Issues concerned with the incidence of child work 1. Statistical information and its shortcomings

An ILO figure of 75 million of children at work worldwide in the late 1970s proved a serious underestimate.,4S By the 1990s the ILO estimate had risen to a figure of some 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen, of whom 120 million are thought to work fulltime. Some seventy percent of all working children are believed to engage in hazardous work, with perhaps fifty to sixty million children aged between five and eleven working in circumstances too taxing for their age. Another alarming figure is the estimate of some 12,000 fatal accidents per year among child workers.'49 However, most of these so-called estimates are based on no more than guesswork.

Whilst it is self-evident that it is impossible to obtain any accurate figures worldwide, such a lack of hard evidence also applies to individual countries, whether in the advanced or the developing part of the world. An added difficulty in estimating the extent of involvement of under fifteen-year-olds is the frequent use of subcontracting arrangements.’ 50 Exact figures are misleading rather than helpful. For instance, the Vietnamese country report for the IWGCL study quotes a figure of 1,349,052 economically active children, pointing out that this is in all probability an underestimate

,4a Challis, J. and D. Elliman (1979). Child Workers Today, p. 10.

,49 'An estimated 12,000 working children die annually“. Takala, J. D. (2002), Introductory Report: Decent Work - Safe Work, International Labour Office, Geneva, XVIth World Congress on Safety and Health at Work (Vienna, 27 May 2002), p. 6,

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/wdcongrs/llo_rep.pdf.

Bureau of International Labor Affairs (1994). By the Sweat end Toll of Children, Part I: The use of Child Labor In U.S. export of manufactured products from Industry or mining to the United States: a Report to the Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Congress. Washington.

http://www.llr.cornell.edu/library/e_archive/gov_reports/chlld_labor/default.html?page«swe at_toil%2Fsweat_toll, p. 5.

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of the real figure, as children under thirteen have not been included.151 Children under sixteen (or perhaps fourteen or fifteen, if the age of entry into labour is lower than sixteen) do not figure in any labour statistics, as they are not thought to be in the labour force at all. Even where official figures are available for specific age groups, these are often challenged by NGOs as inaccurate, for example in relation to the Indonesian report for the IWGCL study,152 In addition, certain categories of working children, such as domestic workers, are omitted because of the hidden nature of their work.153

Even if census figures for school enrolment are available, it does not follow, that these have anything to contribute to the question of who works and who does not. First of all, children of undocumented immigrants are not included in the statistics, whilst being enrolled in school does not equate with being at school. Many children work part-time, before or after school, or during the holidays, some holding several jobs whilst others work occasionally. In addition, the methodology used to obtain figures may be suspect. An example of a questionable statistical practice concerns the figure of a million juvenile prostitutes active in the U.S. presented in evidence to the House of Representatives in 1977. The figure was based on an estimate of 300,000 male juvenile prostitutes, aggregated with a second estimate of 600,000 girts in view of the assumption, that the figure for female juvenile prostitutes would be higher. However, the first figure of 300,000 boy prostitutes has been discredited as ‘a journalist's guestimate'.154 Sometimes figures derived from local small-scale studies have been extrapolated for larger areas. This method is also questionable, unless the area

151 IWGCL (1998). Working Children: Reconsidering the Debates: Report of the International Working Group on Child Labour, p. 7.

152 IWGCL (1998). Working Children: Reconsidering the Debates: Report of the International Working Group on Child Labour, p. 7.

153 ILO (1996). Child Labour: Targeting the Intolerable: Report VI (1), p. 14.

154 Boyden, J. and J. Ennew, Eds. (1997). Children In focus: a manual for participatory research with children. Stockholm, RSdda Barnen, p. 5. These data resurfaced in an analysis of the financial value of juvenile prostitution, Campagna, D. (1985). The Economics of Juvenile Prostitution In the USA.' International Children's Rights Monitor, vol.

2(1), January 1985, p. 15.

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examined Is representative for the country as a whole. An estimate of between 90,000 and 300,000 juvenile prostitutes in the U.S., quoted in another report, may be more realistic than the one mentioned earlier, although the omission of the basis for the author's figures is itself a cause for misgivings.155 It cannot be emphasised enough, that figures quoted are estimates, because of the lack of statistical data.156 If a study is to be creditable, the methodology used ought to be clearly explained, informing the reader of the basis for the figures.

2.4.2. Legislation and enforcement problems

Legislation regulating child labour has been enacted by most nations. In addition, 118 ILO Member States have ratified the 1947 Labour Inspection Convention, undertaking, amongst other things, to enforce the provisions regarding the employment of children and young persons.157 The Convention is, however, applicable to industrial and commercial workplaces only,156 whilst Governments are permitted to grant exemptions for the areas of mining and transport.156 In addition, both small workshops and family concerns are often exempt from child labour provisions in national legislation. Also, the standard suggested in the Convention for the number of labour inspectors required to ensure enforcement, 'sufficient to secure the effective discharge of the duties of the inspectorate', is a matter of discretion for the government.160 The first question is what 'sufficient' means in this context. Numbers of inspectors considered necessary at any one time, may change in accordance with changing priorities, which often means reduced. For instance, in 1991 the number of inspectors of the U.S. Labor Department amounted to 878 for the whole of the country,

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Levesque, R. J. R. (1994). 'Sexual use, Abuse and Exploitation of Children: Challenges in Implementing Children's Human Rights', Brooklyn Law Review (60), Fall 1994, p. 979.

Qvortrup, J. (1997). 'A Voice for Children in Statistical and Social accounting: a Plea for Children's Right to be Heard', pp. 85-106.

Art. 3

Arts. 1, 2 and 22.

Art. 2.2.

Ait. 10.

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down by nine percent from the 961 employed the previous year.16' As the labor inspectorate's responsibilities concerned many different areas, less than five percent of its time was spent on child labour concerns.182 Even where the focus is on child labour issues, violations of other regulations may not be recorded.161 * 163 In addition to the level of priority paid specifically to child labour violations, enforceable provisions for punishment of violations are of crucial importance. If fines remain unpaid, or the level of fines imposed is consistently lower than the maximum, it is irrelevant that the law permits the imposition of higher sanctions, in particular, when it concerns large companies worth many millions of dollars.164 * As long as work by young people is neither regarded as real work,166 nor sufficiently important to be taken seriously, child labour legislation is likely to remain little more than symbolic.

2.5. Child labour at the close of the twentieth century