Child Abuse in Nigeria

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Almajiri syndrome

CHILD ABUSE AND CHILD LABOUR OVERVIEW

Child abuse can be seen as situation whereby the fundamental human right of a child is tempered with.That is, the child is not given adequate care and protection as it's the responsibility of every parent to take good care of their children. These right are right to education, religion,freedom,movement, shelther etc. The child on most occasion is exposed to unnecessary hardship and odds in life. Below are some overviews ;

KENYA HAS 3.5M CHILD WORKERS - UNICEF
Kenya has a staggering 3.5 million child labourer and most of them work under very difficult conditions. The country has another 1.5 million children orphaned by AIDS, in addition to the 250,000 minors in the streets, the UNICEF said. Most of the children labourers were employed in the commercial agriculture sector. In Central Kenya they work in coffee and horticultural estates. In Western Kenya, the children work in sugar plantations. Other badly hit areas are Coast and among pastoral communities where children are involved in herding cattle. UNICEF Kenya in liaison with the government, is consulting with the employers to help come up with a solution to child labour.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service December 15, 2001 edition)

17.5 MILLION CHILDREN WORK IN LATIN AMERICA -- ILO
At least 17.5 million children aged five to 14 work in high risk areas throughout Latin America, the ILO revealed. The data show that Ecuador is the country with the most worrying figures in Latin America with 30.23% of children between 10 and 14 years of age, or 420,663, a part of the labour force. In Central America, Guatemala is the country with the highest number of workers between 10 and 14 years of age. It reached 316, 061 out of the 1.325 million child population in the country. The second is Honduras with 88,264 out of the 778,714 child population; El Salvador, 85,516 out of 661,176; Nicaragua, 42,310 out of 575,137; Costa Rica 26,009 out of 203,893 and Panama 12,603 out of 278,631. (Xinhua General News Service)

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service December 1, 2001 edition)

CHILD LABOUR ON THE RISE
Dinajpur, Bangladesh -- Number of child labourers is on rise in all the 13 upazilas of the district hampering the universal primary education programme of the government. Sources said the children aged between 7 and 13 years are engaged in various odd jobs like hotel boy, tempo helper, van driver, cowboy and domestic help leaving school. According to an unofficial survey, there are nearly 40,000 child labourers in the district working at minimum wages to support their respective family. The low paid child labourers are the assets for the private entrepreneurs as the employment minimises the overall cost of production. (United News of Bangladesh)

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service November 15, 2001 edition)

ZAMBIA; CHIRWA SEEKS TO END CHILD LABOUR
Launching the Child Labour in Commercial Agriculture Project in Lusaka, Alec Chirwa, Ministry of Labour permanent secretary informed that 80 million children work for a living in Africa. "Almost half of this number worked full time all year and as many as 70% toil in dangerous environment," he said. Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations worldwide. In absence of protective clothing or other work gears children are more vulnerable. Chirwa called on the stakeholders to work relentlessly to ensure that the trend was reversed for the better future of the growing children. He also disclosed that the Zambian government would ratify the ILO Convention No. 182, which will ensure proper occupational safety and health. (The Post)

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service November 15, 2001 edition)

MORE THAN 400,000 DOMINICAN CHILDREN MUST WORK TO SURVIVE
Santo Domingo
A new study on child labour in the Dominican Republic indicated that 428,720 Dominican children must work in order to survive and that their education suffers because of this reality. The report by the Labour Secretariat also showed that of the 2,400,000 children and teenagers living in Dominican Republic, between the ages of 5-17, nearly half a million cannot read and write - an illiteracy rate of 18.6%. Basic Education Action (EDUCA) President Celso Marranzini, who was cited in the article, sad that the results of the survey are "discouraging" and warned that the situation "can be worse" because the study does not include street children who lack representation. Labour Secretary Milton Ray said that the Dominican government will invest $ 300,000 in a plan to address child labour. (EFE News Service)

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service November 15, 2001 edition)

CHILD LABOUR CRISIS IN NIGER
Niger is facing a critical problem of child labour, with some girls working for 17 hours a day as maids and in other jobs. A 1998 survey by the International programme for the eradication of child labour on a sample of 600 working children, showed that 31% of these children were aged between 10 and 12, and that only one-quarter were sent to school. The study focused on the informal sector where most of the children are involved in cattle-breeding, mining extraction, manufacturing and maintenance activities. Another survey in 1995 put at 247,293, the number of children between four and 20 years, employed in Niger's the informal sector. Niger has since adopted a National Plan of Action for the eradication of child labour, but experts say this has had little effect. (PANA)

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service November 1, 2001 edition)

AFGHANI CHILDREN WORKING IN RUG FACTORIES IN PAKISTAN
Peshawar, Pakistan
Behind the high walls and padlocked iron gates of the AsiaTic carpet-weaving factory live 800 Afghan children whose miserable existence as bonded labourers is a piece of Afghanistan's present plight.

Inside the compound skinny, round-eyed boys tie carpet knots from morning to night. Some of them are only 5 or 6 years old. Alone at night some sob and call out for their parents. Many will contract respiratory ailments from close exposure to wool fibers. Others will go blind from contact with harsh dyes.

These little labourers live behind gates guarded around the clock to stop them from running away. Many were handed over in the last three weeks to groups that organize local child labour by Afghan parents convinced their sons will be safer in Pakistan away from U.S. air raids and better fed than in famine-stricken Afghanistan.

But, because of the social upheaval in Pakistan caused by the war and a sharp decline in orders for carpets from clients in the United States and Europe, many of these children are being laid off and left to their own devices.

The export of Afghan children to Pakistan's carpet sweatshops is hardly a new phenomenon. Desperate Afghan parents without a livelihood at home have been sending their children to Pakistan as bonded labour for years, a practice that went virtually unnoticed until the United States began military attacks on Afghanistan.

The boys work as carpet weavers while girls knead mud bricks in quarries and kilns. They are paid just $1.60 for each 1,000 bricks they make.

At one pit a grizzled patriarch named Bashir Takij said he came from Afghanistan with his family 20 years ago to escape the war against the invading Soviet army. His granddaughter Seema, 7, now works with him. Her little sister Aziza, 3, is learning.

In 1995 the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, a non-governmental organisation, rescued Iqbal Masih from a carpet-weaving factory and made him a symbol in the global battle against child labour. A year later, the 11-year-old boy was killed in Lahore, Pakistan. His death was seen by many as an apparent warning not to tamper with an industry that exports products that are big moneymakers for Pakistan.

The demand for boy workers in Peshawar, home to some 300 carpet-weaving factories, has always been high. There is constant demand for the nimble, tiny fingers of little boys able to pluck and knot the thin wool threads with speed and accuracy.

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(From the files of Chicago Tribune and reprinted in the Child Labour News Service November 1, 2001 edition)

RAMPANT CHILD LABOUR ACROSS THE NATION
Legazpi City
A Department of Labour and Employment study on child labour in Bicol noted that in certain far-flung villages, one can seldom find teenage girls, even those as young as 12 years old. Most of the girls are out of town working as domestic workers, the study claimed. Some of them land in "red-light" districts in Cavite, Baguio City, Pampanga and Metro Manila. Concerned individuals have appealed to government officials to do something about the situation (Philippine Daily Inquirer).

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service October 15, 2001 edition)

THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN WORK IN HIGH-RISK CONDITIONS
More than 150,000 Guatemalan children between the ages of 5 and 14 work, 90,000 of them in high-risk conditions. "It's lamentable that children work in conditions that put their lives and their physical integrity at risk," said UNICEF country co-ordinator Christian Salazar-Volkman. Intervida, a nongovernmental organisation, is working to identify children involved in the worst forms of child labour in accordance with the International Labour Organisation's Convention 182. Intervida general co-ordinator Roberto Barrios said the organisation works with children from 1,600 schools throughout the country and has helped hundreds of children through its programs (Prensa Libre).

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service October 15, 2001 edition)

KENYA: CHILDREN MAKE UP 70% OF WORKFORCE IN SOME SECTORS
Nairobi
The Kenyan government revealed that there were an estimated three to four million child labourers in the country. In its report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Kenya said many of the children were working under hardship conditions which adversely affected their development. In some sectors of the Kenyan economy, children comprised 70% of the labour force, many working in violation of national and international laws, the report added. 52% of Kenyans were under 17 years of age.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service October 15, 2001 edition)

150,000 CHILDREN ENGAGED IN GOLD MINES
Lima
About 150,000 children in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador work in small-scale gold mines that are unstable and pose serious health hazards, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The livelihood of about 400,000 people in the three countries depends on the mining industry, and they work in inhospitable areas lacking in basic services, said Cesar Mosquera, head of the ILO project on small-scale mines in South America.

According to a study by the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), children from the age of six search for and clean gold fragments, and at 10 they carry and crush rocks and mix them with mercury. At 12, according to labour co-ordinator Carmen Piazza, children work inside the mines and help prepare explosives, while mothers and younger siblings search for and clean gold fragments.

About 18% of the families interviewed acknowledged having school-aged children who are not enrolled in school, many of whom take turns with their siblings to attend class.

The study reported that the life expectancy in the mining community was 52, compared to the national average of 68, and recommended that new techniques be implemented to improve productivity.

However, child labour laws, such as those that set 16 as the minimum working age and prohibit children under 18 from working underground, are routinely broken in the three countries, Mosquera informed.

The ILO also pointed out that most children work with their parents and siblings without any type of contract, which lends itself to charges of abusive labour practices on the part of intermediaries and businessmen.

One type of abuse consists of paying miners, both adults and children, with the gold that they can find on the ground after mining blasts.

Another involves employers keeping the workers' IDs, which renders the miners at the boss' mercy over their working conditions and pay.

Around 6,000 of La Rinconada's 30,000 residents work in mines at an altitude about 4,000 meters (about 13,000 feet) above sea level, the ILO said.

About 15 grams of gold are extracted from every ton of rocks, and the market value is about four times the amount the workers' receive.

In addition, the mercury used to separate the precious metal is even more dangerous at the low temperatures that characterise the area.

On a positive note, though, there is no longer any evidence that children are being used to access the mines' narrow corridors, which was a common practice until Peruvian legislators condemned it.

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(Files from the EFE News Service and reprinted in the Child Labour News Service October 15, 2001 edition)

500,000 CHILDREN UNDER AGE 15 WORK IN ARGENTINA
"Poverty is the principal cause of child labour in Argentina, where 500,000 children under age 15 work, mainly as street vendors and in agriculture,' officials maintain. "Necessity pushes parents to insist that their own children work," exposing them to accidents and disease, said sociologist Silvio Feldman, from the National University of General Sarmiento. "They are chosen because generally children are quicker, more agile and have, for example, better eyesight," he said. The employment of children "brings many difficulties," including exposure to dangerous chemicals in agricultural work, he said. Argentina also reports that 50,000 children are victims of clandestine activities, including transportation of contraband and prostitution.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service August 1, 2001 edition)

KYRGYZSTAN: STREET CHILDREN ON THE RISE
Bishkek
As poverty continues to grip this tiny Central Asian country, the number of street children has reached alarming proportions. Many children in the bazaars work as porters, or sell newspapers, flowers or candy, or wash cars in the streets. There have also been incidences of child prostitution. While most of the children working on the streets of Bishkek are between eight and 10 years old, statistics of their number vary between 1,000 and 5,000. The phenomenon of street children is a new one in Kyrgyzstan. Prior to 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union, there were no street children, and the family unit was much stronger. Without the necessary social services to provide assistance, many issues and problems never before seen in the country arose - street children being one of them.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service July 15, 2001 edition)

COLOMBIA: UNICEF REPORTS 2 MILLION CHILDREN ABUSED
UNICEF has launched an education campaign in Colombia to raise public awareness of child abuse and the rights of children, reporting that rates of abuse in the country are 10 times higher than in other countries. According to UNICEF, around 2 million Colombian children are mistreated every year and of these, 870,000 are severely abused. This mistreatment includes actions by parents or adults that negatively affect physical and psychological development of children, including neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse and exploitation, child labour and child trafficking.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service July 1, 2001 edition)

ABOUT 10 MILLION STREET CHILDREN IN ARAB WORLD
Between seven and 10 million children live on the streets of Arab cities, making their living begging or selling small items, a Cairo-based non-governmental organisation said. The Arab Council for Children and Development (ACCD), which is chaired by Saudi billionaire businessman, Prince Talal ibn Abdel Aziz, said in a statement that it plans to organise fundraisers to finance NGO projects that support street children. Arab governments offer no official statistics on what percentage of their 266 million inhabitants are street children, let alone on child labour. In Egypt, street children survive on begging or selling knick-knacks, often under the direction of gang leaders.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service June 15, 2001 edition)

MPUMALANGA FARMERS USE CHILDREN AS LABOURERS
Children as young as six are being forced to work on Mpumalanga farms as part of a deliberate strategy by farmers to use the cheapest and most docile workers available. The children, employed on sprawling citrus and sugar farms in Mpumalanga's fertile Onderberg region, are paid as little as R2,08 per day in return for 12-hours hard physical labour. Most of them are illegal Mozambicans. Labour Department inspectors recently raided 15 of the Onderberg farms and discovered serious abuses on all 15 farms, worst being the Piet Maritz's estate near Marloth Park. The provincial labour department has formally charged Maritz for allegedly contravening the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which prohibits the use of children younger than 15. Other offenders have been served notices.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service June 1, 2001 edition)

BOYS SOLD AS JOCKEYS FOR EMIRATES CAMEL RACING
At least 30 boys a month are being kidnapped in Pakistan and taken to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where they are sold to work as camel-racing jockeys. The number of children being smuggled abroad from Pakistan is rapidly rising. Over 2,000 had been taken to so-called camel camps over the last two years. Girl jockeys are not favoured for religious and cultural reasons, but boys, especially those younger and lighter, are being targeted. The children are kept in terrible conditions at the camps. They are fed one meal a day to keep their weight down. Children are sold for as much as US $3,000. The UAE has banned the use of child jockeys, but camel racing is popular in the Gulf states, with the trade continuing unchecked.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service June 1, 2001 edition)

CHILD LABOUR RAMPANT IN MALAWI'S TOBACCO INDUSTRY
Malawi's tobacco industry has become a haven for child labourers supplementing their parents' income, chief executive of the International Tobacco Growers in Africa revealed. Admitting that the industry employs children, Garbett Thyangathyanga said many of the youngsters were employed by tobacco estates or in selling cigarettes at market places and bars. "The problem is that most of the children working at the tobacco estates do so because their parents insist they should supplement the family's income," Thyangathyanga told. A spokesman for the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Filimino Chalira, said his ministry was aware of the situation and warned that new measures in the pipeline would empower the ministry to prosecute those employing children.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service June 1, 2001 edition)

IN BULGARIA, CHILDREN START WORK EARLY
A recent study has revealed that over 6% of children aged 5-17 are working in Bulgaria. According to the report by the sociology department of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, children are most widely exploited in the country's agricultural sector, as well in services like restaurants and shops. In all some 83,000 children are working, 94% of them without a contract. Some 418,000 peasant children work on the farms, while 54% of family businesses employ children. Some 5.4% are involved in manual labour, according to the report. Under Bulgarian law, children can only be employed with the approval of the labour ministry, but this requirement is widely ignored.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service May 1, 2001 edition)

CHILD LABOUR ON THE RISE SAYS ILO
Deteriorating economic conditions in Guatemala and delays in the implementation of laws to protect children have led to an uncontrolled rise in child labour, particularly among indigenous and rural populations, according to the International Labour Organization. The ILO says the legal mechanisms to regulate child labour in Guatemala do not yet exist. The economic crisis affecting the country and the unequal distribution of resources have also contributed to the situation. While children face physical and emotional risks in the labour force, the ILO says, they also lack opportunities for education and training

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service March 15, 2001 edition)

PAKISTAN: CHILD LABOUR STILL EXISTS IN CARPET INDUSTRY
As many as 13,765 children, including 10,024 girls have been found engaged in carpet weaving in 138 villages spread across the Punjab province, says a recent survey carried out by ILO-IPEC project on combating child labour in carpet industry of Pakistan. The project has already established 107 non-formal education centres for children in Sheikhupura and Gujranawala. As many as 3,688 children including 2,911 girls have been enrolled with these centres. The ILO-IPEC project intends to introduce skill development and income generating activities for the families of carpet weaving children during year 2001. The national government has also established a fund for the education of working children with an initial amount of Rupees 100 million.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service March 1, 2001 edition)

OVER THREE MILLION CHILD LABOURERS IN UGANDA
About 3.3 million children in Uganda are serving as child labourers. Opening a national tripartite planning workshop on child labour in Jinja on Wednesday, the state minister for labour and industrial relations, Dr Philemon Mateke, said most of the children were hidden away in the informal sector. Mateke said HIV/AIDS had led to an increase in child labourers. "It is estimated that, 1.7 million orphaned children arising from the HIV pandemic, continue to be potential suppliers of child labour," he said.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service February 1, 2001 edition)

OVER ONE MILLION TURKISH CHILDREN ARE WORKERS
Ankara
More than one million children aged six to 17 work to contribute to the family income in Turkey, state-controlled news agency Anatolian informed.

Widespread child labour is often cited as one of the problems that Turkey needs to tackle if it is to fulfil its ambition of joining the European Union.

According to a report by the State Statistics Institute (SIS), there are around 16 million children aged six to 17 in Turkey's population of around 60 million, Anatolian said.

Of those, just over one million were in full-time or part-time employment. Nearly 79 percent of those working also attended school and most of those said they would prefer to be able to concentrate on their studies without working.

School is compulsory up to the age of 14 in Turkey.

According to provisional results of the SIS's Child Labour Survey, 33.8 percent of employed children work in cities and 66.2 percent in the countryside. Boys were more likely to be working than girls - 62 percent of working children were male.

Children work mainly in the agricultural sector, followed by industry, trade and service sector jobs. More than half the working children do not receive a wage because they are employed in a family business.

# # #

(From the files of Reuters News Service and reprinted in the Child Labour News Service February 1, 2001 edition)

CHILD LABOUR A BLIGHT IN COTE D'IVOIRE
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire - Several children's rights groups in Cote d'Ivoire have expressed concern over the employment of young girls aged between four and eight years as maids, particularly in Abidjan, the country's capital.

These girls are usually taken away from their rural homes by an illicit network run by Abidjan-based women whose role is to supply maids for a fee.

Most people interviewed in Abidjan said that the employment of youngsters as maids "has become common practice". They said this activity has shifted base from the centre to the north- eastern town of Zanzan.

The transactions usually take place at Boundoukou, 424 km from Abidjan, where "false" relatives literally sell the girls to women agents from Abidjan, a source close to the department of social services said.

According to investigations conducted recently by the department, the women who deal in young girls often target poor large families.

After making grand promises to the families, the young girls are dispatched to private homes as house helps for a monthly stipend, depending on their ages and the employee's purchasing power.

The girls are usually paid wages that vary between 10,000 and 15,000 CFA F (1 USD = 750 F CFA).

But these wages are paid to the so-called "guardian" who does not give a dime to the young girls, according to the investigators.

The social services investigations also reveal that the young girl- maids live under appalling conditions. Most of them are not only bullied by the children of their employers but are sometimes raped by the head of the household himself.

The girls generally sleep in the kitchen or in the living room and are prohibited from using the toilets. They have no right to rest or to be given medication and cared for when they fall sick.

Experts attribute the employment of young girls to the fact that in Africa, fewer girls are enrolled in schools than boys.

It is estimated that 67% of Ivorian girls go to school, compared to 83% of the boys. Only 1% of the girls go to university while 13% reach high school level.

On the other hand, girls engage in income-earning activities very early in life, especially in the rural parts of the countries.

However, the social services investigations also revealed the existence of young boys who roam the labour market, where they struggle to survive by cleaning shoes and hawking sundry wares.

# # #

(From the files of Africa News Service and reprinted in the Child Labour News Service January 15, 2001 edition)

VIETNAM HAS NEARLY TWO MILLION CHILD WORKERS
Nearly 5% of Vietnam's workforce, or more than 1.9 million people, are children under the minimum legal working age of 15, an official daily, sparking concern from the United Nation's children's agency. The statistic was part of the preliminary findings of an annual workforce survey launched by the labour ministry in July. The ministry declined to confirm any of the findings of its survey. UNICEF spokesman, Damien Personnaz, has expressed concerns. Two years ago, the youth ministry's Committee for the Protection of Children gave UNICEF a figure of 29,000 for the number of child labourers most seriously at risk.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service November 15, 2000 edition)

COCOA FARM SLAVERY 'EXAGGERATED'
Cote d'Ivoire
The Ivory Coast has rejected allegations that child slavery is widespread on cocoa farms as "nonsense" and "wildly inaccurate".

The documentary shown on British television station Channel 4 made unsubstantiated allegations damaging the Ivory Coast, said Kouadio Adjoumani, the country's ambassador to the UK.

"The absurdity of the claim that 90% of farms use slave labour is shown up by the simple fact that this would mean that nearly every one of the 700,000 farmers employs slaves, patently nonsense as anyone with any knowledge of our country would know."

Cocoa producers and international cocoa traders have also criticised the documentary as exaggerating.

Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa - the main ingredient in chocolate.

Ivorian and Malian authorities admit there is a problem, and signed an agreement recently to halt trafficking of child labour.

Mali's government is seeking to raise money to repatriate, rehabilitate and resettle what they estimate to be 15,000 Malian children working without payment on Ivorian cocoa plantations.

British chocolate makers have said they plan to investigate the Channel 4 report and insist upon action if such "abhorrent practices" were discovered.

"We do not believe that the farms visited by the programme are in the least representative of cocoa farming in Cote d'Ivoire, although the claims cannot be ignored," the Biscuit, Cake Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance (BCCCA) said in a statement.

Cocoa prices are at a 10 year low, and farmers have burnt small amounts of crop last year to try to boost the prices.

The cocoa market has also been deregulated which is making it difficult for farmers to get their money. Less scrupulous ones have stopped paying their workers altogether.

(Printed in the Child Labour News Service October 15, 2000 edition)

CHILD LABOUR IN GARMENT UNITS DROP DOWN
The employment rate of children under the age of 14 in garment factories declined to 5 per cent in August 2000 from 43 per cent in July 1995 as a result of a tripartite agreement to make the country's garment factories child labour free.

The reduction came as the result of a Memorandum of Understanding 1(MOU1) among International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on July 4, 1995 to jointly phase out child labour in the garments industries of Bangladesh.

This disclosure was made by Chief Technical Adviser, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of the ILO, Christian von Mitzlaff.

Mitzlaff said that following the signing of the MOU, 336 non-formal educational centres were opened countrywide for about 10,000 under-14 year ex-garment workers, removed from the 3200 garment factories which are members of the BGMEA.

The ILO, in co-operation with the BGMEA, has formed ten monitoring teams throughout the country to oversee the implementation of the child labour free garment industry programme.

To ensure that children did not drift back to work elsewhere, a stipend of Tk 300 per month was being provided to the ex-garment worker children attending non-formal school.

The MOU1 provided for a joint survey to identify child workers below the age of 14 in the BGMEA-member garment factories, remove the children from work and place them in specially created schools to be provided non-formal education and wherever possible make them enter formal schools, provide stipends to children who had been removed from work and had attended schools, and enrol ex-working children in vocational skill training programmes after completion of non-formal education.

Another MOU, the MOU-2, was signed on June 16, 2000 among ILO, BGMEA and UNICEF. The MOU-2 intends to maintain the achievements of MOU1 and keep the BGMEA factories child labour-free through continued monitoring, developing a strategy for transferring the monitoring component to another appropriate entity/entities for future monitoring, and providing training skills to all working children removed from the BGMEA factories.

Stipends will be discontinued after December 2000. To the extent possible, other compensatory measures may be provided. The tenure of MOU2 will end in June 2001.

The discontinuation of the stipend is likely to affect the students of the non-formal schools. Most of them might leave the schools, said Abul Kashem Majumder, Regional Manager of BRAC.

For implementation of the MOU-2, the BGMEA is contributing US$ 200,000, the ILO approximately US$ 400,000 and the UNICEF approximately US$ 100,000.

(Files from The Independent and reprinted in the Child Labour News Service October 1, 2000 edition)

LOOK WHAT THEY MAKE THESE KIDS DO
Mumbai
The stench of death holds its macabre sway over the winding, narrow lanes of Qureshwadi near Bhiwandi. Yet, the lakes of congealed blood, fat flies on rotting carcasses and the revolting smell of excreta from the area's many illegal abattoirs all pale in comparison to the gruesome sight of children up to their arms and ankles in the entrails of slain animals.

Putting an approximate number to this nameless horror, an ongoing report being prepared by United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and SETU, a non-governmental organisation estimates that over 100,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 are employed at the 200 illegal slaughter houses and meat shops at Bhiwandi in Thane, Aurangabad and Pharbani districts in the state.

The study covering 265 children found that the children are stunted with rickety and curved limbs and a majority of them are suffering from tuberculosis, anthrax and leptospirosis. Infections like brucellosis (joint pain fever) and skin diseases are rampant among these child labourers.

"From 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., these children cut and skin carcasses, load them on to rickshaws and distribute them in the 60-70 meat shops in Qureshwadi and Bhagbunder, the focal areas of the study," says Dr Abdul Samad, professor of veterinary medicine who is heading the project. It is common to see the grotesque sight of small boys inflating the intestine to clean out the excreta of slain animals. Girls carry headloads of meat for delivery at the doors of regular customers.

Families of these children survive on the monthly income of Rupees 1,200 to which the children contribute an additional Rupees 10-20 per day, the study reveals. A majority of them have never been to school though the district authorities have been trying to rehabilitate them by setting up balwadis and a 'Prerna' centre for girls. Those who enrolled for primary classes, have dropped out before they reached the third standard. The study reveals that they mostly belong to the Quresh community and Khatiq, classified as a 'backward class'.

Although district authorities have tried to create awareness on education, health, nutrition and sanitation among members of the community, they have been unable to prevent the children from immersing themselves in the quagmire of this occupation.

(Printed in the Child Labour News Service September 1, 2000 edition)

CHILD LABOUR AT SUZUKIS INVITES GRAVE CONCERN
There is a growing rate of employment of children at Suzukis plying on various routes in Pakistan, terming it the severest kind of child labour. Children are lured to take jobs as conductors on daily wages package. These children become easy victims to the diabolic temptations of their masters and spend the remaining life as male prostitute, criminals and murderers. Some even become tool in the hands of terrorist groups. They develop inhuman habits and substance abuse is widespread. Social and religious circles have demanded urgent action by government to save these children from drudgery.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service September 1, 2000 edition)

LEAST VISIBLE, MOST VULNERABLE
Cheriton, Va.
Fourteen years old and barely 4-foot-6, Amelia Gomez spends her days pulling weeds and picking red peppers, often complaining that the pesticides give her rashes.

Daniel Velasquez, 13, who picks cherry tomatoes nearly 12 hours a day, recently arrived on Virginia's Eastern Shore after a two-day bus ride from Florida.

Amelia and Daniel are among hundreds of child farm workers on Virginia's Eastern Shore, part of the estimated 150,000 children 16 years or younger who work the nation's farms.

For the most part migrants, these children often work 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, facing dangers from pesticides and risking exhaustion and dehydration.

These children, labour experts say, are among a steadily growing group of young field hands and constitute one of the least visible and most vulnerable classes of workers in the nation.

Their plight is such that Democrats in Congress are planning to introduce legislation next month to make it harder to hire 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds.

Advocacy groups say many child farm workers are exploited because they are scared to speak up and desperate to hold their jobs and because many are illegal immigrants.

Child farm workers are often paid less than the $5.15 minimum wage, sometimes receiving $2.50 an hour.

"When people think of agriculture, they think of the agrarian myth and what a wonderful, nurturing, safe, wholesome environment to raise a child," said Diane Mull of the Association of Farm Worker Opportunity Programmes. "In some cases, that's true, but it's certainly not true for migrant farm-worker kids."

And while federal law allows children to work long weeks in the fields, some federal officials are highly critical. "Agricultural employment for kids is bloody dangerous," said John Fraser, director of the U.S. Department of Labor's wage-and-hour division. "Only 6 to 7 percent of the jobs that young people take are in agriculture, yet 40 percent of the work-related fatalities that young people suffer are in agriculture."

Fraser said the government was increasing investigations into improper use of child farm workers. Last year it cited 46 farms for violations involving 102 minors. There are 1.9 million farms in the US.

(Files from the New York Times and reprinted in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service August 15, 2000 edition)

FARM FEARS IN CHILD LABOUR BID
The Victorian Farmers' Federation (VFF) has attacked plans to crack down on child labour last month. The Victorian Government wants to significantly increase penalties for breaches of child labour laws. But farmers said penalties of up to $A10, 000 or a jail term could put some farmers out of business. The VFF said that while it condemned exploitative child labour practices, a common-sense approach was needed to exempt farming families. About 70 per cent of Victorian farms were family-operated, without a clear division between work, family, duties and fun, it said. Under the present law a permit is needed for the employment of most children under the age of 15. Farm children are not exempt.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service August 15, 2000 edition)

COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE CHILD LABOUR IN LOCK INDUSTRY
Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has constituted a committee to examine the issue of child in the lock industries in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. Taking cognisance of a news item, 'Children Still Slog in Aligarh Lock Industries', highlighting the plight of child labour and ill-effects of the working conditions, the commission constituted a five-member committee headed by NHRC special rapporteur, Chaman Lal. The committee will examine every aspect of employment of child labour in the lock industries in Aligarh and report to the commission within three months. The committee also included Madhukar Dewedi, Special Secretary, Labour in Uttar Pradesh Government and PK Singh, Deputy Labour Commissioner of Agra.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service August 15, 2000 edition)

IRANIAN UNION WARNING ON CHILD LABOURERS
The head of the official trade union in Iran says more than 300,000 Iranian children and adolescents' work illegally in workshops and factories. Ali Reza Mahjub said that even though the Iranian authorities had banned child labour, the number of children working illegally could double within a year. He said that child labourers were poorly paid and lacked social protection. Iran is a member of the International Labour Organisation and has signed a number of conventions on working conditions.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service August 1, 2000 edition)

28% CHILDREN WORKING IN GHANA
An awareness workshop on the worst forms of child labour was organised by the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) in conjunction with ILO in Kumasi. The aim was to identify the various forms of exploitation and to come up with specific recommendations to address the problem of child labour in the country. Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Ashanti Regional Minister, informed that 800,000, or 28% of children, between the ages of 14 and 17 are involved in child labour in the country. He opined that effective implementation of labour laws, information sharing and effective sensitisation through dialogue is the best way of minimising child labour in the country.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service August 1, 2000 edition)

NEPAL'S TOURISM INDUSTRY BRANDED 'HAZARDOUS'
Nepal's tourism industry, considered too dangerous for child workers, will no longer be able to employ those below the age of 16, announced Labour Ministry official Dev Ratna Tamrakar. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 2000 considered tourism a hazardous industry, he informed. "The act seeks to eliminate the worst form of child labour," he said. Under the Labour Act of 2000, people found guilty of employing children in trekking, white water rafting, hotels, resorts, casinos, bars, pony trekking, gliding and mountain climbing could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and fined 50,000 rupees. Tourism including trekking and mountain climbing is a major source of foreign currency for Nepal, which earned 12.17 billion rupees from tourism in 1998-99. However, child rights activists say about two million children including debt-ridden bonded labourers, agricultural workers and domestic servants are working in the country of 22 million people.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service July 1, 2000 edition)

400,000 CHILDREN ESTIMATED IN HARMFUL LABOUR IN TANZANIA
According to the Deputy Minister for Labour and Youth Development, Mr. William Lukuvi, at least 400,000 children in Tanzania operate in the worst forms of child labour. Helpless children were working in commercial farms, mining and commercial sex in various places of the country. Some estimates put the figures for child labour at 1.52 million. Some 30,000 children are employed in hazardous work places, 5,000 in plantations and 3,000 in mining. The ILO has agreed to provide Tshs 164.772 million for a study to come up with exact figures for children involved in child labour in Tanzania. The agreement was signed in Dar es Salaam recently between the ILO and the Ministry of Labour and Youth Development.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service June 15, 2000 edition)

CHILDREN MAKE UP TEN PERCENT OF CAMBODIA'S WORKFORCE
Minister for Social Affairs, Ith Sam Heng, reported that nearly 10 percent of Cambodia's 6.3 million workforce are children at work in rice fields, rubber plantations, on the streets and even in garbage dumps. A recent UN report also revealed that more than half of Cambodian children leave school before grade six to join the workforce. The United States recently donated 1.2 million dollars to help the government combat child labour.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service June 15, 2000 edition)

CHILD LABOUR DECLINES IN MORADABAD'S BRASS INDUSTRY
Concerted efforts of city residents and the administration has resulted in a decrease in the number of child workers in the world-famous brass industry in Moradabad, India to about 6,000. A recent survey conducted among the 54,915 families in the city by the state labour department has shown that of 96,167 children below the age of 14, only 6,099 are employed. An earlier survey in Uttar Pradesh, following an Allahabad High Court order, had found 33,147 child workers in 1997. The number had come down to 18,000 last year. The child workers are mainly employed in welding and polishing work in the brass factories.

(Printed in the News-in-brief section of the Child Labour News Service June 1, 2000 edition)

CHILD LABOUR STILL RIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg
Three years ago the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which outlaws the employment of children under 15, became law, but about half a million children are still involved in the worst forms of child labour.

Although the latest statistics have not been released, Deputy Director in the Department of Labour, Joy Mehlomakulu, said in 1995 about 400,000 children aged under 15 years were working and that figure has since increased.

Mehlomakulu said child labour in South Africa was of great concern, because children were still involved in prostitution and hazardous work in the mines, coal yards and many were being forced into gangsterism.

These children are carrying the burden of poverty and unemployment. Any child labour practices that were detrimental to a child's health, safety, morale and wellbeing were supposed to be eradicated opines Mehlomakulu, whose job is to ensure that decent labour standards are enforced through the Constitution.

Global March Against Child Labour National Coordinator, Thabisile Msezane knows the plight of child labourers first hand. She has been working with such children since 1994 and has rescued about 40 children aged between six and 16 who she now looks after at Sithabile Child and Youth Centre in Dawn Park.

"Children are still being exploited as farmworkers on 12 different farms in Dawn Park, Klippoortjie and Rondebult on the East Rand," Msezane said.

"It is three years since South Africa promulgated the Basic Conditions of Employment Act declaring the employment of children a criminal offence. However, we have heard of no arrests or prosecutions of the employers of these children." She said the government and trade unions had failed to protect children from harmful and exploitative work.

A child labour inter-sectoral group, convened by the Department of Labour which was supposed to bring together government departments, trade unions, employer bodies and non-governmental organisations to combat child labour, had not made a difference after two years, she said.

The Department of Labour has trained inspectors in all provinces--including social workers, police, teachers and justice officials--to implement the law against child labour. But that, too, has not borne fruit.

Under the banner of Gauteng's Programme of Action for Children, the Children's Rights Commission and South African Youth Against Child Labour, Msezane also organised a march last week to raise awareness on child labour.

(Files from the Sowetan and reprinted in the Child Labour News Service April 1, 2000 edition)