Child labour in Pakistan: a threat to the future

By Mashal Sahir

If poverty justifies child labour, then it should also justify burglary, prostitution, kidnapping, smuggling and all other crimes. Child labour is a much more serious crime compared to others, because unlike other crimes that affect individuals, child labour affects an entire generation.

Canada: Laws to protect kid labourers too lax

By Kathleen Harries

Canada is a champion for the health and welfare of children around the world, but some experts say federal and provincial governments could be facilitating the exploitation of minors through lax child labour laws. Each province and territory now has jurisdiction to craft its own rules related to the minimum work-start age, maximum hours and types of employment. But decrying a recent “erosion” of protections for child workers — especially in British Columbia and Alberta — there is a growing call for the federal government to impose national minimum standards.

Cocoa without Child Labour

“It is a bitter reality that the main ingredient in chocolate, cocoa, is produced largely by child labor,” said US Senator Tom Harkin today. Both industry leaders and the US government have pledged to end the use of child labour in the sector. Over the next 10 years, a new plan calls for a 70% reduction in the use of child labour.

Child labour in Ghana, a case of policy failure

By Lepowura M. N. D. Jawula

As we shop around the streets of Accra whether as housewives, government officials or tourists, it ought to dawn on us that on a daily basis and hour by hour and minute by minute we are glossing over a serious criminality. The kayaye who are mainly young girls under the age of eighteen (18) and who do head porterage can be seen clearly carrying various food and hardware items on their heads. If they were merely engaging in external household chores as part of their domestic training and upbringing, it shouldn’t raise any eyebrows. The kayaye of Accra however are really child labourers who have travelled mainly from various Northern abodes to Accra in search of work.

Zambia, children as breadwinners

“I work everyday after I knock off from school, I do different types of piece works and digging pits is one of them. I get six thousand kwacha for each pit that I dig and sometimes I have to share it with other children who help me in carrying the sand out of the pit when I am tired…it makes me sad when other children and myself have to work like slaves in order for us to survive while other children have an opportunity to go to school without working for anything…”.

India set to ratify international convention on child labour

Accelerating its fight against child labour, India is now preparing a roadmap for ratification of an international convention that prohibits child labour in hazardous occupations. The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act 1986 prohibits employment of children below 14 years of age in certain occupations and processes considered hazardous but remains silent on the agriculture sector where the majority, or 70 percent, of the working children are engaged.

Global conference agrees on a Roadmap against the worst forms of child labour

More than 450 delegates from 80 countries have agreed on a Roadmap aimed at “substantially increasing” global efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016. Approved at the end of a two-day conference on child labour organized by the Government of The Netherlands in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Roadmap calls on governments, social partners and civil society organizations to strengthen access to education, social protection and decent work.

Kenya, child labour and the economic crisis

Kenyan children are out of school due to the economic crisis. But the situation is further compounded by food crisis, drought, high cost of food commodities and high fuel prices. And yet, no new measures have been announced by the government on direct intervention on child labour. An interview with Bernard Kiura, ILO National Coordinator in Kenya.

South Africa: Probe into labour standards at Zakumi makers

The Global Brands Group (GBG) has launched an ethical and social compliance investigation into the Chinese company manufacturing the Soccer World Cup mascot, Zakumi, it said yesterday. “GBG has taken appropriate steps to contract Intertek (the world’s largest independent testing, inspection and certification organisation) to conduct an immediate ethical and social compliance audit and inspection of this facility,” the company said.

Philippines, anti-child porn law adopted

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Tuesday signed into law Republic Act 9775, otherwise known as the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009. As the law defines it, child pornography is any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged or involved in real or simulated sexual activities.