Dear Advocates of ending child labor,

To remain strong in the fight against child labor we must stay connected, especially on the youth front. Please click here and fill out the form! This children’s network will enable the youth who are passionate about global child labor issues to express themselves, keep in touch with each other, and report on the status of child labor in their villages, cities and nations. We are providing a platform through the International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE) in Washington, D.C., in the young adult newsletter, Youth Network for Children’s Rights (YNCR).  The goals of this letter are to: Give all young people around the world a method to express their feelings and ideas. Connect children and youth committed to global rights for children. Provide a tool to spread awareness about the realities of situations children face. Bridge the gap between children of different cultural, economic, and geographic backgrounds by allowing an exchange of ideas that would otherwise be unattainable. Become the largest online forum for the voices of children and young adults to be heard, regardless of language or location.   The purpose of this newsletter is to give young people the opportunity to: share opinions on matters affecting us; propose our plans or ideas for solving these issues and other world problems; and to express ourselves creatively – as the desire to create and express oneself is common to all people. The content of this letter should be determined by the contributors. Here are some ideas of what to contribute: Reports on the actions of national, state and local governments affecting children. Articles on what children and youth are doing about world issues and children’s rights, particularly child labor. Original poems, short stories, drawings or artistic pieces. Editorial or opinion pieces about an important local or global issue. Contributions will be disseminated in this e-newsletter, along with updates announcements, and informational tidbits. If there is sufficient interest sustained over time we would like to find means to circulate the newsletter in print form and mail it. This is very important as some of those who need to be heard by the international community may not have access to computers. *Adults, If at all possible, please translate this letter into the languages of the kids you know and pass it on to them. Your translation of their responses and/or articles into one of these three languages would be greatly appreciated.  If the response and/or article cannot be translated then send it to us anyway stating what language it is in. We will find a way to translate it. This should be a forum to express ideas and to explore concepts and solutions. What will make this letter stand apart from other publications is that children write it, produce it, and put it out. In every letter there will be a section for kids to respond to any articles from previous editions so that ideas can be debated.   Please respond with any suggestions, questions, or concerns. Thank you, Emily, age 16, Connecticut Maura, age 15, New York Amanda, age 17, Maryland Top Iowa Kids Inspire Teachers at the Teaching About Global Child Labor Conference, Iowa City, Iowa 26-27 July 2004 Young leaders from Iowa City, Iowa, played a major role in inspiring teachers from across America to teach about global child labor issues during the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR) "Teaching About Global Child Labor" conference in Iowa City, Iowa from July 26-27, 2004. This was an opportunity for teachers from across the nation to learn about global child labor issues and how to integrate them into their curricula. The International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE) was responsible for coordinating Mr. Kailash Satyarthi’s participation. One of the highlights was the participation of students from several schools in Iowa City. Top "Teaching about Global Child Labor" National Conference Student Opening Statement July 26, 2004 Hello. My name is Spencer and for the past year I have been studying and working with the issue of child labor. I am 12 years old and I am about to start 7th grade. I first learned about child labor in a classroom […] when my amazing teacher Alisa Meggitt invited Chivy Sok (a survivor of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields) to come to our class in October 2003. […] She (Chivy) said "I was six-years-old when this (the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and enslaved the entire population, forcing everyone to work) happened to me." That’s about when I straightened my back and focused all my attention on what she was saying. The mood of the room changed. I noticed that others who normally do not pay much attention also became very focused on this woman standing in front of us. […] I was shocked, then saddened to learn that 246 million children are working in horrible conditions rather than going to school. Then I felt anger rippling through my body. I began to see everything around me in a different perspective. I began to question everything. The things that I am wearing – where do they come from? The things I am consuming – bananas, sugar, chocolate – how did they end up here? What about the soccer balls that I kick? The rugs that I walk on? How is my life related to this issue that I was introduced to in Mrs. Meggitt’s 6th grade Social Studies? […] When I am curious about something, I won’t stop asking until I get some answers. Poor Mrs. Meggit became my target. Unfortunately for her, my other friends were equally curious. Virtually every afternoon when school was over, I would go to her classroom. I always had questions about so many topics. But the one that troubled me the most was child labor. We couldn’t leave her alone. […] Luan Heywood, Becca Fulton and I approached Mrs. Meggit about starting a child labor club. We wanted to do something about the problem. So, we got together and next thing you know, it got bigger. We decided to hold our first meeting and announced it to the entire class. […] To my surprise, the room was full of about 25 students…more than half of the entire 6th grade class at Lucas. […] We eventually decided on the name of our club. C.H.I.L.D. -- Children Helping Innocent Laborers Democratically. […] What have we done? At the Iowa premier screening of "Stolen Childhoods" where about 400 people attended, we took advantage of the opportunity to launch our Child Labor Bookmark Campaign. […] This bookmark project represents our collective effort to raise awareness about this horrific human rights violation. […] we will use it to reach the general public…you will see it at our libraries, some bookstores. We are also distributing it through our churches. Our members have begun to speak out publicly at different venues. Kendra and I have done some presentations to churches, Chivy’s university class, and summer leadership program for youth in Iowa City. My friend Patrick, 12-year-old Chairperson of CHILD’s Outreach Committee, is leading the effort to put together a Traveling Kit to share child labor resources with other teachers in Iowa City so that their students can also learn about this issue. We managed to convince the Iowa City Council to pass a Proclamation on Child Labor as a mechanism to raise awareness. We also were lucky to have Mayor Lehman help us launch the Purple Ribbon Campaign in which we decorated the city vehicles – fire trucks, police cars, and other vehicles – to raise awareness about this issue. […] I decided to dedicate this entire summer to deepen my understanding of this important issue. I am spending every Friday at the UI Center for Human Rights […]. Every week, I have assignments where I read reports, watch videos, read news articles, and write my thoughts and analyze concepts. I am learning about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, specific child labor conditions, such as those on the sugarcane plantation in El Salvador, and the relationship between child labor and education. I am required to write down my thoughts every week, making observations of issues that hit me or questions I may have. […] The more I learn, the more complicated the issue becomes. When I first began, the issue was black and white, right and wrong. Now that I have learned more, I discovered that there are many grey areas…and that solutions will require all of us to put our heads together. In my ideal world, every child will go to school and have wonderful teachers […]. No child will be slaving away their days. […] I am angry and sad that this isn’t the case. And I am even more sad at the fact that the majority of the population are not aware of this horrific human rights violation. We must change this! Where better to start than the classrooms? For me, it was in my classroom where my internal light switch was turned on. […] For me and the other CHILD members, it all started with a one incredibly dedicated teacher. She has taught us to think and analyze global issues. She […] has shown us that kids can make a difference in changing the world. She has expanded our horizon and has given us hope to work toward a more humane world. […] For me, my teachers have been an important source of inspiration for taking action. They have made me believe that I can direct my future and contribute to the global efforts. […] teachers are able to give their students power -- the power to know they can make a difference, the power to learn, the power to expand their horizons, the power to know there is hope in the world. For me, it all started with one 45-minute presentation in October 2003. Imagine what you can do for the children of the world if you devote one class period to teaching about this issue. You will turn on so many light switches in your students. And they too will want to play a part in finding solutions to this horrific human rights violation. Thank you. Spencer Age 12, Iowa, USA Top Child Labor Speech Hi, my name is Zoe. This fall I’ll be starting 7th grade from Iowa. Although child labor is now such an important issue to me that it is part of my life every second of every day, I haven’t really known about it for all that long. Late last year, two important things happened. First, my wonderful teacher, Marlene Johnson, started giving us lessons on the topic, and second, I met Chivy Sok, who, as I found out, had been a child laborer herself under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. The stories hit me like a slap in the face. Sure, I’d known about other human rights and environmental issues for some time, but the fact children my age and younger were being put through such atrocities on a daily basis, just made all my sense of justice explode inside me. I mean, this was their life. Life! Life, which I had grown to love so much. The very thought that the same idea could mean anything but happiness to anyone was more than I could bear. But along with this great sadnesss came a great joy—I could do something. I discovered that […] Alisa Meggit had also been teaching her students about child labor, and they had decided to take one step further than caring. They had started a group to fight for the children who couldn't fight for themselves. I eagerly joined. Already we have done many local projects, but this is just the beginning. I hope all teachers will help to awaken the passion of children worldwide, and end, once and for all, child labor. Zoe, 11, Iowa, USA Top The Staging of "Marie" The UICHR collaborated with young leaders from an Elementary School of Iowa City to raise awareness about child soldiers and to inspire teachers across America to teach about global child labor issues. As part of the Child Labor Research Initiative national conference, "Teaching About Global Child Labor," the young leaders staged a powerful vignette based on Jerry Piasecki’s humanitarian novel "Marie: In the Shadow of the Lion" on July 27, 2004. Though "Marie" is a work of fiction, it captures the reality that 300,000 children are forced into armed combat situations. Students committed their Previous | Next | Play | PauseClick image to enlarge months evenings and weekends for six during the academic year to rehearse the vignette and prepare for the conference because they are committed to raising awareness about child labor and using their energy and passion toward the eradication of this global tragedy.  "Child soldier is one of the worst forms of child labor and efforts to solve this problem will need creative thinking and commitment by all members of society to actively engage in the process. One of the greatest challenges we face in the world today is lack of awareness by the general public and by those who might have creative solutions. So, it is vitally important that you get involved by teaching about this subject in your classrooms.  Your students are the future leaders. You can be the catalysts for change by introducing this subject into your classrooms.  With your active participation, we can build a more peaceful world for all children. Thank you." Bjorn, 12, Iowa, USA, who played the commander who shot Marie’s father and kidnapped her. Speech delivered at the end of the vignette "Marie". Top Child Labor Poem Dedicated to the teachers of the world The light only shines on what we want to see. The light only shows you and me. The light never shines on children around the world. The light never shows the children who make our clothes. They pick our coffee. They pick our tea. They pick the sugar consumed by you and me. They fight in our battles. They enter our wars. They’re not but 13 when they witness these horrors. The solution is not simple, but it’s easy to start to inspire your children so they too can play a part. The light will shine and all will be exposed. The era of child labor Will be closed! For they’ll all be in school with education as the rule. So let’s put our heads together, you and me, to fight the good fight and set the kids free! Composed by: Claire, 12 Becca, 12 Zoe, 11 Kendra, 14 Luan, 12 Spencer, 12 Members of Children Helping Innocent Laborers Democratically (CHILD), a youth organization in Iowa, USA, dedicated to eradicating child labor. Top Poem dedicated to Kailash Satyarthi When people ask me who I want to be, I used to say I want to be Me When people ask me what I want to do, I say "I want tot be just like you." I will work against this issue as long as it is here. In my heart it will always be near. When people ask who my hero might be, I say it ‘s Kailash Satyarthi." I tell them all about who you are, from my thoughts you are never far. You are a hero to more than you know, and with me that is so. You have given me so much inspiration, teaching your message is now my concentration Thanking you would take all day, so that is what this poem is supposed to say. You are truly a hero to me, and you are the person I want to be Anonymous, 15, Iowa, USA Top In Rural India, Teachers Often Fail to Show Up Washington Post, July 18, 2004 Urej is a little village in India. The only primary school does not have furniture, latrines, electricity, or drinking water. However, that is not the biggest problem they have; Often the teachers do not show up. Two government teachers have been assigned to this particular school in Urej. However, they only turn up about three out of every six workdays. And when they do come, they will leave after just a few hours. Many parents are questioning this. Before the problem was "how to bring the students to school," but now its: "how to bring the teachers to school." On any given day, across the country 24.5% of the teachers at government primary schools fail to show up for their jobs. Some teachers who do not show up have good reasons not to do so, such as impossible roads, the burden of extra duties unrelated to education, such as census taking, etc. But many teachers just collect their monthly salaries and do not show up at work just because they can get away with it. One of the biggest problems is that there is lack of oversight. Teachers often bribe local supervisors to look the other way when they fail to turn up at school. There is a lot of corruption going on. In 2002, parliament passed a law that made education both compulsory and a fundamental right, but the measure said nothing about its quality. There is a desperate need to improve the quality of governance, especially at the local level. One of the temporary solutions is sending the money that is available for education directly to the councils, bypassing state governments and increasing local control and accountability. Another solution would be to give elected bodies the power to hire and fire teachers in their districts. Teachers would show up more often if they knew their jobs were on the line. Children should not depend on the teachers, who feel like going to work or not. Children have the right to education and nobody should take that away from them! Amanda, 17 Maryland, USA Top Some have, Some never will. Everybody is the same. Yeah, some are poor, some are rich. Some have a home, others don’t. Some go to school, some never will. But this isn’t fair. Is it? Life is already hard. Don’t make it even harder. Kids in 3rd world countries; They are the same. Give them a chance, Just like we get. They need a school, not a job when they are only 8!! Elvira, 12 Maryland, USA Top Eight More Nepalese girls freed from Circus On August 14, 2004, eight Nepalese girls were freed from bonded child labor at the Apollo Circus in Nalanda, Bihar, India by Kailash Satyarthi, famed child labor advocate and Chairmen of the South Asian Coalition against Child Labor, and his team. This raid came as a shock to the circus owner, who was under the impression that after the July 14 raid attempting to free 12 girls from the Great Roman Circus in Uttar Pradesh, where the team was viciously attacked and a bid was put on Mr. Satyarthi’s life, the movement would have lost its force. Obliviously he was mistaken for it has done just the opposite - invigorate the team and the entire movement. After they were freed, the girls recounted the horrors they had endured while held captive by the circus owner. Prarthana, one of girls released, told of her circus act where she had to lay under the belly of a full grown elephant while the beast lowered its weight on her. She would have to slip out just in time in an attempt to leave the audience at the edge of its seat. This death defying stunt is irresponsible and dangerous for any person to perform, but unconscionably so for a little girl. If that was not unspeakable enough, she also said the ring master was abusive to the girls. "He used to beat us and force us into wearing short clothes. During training we used to be beaten up with plastic ropes and sticks." But now that she is freed Prathana expressed the desire to join the fight against child labor. Another girl, Sadhana, who said she had been working at the Circus since early childhood, also spoke of abuse, both physical and sexual. She had no way to escape despite the torturous treatment. But now that is all behind her. "This is the first time in my life I am free……and I think I can finally understand the meaning of the word freedom," she said. The girls will be given grants to go to rehabilitation centers for former child laborers where they will be cared for and begin to heal the wounds of their tragic childhood. A life redeemed from terror for these eight girls was not the only victory of the day. This event prompted governmental officials in the area to commit to better enforcement of existing child labor laws. "I am pleased to take action in liberating these bonded girls under Bonded Labor Abolition Act. We will honor the court verdict to stop the employment of children in any circus that comes to Bihar," said Mr. Vivek Singh, Labor Commissioner, Ministry of Labor, Employment and Training, Government of Bihar. Others in government share the determination of Mr. Satyarthi. Prof. Jabir Hussain, Chairman, Member of Legislative Council (Upper House of the State of Bihar) said, "there is no excuse for the exploitation of children as child laborers.  It must not be tolerated by any one.  It is the collective responsibility of the government and civil society to stop it right away." Emily, 17 Connecticut, USA Top ICCLE Launching Teacher Awareness and Education Program In September ICCLE will launch a new program to build domestic knowledge and educate U.S. youth and teachers about global child labor issues. ICCLE will promote youth leadership on these issues through child participation at relevant events, moving exhibit and its web site which will try to provide teaching resources on child labor in one place. ICCLE will collaborate with young leaders to organize their peers to educate themselves about global child labor issues, inspire their teachers to teach about such issues, educate their communities, and take action to end the worst forms of child labor. ICCLE will facilitate availability of these resources and skills for teachers to integrate child labor lessons into their curricula by informing and equipping them with useful materials at conventions, through our web site, and offering teacher training workshops. ICCLE aims to build a national network of young activists and teachers who are interested in teaching about global child labor issues. ICCLE.net, ICCLE.org and Global March.org newsletters are delivered using a spam-free mailing list. Nobody is allowed to post to this list other than us, and your email address will never be revealed by us to any other entity. That is a promise. Please note that we are extremely sensitive about unsolicited mail. If you have any concerns about such issues, or believe you have been spammed by ICCLE.net address, please forward that e-mail to us at abuse@iccle.net. We will investigate and also immediately remove you from this list.