246 Million Children Working During World Days for Children
19 November 2002 - Almost a quarter of a billion
children are working as child labourers today during the World Day for the
Prevention of Child Abuse, and will continue toiling tomorrow on Universal
Children's Day. Despite the
world's promise to care for every child, the scourge of child labour still
leaves countless children deprived of their most basic rights.
These World Days should be
marked with a renewed determination to protect the lives of all children.
Governments must be called upon to meet the commitments in the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the ILO Conventions on child
labour. The international
community must make the protection and development of children the first
priority in aid programs.
Businesses must stop using children to turn a quick profit. And above all, ordinary people, adults and children alike,
must make it clear that the abuse of children as child labourers has no
place in this world.
The commercial exploitation of
children in both developing and developed countries has come to be
recognised as the most common form of child abuse today.
Subjected to physical, psychological and emotional abuse, child
labourers are often trapped with no other options. Too often society simply accepts their labour as a harsh
reality and turns a blind eye as the children suffer horrendous abuse.
"Do we consider ourselves
civilised? Do we deserve to be
called humanity when we take the youngest children and abuse them for profit
and power?" asked Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of the Global March Against
Child Labour. "Ending child
labour must be the very top priority of the international community."
The tens of millions of young
girls working as servants in wealthy and middle class families are among the
most exploited. Working from
before dawn until late into the night, these girls are hidden behind closed
doors and have no protection from the cruelty and lust of their absolute
masters. And again society has
accepted this practice as simply a way of life.
When the UN adopted the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989, there was great
hope for a better future for all the world's children. Despite a number of improvements for some, a great number of
children have simply been left to fend for themselves.
Many wander the streets
selling petty goods at all hours of the day, or work in unhealthy and
hazardous factory environments providing cheap and easily manipulated labour
in the manufacture of goods.
Others are indentured servants - little more than slaves - in back breaking
labour on farms. Still others
are forced into prostitution or to fight wars for guerrilla or even
government forces. Many are not free to leave.
Almost all are deprived of their right to receive a quality education.
For these children, their life
prospects are bleak. They will not have the chance to develop their
potential and in later life will be unable to find decent work. They will be
confined to the most degrading and exploitative work, in conditions so
hazardous that they will likely not live long lives. This fate they may pass
on to their own children - perpetuating a cycle of poverty and misery that
afflicts so many today.
- ENDS -
For more information, please contact:
Global March Against Child LabourL-6 Kalkaji, New Delhi-19, INDIA
Phone: (91 11) 622 4899, 647 5481
Fax: (91 11) 623 6818
E-mail: yatra@del2.vsnl.net.in, childhood@globalmarch.org
Website: www.globalmarch.org
