FIGHTING AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

Laure BOUTIN

Cécile CHAUDIER

Group 21 – Research project 2005

Jérôme PARDIGON

FIGHTING AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

“From exploitation to education”

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Table of contents

Introduction

1. The role of international organizations A – International organizations and international labour standards B – The intervention of governmental institutions

2. The actions of private sector A – The commitment of firms B – The influence of workers and employers’ organizations

3. The civil society : a role to play A – The initiatives of non-governmental organizations B – The way to act for individuals

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« It’s really a kind of spiritual feeling which is difficult to explain. The smiles come on the face of the children when they realise that they are free » said Mr. Kailash Satyarathi, an Indian anti-child labour campaigner, declared « Man of the week » by ABC News1. An estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labour according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). 171 million work in bad situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery. They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, labouring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations. Millions of others work under horrific circumstances. They may be trafficked or subjected to forms of slavery, prostitution and pornography.

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http://abcnews.go.com/

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It is a phenomenon which concerns many children in Asia (60% of the 250 million children estimated), Africa (30%), South America (7%), but in western countries too (for example, 370 000 children work in Italy). The modern times don’t seem to be synonymous with progress for children, especially in Africa where child poverty is associated with war, famine and the spread of AIDS. Strangely, this phenomenon is not taken up by the media. Sometimes, a channel broadcasts a report about Child labour and the western viewers are touched by the images. In the same way, the action of artists from all nationalities is positive to help people develop into better human beings. Nevertheless, we can see that it doesn’t really rally people’s interest. For example, the last Children Rights Day unfortunately didn’t mobilize people. We could speak about a fatality but in fact people don’t really know how to fight against child labour. Everybody knows that child labour has effects on the health and moral well-being of the child, but we feel powerless. In order to make people (the class of course) more aware of this problem and also to show the students what they could do (or what they will be able to do in the future), we have chosen to present the actions of three main actors : first, the governments and the international organizations, then, the firms, and to finish, the civil society.

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I/ The role of international organizations and governments A – International organizations and international labour standards International organizations’ work with national governments is crucial in fighting child labour. The International Labour Office (ILO) is the main international organization which fights against child labour. But UNICEF, UNESCO or the World Bank are also mobilized and have intensified their action in recent years. The role of international organizations is to raise the awareness of government officials but also to centralize the financial support of the governments for projects and programmes. They can make international public opinion more aware of the child labour issues or help countries to do research and understand the child labour phenomenon. Above all, international organizations promulgate international legal standards and encourage countries to conform to them. With this aim in view, they offer technical assistance. In order to improve children’s living and work situations, they encourage governments to enter into programmes with other countries, international organizations or donors. The “spearhead” of the fight against child labour is the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), a technical cooperation programme of the ILO. Its main goal is the progressive elimination of child labour by strengthening national capacities to resolve the problem and by promoting a worldwide movement to combat it. The World Day Against Child Labour, June 12, or “SCREAM Stop Child Labour” are examples of IPEC initiatives. International labour standards are elaborated in the ILO’s annual International Labour Conference by delegates of governments, employers and workers from the ILO member states. As such, they are adopted by the entire international community. So, we can consider that they are a powerful tool for supervising the countries’ action concerning child labour. Nevertheless, there is 6

no international “police force” that can force individual countries to ratify them and to conform to them. 

One of the most important international labour standards adopted concerning child labour is the Minimum Age Convention (1973 - No. 138) : the general minimum age for admission to employment should not be less than 15 years.

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Another important international labour standard is the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999 - No. 182). Its aim is to make sure that children in all countries are protected from those extreme forms of work.

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The ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998 - No. 182) emphasizes the importance of the most fundamental labour rights in the context of globalization and particularly the effective abolition of child labour.

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The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC – adopted by the UN in 1989) defines a child as every person under the age of 18. It particularly recognizes the right of children to be protected from economic exploitation. It also protects children from any work that could be hazardous to the child’s health, development or that interferes with the child’s education (Article 32). For example, it prohibits illicit production and trafficking of drugs (Article 33), sexual exploitation (Article 34), trafficking of children for any purpose (Article 35), other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child’s welfare (Article 36), and the use of children in armed conflict (Article 38).

B - The intervention of governmental institutions Governments, parliamentarians, ministries and other public agencies are essential actors in the fight against child labour. Without their action, international organizations’ role can’t come into effect. Firstly, they determine the status and extent of child labour in a country. For example, some governments, including those of Colombia, Kenya, Thailand 7

and Turkey, have set up permanent child labour committees. Their task is to oversee all activities and policies which concern child labour in the country and to work with international organizations. Secondly, government action is necessary to produce reports and to initiate legislation, policies and programmes. National legislation is a key element in the government arsenal for combating child labour. It sets the principles, the objectives and the priorities for national policy. However, even when laws do exist, children who work, as well as their families or employers, do not know the specific laws. So, information about national legislation must be translated in local dialects and presented in terms that will be understandable to the populations who are concerned. The next step may be more difficult : as lawmakers, parliamentarians have to be sure that the legal right - which determines responsibilities and provides sanctions against violators - is dissuasive enough. Moreover, adequate compensation may be provided for the children and their families. Thirdly, government participation is important to reinforce and promote all laws and international standards that protect children from labour and exploitation. Finally, governments can also identify priority target groups, formulate projects and allocate the necessary resources. As part of projects, governments are responsible for evaluating the educational system and for exploring ways to improve children’s access to education. National authorities also work with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in order to determine how to change the prevailing attitudes about child labour - the attitudes of communities, families, employers, teachers and even the children themselves. We share this type of policy which considers the child labour problem in its entirety.

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For instance, the United States government set up a “National Program of Action” so as to prevent the criminal exploitation of children, reduce workplace injuries and fatalities of young workers etc. Other example, the German government produced a brief documentary on the fight against child sex tourism. This film is screened on the international flights of various airlines and has also been shown on television in Europe. The goal is to discourage persons from travelling to certain countries in search of the sexual exploitation of children. Some bilateral agreements have also been signed between countries whose citizens participate in this kind of tourism, such as between the governments of Ivory Coast and Mali. The main goal is to prevent and control the traffic and to repatriate and rehabilitate the victimized children. Governments which try to deal with their child labour problem, find that they can fight it best in a coordinated way. Consequently, they mobilize various government ministries. Many developing countries are formulating national Poverty Reduction Strategy Plans (PRSPs) and other “multi-sectoral” programmes. Although we can’t be sure about the efficiency of these programmes, many efforts have recently been made by governments and international organizations to promote the integration of child labour into this sort of project. Turkey is a good example of how child labour initiatives have been integrated into the national development agenda. The Government’s priority for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour for the period 2004-2014 are: poverty alleviation, the reduction of household vulnerability, the education for all and the elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency. To define legislation is only a first step. To raise awareness is a second. The next challenge is to effectively enforce legislation. One of the methods is 9

labour inspection. Inspectors provide advice to both employers and workers, but also advise the governments in the elaboration of the policy. One successful example of effective labour inspection is the investigation of a McDonalds’ franchise in Camberley (Great Britain). The investigation revealed school-age children which were working up to sixteen hours a day. A penalty of £12,400 followed2. The monitoring of workplaces is another way to ensure that employers are not using child labour, or, where children under 18 are legally employed, that they are not exposed to hazardous work. Workplaces in Bangladesh and Pakistan, especially those which manufacture for export, have been monitored. However, we can note that labour inspection and the monitoring of workplaces are not really efficient because they are very difficult to set up. Many countries have too few labour inspectors or inspectors who receive inadequate training. But the main difficulty is to gain access to workplaces. Without employers’ cooperation, it becomes more difficult to monitor the child labour situation. Despite these difficulties, we agree that labour inspection and monitoring remain necessary if we want to stop child labour in reality.

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Source: BBC News, Inspecting McDonalds in Great Britain 24 April, 2002.

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II - The actions of private sector If the action of governments is very important to fight efficiently against Child labour, the role of the firms is essential too. Employers, sometimes with workers’ organizations, have the power to determine and to affect working conditions. We should not underestimate the efforts of some firms. Of course, these efforts are today not sufficient, but it is the reason why we have to encourage them. A – The commitment of firms More and more employers now accept the fact that exploiting children is intolerable and has long-term human costs for their society (sometimes after threats of boycotting goods sold by firms which use child labour…). They realise that putting children to work can limit the social and economic development of a country. We could think that employers are only interested in profits. Nevertheless, more and more firms are aware that a real economic development in the poor countries would bring about new outlets and benefits for themselves. Number of them joined the credo “From Exploitation to Education” which replaces the education of children as priority. A new goal appears : people’s dignity and integrity before interests and profits. Moreover, firms consider the advantages to be free of child labour on their brand image. More and more employers adopt codes of conduct and ethical policies. These codes of conduct reflect a particular philosophy which is good for the image of the firms. They contribute to marketing strategies because the better the image is, the more people buy your products. Bad publicity concerning a product which uses child labour can ruin years of marketing efforts.

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Codes of conduct vary from company to company and reflect their own objectives. Reebok was one of the first multinationals which adopted a specific code of conduct. In 1992, Reebok decided in its “Human Rights Production Standards” to refuse to work with business partners who employed a person under the age of 14 or who used forced labour. Since, Reebok has applied its Standards in the selection of its partners. On the other hand, the Benetton group prohibited the employment of children aged under 15. In Brazil, Shell has introduced a clause in its contracts with distilleries forbidding the suppliers from using child labour. Other way to act, Levi Strauss supports the development of “legitimate workplace apprenticeship programmes” for the educational benefit of younger people (This firm paid for books and school uniforms in Bangladesh). In India, a working group for the eradication of child labour was set up by many industries. The Charter of the sugar collective which gathers associations and firms from all over the world to promote the respect of human rights and to fight against child labour is another good example. The multinationals’ codes of conduct can seem to be designed to reassure consumers more than anything else, but all the same is positive. B – The influence of workers and employers’ organizations When employers and workers’ organizations are allies, the action is particularly efficient. For example, an agreement aimed at fighting child labour was signed in November 2001 by the international social partners in the cocoa sector. The signatory parties have to try to eradicate child labour in their sector : establishment of a joint action programme of research, information exchange, and action. This agreement underlines the fact that an action of nongovernmental actors is possible and even necessary. In the same way, we can suppose that sectorial agreements are more efficient than global conventions. The programmes are more precise and they gather people who can act directly. 12

Another example, in Turkey, has shown in the metal industry the potential of this kind of sectorial programmes. The objectives of the Turkish programme are in particular to withdraw children below the age of 15 years old from all forms of work (and those between 15-18 from hazardous work). Employers’ organizations, which represent business interests, are not alone in the scene. Indeed, workers, who are also parents, participate in representative organizations. Through the collective bargaining and negotiations, they can also deal with child labour and the problems of child workers. In some countries, workers’ organizations have the power to influence law and labour practices. They can popularize the cause. They can influence adult workers’ attitudes and behaviour. In this way, many organizations have assisted children to move from the workplace into education. It is not difficult to recognise that national or international employers and workers’ organizations have a great potential for changing public perception on the rights of children. Recently, a campaign of the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) was a success, establishing a scheme for recognising “child-friendly firms”. Moreover, the firms which have adopted good practices in abolishing child labour are rewarded. All those examples underline that we don’t forget that the cooperation of employers is crucial in the fight against child labour, because they can ensure that their firms are free of child labour. The members of the International Organization of Employers (IOE) - which are the most important multinationals - are particularly subject to many standards and information campaigns which prevent them from staying blind. However, we don’t forget that many national industries or little firms continue to use child labour in developing countries. In India, 300 000 children work in the carpet industry while 400 000 adults in 13

these areas are jobless. Industry replaces adults by cheaper child labour and moves from the formal to the informal household sector.

III – The civil society : a role to play A – The initiatives of non-governmental organizations The action of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is really important to make people aware at a time in countries where child labour occurs and in developed countries where they can play a special role in influencing governments and raising social awareness of the public and mobilizing it. A lot of NGOs act in the countries concerned by this phenomenon which is often a social, economic and cultural heritage. Their goal is to inform the communities about the dangers of child labour so that people contribute themselves to eliminate it. We think it is the most effective approach in the fight against child labour to make people understand the risks and the dangers of child labour and the value of education. Come in the countries and say “your children must not work because they are too young. They should go to school and have fun” is not the best way because it could be seen as a western point of 14

view on the children’s condition which is imposed. So most of the NGOs undertake several actions in which they try to involve communities as large as possible. 

They make campaigns to promote children’s rights and to mobilize people.

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They can set up workshops for those who help and advise the children like teachers, social workers, …

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They provide services such as legal and moral support

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They create alternative educational programmes

 They help children who are in exploitative situations A lot of children, especially young girls coming from rural areas, are working as domestics. In Senegal for example, the association Enda proposes them educational programmes to learn to read and write. It can also help them to build a professional project. Oumy, a former child domestic worker has left her employers to become a seller on the market thanks to a micro credit. In Tanzania, the Tanzania media women’s association (TAMWA) leads a global action in a child domestic workers prevention campaign. They build urban centers to contact the girls when they arrive in the city in order to provide them basic assistance. The child domestic workers can also find an individual support and guidance in these centers. TAMWA launched a multi-media awareness campaign which is a very important action to warn parents and communities, particularly in villages, on the harsh realities that the girl domestics face in towns. In Asia, a lot of NGOs fight against child prostitution and exploitation which is a very widespread practice often linked with tourism. But it is sometimes dangerous. In Cambodia, the Somaly Mam’s association was attacked by the procurers to get their girls back.

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Even if the NGOs often cooperate with governments and international organizations, we think they play the most important role in this struggle in developing countries because they are very active and they launch effective and often successful initiatives in the field. In developed countries, the NGOs have a special role to play to make the phenomenon of child labour more visible. They relay information from their NGOs local partners, design and support campaigns and actions in developed countries. They can raise social mobilization by awareness campaigns or media actions. Some large international NGOs - Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, Human Rights Watch … - deal with child labour as a part of other issues. They organize campaigns on the subject and have a great influence thanks to their fame. Other NGOs are specialized in children’s issues like Global March Against Child Labour, International Save the Children Alliance, Defence for Children International … The main means of action for NGOs in developed countries are awareness campaigns. The “foul ball” campaign is a significant example. Children were working in soccer ball stitching in Pakistan. Politicians (as US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich), several international trade union federations and NGOs launched the campaign in June 1996 (year of European championship) to ensure that "children would no longer kick around the balls made by impoverished children half a world away," in the words of campaign director Dan McCurry. In 1997, an agreement was signed between the Pakistan soccer ball industry, the International Labour Organization, and UNICEF to remove children from the production of soccer balls, provide them with educational opportunities, and create internal and external monitoring systems for the soccer ball industry. FIFA took also commitments. B – The way to act for individuals 16

Next to action of NGOs, individuals and the general public in developed countries (that means “we”) have a role to play in this fight too. Once we are informed on the issue of child labour (causes, effects, actors, etc.), the next step is to get involved in this struggle. What can we do ? Firstly, we can contribute to the fight against child labour through our consumer behaviour. Fair labour standards like Max Havelaar exist to certify that the products have been made in respect of the human rights. The social standards, like the SA-8000 system, guarantee the respect of the worker’s rights by the organizations which adopt them. They contain some requirements relating to child labour. For example, forced labour or work of a child younger than 15 years are forbidden. That means that teenagers can work but under some conditions. It is important to understand that children who work are often obliged to do so by the circumstances. School is not a priority for them because they need first of all money to live and eat. If we prevent them from working, it could be worse (work in informal sector) than to organize their working conditions (minimum age, hours of work, education, pay, etc.). So choose to buy products with social label can affect the market for child labour by encouraging companies’ management to be interested in this practice. To succeed and to have more weight, fair trade initiatives have to be relayed by the media. Only a maximum publicity can really influence companies and consumers. More generally, we think the media have a great role to play in relaying the different campaigns and actions. But it is not enough because we can not just rely on NGOs to improve the situation. We have to put pressure on political and economic leaders so that they change their attitude and apply labour standards and rights which already exist. So media should more inform the public opinion about the existence, the extent and the impacts of child labour. Making a media event in 1998 of the march across the globe of children against child labour led to a worldwide mobilisation and the adoption of Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour by the International 17

Labour Organization. The media can’t be ignored nowadays to mobilize public opinion. Extensive media coverage is often the condition for the success of a campaign. Secondly, individuals can influence governments or firms by voting or petitioning. For example, the clean clothes campaign organized signature and postcards campaigns addressed to the retailers to urge them to implement a code of conduct. The Global March against Child labour collected seven million thumbprints in 1997-1998 during the march around the world of children. These actions want to show to the different leaders how many people support the campaign and to ask for positive changes in their attitudes. Student activism is also important because we have time and idealism to contribute to such actions. And we are the future employers or workers. For one time, we could imitate American students who launched a great campaign against sweatshops in 1998. The first step consisted in informing students of some 200 universities about the working conditions in garment factories in the developing countries. Then, they were invited to pressure their university campus shops to purchase only garments manufactured under acceptable working conditions, including without child labour. This campaign is not only at the local level but can be continued in foreign universities in a logic of network. Thirdly, individuals can join organizations already engaged in activities against child labour. Children show us the way. The Global march against child labour organized the first children’s world congress on child labour in Florence on 10-13 May 2004. In spite of the Italian refusal to grant visas to some children for security reasons, many children came from all over the world. Mainly were former child workers. The goal was to give children the opportunity to become the leaders at the forefront of the fight for children’s rights. Who better than a child could speak about children ? So they met, they 18

shared their experience, their hopes and they discussed the possible solutions. In the final “Children’s declaration”, they declared “we are the present, our voices are the future”. The second children’s world congress is to be held in October.

Some progress has been made over the past ten years. Actions of NGOs have contributed to raise awareness of governments, international organizations and firms, who have made great efforts. There is still a long way to go until child labour has been eradicated around the globe but it is not impossible if everybody acts against. We hope we will have convinced you of the necessity to mobilize us. It is our role to think about children who don’t have our chance and have to work instead of going to school. The last word goes to Kofi Annan : “Few human rights abuses are so widely condemned, yet so widely practised. Let us make [child labour] a priority. Because a child in danger is a child that cannot wait”.

Links

International organizations 19

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/index.htm http://webfusion.ilo.org/public/db/standards/normes/index.cfm?lang=EN http://www.un.org http://www.oecd.org/searchResult/0,2665,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

Firms http://www.ioe-emp.org/ioe_emp/ilo/child_labour.htm http://www.reebok.com/Static/global/initiatives/rights/text-only/business/child_labor.html

Non-governmental Organizations http://www.enda.sn/eja/anglais/index.htm http://www.globalmarch.org/ http://www.globalmarch.org/events/worldcongress.php http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/childlabour.htm http://www.stopchildlabor.org/ http://www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Reforming_System/FoulBall.html

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