Dear RN, The CHILD LABOUR NEWS SERVICE sends regular updates to the RN list of news from around the world. As you can see from their e-mail address, they are based in India. Perhaps some RN subscribrs would like to know about this list, so I am forwarding their latest message below. all the best, Jan ************************************************************** From: "Child Labour News Service" <•••@••.•••> Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 04:06:46 +0550 Subject: Child Labour News Service Release - March 15, 2000 CHILD LABOUR NEWS SERVICE March 15, 2000 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***************************************************************************** ** First Census of Street Working Children for Mexico ** Anti-Child Labour Preparations In Tanzania, Impresses ILO Boss ** Act to Benefit Only 10% of Child Workers ** Oxfam's Protest Wins Backers for Action Plan -- News-in-Brief ***************************************************************************** ** First Census of Street Working Children for Mexico In a bustling plaza in the city's centre, Alejandro Huitzilui Quintana, 12 and Adrian Ixcoatl, 10, dance under a hot sun in colourful costumes, hoping six hours worth of effort will earn them the equivalent of US $5. Each day of their young lives, the children make a two-hour trip from a poverty belt surrounding the megalopolis of Mexico City in an effort to scratch out a living for themselves and their families. Their parents earn an average of US$ 200 a month sewing dance costumes. Alejandro and Adrian are two of 14,322 children who work illegally on the streets of this city of 20 million people, according to the first survey Mexico City has conducted on the trend. Mexican law prohibits children younger than 14 from working. According to Isabel Molina, director of the federal System for the Whole Development of the Family, officials completed the study, supported by UNICEF, in order to draft policies to resolve the problem. "It is a very large social problem," Molina said. "There were a lot of myths circulating about children in the streets. We discovered that only about 1,000 work and live in the streets; the rest return to their homes." The survey found that 17 percent of the children suffer work-related accidents. Alejandro says he dances to pay for school and clothing. "I also give the money to my mother," he said. Despite laws prohibiting child labour, the streets are filled with children washing windshields, selling candy, shining shoes, and performing with painted clown faces or colourful costumes in traffic intersections. Most of the children are males between the ages of 12 and 17, according to the study, but children who appear no older than 5 or 6 also are also seen late at night peddling trinkets to cafe diners and hotel guests. According to the study, children working on the streets earn about US $8 a day, about twice the minimum daily wage. "This is a problem, because they earn a lot," Molina said. The average for children working on the streets is 7.2 years, according to the study. Those in the direst of straits are the children who both work and live in the streets, sleeping in parks, eating badly and occasionally using drugs. "Broken families are an important cause," the study said. # # # (From files of The Associated Press) **************************************************** ** Anti-Child Labour Preparations In Tanzania, Impresses ILO Boss Dar Es Salaam- The International Labour Organisation has recommended Tanzania for its on-going initiatives towards combating child labour in the country. Tanzania has formed the National Steering Committee for effecting recommendations under the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). IPEC's director of operations, Ng Gek- Boo, congratulated the government of Tanzania for forming a special committee to implement anti child labour measures. He said that last year's conference which adopted unanimously the new Convention on Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, ILO/IPEC showed the commitment of the organisation member countries towards ending child labour problem worldwide. "The Tanzania National Committee has the role to of setting the direction for implementation, through scrutiny of the programme actors and the subsequent tangible outputs which have always impressed ILO/IPEC management," he explained. The director said that the establishment of a National Child Labour Elimination Policy was a step forward towards the whole exercise of combating child labour as it would be a focal point whereby all possible areas would be set clearly. According to him, education is a key solution to child labour, noting that along with other measures which aimed at combating child labour, the question of social development, education policy, should be put into national agenda when looking into ways to solve child labour problem. In Tanzania child labour is caused by the combination of factors. It is the product of underdevelopment and poverty and experts feel that one of the challenges facing Tanzania in solving child labour is eliminating poverty. In Tanzania child labour, is becoming be one of the feasible alternatives in extended families. Child labour is predominant in tea, tobacco plantations as well as in mining areas. # # # (SOURCE: TOMRIC Agency) **************************************************** ** Act to Benefit Only 10% of Child Workers Last week, the Parliament (of Nepal) passed the much awaited Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act-2056 B. S. to address the problem of about 2.6 million under-aged labourers working throughout the country. The newly introduced law is expected to be instrumental in doing away with the growing trend of child labour in Nepal. But those working in the field of child labour and human rights feel that the new Act may not be sufficient to address the problem. The Act is based on the ILO Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Form of Child labour unanimously adopted last June. Gauri Pradhan, Executive Director of Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), says that the passing of the Bill related to child labour is a positive step but it is not complete. Pradhan says that the new Act will be able to eliminate only 10 per cent of the total child labour in the country as it has provisions just to interfere in the formal and organised sector leaving the unorganised sector largely untouched. "More than 90 per cent under-aged labourers are found in the unorganised and informal sector. So, it will not be fully able to solve the problem of child labour," Pradhan says. He also sees the possibility of the Act being misused, unless there is a strong monitoring and supervision mechanism. Some of the positive aspect of the Act is that it has clearly defined the age of children. Besides, it has also defined the area where children may risk health hazard areas and has prohibited the under-aged children from working in those areas. Under the act, employing children under the age of 14 is considered a child labour, and it prohibits such children from going hard and health-hazardous jobs. According to the recent report of the National Planning Commission and Population Studies, Tribhuwan University, the number of child labour in both the organised and unorganised sectors is about 2.6 million with their age ranging from five to 14. The under-aged children are found working in different fields. They work on brick kilns, carpet and garment factories. They are also found working as porters, domestics, bonded labour, tea gardens, as cleaners in tempos, buses and mini buses, in mines and agriculture sector. Besides, many under-aged children are working as commercial sex workers. The report says 60 per cent or nearly 1.4 million children are believed to be actively involved in economic activities. # # # (From files of Sunday Dispatch) **************************************************** ** Oxfam's Protest Wins Backers for Action Plan A radical plan to tackle the education crisis in developing countries is expected to receive a substantial boost in funding. Scandinavian donor countries and the World Bank officials are calling on western governments to pledge additional resources for an ambitious strategy to be considered at the world forum on education for all (FEA) in Dakar, Senegal, next month. The gathering momentum in support of a pounds 2.3bn 'Compact for Africa', proposed by Oxfam, comes after the British charity resigned last month from the FEA's organising committee in protest at what it saw as its failure to mobilise international funding and lack of coherent education targets. Oxfam accused international organisations and western aid donors of a lack of political will. The draft agenda for the Dakar conference was 'woefully inadequate' and offered nothing for the world's poorest children, 125 million of whom are not at school, the charity warned. The conference should do for education what the earth summit did for the environment, rather than offering a 'teddy bears' picnic for international bureaucrats'. The Dakar forum will mark the 10th anniversary of the international pledge on basic education for all, which was supposed to have been achieved this year. But in many countries the number of children who do not attend school has increased since 1990, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Supporters of a special initiative for Africa have called for African governments to draw up infrastructure reform plans specifying targets for the year 2015 before they qualify for extra aid. Participating officials from Finland, Norway and the Netherlands have also come out in support of Oxfam's programme. "We are still lacking the political leadership for Dakar," an Oxfam spokesman said. "This conference provides an opportunity to tackle what is the biggest single cause of global poverty and inequality." The British Prime Minister's interest in improving internet access around the world, Oxfam fears, will do little to tackle the fundamental causes of poverty in remote villages where there are no computers. The department for international development said that it regretted Oxfam's withdrawal from the conference's steering committee. "We do share some of Oxfam's frustrations but we would like them to stay in and strengthen the process," said a department spokesman. Improving education - particularly among girls - is increasingly seen as a key to stimulating economic growth, controlling population and increasing health awareness. # # # (From files of The Guardian) **************************************************** -- News-in-Brief ** Lama Lanka' News Bulletin to Publicise Child Labour The Sri Lankan Department of Labour has initiated a novel concept to publicise the current position of child labour and all forms of child related activities in the country, through a news bulletin published by the department. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) will assist the department in the releasing of the bulletin, "Lama Lanka", every four months. The first copy of this bulletin was recently launched in Colombo. The bulletin aims at the elimination of all forms of child labour and creating public awareness on this important matter. ** Rehabilitation Package for Uttar Pradesh Child Labour Uttar Pradesh government has decided to implement the rehabilitation programme for child labour. The package would cover nearly 71,000 child workers, predominantly in 23 districts. While the state government would provide a grant of Rupees 10 million, another Rupees 3,700,000, recovered as penalty from the employers of child labour, would also be used for the purpose. The main components of the programme are recovery of Rupees 20,000 from the employer of child labour, removal of child labour to schools and an assistance of Rupees 5,000 to help find their dependent a suitable self-employment, to be implemented under the guidance of the District Magistrates. # # # **************************************************************************** ********* CHILD LABOUR NEWS SERVICE (CLNS), managed by the Global March Against Child Labour (http://www.globalmarch.org/), is produced as a non-commercial public service and any part of it may be reproduced without charge. (To unsubscribe please e-mail us at •••@••.•••) **************************************************************************** ********* For comments or any further information please contact: Upasana Choudhry Editor, Child Labour News Service C/o Global March Against Child Labour L-6 Kalkaji, New Delhi 110 019, INDIA Tel : (91 11) 622 4899, 647 5481 Fax : (91 11) 623 6818 Email : •••@••.••• Website: http://www.globalmarch.org/ "A child in danger is a child that cannot wait" - Kofi Annan
