By the Sweat and Toil of Children: Overview
|
I. Introduction A survey of child labor worldwide finds that children are working in considerable numbers throughout many regions of the world. Each region differs, to some degree, in the extent of child labor and the specific sectors where children may be found working. There are also many similarities, including common areas where children's work contributes to the production of goods for export. In each region, the number of children working in industry or mining accounts for only a small percentage of total working children. In such cases, children commonly work in small-scale enterprises, home-based production, and small-scale mining operations which may be subcontracted by larger export-oriented firms and, to a lesser extent, in the larger factories of several countries. The country profiles following this section provide more specific information about the use of child labor in the manufacturing and mining of products exported to the United States. From the information collected by the International Child Labor Study, this overview attempts to answer the following general questions:
One question that the study cannot answer is, "How many children are working in the world?" This is because exact figures on the number of working children are generally unreliable. Although the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that there are between 100 and 200 million working children worldwide, the organization is generally the first to acknowledge that no systematic or precise survey has been conducted. Furthermore, government statistics typically do not include economically active children below a certain age. Labor force surveys rarely cover illegal or clandestine work, home-based work, or work undertaken by refugee populations. The ILO efforts have, therefore, been turned to helping countries develop the statistical capability that hopefully will make a more reliable global estimate possible in the future.1 Because statistical information on child labor is uniformly poor, this report makes no attempt to assess the actual number of children working in any industry. On the other hand, where there is general agreement - or significant discrepancies - on the estimated number of children working in any particular country or industry, it is reported. II. Regional Overviews
The ILO estimates that of the world's working children, approximately half are found in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and in South East Asia (the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam).2 According to one estimate, child workers constitute as much as seven percent of the population under 15 years of age and 11 percent of the overall labor force in some countries.3 Although Asia may appear to have the most severe child labor problem, it may be due to the large number of documents and reports on the issue, as well as much-publicized campaigns and efforts on the part of international and local organizations to create public awareness about child labor in Asia. It should also be noted that there is a large volume of trade between Asian countries and the United States, particularly in the labor-intensive manufacturing industries. Such industries tend to be the major employers of child labor. In factories and workshops, they clean and pack food, weave carpets, and sew and embroider clothes. Bonded labor, a particularly exploitative form of child labor, is also practiced in the carpet industries of India and Pakistan, Nepal's agricultural sector, and possibly in the fish processing industry of Thailand. Most working children in Asia, however, as in other regions are not found in industry, but rather on commercial plantations and family farms. In the cities, Asian children of all ages work in tea stalls, domestic service, food preparation, grocery shops, road construction, motor workshops, hawking everything from cigarettes to flowers, and as prostitutes. They are also commonly seen scavenging for and sorting garbage, and crushing bricks and stones.
In Latin America, an estimated 15 to 20 percent of all children work. Exact figures on child workers in the region are not available because government statistics usually do not include children of all ages and children working in clandestine operations.4 Some experts assert that the number of working children in Latin America is steadily growing.5 In Latin America and the Caribbean, some of the most severe forms of child labor occur in commercial agriculture. Most children who work in the fields assist their parents.6 In addition to plantation work, children work alongside their parents in workshops, mines, and homes. Brazilian children work alongside their parents under some of the most deplorable conditions, including forced labor and debt-bondage. Street children in some countries are amongst the most exploited and abused children in the world.7 Export industries that hire children include subcontracted garment and shoe part production, small-scale mining in remote areas, and, to a lesser extent, the maquiladoras (assembly plants) in Mexico and Guatemala. Children usually participate in the industry and mining work force as "fringe" laborers without protection, full pay, or recognition for their work. In most of Latin America, discussion of child labor is minimal but growing. The growing volume of trade has opened the region's labor practices to international scrutiny and has inspired Latin American nations to acknowledge, and attempt to address, child labor in their export industries. However, most countries in the region have not been sufficiently mobilized to investigate and discourage the work of children under the age of 14 and most governments have not effectively addressed the problem through enforcement of child labor laws or social programs and initiatives.
The ILO states that in Africa, where one child in three has to work, the rate of child labor is the highest in the world. It is reported that children make up 17 percent of the continent's workforce.8 Although these numbers express the magnitude of the problem of child labor in Africa, there are few studies which have examined the situation by country and even fewer which touch specifically upon child labor in industry and mining. In African cities, children sell and trade food and other goods on the street, wash cars, work with their relatives at kiosks, or perform domestic chores in and around residences. In rural areas they fetch water, collect firewood, herd animals, and help harvest crops on family farms or commercial plantations. Field research has also identified children working, often under subcontracting arrangements, in the slowly developing sector of African manufacturing and mining industries that export products to the United States. Children under the age of 14 sew in garment factories in Lesotho; process sisal on plantations in Tanzania; pan and mine for gold in Zimbabwe and Côte d'Ivoire; knot carpets by hand in Egypt and Morocco; mine diamonds in Côte d'Ivoire; and mine chrome in Zimbabwe. There are credible allegations of children working in South Africa processing agricultural products in factories near commercial farms. It is reported that children are employed in sugar refining in Natal and in canning of apricots, apple juice, and other fruit juices in the Cape Province.9 This area merits further investigation. Although the number of children employed in export sectors is still relatively small, there are fears that with the growing industrialization and urbanization of African societies, the exploitation of child labor in industrial and mining enterprises will increase.10 With a growing population of impoverished children, a continuing pattern of child labor in the informal sector, and an evolving industrial sector, Africa's near future could witness a growing number of children employed under dangerous and exploitative work conditions. III. Where Children Work in Manufacturing and Mining Large-scale enterprises, which are generally subject to government regulation and union scrutiny, rarely employ children under the legal minimum age. The majority of exports come from these "formal sector" businesses that have the productive, financial, and technological capacity to participate directly in international commerce. Exceptions to this include the garment industry in Bangladesh and Lesotho, and maquiladoras in Mexico and Guatemala, for example, where children are found in large-scale formal sector production. However, child labor is predominantly found in the "informal sector." The term "informal sector" is often not clearly defined, but it generally refers to relatively small enterprises where government regulations do not apply, or are not enforced. While many countries maintain that child labor exists only in the informal sector, and that children working in the informal sector do not contribute to the production of items made for export, this report finds otherwise. Some products from the "informal sector" ultimately reach the United States through subcontracting arrangements with small enterprises, home-based production, and small- scale mining.
In the developing world, shoe, garment, embroidery, furniture, and handicrafts industries often subcontract work to villages, homes, and small workshops.11 Since there is little or no regulation of these smaller work sites, many export-oriented enterprises use this system to side-step national labor laws. Children are often paid by piece work, but the payments may go directly to the parents or older members of the community. Many of the children work with their parents in conditions that are generally poor and, in the case of the shoe industry, particularly hazardous. While some products made in informal settings are sold on the domestic market, others enter the stream of international commerce through a series of agents or middlemen. The urban informal sector contains large numbers of small factories and workshops. It is a highly dynamic and rapidly expanding sector, often supplying products to larger firms for export. According to the ILO, it is possible that more children may be involved in the urban informal sector than the agricultural sector, because of rapid rural to urban migration and the decentralization of production units.12 This is not necessarily the case in Africa or Latin America, where in many countries the urban industrialized sector is still in its infancy. Examples of children working under subcontracting arrangements were identified in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In Asia, children work in the subcontracted garment, furniture making, footwear, handicrafts, and carpet weaving industries. In Lesotho and Brazil, children contribute to the home-based production of shoes for export. In North African countries, where garments and carpets are part of an export industry, it is known that children and their families are involved in subcontracting arrangements. Home-based production is a prevalent component of subcontracting. One of the few studies of sub-contracting arrangements in Latin America was conducted in Bolivia in 1983 by Violetta Sara-Lafosse. Of Sara-Lafosse's sample of seamstresses in the garment industry, 80 percent were women who worked out of their homes and half of these women were paid by the piece. Of those who worked out of their homes, 34 percent had their children help and, for those who worked 50 hours a week or more, 40 percent had their children's help.13
Sub-contracting arrangements are commonly found in small-scale mining operations in South America. Children work in the mines of Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil and Chile. Products of these mines, which include gold, emeralds, coal, cassiterite (tin ore), iron, and silver, are sold either directly to the domestic market or exported by way of a larger mining company. The involvement of children in small-scale mining has been documented in many areas, but the overall number of children working in this sector is unknown. Children, who generally work alongside their parents, can be involved in all aspects of the mining process including extraction, transport and separation of ore. Children often do the same work as the adults at the mines, but receive less pay.14 Peru's gold mines in the Madre de Dios region are notable because the children work independently from their families under especially deplorable conditions. A 1991 report by CODENI, a children's rights organization in Peru, found that many young children are encouraged to emigrate from the high plains to work seasonally in the disease-ridden mines where they receive little or no pay for their work.15 Children also work in and around mines in Africa. In Côte d'Ivoire children dig, carry and wash soil alongside their parents in some gold and diamond mining areas. In Zimbabwe, children are involved in the mining of gold, chrome, and tin. Often times children are not directly involved in the mining, but instead sell food to the miners and perform various simple tasks around the mining sites. There is need for further investigation of child labor in the mining sector of Africa.
Garment factories are the clearest example of formal sector factories which employ children. In Bangladesh, young girls of 11 to 14 are hired to serve as helpers in the garment industry. The girls work 12-14 hour days to sew buttons, cut threads, and carry cloth from station to station. Many of the garment factories are locked while the girls work. Similar situations of children working in the clothing industry may be found in Lesotho, Guatemala, Honduras, Portugal, and Morocco. In a U.S. House Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations hearing on June 7, 1994, a 20 year old woman who had recently been fired from a garment factory in Honduras for union activities, testified that: We are forced to work overtime, sometimes more than 12 hour shifts. If you refuse, you are punished. There are many girls as young as 13 who work in [the garment factory]. The sad part is that they are forced to work the same hours as everyone else. The doors are locked and you can't get out until they let you out. It can get very hot, sometimes 100 degrees, and there is no clean drinking water.16 Conditions for child workers in garment factories vary, but employers and labor officials sometimes argue that the work carried out by young teenagers in garment factories qualifies as "light work." ILO Convention 138 permits "light work" for 12 and 13 year olds, so long as it is not likely to harm the health or development of young persons, and that it not prejudice their attendance at school, their participation in vocational orientation or training programs, or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received.17 In the ILO's testimony at the Public Hearing on International Child Labor, it was stated that, "(w)here children work long hours. . .they cannot qualify as "light" by the standards of Convention 138. Working too many hours not only invites exhaustion in children, but also does not leave them time to attend school."18
"Maquiladora" is the name given in Mexico and Guatemala to factories that assemble goods for export from imported materials. In Guatemala, it is reported that the vast majority of all maquilas produce garments.19 In Mexico, items such auto parts, electrical components, household appliances, apparel, furniture products, toys and sporting goods are produced in the maquilas.20 The majority of the work force in these factories are young women aged 14 to 20. However, there are instances of girls aged 12 and 13 working in the maquilas who have either lied about their age, never been asked their age, or have provided false birth certificates to their employers. Work conditions in the maquilas often include long hours and minimal pay. Labor unions rarely exist and, in Guatemala, maquilas are known to fire all their employees and move elsewhere when workers begin to organize.21 Although the incidence of child labor in the maquila sector has declined in recent years, children below the age of 14 still work in this sector. Evidence of child labor in the maquiladora sector is hard to obtain because underage workers are usually close to the minimum age of 14 and unwillingly to reveal their age for fear of losing their job. Greater detail is needed on child labor in the maquilas of Mexico and Guatemala.
The Committees on Appropriations requested information on what foreign industries are exporting products made in whole or in part by child labor to the United States. This report identifies certain industries which both utilize child labor and export directly to the United States. There are numerous allegations, however, of 1) finished products entering the United States through third countries; and 2) parts of products made by children shipped to a third country where they are then assembled into a finished product exported to the United States. For example, Germany is a major center for the distribution of carpets worldwide. It is possible that carpets made with child labor reach the United States through Germany. Additionally, children have been found curing or dying raw leather products in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Reports indicate that sometimes the tanned leather is exported to another country to be made into items such as shoes, handbags, etc., and are then exported to the United States. The process of investigating and tracking such transhipment enterprises merits further investigation. IV. Common Forms of Child Labor
Apprenticeship is one of the most controversial forms of child labor. Theoretically, a child is learning the skills and disciplines of an occupation, which will be his or her lifelong trade or career. In reality, many employers exploit "apprentices" as free labor while purporting to teach skills to a new generation.22 As one commentator states:
According to the ILO, an apprenticeship is carried out under a form of contract of employment, usually within a formalized program under the supervision of national education authorities. As such, it is often the subject of extensive and detailed regulation.24 The ILO goes on to say that "several of the countries for which information is available have minimum ages under 14 for apprenticeship."25 There are also cases in which apprenticeships are excluded from the provisions of legislation concerning minimum age. Where laws and labor inspectorates have not clearly established the differences between "apprenticeships" and other forms of child labor, the beneficial effects of the legal apprenticeship system are diminished. There are examples in Africa of industries and trades that exploit children under the guise of "apprenticeships." Many countries have laws that prohibit the employment of child workers under the age of 14, but still allow apprenticeships for younger children. In Egypt, for example, the employment of anyone under 12 is prohibited. Yet children as young as 7 or 8 regularly work as "apprentices" in carpet workshops and in the leather industry where conditions are particularly hazardous. Tasks performed by apprentices differ little from those performed by other child workers who are referred to as "family helpers."26 In some areas, child workers are referred to as "apprentices" although none of the defining conditions of apprenticeship apply to them. These "apprentices" are often only paid when the employer sees fit and when he does, the pay is meager.27 Though illegal, the practice is generally accepted as a way to learn a skill. Such situations are overlooked by labor inspectors.28 Apprenticeships in Asian countries can be facades where children do work which requires little or no qualifications. In pseudo-apprenticeship schemes, overwhelming evidence shows that children work without pay or for very little pay with meals and lodging deducted.
Debt-bondage of children (or children in slavery) is the most intolerable and exploitative form of child labor.29 While it appears to be more pronounced in Asia, bonded labor also exists in other parts of the world. According to the ILO, bonded laborers are most commonly found in agriculture, domestic service, prostitution, and a variety of industries, including the manufacture of hand-knotted carpets. Debt bondage is a modern form of slavery and recognized as such by the United Nations.30 The current definition of debt bondage was formulated by the United Nations Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, in 1956. The Convention states that debt bondage is, "the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or those of a person under his control as security for a debt . . ." In India, where conservative estimates of adult and child bonded laborers start at 3 million,31 debt bondage occurs when a person needing a loan and having no security to offer, pledges his/her labor, or that of someone under his/her control, as a security for the loan. In some cases, the interest on the loan is so high that it cannot be paid; in others, the laborer is deemed to repay the interest on the loan but not the capital. Thus, the loan is inherited and perpetuated, and becomes an inter-generational debt. Children are pledged as part of this system. The caste system in India reinforces and perpetuates debt bondage as landlords or money lenders are generally of a higher caste than those seeking loans.32 Although bonded labor is widespread in rural areas among agricultural workers, there are increasing reports of child bonded laborers in both the service and manufacturing sectors of India.33 In Pakistan, debt bondage is called the "peshgi" system. The use of bonded laborers in Pakistan's carpet and brick kiln industries is well-known. Offers to lend money to poor families soon trap them because of high interest charges, manipulation of the books and low wages.34 Numerous stories of physical abuse, including rape of women and abductions of family members, illustrate the immense feeling of powerlessness for those under the "peshgi" system. Such a story was reported recently by Human Rights Watch/Asia:
Similarly, Nepali children and adults are frequently found in a form of bonded labor called "Kamaiya," where children herding animals and working in the fields are often abused and exploited by their "masters."36 Nepali children are also recruited by a "naike" or labor contractor and forced to work in the carpet industry. In some countries, recruiters comb the countryside paying poor parents to recruit their children for work in factories. For example, in Thailand, many child workers come from poverty-stricken parts of the northeast regions, having been sold by their parents, or made part of a debt bondage arrangement. Unscrupulous "employment agencies" often negotiate the transaction and deliver children to industries, like shrimp peeling, or prostitution. In the Philippines, two separate raids on a sardine canning factory found children, as young as 11, filling cans with sliced fish to repay the debt to the labor recruiter.37 In several Latin American countries, it is common to find children and their parents working on commercial plantations under conditions of forced or bonded labor. There were reports of Haitian adults and children working as bonded laborers under deplorable conditions in the sugar cane fields of the Dominican Republic.38 V. Why Child Labor Exists There are many reasons and rationalizations offered for child labor. For the most part, children are not presented with viable alternatives. Additionally, many families cannot afford the cost of sending their children to school, assuming that there is access to schools, or parents do not believe that the investment is worthwhile. Children also drop out of primary schools because they and/or their parents feel that education will not prepare them for the labor market. However, the supply of children available to work would not find employment if employers did not provide a sufficient demand for their work.
Research shows that many children are hired because they are more easily exploited than adults. Employers prefer children because they are docile, incapable of collective bargaining, and willing to work to support their family or simply to survive. In a regional overview of child labor in Latin America, ILO officer Juan Carlos Bossio states that;
For the employers, children's work is an important means of minimizing costs. It is argued that small-scale industries and some export-oriented industries need low wage child labor (either through subcontracting or direct employment) to survive in the world market. There is little evidence, however, that the replacement of children by those over 14 years old would make these industries uncompetitive. In Bangladesh, owners of garment factories use child labor because (1) children are docile, (2) they are cheaper, (3) they are highly motivated and efficient, (4) they do not form unions and their employment reduces the possibility of "hartal" or strike, (5) management of children is easy, and (6) the owners feel sorry for poor children and give them work.40 In some sectors, there is a general acceptance that children are uniquely suited for the work. This is best exemplified in the carpet and gem industries of India.41 The argument is that nimble fingers can produce a greater number of knots in the weaving of carpets and polish tiny gems. But evidence suggests that child labor in these industries has more to do with the recruitment of cheap and malleable labor rather than a need for "nimble fingers."42 In Egypt, jasmine plantation owners prefer hiring children whose thin arms and small stature can reach deep and low into the plants to collect the leaves. In Latin America, children are often employed to work in the fields of commercial plantations, sometimes because their small size is useful for the work. In Colombia, children are used in coal mining to dig small tunnels and mine spaces that are too small for adults.
The most common explanation given for the persistence of child labor in all parts of the world is poverty. As segments of the population get poorer, children are often compelled, or required, to work in order to contribute to their family income. Juan Carlos Bossio asserts in his 1991 article on child labor in Latin America;
It is wrong, however, to assume that a child's contribution to household income is always significant. UNICEF in Latin America finds that "(r)arely does the proportion of household income generated by children exceed 10-20 percent."44 Therefore, poverty may determine whether a child works, but it rarely ends a life of poverty for a family with children who work. Indeed, it may only perpetuate the cycle, as children do not complete their education, nor are they taught skills which enable them to leave an industry for higher-wage occupations. Increasingly, experts on child labor and non-governmental organizations debate whether poverty causes child labor -- or the reverse. Some sources believe that children are better off working than living in abject poverty. Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen writes that, in developing countries, those who get a chance to work in a factory can at least have one meal a day -- albeit mostly of rice and salt, with additional vegetables and meat if they're lucky. A well-respected Sri Lankan law professor, Savithri Goonesekere, however, disagrees:
As noted above, though children are often forced to work, their income barely supports themselves, not to mention their family. Moreover, there are many incidents of children working without any pay at all. For example, some allege that, for young children, work obstructs schooling, damages health, and severely restricts future earning capacity.46 The vicious cycle continues to trap poor working children.
Education is clearly one of the most important interventions against child labor.47 While most governments agree that children should be removed from the labor force and required to attend school, there is much to be accomplished before this becomes a reality. Compulsory education is seen by some communities, especially those in the rural areas, as undesirable since elementary schools do not prepare children for work. The high drop-out rates in many countries surveyed suggest that parents and children do not regard school as useful. In addition, school fees and limited access to schools in some countries serve as strong deterrents to primary school enrollment. The establishment of compulsory education is a necessary condition to reduce or abolish child labor. Without compulsory education governments are unable to enforce child labor laws. The phased extension of the age of compulsory education goes hand in hand with increased restrictions on the employment of children. If the school-leaving age is lower than the age of admission to employment, children are likely to illegally seek employment, making the enforcement of child labor laws more difficult. It is administratively easier to monitor school attendance than to monitor children in the workplace, and easier to force parents to send their children to school than force employers not to hire children. No country has successfully ended child labor without first making education compulsory and enforcing these laws. So long as children are free not to attend school, they will enter the workforce.48 One factor inhibiting school attendance is the solicitation of school fees or the requirement that parents must pay for school supplies such as textbooks, slates, and notebooks. A UNICEF report on child labor in Egypt found that most poor families cannot afford school fees, and, if they are able to afford it, are reluctant to make the investment because they see little return from education in terms of preparing their child for future employment.49 In Latin America, many countries have recently begun to require the students to assume some of the costs of schooling and this has served to deter enrollment of the most impoverished children.50 In South Asian countries which provide some level of free education, like Bangladesh and Nepal, parents are responsible for purchasing school supplies which can be a significant cost to less fortunate families. In comparison to other South Asian countries, Sri Lanka, with a nearly 90 percent literacy level,51 provides free education up the university level, including free school supplies, mid-day meals and uniforms. In addition, most countries do not have enough schools to accommodate all their children. In rural areas schools are often located a considerable distance away from the family. For all of these reasons, the increase in school enrollment in Africa, for example, has stopped and has even reversed in some countries during the past decade.52 It must be noted that many children are able to work and attend school simultaneously because, in many developing countries, the number of school hours and days are notoriously low.53 For example, the recent IPEC study of the shoe industry in Brazil found that most children work up to eight hours a day in addition to attending school. During school vacations and weekends, the children generally work more than eight hours a day.54 In Egypt, due to lack of educational funding, the school day is broken up into three separate shifts. As a result, many children are able to both work full-time and attend school.
Child labor is also perpetuated by societal attitudes that say children should work to support themselves or their families. This attitude stems from the belief that by learning a skill at a young age, a child will learn a "trade" which will support him or her throughout life. Regardless of whether these contentions are valid, they are certainly indicative of current beliefs. The general perception in Asia is that children should work to develop a sense of responsibility and develop a career, rather then become street urchins and beggars, or easy prey to sexual exploitation. In Pakistan, a survey on parental attitudes in Lahore found that parents pushed their children to work at an early age to avoid the dangers of vagrancy.55 It is argued that child employment apparently teaches children of the poor to acquire moral and ethical attitudes and work habits at an early age. There is a widespread belief in Africa that child labor is beneficial if it contributes to the well-being of the child, family, and the community. Child labor is understood to be a "form of education" which initiates the child into a path of communal life and work valued by many societies in Africa.56 Conclusion This is possibly the first effort to collect information on children in the export sector on a global scale. The sources cited in this report contributed vast knowledge and insight into the child labor situation throughout the world. These sources ought to be consulted in greater depth by anyone wishing to learn in more detail the reasons for child labor, the types of jobs children do, their conditions of work, and how child labor is perceived by different cultures. Throughout this report reference is made to the need for additional research. For example, there is much discussion of the lack of accurate statistics on the numbers of child workers, as well as the real contribution of children's wages to the family income. On the other hand, there are many areas where sufficient information exists to have allowed governmental and nongovernmental organizations to develop programs and policies which effectively address the problem of child labor. Because of revitalized efforts on the part of UNICEF and the ILO, the growing public awareness of the economic exploitation of children, and the threat of various proposed trade sanctions or restrictions on products made from child labor, this is an opportune time for further research and coordinated action programs.
|
