Introduction

Five years after the unanimous adoption of International Labor Organization Convention No. 182 by the 87th session of the International Labor Organization Conference, millions of children around the world continue to be the victims of poverty, armed conflict, lack of educational opportunities, and health pandemics such as HIV/AIDS. The most vulnerable members of society, they too often work in situations that are illegal, hazardous, exploitative, or forced—as miners, prostitutes, soldiers, drug smugglers, or bonded laborers.

These forms of child labor are considered by the international community to be “worst forms,” because they threaten the health, safety, and moral development of young people. The worst forms also interfere with children’s intellectual development by preventing their attendance and effective participation in school. In addition, this type of labor perpetuates poverty, since children who work, rather than attend school, are more likely to earn a lower income in the future.

Despite the persistence of child exploitation around the world, important steps have been taken in the past year to eradicate the worst forms of child labor. Since last year’s report, an additional 14 governments have ratified ILO Convention No.182, bringing the total number to 147 ratifications by ILO member countries. At the same time, an additional eight countries have ratified ILO Convention No. 138, bringing the total number to 131 ratifications by ILO members. In addition, more governments have ratified the UN Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: 35 nations have now ratified the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and 43 countries have ratified the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.

Since the end of 2002, four additional countries have also signed Memoranda of Understanding with ILO-IPEC, enabling this UN institution to collaborate with a record 84 governments on child labor projects.[17] Not only are more countries initiating child labor projects, governments are also making child labor eradication a central goal of their development strategies. The Government of Yemen has committed to proactively address child labor as part of its larger national development goals, outlined in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, developed in cooperation with the World Bank. The Governments of Pakistan and Senegal are participating in ILO-IPEC Timebound Programs and combine the fight against child labor with their Poverty Reduction Strategies plans.[18]

Growth has also continued in the Education for All (EFA) movement – an international effort begun in April 2000 to promote, among other goals, universal primary education by 2015. In October 2003, the Government of Honduras signed a Memorandum of Understanding with representatives of the World Bank and other donors that coordinates the support of various partners to help Honduras reach its EFA goals.[19]

In FY 2003, USDOL provided USD 82 million for technical assistance to eradicate the worst forms of child labor. With donor support and continuous innovation by governments, international organizations, and NGOS, countries are making progress in eliminating the worst forms of child labor, and providing children and their families with alternatives to exploitative work. The following pages illustrate some of these worst forms and the steps the international community is taking to eliminate them.

Trafficking of Children

Child trafficking can be defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation. The United Nations estimates that approximately 1.2 million children are trafficked internally or externally each year.[20] Internal, cross-border, or international trafficking of children can happen through means including coercion, abduction, or kidnapping.[21] Girls are primarily trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation, domestic service, and even for forced marriages in other countries. While boys are not untouched by the sex trade, they are mostly trafficked to work in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, organized begging, and in armed conflict situations.[22] Gender and ethnic discrimination make girls and children from various minority groups especially vulnerable to trafficking.

Sidebar: Improving Legislation and Law Enforcement

Governments across the world are creating and implementing new policies, legislation and law enforcement strategies to eliminate the trafficking of persons. Over the course of the year, the Governments of Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Lithuania, Nigeria, and the Philippines adopted new trafficking laws, all of which incorporate provisions for the special protection of children with measures calling for stricter penalties for trafficking violations that include children. The Governments of Afghanistan, Croatia, Indonesia, Lithuania, and Nepal also developed national plans to specifically address the trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children. In May 2003, the Governments of Cambodia and Thailand signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they pledged to cooperate in the fight against the trafficking of women and children.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation work as prostitutes in bars, hotels, massage parlors, or on the streets; participate in various forms of child pornography; and are exploited by tourists as well as armed groups. Such children are at risk of physical violence, early pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. An estimated 1.8 million children worldwide were involved in commercial sexual exploitation in 2000.[23] Due to the clandestine nature of the activity and the shame associated with it, however, estimates such as this may understate the extent of the problem. For example, a 2003 estimate from UNICEF suggests that there are approximately one million children involved in commercial sex in Southeast Asia alone.[24]

Sidebar: Preventing and Withdrawing Children from Commercial Sexual Exploitation

The Government of Costa Rica is at the forefront of international efforts to address the commercial sexual exploitation of children. With the support of the Government of Canada, Costa Rica is participating in an ILO-IPEC Timebound Program that includes activities to prevent and withdraw children from commercial sexual exploitation. The project targets the Brunca region, which has Costa Rica’s lowest school attendance rates at both the primary and secondary levels. Prevention efforts will focus on awareness raising and social mobilization activities within communities. In order to withdraw children from commercial sexual exploitation, local officials will be trained on how to enforce existing legal instruments to protect children. Individual interventions will be personalized for former child victims and their families. The range of services may include legal aid, psychosocial rehabilitation, and vocational training for or micro-credits to families.

Children in Armed Conflict

Children are used in armed conflict as soldiers, spies, guards, human shields, human minesweepers, servants, decoys and sentries. Some children are forced into prostitution and many are drugged to make it easier to force them to perform horrendous acts of violence and cruelty. Some victims are as young as 7 or 8, and many more are 10 to 15. Children who are orphans, refugees and victims of poverty or family alienation are particularly at risk. There are an estimated 300,000 children who are forced to fight by government-sponsored armed forces or by other armed groups in more than 30 conflicts around the world.[25]

Sidebar: Rehabilitating and Reintegrating Child Soldiers

Since 1994, the Government of Colombia’s Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF) has conducted programs with support from USAID and the International Organization on Migration to assist child soldiers involved in the country’s ongoing armed conflict. The ICBF contributes necessary furniture and equipment to support transitional homes for such children and conducts ongoing evaluation and monitoring of the reintegration services. The Government has also worked to develop legal norms for treatment of child ex-combatants and operates a program that finds housing and provides grants and training to demobilized child combatants. In 2003, the Government of Colombia began collaborating with ILO-IPEC on a new global project to prevent, demobilize and rehabilitate child soldiers.

Hazardous Labor

Hazardous labor is the broadest category within the “worst forms of child labor.” ILO member countries who have ratified Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor are required to define the types of work that are likely to endanger the health, safety or morals of a child, which may include work that exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuses; work at dangerous heights, underwater or in confined spaces; work that exposes children to dangerous machinery, hazardous substances, agents, or processes; and work for long hours, at night, or in confinement, among other conditions. Children engaged in hazardous labor may be found in commercial agriculture, mining, construction, brick making, carpet weaving, shipbuilding, domestic service, bidi (cigarette) rolling, deep-sea fishing, and a number of other sectors. Hazardous labor often involves very young children (whom the ILO defines as those below 12 years of age) and includes a large number of boys.[26]

Sidebar: Protecting Children’s Safety and Health

Agriculture continues to be one of the largest sectors where children are found working. The ILO estimates that at least 70 percent of working children are engaged in agricultural tasks. These children often work for long hours in poor sanitary conditions, operate heavy machinery, carry heavy loads, or are exposed to toxic chemicals. The Governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic continue to work towards the elimination of child labor in agriculture. As part of a USD 3 million ILO-IPEC regional project funded by USDOL to prevent and eliminate hazardous agricultural work activities in the region, these governments will be working together to improve the occupational health and safety of adolescents who are of the minimum working age. In each of the participating countries, producers’ and workers’ associations will be trained to identify activities that place youth at risk and develop simple mechanisms for youth to utilize personal protective equipment to reduce risks. Research will also be undertaken to explore gender-specific risks and hazards for boys and girls working in agriculture.

Illicit Activities

Children may become involved in a variety of illicit activities, such as the buying and selling of contraband items or petty theft. Convention No. 182 specifically names the production and trafficking of drugs as one of the worst forms of child labor. Approximately 600,000 children are estimated to be involved in illicit activities worldwide.[27] In some Eastern European countries, for example, street children engage in illegal activities from petty theft to prostitution, often with the collaboration of organized crime rings. In some South American countries, children are sometimes involved in the cultivation of illicit drugs.

Sidebar: Creating Opportunities

As a component of its new USD 4 million Timebound Program, the Government of Indonesia will collaborate with ILO-IPEC to prevent and remove children from involvement in the sale, production, and trafficking of drugs. Children will be provided with non-formal, vocational and formal schooling, and offered health and counseling services.

Several projects are underway in Europe to prevent children from becoming involved in illicit activities. With support from USAID and the EU, the Government of Bulgaria is instituting innovative education policies to attract and retain ethnic minority children in school, providing them with greater options than a life on the streets. In 2003, the Government of Russia began working with ILO-IPEC to develop a model rehabilitation project for working street children in the Leningrad region.

Understanding Child Labor

The country and territory profiles included in this report provide detailed information about the worst forms of child labor as they occur in each of the 144 U.S. trade beneficiaries around the world. In addition, because data on the worst forms of child labor is difficult to obtain, the report presents information on the various kinds of work in which children engage, some of which is considered to be detrimental to a child’s development and schooling, and some of which is considered to be light work that is not harmful to a child. The report demonstrates both the nature and extent of child labor as well as the numerous commitments governments around the world are making to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in their own countries and across borders. New developments in the areas of national policies, legislation and law enforcement, direct action programs, and research and statistics are highlighted as they contribute to the elimination of child labor worldwide. It is our hope that this report will contribute both to a better understanding of the dire situations faced by working children around the world, and highlight the best practices that are being developed to improve the situation.