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. <