronesia - Moldova GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government specifically prohibits forced and bonded labour by children, and there were no reports that it occurred, except for instances of trafficking in girls. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Monaco GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Constitutional protection against forced labour is well observed. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Mongolia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Street children are more likely to get involved in slavery-like conditions. (ILO-IPEC, Country Paper: Mongolia, September 1999) Morocco GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The Government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children, but does not enforce this prohibition effectively. The practice of adoptive servitude, in which families adopt young girls and use them as indentured domestic servants, is socially accepted, and the Government does not regulate it. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Forced prostitution is prevalent, particularly in cities with large numbers of tourists, as well as near towns with large military installations. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * No effective enforcement of laws against forced labour is undertaken. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Mozambique GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There were reports that children often were used as bargaining chips to settle financial and other disputes in rural areas. According to Domingos do Rosario, a sociologist with the Cultural Patrimony Department, children sometimes were used as labour to settle outstanding economic accounts in rural areas. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Namibia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children; however, some children worked without compensation on commercial farms. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Nauru GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children and enforces this prohibition effectively. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Nepal NATIONAL STATISTICS * The number of bonded children is estimated as 33,000. (ILO-IPEC, Child Bonded Labour: Nepal, September 1999) * 40,000 children are estimated to be in debt-bondage. (ILO-IPEC, Country Report: Nepal, October 1998, citing CWIN) * 40,000 Nepalese girls under 16 in Indian brothels are forced into prostitution. (Penelope Saunders, "Sexual Trafficking and Forced Prostitution of Children", 29 October 1998) * More than 9,000 girls are trafficked each year from Nepal and Bangladesh into bondage in India and Pakistan, often with the acquiescence or cooperation of state officials. (CATW Fact Book, citing Amnesty International press release, 22 April 1998) * It is estimated that at least 1 million children in Nepal are working as child labourers in difficult circumstances, often as slaves in carpet factories, brick kilns, domestic service, agriculture, plantation, construction, transportation, stone quarry, mines and as migrant workers. (CWIN, Gauri Pradhan, State of the Rights of the Child in Nepal, 1998) * Available data suggests that approximately 7,000 girls between 10 -18 are lured or abducted into prostitution each year. In many cases, parents or relatives sell young girls into sexual slavery. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * Among the Kamaiya families the number of children working under the system is reported to be about 13,000. (National Plan of Action Against Child Bonded Labour, Nepal) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children are bound to work in brick kilns, carpet or garment factories. (ILO-IPEC, Country Paper: Nepal, September 1999) * The system of bonded labour (Kamaiya) is predominant in four districts of western Nepal. (ILO-IPEC, Country Paper: Nepal, September 1999) * The Kamaiya system has recently been abolished. (GMIS, 1 November 2000) * Forced child labour exists in many sectors of the economy. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * Children employed in carpet factories in India are believed to be working under slave like conditions. Nepalese children who have experience in weaving Nepalese carpets are in demand in India. (CWA, Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), "Nepal-India Cross Border Child Labour Migration", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 13, Nos. 2 & 3, April - September 1997)   Netherlands GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour occur. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)   New Zealand - Nicaragua - Niger - Nigeria GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children from Benin have been taken to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Gabon, and sold into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * A study has shown that children are trafficked from Togo to Nigeria for use as domestic servants, market traders, child beggars and prostitutes. (WAO-Afrique, Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999) * Various sources indicate forced child labour and child slavery rings operating between Nigeria and other African countries. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * Children are reportedly sold into domestic servitude. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * Trafficked children are made to work as domestics, hawkers and petty traders, beggars, car washers, bus conductors, farm hands or cattle rearers. (UNICEF Child Domestic Workshop, 1998) * Many families entrust their children, mainly boys aged 5 or 6, to the care of a religious leader, or marabout, with whom the boys live until the age of 15 or 16. The children perform various tasks in the marabout's school or household. In addition, begging is considered to be part of the child's learning process. These students, known in Nigeria as almanjeri, live in poor conditions with up to 3,000 other students. (CWA, "Child Prostitution in Vietnam", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, July -September 1994) Niue - Norway GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been reported. The rules are strictly observed. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Oman GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced child labour has been prohibited by 1973 labour laws. It is not very common for children to work. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * There is forced child exploitation for camel-jockeying. (ICFTU-APRO, Sub-Regional Seminar on Child Labour, October 1993) Pakistan NATIONAL STATISTICS * Of 20 million bonded labourers 7.5 million are children. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * 1.2 million children are bonded in the carpet factories. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * Of 35 million soccer balls stitched in Pakistan, children produce one quarter of the balls, most of them as bonded servants. (Mary E. Williams, Child Labour And Sweat Shops, 1999, citing Sydney Schanberg, Life, 1 June 1996) * The ILO report on Pakistan indicates approximately 50,000 children working as bonded labourers in the carpet sector. (ICFTU and ETUC, Pakistan: Forced Labour, June 1995) * The number of bonded workers is estimated as 20 million, of which 6 million would be children. (ICFTU and ETUC, Pakistan: Forced Labour, June 1995, citing ILO estimates) * There are an estimated 8 million bonded child labourers. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994) * 250,000 children working in brick kilns are bonded labourers, driven into a miserable state by the fact that their entire families have been 'pawned' to the owners by virtue of their having pledged their labour in return for some money taken. (CWA, Ghazanfer Abbas, "Child Labour in Pakistan", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, July - September 1994) * BLLF in 1992 announced that 8 million children were forcibly put to work. (ICFTU and ETUC, Pakistan: Forced Labour, June 1995, citing "The Battle Goes On", Child Workers in Asia, October 1992-March 1993) * BLLF estimated in 1992 that nearly half a million bonded children work in carpet industry alone. (ICFTU and ETUC, Pakistan: Forced Labour, June 1995) ADULT STATISTICS * 200,000 Bangladeshi women have been trafficked to Pakistan for the slave trade and prostitution. (CATW Fact Book, citing UBINIG, Trafficking in Women and Children: The Cases of Bangladesh, 1995) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS - * Children are sometimes kidnapped to be used as forced labour. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * Bonded labour, a contemporary form of slavery according to the UN definition, is still unfortunately prevalent in certain sectors in Pakistan, such as brick manufacture, construction, sports goods manufacture and carpet-weaving. (HRCP, Shakeel Ahmed Pathan, submission to the ECOSOC Commission on Human Rights, June 1997) * Auctions of girls are arranged for three kinds of buyers: rich visiting Arabs, the rich local gentry, and rural farmers. (CATW-Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific, 1996) * The problem of bonded labour has been aggravated with the arrival of adult and child refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh . (ICFTU and ETUC, Pakistan: Forced Labour, June 1995) * Children are employed in hazardous industries such as match and fireworks factories, carpet-making factories, agricultural industries under the authority of land-owners, and in conditions of near slavery. (OMCT/SOS, remarks to the UN CRC, April 1994) * Children are very often forced into a situation of bonded labour by poverty. (OMCT/SOS, remarks to the UN CRC, April 1994) * Several thousand kidnapped children are in forced labour at construction sites. (ILO Committee of Experts, General Report, 1994, citing UNICEF, Situation Analysis of Children & Women in Pakistan) * Millions of children suffer under the bonded labour system in brick kilns, carpet industries, agriculture, fisheries, stone/brick crushing, shoe-making, power looms, refuse sorting. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994, citing "Pakistan: Bonded Labour Abolition Act Passed at Last", Social & Labour Bulletin, April 1992) Palau - Palestine GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases reported of forced labour. There are no laws are there to prohibit forced labour. (US Dept of State Human Rights Report, 1998) Panama - Papua New Guinea - Paraguay - Peru ADULT STATISTICS * Over 10-20 million people are subjected to debt-bondage largely in India, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Philippines. (Debt Bondage: The Challenge for the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The report of the Commission of Experts points out 3 cases of forced labour in Peru. Unpaid work and explicit exploitation of children in the nut-cracking industry of Puerto Maldonado; child workers in mining, gold refining of Madre de Dios; and indigenous communities of Atalaya where there is possible servitude of the entire or part of the indigenous community. (ILO-IPEC, El trabajo infantil en America Latina - CD-ROM, August 1999) * Bonded child labour exists in the informal gold mines of Madre de Dios. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Philippines ADULT STATISTICS * Over 10-20 million people are subjected to debt-bondage largely in India, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Philippines. (Debt Bondage: The Challenge for the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Piggeries in Bulacan province near Manila employ underage workers and restrict them from leaving the breeding farms. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * Traffickers lure people from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and other nations to the Northern Mariana Islands, a United States territory promising lucrative work. Instead, many are forced into slave labour and prostitution. (CATW Fact Book, citing Laura Myers, "Sen Panel Hears of Marianas Abuses", AP Online, 31 March 1998) Poland GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Portugal GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of forced child labour have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Qatar GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Women from East Asia, South Asia, the former Soviet Union, and Africa travel to Qatar to work as domestics and have reported being forced into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) * Mauritanian slaves are sometimes exported to Sheiks in Qatar and the UAE. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing Moctar Teyeb, Tikkun Magazine) * Slavery is legally banned. The laws are effectively enforced. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Romania GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) office in the country reported that during the year about 141 women and girls were repatriated from sexual slavery by December, including 7 from Cambodia and 5 from Moldova. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001) Russian Federation - Rwanda - Saint Kitts and Nevis GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Although the law does not specifically address bonded labour, it has not been a problem in practice. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Saint Lucia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government does not specifically prohibit forced and bonded labour by children, but such practices are not known to occur. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Samoa GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There are no reports of bonded labour by children. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) San Marino GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced and bonded labour are effectively prohibited. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Sao Tome and Principe GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children, and the prohibition is respected. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Saudi Arabia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Workers from Bangladesh, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Horn of Africa have reportedly being forced into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) * Criminal rings consisting almost exclusively of foreigners bought and imported South Asian children for the purpose of forced begging. During the year, the authorities arrested some ring organisers and returned at least 76 children to their own countries. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Forced child labour is not legally banned. Not many cases are reported, except in family business and begging rings. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * There is forced child exploitation for camel-jockeying. (ICFTU-APRO, Sub-Regional Seminar on Child Labour, October 1993) Senegal NATIONAL STATISTICS * Nearly 500,000 minors work in virtual slavery conditions in Senegal. (Jorge Piña, "Italy to Help Vulnerable Children in Senegal", IPS World News, Rome, 29 May 2000) * According to studies by the Senegalese government, there are between 50,000 to 100,000 forced child beggars in Senegal alone. (CWA, "Child Prostitution in Vietnam", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, July -September 1994) * 21.8% of working children are working under slavery-like conditions. (ILO, Child Labour Surveys,1992-1993) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Many families entrust their children, mainly boys aged five or six, to the care of a religious leader, or marabout, with whom the boys (known as talibe) live until the age of 15 or 16. Under the system, the children are forced to beg as part of the learning process. (CWA, "Child Prostitution in Vietnam", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, July -September 1994) Seychelles GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government does not prohibit forced and bonded labour by children, but such practices are not known to occur. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)   Sierra Leone GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The AFRC/Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels forcibly impressed young boys and girls into their ranks and forced them into involuntary servitude, and to perform as sexual slaves. Many later became fighters with the rebel forces. Women were also forced to act as sexual slaves. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Forced labour practices exist. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Singapore GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The government prohibits forced and bonded labour by children and enforces this provision effectively. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Slovakia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour is prohibited by laws. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Slovenia - Solomon Islands - Somalia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There were reports that trafficking in children for forced labour is a serious problem. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001) South Africa NATIONAL STATISTICS * A 1999 survey conducted by Statistics South Africa reported that up to 2,000 children work to pay off outstanding debts to employers or obligations to their landlords. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children from other countries such as Thailand, Eastern Europe, and China are being brought to South Africa and sold into sex slavery by criminal gangs from these countries. (ECPAT, CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp) * The country is a destination point for the trafficking of persons from Mozambique, Thailand, and other countries. In August there were reports that women and girls from neighbouring countries, particularly Mozambique, were lured into South Africa by Nigerian and other organised crime syndicates based in the country with the promise of jobs and decent wages, and then held as near-slaves on farms and other enterprises. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * A form of bonded labour occurs in some regions of South Africa. Here children are forced to work if they wish to enjoy the privilege of living with their parents or caregivers. (ILO-IPEC, Child Labour In Commercial Agriculture In South Africa, 27-30 August 1996) Spain GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Laws against forced child labour are effectively observed. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Sri Lanka NATIONAL STATISTICS * Information gathered by the British charity, Christian Aid, and reported by Reuters, indicates that up to 10,000 children between ages 6 and 14 are enslaved in brothels in Sri Lanka. (CATW, Child Sex Tourism is Flourishing in Sri Lanka, Coalition Report, 1997) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * One of the most destructive forms of child labour in Sri Lanka prevails in the fishing industry. Children are recruited in the fishing 'vaadiyas'. Vaadiyas are very remote and children are kept in conditions of virtual slavery. (ILO-IPEC, Country Paper: Sri Lanka, September 1999) * The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) conscripts high-school age children to work as cooks, messengers and clerks. In some cases, the children help build fortifications. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)   Sudan ADULT STATISTICS * Between 1995 and 2000, Christian Solidarity International has redeemed at least 38,000 slaves, predominantly children. At least 100,000 people are enslaved. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) LOCAL STATISTICS * 12,000 children are enslaved in the north alone. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999) * As many as 3,000 Ugandan children, abducted from northern Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan armed opposition group, were held in the southern part of Sudan. These children were forced to become soldiers or sexual slaves. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * A Ugandan rebel group, has kidnapped Ugandan children, taken them to southern Sudan, and forced them to become soldiers or sex slaves. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) * Sudan has the most brutal form of chattel slavery in the world. Arab militias conduct raids on the African civilian population. Children are the spoils of war. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) * There have been reports of trafficking in persons. Libyans have been implicated in the purchase of Sudanese slaves, mainly southern Sudanese women and children, who were captured by Sudanese government troops in the ongoing civil war in Sudan. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * There are credible reports that government and government-associated forces seized and sold women for work as domestic servants. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Credible reports persist of practices such as the sale and purchase of children, some in alleged slave markets. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Latest reports suggest that the LRA has turned to selling abducted children in return for arms. It has been reported that Bin Laden is the main buyer of these children. Radio intercepts indicate that Bin Laden pays one Kalashnikov assault rifle for every child he buys for use as forced labour on marijuana farms in Sudan. (CSUCS, Africa Report, April 1999 citing US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * Children from Uganda are sold as slaves in Sudan. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * The UN Commission on Human Rights' Special Rapporteur on Sudan has reported on the continuing occurrence of slavery in each of his annual reports from 1993-96. (UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996) * The phenomena of slavery and practices similar to slavery do exist in the Sudan. (UN Special Rapporteur, Mr. Gáspár Bíró, Situation of human rights in the Sudan, 1994) Suriname GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * There were no reports of bonded or forced labour practices. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Swaziland - Sweden GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The prohibition of forced child labour is observed effectively. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Switzerland GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATION * Forced and bonded labour are not believed to occur. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Syria GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour is not prohibited by law. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)   Tajikistan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No laws against forced child labour are in force. No cases have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Tanzania GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * A form of bonded child labour occurs in some regions where children are forced to work if they wish to live with their parents or care-givers. If they do not work, they risk being evicted from the farm. (ILO-IPEC, Child Labour in Commercial Agriculture in Africa, 27-30 August 1996) TFYR Macedonia - Thailand GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced or bonded labour by children is a serious problem in Thailand. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * The network between brothels ensures that women will not escape from bondage. The owner sells prostituted girl or women to another brothel just before she repays her 'debt'. She then must pay a new 'debt', starting at the next brothel.(CATW-Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific, 1996) Togo GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Togolese citizens are trafficked to Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, the Middle East (specifically Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), and Europe (primarily France and Germany) for indentured or domestic servitude, farm labour, and sexual exploitation. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001) * Trokosi slavery extends out of Ghana and into remote regions of Benin and Togo. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) * Children are sometimes subjected to forced labour, primarily as domestic servants. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * Credible sources confirm that international trafficking rings operating in the country sell children to other African countries, the Middle East or Asia, into various forms of indentured and exploitative servitude. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) Tonga - Trinidad and Tobago - Tunisia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATION * The law has been enforced since 1989. No cases have been reported in the case of children. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Turkey GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Forced labour is constitutionally banned. The prohibition has been well observed. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Turkmenistan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Effective prohibition of forced child labour is done except during the cotton harvest in rural areas. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Tuvalu - Uganda GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Both, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and LRA abducted civilians for training as guerrillas; most victims were children and young adults, whom the ADF and LRA terrorized into virtual slavery as guards, labourers, soldiers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Latest reports suggest that the LRA has turned to selling abducted children in return for arms. It has been reported that Bin Laden is the main buyer of these children. Radio intercepts indicate that Bin Laden pays one Kalashnikov assault rifle for every child he buys for use as forced labour on marijuana farms in Sudan. (CSUCS, Africa Report, April 1999 citing US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * Children from Uganda are sold as slaves in Sudan. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998) * UNICEF has drawn up a list of 2,600 children abducted in Kitgum district between 1996-1998, according to the testimony of their parents. Most children are aged 12 to 15 when they are seized in their villages in northern Uganda, near southern Sudan, and taken to be fighters or sexual slaves. (Rädda Barnen, Childwar database, citing Reuters, 10 February 1998) * Abducted children are tied together and forced to carry heavy loads of looted goods. (Human Rights Watch/Africa, Children Abducted by LRA in Uganda, submission to the UN CRC, September-October 1997) * All of the children receive rudimentary military training and most are armed and forced to fight. In effect, children abducted by the LRA become slaves: their labour, their bodies and their lives are all at the disposal of their rebel captors. (Human Rights Watch/Africa, Children Abducted by LRA in Uganda, submission to the UN CRC, September-October 1997) Ukraine GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Human rights groups point out the use of compulsory labour by the army. Conscripts, young and old alike, are used in the alternative service for refurbishing and building private houses for army and government officials. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) United Arab Emirates GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATION * Diplomats and businessmen from the UAE have been caught with slaves they have smuggled into the United States. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) * Mauritanian slaves are sometimes exported to Sheiks in Qatar and the UAE. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing Moctar Teyeb, Tikkun Magazine) * No cases of forced child labour are known. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) United Kingdom ADULT STATISTICS * Some diplomats have domestic slaves. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing Kevin Bales, Disposable People) * 100 women were trafficked for prostitution from remote villages in Brazil to London over the last five year period. The women were held under debt bondage. (CATW Fact Book, citing Michael Hoskins "Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation", Metropolitan Police Service, June 1996) United States of America GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Diplomats and businessmen from Bahrain, UAE, and other Gulf states have been caught with slaves they have smuggled into the United States. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) * An Ivy League professor has been caught with a slave. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000) * Alien smuggling organisations use Suriname as an intermediate destination to smuggle Chinese nationals, including women and girls, to the United States, where frequently they are forced into bonded labour situations. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) * Traffickers lure people from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and other nations to the Northern Mariana Islands, a United States territory promising lucrative work. Instead, many are forced into slave labour and prostitution. (CATW Fact Book, citing Laura Myers, "Sen Panel Hears of Marianas Abuses", AP Online, 31 March 1998) * Chinese women are being trafficked into the United States for brothels in New York and north Carolina. They are held in $40,000 debt bondage. (CATW Fact Book, citing "Chinese women 'forced into prostitution' in US", BBC, 3 March 1998) * In mid-1997 in Queens New York, police were informed of more than 60 Mexican immigrants including 12 children ranging in age from 6 months to 6 years, being held in 'involuntary servitude'. (CATW Fact Book, citing Deborah Sontag, "Deaf Mexicans are Found in Forced Labor", New York Times, 20 June 1997) * Trafficking in women plagues the United States as much as it does underdeveloped nations. Organised prostitution networks have migrated from metropolitan areas to small cities and suburbs. Women trafficked to the United States have been forced to have sex with 400-500 men to pay off $40,000 in debt for their passage. (CATW Fact Book, citing Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution's Pernicious Reach Grows in the US", Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996, citing Avita Ramdas of Global Fund for Women) Uruguay - Uzbekistan GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Large-scale compulsory mobilisation of youth and students (by closing schools) to help with the cotton harvest continues. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000) Vanuatu GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * The legal minimum age for employment is 12 years. Children between 12 and 18 are restricted by occupational category. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) Venezuela GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * Children are being trafficked from Ecuador to Venezuela. The children work in virtual slavery conditions as street vendors, domestic workers and prostitutes. They are abducted, sold by parents or lured by false promises. (CATW Fact Book, citing Vladimir Villegas, Congressional Human Rights Commission, Estrella Gutierrez, "Child Traffic in Venezuela Tip of the Iceberg", IPS, 11 January 1998) * In January 1998, two Ecuadorian girls aged 14 and 17 escaped and informed the police of 200 enslaved children. (ECPAT International) Vietnam - Yemen GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS * No cases of child bondage have been reported. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998) * There is forced child exploitation for camel-jockeying. (ICFTU-APRO, Sub-Regional Seminar on Child Labour, October 1993) Yugoslavia - Zambia - Zimbabwe -