Material Problem

Children provide a significant portion of the world's workforce. Figures from the International Labor Organisation (ILO) suggest that in the developing world as many as 250 million children are in employment, with a little less than half of this figure working full- time. Regionally, this breaks down in the following way: 61 per cent of working children are in Asia, 32 per cent in Africa, and 7 per cent in Latin America.

Primary sectors of employment are agriculture and domestic labour, although there is also some employment in trade and services, and a small amount in manufacturing and the construction industry. This is not to condemn all forms of child labour; however, it is necessary to look at the context and examine the conditions of employment and the educational opportunities available to the child. Human Rights groups have drawn attention to the worst areas of employment for children:

particular areas of concern are silk production in India, and the pan played by children in the sugar industry in El Salvador, but concerns were also drawn to practices in the Middle East and the US. Abuses of children's rights include bonded labour, poor and dangerous working conditions and the denial of the freedom of movement.

(http://www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm) 3.3.1 Bonded Labour

‘Bonded labor takes place when a family receives an advance payment (sometimes as little as US $15) to hand a child-boy or girl over to an employer. In most cases the child cannot work off the debt, nor can the family raise enough money to buy the child back. The workplace is often structured so that 'expenses' and/or ‘interest’ are deducted from a child's earnings in such amounts that it is almost impossible for a child to repay the debt. In some cases, the labour is generational -that is, a child’s grandfather or great-grandfather was promised to an employer many years earlier, with the understanding that each generation would provide the employer with a new worker -often with no pay at all.' (http://www.hrw.org;children/1abor.htm).

The issue of bonded labour takes us to the core of the problem. This is not the case of a child taking apart-time job to assist the family's income.

Rather, it is a form of slavery that reflects conditions of extreme poverty

that blights generations. The child is effectively owned by the employer.

Bonded labour may be a feature of those societies that are marked by poverty, but poverty must be understood in a broad sense. Thus, bonded labour tends to occur when people generally lack resources: this can mean a failure of access to credit and welfare, lack of employment for adults, but could also include discrimination against groups that exacerbate this general lack of social capital. As the quotation above suggests, the problem is also generational. The children of those who experienced bonded labour are likely to become bonded labourers themselves. What also contributes to the problem are pressures that keep wages low, so that people are forced to borrow from their employers, and then pledge their children's labour as a means of repaying the debt.

In this sense, bonded labour creates a vicious circle: because there is a supply of Cheap bonded labour, wages for adults are also suppressed.

Bonded labour is thus a self-sustaining social and economic phenomenon. Some researchers have also suggested that bonded labour is more likely in those places where social and economic relations are marked by caste and hierarchy.

What can be done to alleviate the problem?

• The law relating to bonded labour is not just to be found in the Convention. It was made illegal by the UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery in 1956. Some other important sources include Article 8 of the ICCPR, which explicitly prohibits slavery and servitude and Article 7 of the ICESCR contains a guarantee of labour rights that are inconsistent with bonded labour.

The ILO promulgated in 1999 a Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, a Convention on Minimum Age and a recommendation for eliminating the worst forms of child labour.

3.3.2 Child Labour in India

There is clearly a body of international law that prohibits the worst forms of the practice, or at least attempts to regulate Child labour. Is the problem that certain nations have not ratified this law? Consider the case of India: ‘with credible estimates ranging from 60 to 115 million, India has the largest number of working children in the world'. (Human Rights Watch Report: The Small Hands of Slavery; bonded child labour in India hrtp://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/lndia3.htm). We can gain a sense of the problem and an indication of the economic importance of children’ labour from the following extract:

‘Apart from agriculture, which accounts for 64 per cent of all labor in

a multitude of domestic and export industries. These include, but are not limited to, the production of silk and silk saris, beedi (hand- rolled cigarettes), silver jewelry, synthetic gemstones, leather products (including footwear and sporting goods), handwoven wool carpets, and precious gemstones and diamonds. Services where bonded child labor is prevalent include prostitution, small restaurants, truck stops and tea shop services, and domestic servitude.’ (ibid: part 1: summary)

Children’s labour is not restricted to one area of economy, although agriculture accounts for the greater proportion of child labourers; it is thus general and not local and spread throughout different sectors, from the production of leisure goods to prostitution.

India is a party to and has ratified all the Conventions mentioned above except the !LO on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and Indian domestic law does contain prohibitions on bonded labour, including the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 and regulations in relation to the employment of children. Moreover, bonded labour is in breach of cenain constitutional rights. There has also been litigation in Indian courts that has successfully led to obligations on states to identify the illegal employment of children and punish employers.

So, why does bonded labour persist to such a degree in India?

Commentators have identified the lack of political will as one of the major issues. Although there has been a high level of commitment to action at the policy level, these policies have not, on the whole, been translated into meaningful programmes of action. There are two primary failures of government: a failure to enforce the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976. For instance, there has been no consistent and concerted attempt to produce government figures on child labour. Such figures that can be collected show that, for instance, from 1990 to 1993, only 7 prosecutions were made of employers under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, and these led to light fines; in the province of Tamil Nadu there had been (at the time of the report) no imprisonments under the Child Labour (prohibition and Regulation) Act. The last date for which figures were available under the Bonded Labour Systems Act show that over 250,000 bonded labourers had been released, but it is not possible to know how many of these were children.

Some states simply kept no records at all; and some officials believed the Act did not apply to children.

Other obstacles to enforcement include corruption and neglect of duty among officials. The report suggests that officials are committed to maintaining the status quo, and show little regard for the well-being of

bonded labourers. For instance, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 requires states to draw up implementation procedures. By 1996, a majority of states had not complied with this obligation. District magistrates were also not particularly concerned with the problem, with evidence that, in terms of a list of priorities made available to a journalist, child labour appeared well below the need to invest in technology. A senior official in the Ministry of Labour stated in an interview:

‘Laws don't matter. Economics do'. There was no point attempting to enforce labour standards unless rural poverty was tackled.

Vigilance Committees, required under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, were not operational in any part of the country.

Evidence also shows that many bond masters are themselves government employees:

Because of their steady income, these people are more likely to own land -which they need someone to cultivate -and are more likely to have money available for lending purposes. They are also more likely to be local leaders and to have ties to the local and district administration, both factors which tend to inhibit prosecution’.

There are thus ‘obvious limitations’ in making ‘high-caste and local landowning officials’ the key players in the identification of bonded labour and the enforcement of standards. Significant problems relating to the bribery of local officials are also prevalent. Bribery is endemic from top officials through to magistrates and judges. It also has to be pointed out that bonded labour is drawn from particular sectors of Indian society:

Nationwide, the vast majority of bonded laborers are Dalits; almost all bonded children interviewed for this report were Dalit or Muslim. Dalits are generally in a state of economic dependency that, when combined with the threat of, or actual, violence prevents them from reporting abuses against them -including being held in bondage -or from getting justice if they do.

http://www.hrw.orgleditoria!s/2003/india/indiaO13103.htm#P169- 20786

Within the Indian caste system, the Dalits, or the untouchables, are the lowest members of society. Performing the most menial of jobs, they are condemned to poverty and social exclusion. Despite the fact that India is a democratic nation, the caste system and the poverty and exclusion associated with it persist. It is worth noting that caste systems exist

communities themselves may be indistinguishable in appearance from others, unlike with race or ethnicity, socio-economic disparities are glaring, as are the peculiar forms of discrimination practiced against them. It is approximated that around 250-300 trillion people across the world suffer from caste, or work- and descent-based discrimination, a form of discrimination that impinges on their civil, political, religious, socio-economic and cultural rights, and their right to freedom of choice to develop as individuals and as a community with dignity.' http://www.dalits.orgiglobalcastesystems.htm.

Although it is difficult to make generalizations about the status of the Muslim population of India, it is fair to say that in certain states Indian Muslims are suffering discrimination from the Hindu majority, which means that many Muslims suffer from unemployment, restricted job prospects, discrimination and poverty.

3.3.3 India’s Reports to the Committee

The initial report of India stressed the country's commitment to children’s rights, and stated that the infrastructure was now in place to make a difference. Moreover, there was a National Plan of Action and a committee to monitor progress. The report also pointed out that the rights of children would improve if the general rights of families also improved.

(http://www.unhchr.orgihuricaneihuricane.nsfiO/86DBBOE6F28B lEI680256863005FE7A9?opendocument)

Second periodic report of India 2004

The second periodic report placed children's rights in the general context of the battle against poverty and pointed out that high mortality rates, malnutrition and il1iteracyremain problems. It also highlighted that India has over 400 million children below the age of 18 years. This represents the largest child population in the world. The report stressed the committee to making elementary education universal, but, as yet the National Commission for Children had not been established.

(http://www.unhchr.org/huricaneihuricane.nsflO/E6DB9B85AA3 A1304C1256E23003551D8?opendocument)

These reports suggest that advances are being made, but significant problems still remain.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

1. Bonded labour continues to play a significant role in the Indian economy despite the nation's commitment to human rights standards', Discuss.