Pan-European and Euro-Mediterranean Regional Consultation, Sofia, Bulgaria, July 23-25, 2007
Global March is organizing Pan-European and Euro-Mediterranean regional consultation with the view of new realities within GM and also the pressing need to reposition ourselves in a newly expanded European Union and the development of a Pan-European Trade Union Council including the countries of East Europe. The expansion of the EU offers a great opportunity to promote decent work and fundamental rights in the new EU member States and in the accession countries.
It is time when we should be open to identifying and capturing the new opportunities that come to us from the interdependence of the Euro-Mediterranean countries in the EU and those such as Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco in terms of meeting labour demands and imperatives of the supply chains. It offers possibility to further deepen confidence- building measures with the secular and moderate forces in Islamic countries. In the light of this we support the idea of integrating new partners from the Mediterranean and Northern African region which show higher rates of child labor and have greater challenges in ensuring universal access to all levels of education especially for girls. We are witnessing challenges from the countries in the Balkans where the school systems have suffered and increasing poverty has increased the incidence of child labour. Linked to this is the issue of trafficking of children.
Another important feature is that almost 90% of all development financing for the MDGs and EFA is emerging from Europe. The success of these two significant initiatives depends on addressing child labor as a priority. European donors have invested heavily in these and they do not want their investments to fail. Child labor remains a foremost impediment in this regard. That challenge offers a great opportunity for us to strengthen our work in these countries and expand the horizons of our work with meaningful and committed partnerships.
In the light of the above we need to recognize that the European coordination is of critical value in our future work, from the perspective both of expanding and reinvigorating the movement. We know that the communication between our office and European partners has been weak and the European coordination has also remained lacking at times. In this intervening period our work has grown tremendously and we have received some measure of success.
It has to be recognized that in 1998 ILO Convention 182 did not exist and GM was established to build much-needed global awareness. Today 163 countries have ratified Convention 182 and 148 have ratified the minimum age Convention 138. In 1998 there was no unanimous declaration by all the Governments of the world on Education for All Dakar framework of Action that makes universal primary full time quality education a fundamental right of every child. At that time there was no UN Gender Education Initiative and there were no MDGs to be achieved by 2015. In addition, in 1998 the ILO elaborated its Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which placed an obligation on all member States to eliminate child labour, regardless of ratification (at that time, only of C138).
All of these conventions and new mechanisms make it obligatory on the states to comply by eliminating child labor under14 years of age. However the irony lays with the fact that not only the wider Pro Nats network and its supporters but also some GM partners and some donors continue to work against these Conventions and instruments even though the world has moved way ahead in promising the children right to education and joyful living. We cannot ignore this issue any longer. Our perspective was confirmed with empirical work that child labor retards employability for adult men and women and a key way forward to bring labour sector reform is to eliminate child labor and expand labour opportunities for young adults.
GM has been able to highlight the incoherence in policy and practice around the core issues of poverty, child labor and education sector at the highest level of the donors, in the UN system and in the IMF/WB. We have been able to demonstrate that this incoherence is affecting the work of national governments. We have been able to successfully mobilize the formation of Global Task Force (GTF) on Child Labour and Education. We have successfully lobbied for the inclusion of child labour in education sector plans, strategies and in the PRSPs. We have been able to bring an informed perspective on this with the donors on how they can get value for money and investments in EFA and the MDGs by using their power of financing to make real differences to the situation of child labourers at country level.
Our desire is that Regional Coordinators should increasingly assume a leadership role in continuously redefining the agenda of GM from their perspective and expand their partnership base with strategic alliances. It is the need of the hour to define with you how best the European network can be strengthened and how its work can systemically feed and supplement our global advocacy work from Delhi, Brussels and Washington, D.C. In doing this we need to focus on how to improve future communication, build reliable networks and identify lobbying opportunities together.
Our vision is that the regional work needs to be financed by local and regional donors and this requires evolving innovative method of finding resources for European Coordination. Ideally, we see the need for a strong regional coordination but we are open to suggestions in this regard from you on what should be the future structure.
Our key request is to identify new partners in Eastern Europe and North Africa. Our interest is to know what you think about this enlarged meeting with the partners from North Africa like Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria and from Eastern Europe, including Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Moldova etc. Do you think that East Europe should be combined or it should be kept separately? Your inputs will guide us in this regard. The next meeting is proposed to be in July. The venue and exact dates will be communicated to you shortly so that you have information in good time to ensure your participation. We will like to evolve a regional long-term strategy after discussing with you and receiving inputs. At this time our concern is to get new contacts for the countries in the region particularly for Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Finland. Your inputs will be appreciated. We want to know whom you consider as important actors in these countries to strengthen the GM.
Our collective strength has become somewhat trivial in comparison to our brand image. The key question to all who have stood loyal to the GM and in your love for the cause of the child labourers is what we need to do now to resurrect ourselves as a powerful movement in Europe. We need to understand ourselves why Europe is so critical for us in the short- and medium term. This consultation will help reflect collectively and deeper in this regard.
http://iccle.org/pan-european.php
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Gauri Pradhan appointed Member of National Human Rights Commission, Nepal
Mr. Gauri Pradhan, Founder President of CWIN-Nepal and South Asian Regional Coordinator of the Global March Against Child Labor, has been appointed as an Honorable Member of National Human Rights Commission, Nepal. We believe his appointment will further strengthen the national human rights movement in Nepal. We also believe this appointment recognizes his two decade-long sincere efforts to strengthen the child rights movement in Nepal. We are sure he will play an important role in taking child rights issues forward as a priority of the national agenda.
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The Philippines: Human rights-based actions vs. human trafficking pushed in Surigao City
By Fryan E Abiklan
Surigao City (October 23, 2007) -- "A Human Rights Based approach is needed to fight the growing problem of Human Trafficking in our locality." This was bared by Roland Pacis, Deputy Executive Director of the Visayan Forum (VF) Foundation in a consultative meeting held in Gateway Hotel, Surigao City recently.
Dubbed as the Human Rights Based Approach to Programming (HRBAP) and Results-Based Management, the approach is based on the UNICEF's materials and presentations to achieve progressively the full realization of the rights of every person, a Visayan Forum report narrated.
To assess the status of the campaign on anti-trafficking of persons in the city, VF Regional Coordinator for Mindanao Art Necessito bared that VF conducted an initial study last year to accurately illustrate the magnitude of the problem where reports show that mass recruitment still occurs in the communities. Most victims come from Maguindanao (24%), followed by Surigao del Sur (16%) Agusan del Norte and Sur (16%) and Compostella Valley and Davao del Sur (12%). Interestingly, a large portion comes from Davao City alone (16%).
With the HRBAP approach, VF hopes to enhanced people's understanding on the current situation of trafficking at the Surigao-Liloan gateway based on the feedbacks to the initial highlights of the rapid appraisal of trafficking. Moreover, identify new areas of collaboration in the next two years among different partners based on the analysis of current role patterns among different agencies working especially in the areas of handling reports, interception, investigation, protection, legal action, and prevention advocacy.
Pacis also revealed that said approach is just part of a series of workshops to consult anti-trafficking partners towards understanding the demands and challenges in operating a halfway house or Bahay Silungan sa Daungan in the Lipata Port by 2008, pending its construction committed under VF and Philippine Ports Authority partnership.
Currently, VF is working in the different major ports in the country and Liloan in cooperation with ANGKAS by providing technical assistance within the existing helpdesk. Since its first operation in 2002 the Bahay Silungan Sa Daungan "Halfway House" which serves as temporary shelter for the trafficked victims has already assisted a total of 1,647 trafficked and potentially trafficked persons and children nationwide.
VF also recorded that of the 1,647 persons who were referred and assisted at the "Halfway House." 1,384 were females and 226 are males. Also 1,114 of them were adults and 496 were minors. (PIA-Surigao del Norte)
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Professor: Child poverty drains national productivity
October 29, 2007
An expert has outlined the economic costs of child poverty today, arguing failing to address the problem impacts national productivity and places long-term pressure on public services.
Harry Holzer, professor of public policy at Georgetown University, is attending a Barnardo's seminar today entitled Paying the Price of Child Poverty.
Work and pensions secretary Peter Hain will also be present and is expected to launch a new cross-departmental taskforce to help the government meet its pledge to halve child poverty by 2010.
Ahead of the conference, Mr Holzer suggested the consequences for not meeting the challenge of childhood deprivation were grave.
Mr. Holzer explained: "When children grow up in poverty they are more likely than those who aren’t poor to have low earnings as adults, which in turn reflects lower workforce productivity.
"A minority are more likely to engage in crime which imposes large monetary costs on their victims, as well as the criminal justice system.
"Poor children are also more likely to suffer from ill health throughout life.
"As adults their poor health generates illness and early mortality which not only requires large healthcare expenditure, but also creates a direct loss of goods and services that they could be generating should they be fit to work."
Past research carried out in the US and UK estimates the economic bill for ignoring childhood poverty amounts to £40 billion annually.
Tony Blair promised to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it over the course of a generation.
But Labor have been warned they risk falling short of this target unless they accelerate their efforts.
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Exclusive: Gap Close To Deal To Stop Child Labor
(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO Gap officials were in India late Thursday night and are very close to striking a deal to prevent the use of child labor in the manufacturing of their garments. The news comes days after reports of children in a New Delhi sweatshop making clothes for the retailer.
The San Francisco-based company has turned to Kailash Satyarthi, a child rights activist who has rescued hundreds of children from sweat shops. The retailer is looking at labels that certify no child labor was used. Also, officials will meet with 200 suppliers in India to say the company has zero tolerance for child labor.
http://cbs5.com/consumer/local_story_306024840.html
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U.S. Clothing Company Drops New Delhi Contractor
Gap Inc. reacts to allegations of child labor in India
Washington -- Multinational apparel giant Gap Inc. acted quickly after discovering that a Gap contractor in New Delhi employed children.
“We strictly prohibit the use of child labor. This is non-negotiable for us -- and we are deeply concerned and upset by this allegation,” Gap North America President Marka Hansen said.
The October 28 statement followed revelations in a British newspaper, The Observer,that quoted child workers’ accounts of being sold by their parents, forced to work 16-hour days without pay and being beaten. Children as young as 10 years old were held in conditions of abject slavery.
“I’m not surprised,” Sudhanshu Joshi told USINFO. “There have been complaints for a long time about Gap.” Joshi is executive director of the Washington-based International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE), and has worked on the issue for United Nations agencies, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Bank. He added that child labor is endemic in India.
“Gap has to prove that it is not going to thrive in business on the strength of the very cheap child labor that is available,” he said, recommending stronger involvement of businesses with governments and civil society to monitor industries prone to using child labor.
Hansen said Gap Inc. is committed to fighting for workers’ rights in cooperation with governments, nongovernmental organizations, trade unions and other interested parties. Lapses exposed several years ago caused Gap to make serious efforts to monitor and prevent sweatshop and child labor in countries where its products are made.
Social responsibility is now part of its mission. “We believe that all individuals who work in garment factories deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and are entitled to safe and fair working conditions,” according to the Gap Web site.
“As soon as we were alerted to this situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in stores,” Hansen said, citing Gap’s “strict prohibition on child labor.” Gap called an emergency meeting with regional suppliers to reinforce the policy.
CHILD LABOR A WIDSPREAD PROBLEM
Although bonded child labor is illegal in India, the practice is still widespread. The U.S. Department of Labor 2006 international child labor report states that approximately 4.1 percent of boys and 4.0 percent of girls ages 5 to 14 are forced to work in India. Most work in agriculture, but children are employed in many other, often hazardous, industries. Living conditions frequently are poor, and abuse is common. According to India’s leading anti-child labor organization, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), children may be purchased for labor in impoverished villages of India for as little as Rs. 500 ($12.50 US).
A day after the Observer story ran, BBA, in cooperation with law enforcement, rescued 14 bonded child laborers in New Delhi. The children, the youngest 8 years old, embroidered fabric in the same Shahpur Jaat neighborhood and under conditions similar to those endured by the children making clothes for Gap.
BBA co-founder Kailash Satyarthi said, “We are glad that after so many years the situation has changed a little as the international brands like Gap have admitted that there is child labor involved in their supply chain, and we also appreciate their immediate response to the situation,” but, he added, stronger steps are needed. He advocates a certifying body such as Rugmark, which prevents child labor through strict guidelines and regular monitoring.
India has progressed in curbing child labor, Joshi said, but it still has a long way to go. “The government of India has been very, very bold and proactive,” he said, but he thinks India should sign the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor (1999), which has been ratified by 165 nations. “It would have huge value,” and send “a strong message.”
The 2006 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report finds Indian law enforcement insufficient for the scope of the problem, and frequently hampered by corruption.
Added to this, numerous “factories” employing child laborers are small units operating from houses in residential areas.
The U.S. Department of Labor partners with the government of India on the INDUS project, which aims to free 80,000 children from hazardous work by September 2008.
To Joshi, education is critical, and he said good education can be given to all “in the new resurgent India, which has the means to do that, and show to the world it can do it.”
Gap spokesman Bill Chandler told the Associated Press, “Under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments,” saying the company is grateful “that the media identified this subcontractor.”
Bhuwan Ribhu, lawyer and BBA activist, said he appreciated Gap’s actions, but “Instead of cancelling the order the business houses should make sure that wherever their production is going on, the manufacturing units shouldn’t employ children and also [should] regularly monitor their contractors and subcontractors.”
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-
english&y=2007&m=October&x=20071031123014mlenuhret0.538357
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'Gap sweatshop children' saved in India raid
October 30, 2007, The Telegraph, UK
By Peter Foster in New Delhi
Police have rescued 14 children from a New Delhi sweatshop at the centre of a scandal involving US clothing giant Gap.
Despite reports over the weekend that a Gap supplier had sub-contracted work to the illegal sweatshop in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi, Indian police did not raid the address until the Daily Telegraph produced photographs of the children still at work.
The Telegraph visited the complex posing as a buyer for a fictional boutique fashion outlet in London.
After negotiations with managers to view the quality of the workmanship and photograph samples, The Telegraph was shown to a series of 12 dingy rooms where both adults and children squatted on the floor performing delicate embroidery and stitching.
Photographs of the children, many of whom appeared shockingly young, were shown to the child rights charity Global March Against Child Labor, who immediately contacted police. Authorities raided the building a few hours later.
The boys, some as young as eight, looked utterly terrified as a police inspector explained that they were working illegally and would shortly be returned to their families.
There were chaotic scenes as the children, many dressed in little more than their underwear, were given a few minutes to dress and gather their few belongings before being ushered from the premises in a pitiful crocodile.
"Once we saw the photographs we knew that we had to act fast," said Bhuwan Ribhu, a Delhi lawyer and activist with the Indian branch of Global March Against Child Labor.
"The children are aged eight to 15 and at least three of them have told me already that they were working for no pay at all."
After their rescue, the children, who come from impoverished families in rural West Bengal, eastern India, were taken to a local police station where they were processed.
They were then handed over to Global March, which runs a rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of New Delhi.
"First the children will be given something to eat and then we'll try and make them comfortable for the night. Then the process of getting them financial compensation and returning them to their villages and families will begin," Mr. Ribhu said.
Under India's Bonded Labor Act, each of the underage workers is entitled to 20,000 rupees (£250) in compensation from the Indian government, in order to prevent them from returning to work.
The United Nations estimates that 55 million children aged from 5 to 14 are currently employed in the domestic and business sectors in India, producing up to 20 per cent of India's annual GDP.
"Many of the children are conned from their parents by unscrupulous people-trafficking operations," Mr. Ribhu said.
"The agents make promises that the children will earn thousands of rupees and make their fortune in the big cities.""
But in reality, most work for nothing except their food for at least the first 12 months and then earn between 1,200 and 1,500 rupees (£15-£19) a month, which is half the minimum wage of 3,200 rupees (£40)."
Conditions in the Shahpur Jat sweatshop are typical of those found all over India. Children sit crouched on their haunches for 12 hours a day, stitching sequins and braiding onto richly embroidered garments, mostly for the domestic market.
After news broke that a Gap supplier had been using child labor - a piece of Gap packaging was still on view at Shahpur Jat - the company immediately ordered an investigation, describing the allegations as "deeply upsetting".
"We appreciate that the media identified this subcontractor and we acted swiftly in this situation. Under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments," said a spokesman for Gap, which employs 90 inspectors to ensure suppliers follow the company's guidelines.
However, such is the prevalence of child labor in India's textile industry - where a vacant attic or residential bedroom filled with children can turn a healthy profit - which activists say major chains need to work harder to stamp out the problem.
With poverty still widespread in India - almost half of all children are malnourished - many Indian small and family businesses justify hiring children on the basis that they provide them with a life and livelihood.
Children are particularly prized in the textile industry for their nimble fingers, which are able to stitch the tiniest beads onto the decorative kurtas and saris which are worn on special occasions.
After the police raid, the man responsible for bringing the children to Delhi, Sheikh Mubidul, was to be found not in hiding, but giving interviews to local TV stations, angrily denouncing the police action.
"The children came from Madnipur District, West Bengal, and their parents sent them with me so they could learn how to work and get enough to eat," he said.
"In their villages they have nothing, so we help them in this way."
Asked if he thought is was wrong to condemn children to a life of labor at such a young age, he replied: "They have no food to eat, so they must work. What else can they do?"
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Gap Threatens India's Clothing Boom
Madhur Singh, Delhi, TIME CNN, October 29, 2007
The Gap clothing chain has withdrawn a line of embroidered blouses and ordered an internal investigation after a news report alleged that the garments were stitched by children in a Delhi sweatshop. Sunday's edition of Britain's Observer splashed an undercover investigative report across two pages, alleging children between 10 and 13 worked in conditions "close to slavery" in the factory producing blouses bearing Gap labels. Gap, which has 200 of its 2,000 suppliers in India, was quick to order a recall and an investigation, while calling a meeting with suppliers to reiterate its no-tolerance policy on child labor. "Under absolutely no circumstance is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments. It's a non-negotiable for us," Gap's senior vice-president for social responsibility, Dan Henkle, said in a statement.
The allegations may have come as a shock to Western readers accustomed to stories about India's rise as an economic power, but for most Indians child labor is a well-known reality — either uncomfortable or necessary, depending on which part of the social spectrum one belongs to. Indian law prohibits employment of children under the age of 14 in professions deemed hazardous, which covers 13 occupations and 57 processes, including the garment, mining, hospitality and domestic sectors. But between 75 and 90 million children continue to be part of the labor force in India.
"Everyone knows factories in Shahpur Jat use child labor — it's an open secret," says Puja Sahu, owner of a fashionable boutique in the area where the Observer reporter allegedly found the sweatshop. Shahpur Jat lies in the southern part of Delhi and houses grimy, dimly lit sweatshops behind plush, high-end boutiques. On Monday, there were no children working in the unit that had reportedly been making clothes for Gap, but several children were seen embroidering clothes in a number of other factories. Sahu says trained embroiderers and tailors are paid between $110 and $150 a month, whereas "children can be employed for less than half of this, sometimes for no money at all if their parents have sold them off."
The Indian government tried to downplay the issue and none of the ministries in whose domain it has arisen has commented. It was left to Commerce Minister Kamal Nath to react to the report. According to the Times of India, Nath said the allegations would be probed, while warning developed countries against using allegations of child labor as a pretext for taking protectionist tariff measures.
Children's rights activists, however, see the latest allegations as typical of the problems associated with India's economic rise, where growth is prioritized over social equity. Pradeep Narayan of the non-profit Child Rights and You says, "Policies on liberalization, privatization, trade, export-import, et cetera get implemented very fast and very effectively. But the policies on the social sector, like health or child labor, never do."
On Monday, the Confederation of Indian Industry released a report predicting a 12% increase in the sourcing by foreign companies of clothing and textile production in India. In 2008, clothing and textile production in India for foreign brands is projected to be worth between $22 billion and $25 billion, as Western producers come in search of lower production costs that enable lower retail prices in the boutiques of the industrialized world. The cost to India of its neglect of social issues may begin to rise sharply, however, if the Gap recall deters other Western brands from sourcing their production to India. In the competitive apparel retail markets of the industrialized world, after all, the potential loss of market share as a result of a clothing label being tainted by any association with child labor would almost certainly outweigh any cost advantages in turning a blind eye.
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GAP SPEAKS OUT
VOGUE
October 29 2007
Leisa Barnett Following reports in the weekend press that children as young as ten are employed in India to produce clothing for Gap, the high street retailer has launched an investigation into the matter and has begun removing certain items from its shelves. A report published by The Observer revealed that some children are forced to work up to 19 hours a day for no pay - in appalling conditions - to produce clothing for the label, which is known for its star-studded ad campaigns featuring the likes of Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Helena Christensen and Alek Wek. "We firmly believe that under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments," said a spokesperson for Gap. "These allegations are deeply upsetting and we take this situation very seriously. All of our suppliers and their subcontractors are required to guarantee that they will not use child labor to produce garments. In this situation, it's clear one of our vendors violated this agreement and a full investigation is under way." Last year Gap revoked approval for 23 factories, claiming they did not meet the strict requirements of its Code of Vendor Conduct.
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CONSUMER WATCHDOG GROUP COMMENDS RETAIL GIANT FOR PULLING PRODUCTS TAINTED BY CHILD LABOR, BUT CRITICIZES ‘GAP’ IN AUDITING SYSTEM
National Consumers League Press Release
Washington, DC, October 30, 2007 -- Just weeks away from the beginning of the busy holiday shopping season, a major American retail clothing company, Gap Inc. has been found to have within its supply chain a vendor that was recently revealed to have utilized child slave labor in the course of production. The National Consumers League, the convener and co-chairing organization of the national Child Labor Coalition, issued the following statement in reaction to news that Gap Inc. has dropped a line of products that were discovered to have been made in sweatshop conditions by bonded child laborers – a form of slavery - in New Delhi. Children as young as 10 said they worked 16 hours a day for no pay, and the original report, which appeared in the British Observer newspaper as a result of that paper’s own investigation, described the factory as a “derelict industrial unit … smeared in filth, the corridors flowing with excrement from a flooded toilet.”
“This incident of child labor abuse underscores how important it is that companies vigilantly monitor their total supply chain – from company-owned manufacturing facilities, to contractors, to subcontractors,” said Darlene Adkins, Vice President for Public Policy at NCL and coordinator of the CLC. “This is especially critical when you are doing business in a part of the world where there's high incidence of child labor and bonded labor. NGOs believe the number of child laborers in India to be at 55 million and there are approximately ten million child bonded laborers. NCL calls upon companies contracting overseas to be vigilant in their oversight of labor conditions and encourages them to use third-party, independent monitoring.”
“The National Consumers League commends Gap Inc. for its response to reports revealing bonded child labor in the manufacturing of one of its product lines. It is imperative for a company with Gap’s clout and size to act as it did, destroying the tainted products in question, rather than allowing them to make their way to store shelves. It’s the expected moral path, but it’s also the legal one,” said Adkins. “According to federal law, the importation into the US of products made overseas by forced child labor is illegal.”
“What happens next is crucial, both for the children affected by these“What happens next is crucial, both for the children affected by these practices, and for Gap’s public relations crisis. There must be an appropriate response regarding the welfare of the children involved,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “These young children must be immediately compensated for their work, despite the illegality of their employment, restored to their families, and a process of rehabilitation for these youngsters must begin. It is the responsibility of Gap, Inc. to work to prevent this from happening again and NCL urges them to work with credible, local nongovernmental organizations and trade unions.”
“When consumers learn that abuse of children is involved in the making of a product, they will steer clear of that product,” said Greenberg. “This should serve as a wakeup call for companies who are doing business overseas. American companies contracting with offshore vendors to manufacture their products are not beyond the watchful eyes of American consumers. These companies are responsible for what happens in their supply chain – whether its sweatshop or forced labor or product safety - and consumers will hold them accountable. Clearly, there were gaps in this retailer’s auditing system, and children are paying the price.”
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Press Release from International Textile, Garment and Leather Worker's Federation (ITGLWF)
Time to Scratch beneath the Surface to Root out Child Slavery
Gap Inc. took a global hammering at the start of the week as news emerged of child slavery in their Indian supply chain. But scores of other brands and garment retailers qualify for the same headlines by permitting sub-contracting in their sourcing in India and as many as twenty-five other countries, the global union representing garment workers claimed today.
Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) said, "Whether sourcing in Delhi, Istanbul, Jakarta or a host of other low-cost locations, brands and retailers permitting uncontrolled sub-contracting are likely to be no better than Gap and probably much worse. At least Gap placed a contractual obligation on suppliers to abide by a set of labour standards including a ban on child labour in their own premises and in those of their sub-contractors. Many others don't even properly control their direct suppliers let alone think about sub-contractors.
"While many of the leading brands and retailers have adopted codes of conduct aimed at ensuring basic workers rights in their supply chains, these are usually only applied at direct supplier level and rarely at the myriad of sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors which play an increasingly important role in the supply chain
"Thus the very worst workplaces escape oversight or control allowing gross exploitation, including the use of trafficked children, to reign.
"It is time for a general spring-clean of the global garment industry. Every brand and retailer should be working overtime this weekend mapping their supply chains and including every supplier and every sub-contractor followed by an urgent review of working conditions in every workplace in the chain. Nobody wants these jobs to leave India, Pakistan or Indonesia but workplaces not complying with national labour law and international labour standards must be forced to do so immediately or be dropped in favour of those providing decent work.
"This must be a wake-up call for all brands and retailers. They must begin to use only a dedicated group of compliant suppliers with sub-contracting being permitted only in exceptional situations and only after the approval of the brand or retailer placing the order.
"And while putting the brands and retailers on the spot let's not overlook the responsibility of governments to enact and enforce legislation protecting workers' rights generally and especially shielding children from the cruelty of exploitation.
"Only a few days ago one Indian government minister was railing against trade unions and NGOs accusing them of damaging India by whistle-blowing on child labour and other workers' rights abuses. He and his colleagues would be better placed listening to trade unions and others demanding action rather than attacking them.
"The abuse of children in workplaces across India is a disgrace. Urgent action by the government is needed at the educational and labour levels. India must begin to provide access to good quality education for all children and it must develop a labour and factory inspectorate capable of eradicating child labour in every workplace.
"While the government sits on its hands the Indian garment supply chain will continue to constitute a serious hazard to those who source from it", concluded Mr. Kearney.
-End-
The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation is a global union federation bringing together 220 affiliated organisations in 110 countries with a combined membership of 10 million workers.
For more information, contact:
Neil Kearney (General Secretary) at 32/475932487 (mobile) or nkearney@itglwf.org
ITGLWF Secretariat at tel: 32/02/512.26.06, fax: 32/02/512.09.04 or office@itglwf.org
Visit our website at www.itglwf.org
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Kenya: Country Should Stamp Out Sex Tourism and Child Prostitution
All Africa.Com, The Nation, Nairobi, by Rasna Warah
It is unfortunate that Labor minister Newton Kulundu's faux pas at the launch of a report hosted by the US embassy last week got more media attention than the contents of the report being launched.
The minister accused the United States and the United Kingdom of being "the greatest violators of human rights, democracy and transparency" while the visibly perturbed US ambassador, Micheal Ranneberger, looked on.
Mr. Kulundu forgot one basic principal of diplomacy - do not spit in the face of your host, even if you do not agree with him.
But this lapse in judgment on the part of the minister is not a good enough reason for the media to deflect attention from the contents of the shocking report.
The report, Trafficking in Persons from a Labor Perspective: The Kenyan experience, published by the American Centre for International Labor Solidarity, highlights a problem that seems to have escalated in the last few years - the buying and selling of human beings for the purpose of exploitation.
The International Labor Organization estimates that at any given time, 12 million women, men and children worldwide are coerced into bonded labor, involuntary servitude, or sexual slavery. This modern form of slavery is the second-most lucrative business for international crime syndicates, after trafficking in weapons.
A study by the Kenyan Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR) has found that Kenya is a major source, transit and destination country for trafficked women, men and children who are forced into unpaid work or forced prostitution.
Kenyan victims are trafficked to other countries mostly through bogus employment agencies that deceive victims into going abroad for work. Unsuspecting victims are then sent to Europe, Australia, North America or the Middle East/Gulf region, where they end up as bonded labor or prostitutes. Some African countries, such as South Africa and Bostswana, are also recipients of these modern-day slaves.
But while the international aspect of the trade receives the most attention, it is worth noting that internal trafficking of women and children in particular is a growing problem in Eastern Africa.
Counter-trafficking activists believe that many children from Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda are trafficked to Kenya's coastal areas for sexual exploitation in the growing sex tourism industry.
It is estimated that in the coastal town of Mtwapa alone, between 10,000 and 20,000 children are trafficked for the purpose of sex tourism.
A recent Unicef report shows that while Italian, German and Swiss men form the bulk of the foreign tourists who sexually exploit children at the coast, a large proportion - 39 per cent - of the perpetrators are local Kenyan men.
Many of the children being exploited are not from the coast region but are imported from rural areas from around the country.
You don't have to spend a lot of time at the Kenyan coast to know that child prostitution and sex tourism are rampant there. In Mombasa and Malindi, it is common to see aging white men well into their 70s and 80s with girls young enough to be their granddaughters.
Locals tolerate this type of sexual exploitation because, as one put it to me recently, "nothing gets a family out of poverty faster than a daughter who has a white boyfriend."
In many cases, girls are encouraged by none other than their parents and relatives to look for older white men who will not only pay the girl for her services, but her family as well.
The Unicef report also found that witchdoctors are commonly engaged by sex workers to ensure a steady supply of foreign tourists who can support them. (The allure of the foreign tourist is greater than that of a local tourist as he is often able to pay more, and is likely to be a seasonal client, thereby allowing the women and girls to have more than one "boyfriend" in a given year.)
Many of the girls (and some boys) are the source of income to impoverished parents living in deprived rural areas. Others make a lot of money for middlemen and traffickers who supply children and women to tourists looking for sex while on holiday.
The sad thing is that despite the passing of the Sexual Offences Bill and the publication of damning reports that confirm that Kenya is fast becoming a preferred destination for sex tourists, no one has either been arrested or deported for engaging in sex tourism or pedophilia.
Tourism may be a leading revenue earner for Kenya, but it is about time we vetted the tourists who come into this country.
Known pedophiles and sex tourists must not be given a visa to enter the country. Their records must be entered into every immigration and security database in the world, including Interpol. Parents, relatives and middlemen forcing children into servitude or prostitution must be arrested and prosecuted.
More importantly, we must create the economic and social conditions that prevent parents, relatives, middlemen and traffickers from condemning our children to lives of sexual slavery.
Child prostitutes available at $100 a night: the human cost of junta's repression
Military officials profiting from sex industry as sleazy trade flourishes amid poverty and misrule, say international campaigners
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Kevin Doyle in Rangoon
October 30, 2007
The Guardian
Burmese girls prepare for work at a massage parlor in the Chinese border town of Jiegao — part of the regional sex trade. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
This is a side of life the Burmese military junta might prefer you did not see: girls who appear to be 13 and 14 years old paraded in front of customers at a nightclub where a beauty contest thinly veils child prostitution. Tottering in stiletto heels and miniskirts, young teenage girls criss-crossed the dance-floor as part of a nightly "modeling" show at the Asia Entertainment City nightclub on a recent evening in Rangoon. Some girls stared at the floor while others tugged self-consciously on short hemlines, stretching the flimsy material a few centimeters longer as they cat walked awkwardly to the accompaniment of blasting hip-hop music.
Watching these young entertainers of the "Cherry-Sexy Girls" model groups were a few male customers, and a far larger crowd of Burmese sex workers, mostly in their late teens and early 20s, who sat at low tables in the darkness of the club.
Escorting several girls to a nearby table of young men, a waiter said the show was not so much modeling as marketing. "All the models are available," the waiter said, adding that the youngest girls ask $100 (£48.50) to spend a night with a customer, while the older girls and young women in the audience could be bargained down for a lot less.
Prostitution, particularly involving children, is a serious crime in military-ruled Burma, but girls taken from the club would have no problem with the authorities, the waiter assured the company, but did not explain why not.
It would seem that prostitution is one of the few things the Burmese military, fresh from its recent crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations by Buddhist monks, is still willing to tolerate.
Information on the Burmese sex trade is extremely limited, as NGOs and other organizations can not conduct proper research within the country, said Patchareeboon Sakulpitakphon at the Bangkok offices of the international organization Ecpat, whose acronym stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes. As a result of the restrictions, what is known is limited to a "basic picture based on what victims have said, and information that leaks out," Ms Patchareeboon wrote in an email. But, she added, the information available indicates that "[child] sex tourism is emerging in Burma as well as the development of the sex industry".
Rights abuses
Burma is already a big source country for people trafficked to the regional sex trade. "The junta's gross economic mismanagement, human rights abuses and its policy of using forced labor are the top causal factors for Burma's significant trafficking problem," the US state department noted in its 2007 trafficking report.
Disastrous economic policies pursued by the military have hobbled this resource-rich nation and hundreds of thousands have left the country to seek their fortunes elsewhere. With an estimated annual income of just $220 a head among Burma's 52 million people, fleeing the country to work elsewhere is all too common. For many, their effort to escape leads them into the hands of human traffickers and the sex trade in Thailand, China, Malaysia, Macau and elsewhere, according to the state department.
On a recent night in Rangoon, a boisterous group of sex workers trawled a hotel bar for customers. Lin Lin, 22, and Thin Thin, 24 - names commonly used by sex workers in Burma - said they did not normally work in hotel bars, but the 10pm curfew in the wake of the pro-democracy protests had shut down the late-night clubs and forced them to new venues to find customers.
With a mother, father and young brothers and sisters to support, Lin said that prostitution was not such a difficult choice. "Sometimes I can earn $40 from one customer," she explained, speaking in good English.
This was just her night job, she said, adding that she was in her second year at university, studying to become "an advocate of the law".
Thin Thin said she was a hairdresser during the day, but sleeping with men, particularly foreign tourists, paid far more than either could earn by legitimate work.
With one of the most serious HIV epidemics in Southeast Asia - an estimated 360,000 Burmese people were living with HIV at the end of 2005, according to the UN - Thin Thin said she took no chances, and pulled several condoms from the pocket of her faded jeans to demonstrate.
According to the UN's program on HIV/Aids, and based on available statistics, one in three of Burma's sex workers were infected with HIV in 2005. However, the ministry of health's expenditure on HIV was estimated that year to be around $137,000, or less than half of $0.01 a head, the UN said.
Because of the junta's policies, the country also received a fraction of the international aid given to its neighbors. "Overall, overseas development assistance per capita in 2004 for Myanmar [Burma] was US$2.4, compared with $22 in Vietnam, $35 in Cambodia, and $47 in Lao People's Democratic Republic."
Now the outlook for ordinary Burmese looks decidedly gloomier in the face of the military's crackdown. The US and EU have promised more sanctions against the junta and Japan has said it will cut humanitarian aid to the country.
New revenues
Several people spoken to in Rangoon said further sanctions would have little impact on the military elite, who have lived comfortably for decades and now have new sources of revenues from contracts with countries such as China, France, India, and Thailand to extract natural resources.
Ms Patchareeboon said that tougher sanctions "will have a direct impact on children who are already vulnerable, increasing their risk significantly".
The Burmese regime has, at least, joined the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking, she said, and the Burmese media have reported on the arrests of traffickers and the stiff jail sentences they receive.
So what is shielding the trade in young girls that takes place behind the flimsy facade of "modeling" shows in Rangoon from the military regime's wrath?
The answer is as simple as it is obvious, Ms Patchareeboon said: money.
"I am sure that [the military] has officials making profit from the growing sex industry and trafficking of Burmese citizens abroad," she said. "Corruption and the institutionalization of the sex industry is common."
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Uganda: Child Labor Frustrating Education in Yumbe
The Monitor (Kampala) NEWS
15 October 2007
By Kefa Atibuni
Yumbe
Looking at other children going to school, 12- year Rashid Asiku could not hold back his tears as his father shouted at him to go and weed the cassava field. Asiku slowly walked back into the room, changed from his school uniform, picked up a hoe and headed to the garden.
The young boy might have felt worthless and hollow as he watched playmates go to school, but Asiku is not alone. Child labor has been identified as the worst cause of high school drop outs in Yumbe District.
Children not only provide labor in their homes but also get employed by other families.
Early this month the District Chairperson, Al-haji Rashid Govule Iyiga, instructed his guards to arrest Mr. Geoffrey Ayimani a site foreman and three pupils he had employed to level murram on a community access road in Drajini Sub-County.
"This is criminal. We want our children to go to school and some people are here abusing the government program of UPE. We can not allow this," Mr. Govule said.
The pupils identified as; Stephen Andruga,14, in Primary four at Yiba Primary School; Lemeriga Twaha,16, in Primary six and Draga Mudasiri,12, of Primary four at Lodonga Black Primary School were driven to Lodonga Police Post.
Mr. Ayiman maintained that the children had been sent by their parents. But Mr. Govule said the police would sermon the parents to explain why their children were not in school that day. The boys claimed they were earning Shs 3,000 daily and that they give the money to their parents.
Child labor is the employment of children under the age of 18. The LC3 Chairperson for Drajini Sub-county, Mr. Linus Kayie said his council would soon pass a by-law on compulsory school enrollment. "This by-law was passed by the previous council and we think there are some parts that need to be amended," he said.
But in other sub-counties such as Apo, the authorities have been mounting operations to arrest children who do not go to school. Their parents are fined Shs 10,000. The Education Officer in charge of administration, Mr. Jamal Abdi, says about half of the pupils in primary schools drop out.
He says inspection reports indicate that out of 5,574 pupils who were in Primary six last year only 2,778 registered for Primary Leaving Examinations this year.
Who is to blame?
"Parents do not encourage their children to stay in school. If all the stakeholders played their part we would go along way in addressing the issue of quality education ...certainly our challenge remains improving the quality of education," Mr. Jamal says.
He says although early marriages pose a challenge to education in the district, child labor tops the list. "It is worse during planting and harvest seasons. Children are sent to work in the fields. Sometimes they go to chase away vermin and eventually, they are retained at home," Mr. Jamal says.
He said some parent say they are successful despite not having attended school.
Despite limited resources, Mr. Jamal says his department started sensitizing residents on the value of education and training of school management committees.
"By training these stakeholders we feel we are empowering them to perform their roles effectively and ensure that schools are managed in line with the government policy," he said.
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Ghana: Youth Ministry out with ‘child labor’ protocol soon
GNA, October 20, 2007
The Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment (MMYE) is working out a list of hazardous activities, which would become a protocol to be attached to the Children's Act of 1998.
Mrs. Akosua Frema Opare, Deputy Minister, who announced this in Accra said a draft had already been developed and community consultation would soon begin to ensure that the general public was educated to help in easy implementation.
Mrs. Opare said this at the graduation ceremony of 22 youth from the Ashiedu-Keteke Sub-Metro who had undergone vocational training as part of programs developed to reduce the incidence of child labor in Ghana. The training was under the auspices of FIT Ghana, an NGO.
She said when the list was ready it would specify work that should be done by a particular group of children taking into consideration their age, adding that according to the International Labor Organization Convention 182, the worst forms of child labor are not to be tolerated by any country.
Mrs. Opare noted that economic activities that did not permit a child to develop his or her fullest potential were regarded as child labor whether paid for or not.
"Laws have been enacted; conventions have been ratified; and these have made activities such as (carrying) of heavy loads unacceptable for children. We need to take a critical look at our laws in comparison with what we see children do on daily basis," she added.
She said statistics indicated that over 200,000 children were engaged in works that could be classified as worst forms of child labor and added that government took a serious view of the situation since human resource development formed a critical part of development.
Mr. Robert Nsiah, National Coordinator, FIT Ghana, said at least 25 youth who were involved in the worst forms of child labor were identified, withdrawn, counseled and provided with employable skills, literacy and reintegrated into their communities.
He said the objective was to reduce child labor in urban informal economy through non-formal, low-cost skills training and ensuring access to facilities that would allow decent employment.
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Nigeria: Minister Inaugurates C'ttee on Child Trafficking
Ni'matu Shehu, Daily Trust, Abuja
Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Saudatu Usman Bungudu yesterday inaugurated the National Monitoring Committee on Child Trafficking in Abuja.
The newly inaugurated committee, according to her, is the fulfillment of one of the country's obligations as contained in the multi-lateral co-operation agreement to combat child trafficking in the sub region which was signed in July 2005 by nine (9) West African countries namely: Liberia, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin, Guinea, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Togo.
"Child trafficking is invasive, no country is unaffected. Within the African sub region, almost all the countries are recipient nations." she said. The committee is charged with recommending surveys on the child trafficking scourge; interpret the provision of the agreement and make recommendations for amicable settlements of any dispute among others.
Members of the committee are UNICEF; ILO; Federal Ministry of Labor and Productivity; Federal Ministry of Information and Communication; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; National Human Rights Commission and NAPTIP.
Others include Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Women Affairs; Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs; The Nigerian Police; Nigerian Immigration Service; Nigeria Prison Service; Federal Ministry of Justice and ECOWAS
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Chad: French, Spanish charged over Chad children flight
By Stephanie Hancock, Reuters, October 30, 2007
ABECHE, Chad (Reuters) - Chad's authorities brought abduction and fraud charges on Tuesday against nine French and seven Spanish nationals it accused of illegally trying to fly 103 African children to Europe.
A Chadian prosecutor said the French, members of a group called Zoe's Ark which said it wanted to place orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur with European families, faced five to 20 years hard labor if convicted in the landlocked African state.
The French group has denied it was acting illegally. Seven Spanish crew members of the plane chartered for the operation were charged as accessories, along with two Chadians.
Chadian President Idriss Deby has denounced "a crime against children" and demanded stiff penalties. He has suggested the children, aged three to 10 years old, could have ended up being sold to a pedophile ring or used to supply human organs. The 16 Europeans were arrested on Thursday as they tried to fly the children, believed to be Sudanese and Chadian, out of Abeche in eastern Chad. A Belgian pilot has been detained separately but was not cited in Tuesday's charges.
The case has caused embarrassment for France, which is an ally of Deby and has a military contingent stationed in Chad.
Paris will provide the bulk of a European Union peacekeeping force that is due to start deploying in east Chad next month to protect around 400,000 Sudanese refugees and Chadian civilians who have fled violence spilling over from Darfur.
France's government, which has criticized the activities of the Zoe's Ark group and opened an inquiry into illegal adoption procedures, said the accused would face justice in Chad.
"The Chadian justice system is sovereign," French Justice Minister Rachida Dati told Europe 1 radio.
A bilateral judicial convention exists which would allow Chad to ask France to handle the case, but Dati said: "For the moment, the path of this convention has not been taken."
Chadian officials said the detained Europeans would probably be transferred this week from Abeche, near Chad's eastern border with Sudan, to the capital N'Djamena in the west.
Journalists who were allowed to see and film, but not talk to, the detained French and Spanish held in Abeche's law courts building, said they looked stressed, tired and disheveled.
A Reuters reporter said one of the French men made a gesture of hitting his face with his fist to indicate he had been beaten in custody. Another lay on a thin mat on the floor, apparently in pain, while a colleague examined him.
BISCUITS AND SWEETS
The accused include the president and other members of Zoe's Ark. At least two French journalists are also among the group.
The children, some believed to have come from families who fled to Chad from Sudan's Darfur, were due to be housed with host families in Europe who paid several thousand euros each.
Some of the children said their parents were still alive and they were lured from their villages on the Chad-Sudan border with offers of sweets and biscuits. They are being looked after at an Abeche orphanage by U.N. children's agency (UNHCR) officials who are trying to establish where they came from.
Zoe's Ark had previously said it aimed to have children adopted but stopped referring to adoption, which is not authorized in Chad or Sudan, after France's Foreign Ministry issued a warning about the group in August.
Gilbert Collard, a lawyer for Zoe's Ark, accused Chad's government of using the situation for political ends.
Deby has accused the detained Europeans of treating Africans "like animals." "So this is the image of the savior Europe, which gives lessons to our countries. This is the image of Europe which helps Africans," Chad's official presidency Web site quoted Deby as saying.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said late on Monday: "We hope the Spanish, who in the end were those that did the transport, are not responsible, remain uninvolved and can return home as quickly as possible." |
