Belabouring Child Labour - Presentation

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Belabouring Child Labour?

b

Pavithra Rajagopal

Jun 10, 2007



What is Child Labour?hat is Child Labour?

There is no definition ut forth b the Govt. of India

with respect to child labour – the closest to a definitioncan be fished out of the Child Labour Act of 1986

Child labour can be defined as any type of work a

part of the day that is preventing his/her regularattendance and success in school

In addition, overall development which will facilitate a child torealize his/her full potential

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Why is Child Labour Wrong?hy is Child Labour Wrong?

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is

instrument to incorporate the full range of

human rights—civil, cultural, economic, politicaland social rights.

In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a

spec a convent on ust or t em ecause peop eunder 18 years old often need special care and

rotection that adults do not.

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Why is Child Labour Wrong? (contd.)hy is Child Labour Wrong? (contd.)

*

the right to

develop to the fullest;

protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation;and

participate fully in family, cultural and social life.

e onven on pro ec s c ren s r g s y se ngstandards in health care; education; and legal, civil

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Source : * http://www.unicef.org/crc/



Child Labour in Indiahild Labour in India

19% of world’s children live in India

As of 2001, 37% of India’s population (1,027,015,247) belongs tothe age group of 0-14yrs1

Puts the number of child labourers in the country as of 2001 at about

12.6 million60 million 60 million

UNICEF:

14% of the population at and under 14 yrs of age are child labourers

w c puts t e num er at a out 143,782,135 Crudely put, there are about 144 MILLION child labourers in India.

5Source : 1. http://www.populstat.info/Asia/indiag.htm 2. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_india_statistics.html#30



Role of the Governmentole of the Government

Legislationegislation

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of

The recent (Aug. 2006) ban on employing children in

eateries and as domestic help

Rehabilitation:

The Indo-US Child Labour Project

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Role of the Government (contd.)

CHILD LABOUR ACT 1986HILD LABOUR ACT, 1986

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)

and declares employing children in certain“ ”

criminal act3

e c nc u es a s o ru es a emp oyers ochildren in “non-hazardous” sector must adhere to

7Source : 3. http://www.labour.nic.in/cwl/ChildLabour.htm




Deficiencies of the Act

The list of hazardous occupations and processes all refer tophysical harm, risk and injury. What about the mental health ofthe child? What about the monotony of labour curbing a child’scogn ve eve opmen

The government’s policy ignores this vital sphere of a child’s

development. In addition, why should the worst forms of child

goal of the government and the civil society should be theelimination of all forms of child labour and not alleviation ofthe darkest impacts of child labour.

the list of “hazardous” occupations for children is minimal andlacks enough description and clarity to determine a violation ofthe Labour Act.

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Deficiencies of the Act (contd )eficiencies of the Act (contd.)

c a our s regu a e – w spec cs o age,

number of hours worked, holidays, times during the

,

then, the Government is acknowledging that child

labour is a necessary evil for the economy.

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Deficiencies of the Act (contd.)

The employers are required to maintain a register of child. ,

enforceable and unreasonable as it implies

(i) child labour is acceptable as long as the rules are followedand

(ii) no recommendations or provisions are given in regards tothe future of the ‘child’ labourer when he/she is no longer achild.

There are no opportunities for upward mobility. Further, thereare no steadfast monitoring schemes in place and theunreasonableness comes into light when the child population

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Deficiencies of the Act (contd.)

The penalties for violators of the Act is stated which are to say the least,barely a slap on the wrist.

Penalty for violators: 3months – 1 year of imprisonment and/or fine of(or between) Rs. 10,000-Rs.20,000

Penalty for repeat violators: 6months – 2 years of imprisonment

If the establishment is a big one, then the fine will actually be just a mildinconvenience. Instead, if the fine is customized to the establishment –say, 25% of the net income for the preceding FY, then, the fine will

. .The conviction rate for the violators of the Child Labour Act is abysmallylow.

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Recent Ban on Employing children as domestic helpy g pand in eateries (Aug 2006)

Continuation of the regulation of child labour.

comprehensive rehabilitation package.

In many cases, employers of domestic help are middleto upper middle class, educated and working and don’tbelieve that domestic labour is child labour.

’ open declaration and acknowledgement thatemploying child labourers is a violation of the child’s

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The National Child Labour Project (NCLP)

Established in 1988 with the aim to rehabilitate child labourers by providingthem with non-formal education and bridge courses to facilitate theirrans on n o e orma sc oo ng sys em.

After 19 years, the government has been able to only reach less than half“ ”.able to mainstream a mere 308,000 child labourers into the formaleducation system after almost two decades (as of the tenth five-year plan)3

This number is a drop in the bucket!

There is no consistent and longitudinal evaluation system in place todetermine the effectiveness of the project. The aforementioned pointbecomes evident as the hunt to find evaluation reports of the NCLP leads to

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a w goose c ase.

Source : 3. http://www.labour.nic.in/cwl/ChildLabour.htm



Role of the Government (contd.)The Indo-US Child Labour Project (INDUS)

The INDUS project is being implemented in 21 districts across 5 states in thecountry – Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The components of the project (as listed by the Department of Labour of theGovt. of India) although established with good intentions barely nicks at thefundamental problem of violation of human rights. Similar to the issue topoverty, the goal should be to eradicate poverty as a whole and not help the

“worst affected” by poverty because that attitude either intentionally or not“ ”es a o e s o a ec , a e o o ca e e a e . e e

idea of categorizing poverty and child labour is asinine.

Withdrawing children in the age group 8-14 from hazardous occupations and providing them meaningful transitional education – what about children less

a ea s e , o e o ec es a e o o c ebetween 8 – 14 who are not engaged in “hazardous labour”?

Raising interest towards Action against Hazardous Child Labour in other States – again, even at the level of raising awareness, it is of paramountmpor ance o sens ze e governmen , c v soc e y an e pu c a anyform of child labour is unacceptable.



Approach to Eradicate Child Labourpproach to Eradicate Child Labour

Goaloal

child labour

Approach: the issue of child labour has to beana yze an ac e o s ca y.

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Implementing sustainable programs to reduce adultunemp oyment

Taking up initiatives by local NGOs to help working adultsincrease/improve their skills to facilitate both social andeconom c upwar mo y As adults are able to earn a living and provide a decent living for their

families, the need for children to work to prevent their family fromstarvation is extin uished

Increase access to and quality of basic education (achievinguniversal access to free basic education) The above three factors will contribute si nificantl in the reduction of

(voluntary) inter-state migration of children and diminishing the need for families to get entrapped in the false promises of

child-labour traffickers

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Issues to Consider (contd.)

Provide monetary incentives for current childlabourers to prevent them from going back so they donot face the cost of not working and instead going to arehabilitation center on their wa toward meldin intothe formal education systemThe rehabilitation centers must look at the issue holistically

and rovide sustainable functional and sensitive transition forthe children

Sensitize the public to the benefits of encouraging

their place hiring adults (could be friends/family of thechild labourer(s))

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Strict and consistent enforcement of the punishment of thosewho violate the law and employ child labourers

In order for the punishment to have an impact on the public,the conviction of violators should constantl be taken u b themedia

Increase the fine for the violation so that it is a significant’

income which in turn will reduce the number of repeatoffenders

civil society to abolish child labour as a whole and not regulateit and in addition, expand the definition of “child” to any one

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Issues to Consider (contd.)

There has to be consistent and continuous political will from alllevels of government to see India as a country free of childlabour in a reasonable amount of time

enforcement of ‘regulation’ of child labour is emphasized, thentraffickers and employers will strategize to make child labour

. ,altogether is significantly compromised.

Since the number of child labourers in the country is not evenly

varied, it would be most practical if each state took the holisticapproach and creolized it to the particular districts weighing in

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In Conclusion…n Conclusion…

several other socio-economic factors

The ubiquitous problem must be eliminated nota ev a e

Belabour the issue, not the child labourers!

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Belabouring Child Labour - Presentation

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