ID :
211121
Tue, 10/04/2011 - 13:07
Auther :

Asia leads world in child-labour products: US report

Washington, Oct 4 (AFP) India, Bangladesh and the
Philippines lead the world in the number of products made by
child workers, a US government stock-taking of the global
scale of underaged labour has revealed.
Some 130 types of goods -- from building bricks and
soccer balls to pornography and rare ores used in cellphones
-- involve child labour in 71 countries in Africa, Asia and
Latin America, the Department of Labour said.
"We believe that we all have God-given potential ... and
every child should be given the right to fulfil their dreams,"
said Labour Secretary Hilda Solis at the release of the 10th
annual "Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour" yesterday
Focusing this year on hazardous work performed by
children, and relying in good part on International Labour
Organization (ILO) data, the report examines efforts by more
than 140 countries to address the worst forms of child labour.
The ILO estimates that more than 215 million children are
involved in child labour.
One-third of countries have yet to define hazardous kinds
of work prohibited to children, it said. Some nations have no
minimum age for such work, and still more lack the means to
monitor and enforce bans on dangerous child labour.
A rundown of goods produced by child labour, issued
alongside the report, underlined the degree to which
youngsters in developing nations are forced to work, rather
than go to school, for little if any wages.
India topped the list, with its children being used to
make no fewer than 20 products, including bidis, bricks,
fireworks, footwear, glass bangles, incense, locks, matches,
rice, silk fabric and thread, and soccer balls.
India also led a separate list of products made by forced
or indentured child labour -- seven types of goods in all,
including carpets, embroidered textiles and garments.
In Bangladesh, children produced 14 kinds of goods, many
of them of an industrial nature, such as bricks, footwear,
steel furniture, leather, matches, and textiles including jute
In the Philippines, children took part in the production
of bananas, coconuts, corn, fashion accessories, gold, hogs,
pornography, pyrotechnics, rice, rubber, sugarcane and tobacco
The Department of Labour yesterday announced a USD 15
million grant to the World Vision charity "to address the
worst forms of child labour in sugarcane production" in the
Philippines.
Sandra Polaski, deputy undersecretary for international
affairs at the Department of Labour, told AFP that India's
place atop the child-labour table reflected its billion-plus
population, and not neglect of the issue.
"India is one of the two largest countries in the world,
and so the larger the country, if there is significant
poverty, you would expect to see more" child labour, she said.
"The Indian government is the first to say they have to
find more ambitious ways" of tackling the problem, she said,
adding that New Delhi took a big step in 2010 when elementary
education was made compulsory across the country. (AFP)
MNS


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