Human Rights and Child Labour: A Critical Appraisal

There are various factors associated with child labour in different context. The practices of child labour deprive the children of their right to education, right to development, right to survive and right to childhood. Some neo-classical economists believe that it is linked with illiteracy and poverty. John Locke, political scientist considers idle children as potential threat to the society. Hence, he used to be happy to see children at work from an early age because the discipline of work would mould them into diligent future citizen. However, poverty is still considered as one of the major factor associated with child labour because most of such children belong to poor families (Nanjunda). In other words, the poor parents are unable to make an adequate living, they rely upon the contribution of the youngsters either in form unpaid labour in family farms and business or as wage labour paid by other employer. Mostly, they unfit to pay bills for a therapeutic crisis or burial service join, their children to work in subjugation for their creditor (Sharma). A study on the child labour in Savakasi, Tamil Nadhu point out that seventeen percent of the house-holds get more than half of their income from child work, forty percent get one third to half of their income from child labour while remaining households children contribute about twenty-thirty percent of the family income (Aggarwal, 2004) The other regular reasons for child labour are parental absence of education, social aloofness, obliviousness, absence of training and introduction, misuse of shabby and disorderly work. The family practice to instill conventional aptitude in adolescents over populace has been distinguished as the significant reasons for child labour. The guardians are compelled to send little kids into dangerous employment for survival, notwithstanding when they realize it isn't right. The money related requirements and the requirement for sustenance, haven and attire drive their child in the device of untimely work. Over population in some regions creates paucity of resources. When there are limited means and more mouths to feed, children are driven to commercial activities and not provided for their development needs. Besides, migration, unemployment, deep social prejudices, unattractive education system (boring and unpractical school curriculum, non-availability and non-accessibility of schools) large family size, traditional family occupation, inadequate measure of social security, ineffective law enforcement machinery, low government expenditure on education and poverty reduction programmes as well as the wage structure of adult workers are more factors, which promote the child labour (Nanjunda). The reports show that majority of the child workers live in underdeveloped countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa but there are also pocket of child labour in many industrialized nations.

On the basis of nature and occupations of child labour, there are two major type of risk involved. First is hazardous work/labour and, second is non-hazardous. The International Labour Organization survey show that nineteen percent child labourers in agriculture sector, which is the highest than the rest of the sectors. They can be found mixing, loading and applying pesticide fertilizer or herbicides, some of which are highly toxic and potentially carcinogenic (cause cancer) in Egypt, Ecuador United state and other parts of the world. The Human rights Watch reports show that they began working in the fields as early as age twelve. They routinely worked twelve hours in a day and during harvest season work more than fourteen hours or more. They start their working as early as four am and even may spend two hours or more, each morning and evening traveling to the field they work. In these countries, children stated to Human Rights Watch that they continued working while fungicides were sprayed from airplanes, which were flying overhead. They are trying to protect themselves by hiding under banana leaves, covering their faces with their shirts or placing banana cartons on their heads. Consequently, the children have the symptoms of exposure including headaches, fever, dizziness, nausea, rashes diarrhea. The long term

construction work, sericulture, beedi rolling, fireworks are some of the other most hazardous sectors where most of children are found employed. In India, around about 3, 00,000 children in carpet industry and 40,000 child laborers are employed in glass industries. The survey shows that child workers in glass industries operate in front of furnace where temperature goes up to 15500 Celsius. Many of them, due to the harsh working environment, get physically and mental scared and may suffer from chronic illness, lost eyesight and even pre-mature death.[14] International Labour Organization convention No. 182 considers that child soldiering is another worst form of child labour. The children‘s rights campaigners have argued that the age of fifteen is inappropriate and that minimum age for active service in conflict service should be raised to eighteen. According to Amnesty International statistics, it is an estimated that 3,00,000 under age children some are as young as seven years participated in armed conflicts in thirteen countries (Byrne). The 5,000 children involved in armed conflict in Sierra Leone alone. In Sri Lanka, where anti-government-Tamil Tiger frequently recruited children either with consent or by force into their rank. In Pakistan and Afghanista children are generally recruited into armed force through Madrasa (religious school) without parental consent. The military leader‘s generally believes that children make good soldiers because they rarely question the orders of their commanders.[16] The targeting of children as victim of human rights abuse has received considerable attention from non-governmental organization (NGO). Generally the offences against children are common, in which they are victim of maltreatment, child marriage, kidnapping and abduction, immoral trafficking and child rape or sexual abused etc. It is estimated that number of children under eighteen involved in prostitution exceeds two million, one million of whom are in Asian countries particularly in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines. The UNICEF reports indicate that from 5000 to 7000 girls are trafficked into India from Nepal every year. The Nepalese girls are young virgins and desired for their fair skin. Thus, sex tourism has spread its illicit wings wide and paedophiles are searching for their victim in all part of the world. The problem is compound by criminal network, which benefit from the trade in children. Gary Glitter sentenced three years for molesting two minor girls age ten and eleven year in Vietnam, but released in August 2008 for good conduct and sent home to United Kingdom (UK). According to information, the number of England citizens misbehaving abroad is on rise. In Thailand alone, fifteen UK National‘s were charged with sexual abuse of children between 2006 and 2008. and wide both in UK and in Europe, which incident is home to a surprisingly a large number paedophiles. Consequently, child loses its childhood, its dignity, self-respect, often its future. Their lives become miserable leading to the end of suicide. They caught in the cycle of business sex are frequently physically manhandled, beaten, consumed, tormented and denied of sustenance, air and development. They are likewise defenseless against kidney contamination, cervical malignancy, early and rehashed pregnancies and additionally explicitly transmitted ailments. The successors won't pardon us in the event that we don't contribute no less than a little to spreading the message that sexual maltreatment of kids not be under-assessed and that whenever left unchecked it could cast a permanent slur on an entire age (Weissbrodt and Kruger, 2003). The state of the world‘s children 1997 reported by UNICEF identifies that domestic work, in developing countries, another worst form of child abuse and exploitation. The reports note that domestic child workers, most of whom are girls, suffer from a wider range of abuse. In addition to working for long hours and living in unsuitable conditions that is sleeping on the kitchen floor etc. They are exposed to physically, emotional and sexual abuse by household members deprived of their parent affection, support and exposed to humiliation by the children of their employers. They earn very little and sometime are paid only in kind of the form leftover food and used clothing.

CHILD LABOUR

At present, International Finance and Development Agencies, however, tend to ignore human rights and their interdependency in their dealing with developing world. These policies formulation have no direct reference to children but their adverse impact are probably most remarkable on the children from poor household‘s on the one hand, and foreign direct investment by transnational corporations (TNC) or multinational corporation (MNC) frequently involved in human rights abuse in the area of economic, social and cultural rights of adults, in general and child in particular, on the other. The TNCs wield an enormous amount of power in national economies, controlling to a great extent some of the most dynamic sectors such as electronic, apparel, foot-wear, tele-communication and transport. Some of the MNCs or TNCs operating in developing countries are not seen to respect even basic human rights issues such as employing child laborers, failure to provide safe

The Coca –Cola and Izalco used child labour for plantations, which supply raw sugar to the supply chain of corporations. In another region, Coca-Cola and Philips-Van-Heusen in Colombia and Guatemala respectively, have been associated with intimidation, torture, unlawful detention and murder of trade unionists. The Nike and The Gap are paying unfair and inadequate wage to worker and providing unsafe working conditions. The children from the third world countries like Pakistan make soccer ball for famous companies like Nike and Adidas. In order to maximum the profit, it is alleged that Nike also has used child labour in South East Asia. Soft fuzzy animals are sold as toys in developed nations. So, MNC have become increasingly globalizes and effecting the life of a numbers of worker including child laborers. Therefore, TNCs would be required to ensure to abolish all such practices that will fall within the preview of ILO convention number 182 under heading ―The worst form of child labour‖. Thus, new mechanism at the international level need to developed to address the complex issue with respect to the means of enforcement of these human rights obligations by the TNCs.[19]

At present, in the name of economic reforms and economics stability, the governments are freezing wages, reducing government spending and privatization of public enterprises, which led to cutting down of social expenditure on health and education on one hand, so as to expand their intensity in worldwide market, official and administrative bodies in created and creating nations have been occupied with rethinking their welfare strategies, standardized savings system, retirement policies and above all labour laws, on the other, which definitely effect the common man life in general and child in particular. As a result of this, the cost of living and unemployment increased, government cuts in social welfare spending hit hard particularly education sectors. Trying to cope with the shrinking family income, poor parent is stopping sending children to school or take the amount of school to reduce household expense, to send children to work or to keen them at home to watch their sibling.[20] In nut-shell, child laborers are underpaid, underfed, overworked and prone to diseases and ill-health. There are various conventions, convent and law which ban child labour but casually fail to implement due to back draw and weak enforcement machinery. Moreover, it is urgently required to save children from murderer‘s clutches of social injustice and educational deprivation. It should be ensure that they are given opportunities for healthy, normal and important asset of the nation. Their care is the responsibility of the country. The government should increase education expenditure so that, every child will get at least elementary education of ‗satisfactory quality‘, including minimum books, basic needs, clothing and hygiene. The legislations must be upgraded to prevent exploitation of child labour. The product made by child labour should be banned. There is urgent need to have ―child charter‖, which will strictly followed by every country in the world.

1. D.C. Nanjunda (2009). ―Child Labour and Human Rights: What We Know and What We Don‘t Know?‖ in M.R. Biju, Dynamic of Modern Democracy, Vol.1, New Delhi: Kanishka Publishers, p.255. 2. Darren J. O‘Byrne (2005). Human Rights, Delhi: Pearson Education, p.377 3. Ashraf U. Sarah Kazi (2010). ―Child Labour, Human Rights and Global Economy: The Role and Impact of Multinational Corporation and International Labour Organization‖, Indian Bar Review, Vol. XXXVII (3&4), p.139. 4. Nanjunda D.C. (2008). Child Labour and Human Rights: A Prospective, Delhi: Kalpaz Publications, pp.47-49 5. Ibid, p.50. 6. Ashish Kumar Das and Prasant Kumar Mohanty (2007). Human Rights in India, New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2007, p.153. 7. Byrne, N.2, pp. 375-376. 8. G.K. Lieten (2003). ―Child Labour in India: Disentangling Essence and Solutions‖, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 37, No.52, December-January, p. 5190. 8. Subhash Sharma (2018). Human Rights, Text and Context, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2018, pp.124-125. 9. Nanjunda, N.1, p. 257. 10. Sharma, N.9, p. 125. 11. Suresh Chand Aggarwal (2004). Child Labour and household Characteristics in Selected States: Estimates from 55th

12. Nanjunda, N.4, pp. 267-272. 13. Ibid, p.58 14. International Labour Organization figures reproduced in Guardian Education, 16 November 1999. 15. Byrne, n.2, pp. 378-379. 16. R.K. Raghavan (2008). ―Children at Risk‖, Frontline, Vol. 25, No. 19, 13 September 2008, pp.85-86. 17. D. Weissbrodt and M. Kruger (2003). ―Current Development: Norms on the Responsibilities of Traditional Corporation and other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights‖, The American journal of International Law, Vol. 97, 2003, p.901. 18. Sarah Kazi, n.3, pp.148-154. 19. Nanjunda, n.1, pp. 261-262.

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, B. U. C. College, Batala, District-Gurdaspur, Punjab