ENDING CHILD LABOUR

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/16/stories/2006051604491000.htm

Opinion - Editorials

Ending child labour

The International Labour Organisation's finding of a global decline inchild labour between 2000 and 2004 suggests that the multiplestrategies adopted over the past two decades to remove children fromwork are proving effective. But the report also highlights the hugechallenge, especially in the agricultural sector that employs sevenout of 10 children at work and in the arena of domestic work, thatneeds to be met. The End of Child Labour: Within Reach 2006, thesecond report of its kind, estimates that the world's 218 millionworking children (2004 figures) represent an 11 per cent drop from2000. The 26 per cent decline in child workers engaged in hazardousoccupations suggests that ending child labour in high-risk conditionsis easier to achieve than the abolition of child labour under `normal'conditions. The ILO points out that the Latin American and Caribbeancountries have actually freed two-thirds of working children fromeconomic activity. But despite a steady fall in fertility rates, Asiaand the Pacific region are home to the largest number of child workers(122 million) in the 5-14 age group. Shockingly, half of them areengaged in hazardous work. The situation in Sub-Saharan Africa hasbeen made worse by the high population growth, regional conflict, andthe loss of large numbers of people in the active age groups to theHIV-AIDS pandemic. Underlying the overall improvement are the progressmade in the spread of compulsory school education and a concertedattack on mass poverty in several developing countries. China leadsthe field. Its rapid progress in school education and lifting millionsof people out of poverty is an inspiring example of high economicgrowth, successful reforms, and well-targeted social policiescombining to effect a huge decline in the number of the world's childworkers.The growing involvement of trade unions has been a critical factor inthe campaign against child labour in countries such as India, giventhe well-known fact that the practice of child labour has the effectof depressing adult wages and also has a detrimental impact onproductivity. At the same time, there is an imperative need to speedup the adoption of international labour standards, which continue tobe viewed with scepticism by policy-makers in several developingcountries. In the case of India, the failure of successive governmentsto ratify the two international labour standards that pertain to theprescription of a minimum age for entry into employment and theabolition of the worst forms of child labour — two of the core ILOConventions — reflects poorly on the state's commitment to abolishchild labour, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Abolition) Actnotwithstanding. Continuing to accept the excuse of `harsh realities'and waiting for economic development to phase out child labour arealso inimical to realising the constitutional guarantee of free andcompulsory education for all children up to the age of 14.
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