A FUTURE WITHOUT CHILD LABOUR, PART 3

  1. The size and shape of the problem in 2002

The challenges of measuring child labour

Research – an essential, 42. If action to abolish child labour is to be effective, it must be based on a not a luxury thorough understanding of the size and shape of the problem. As a complex social and economic phenomenon, child labour has always presented chal­lenges for conventional research methods. With world attention now focused on the worst forms of child labour, it is all the more essential to have good quality information available on which to base policy and programme design.

Box 2.1

Collecting data about children: Some reflections
and challenges

Qualitative and quantitative data are indivisible. It is not possible to count something until there is first a definition of what is to be counted – therefore the is­sue must be understood qualitatively. Questions cannot be framed for surveys without knowing what words and concepts will be understood by community mem­bers, including children. Statistics can only be correctly interpreted through an un­derstanding of the context in which they have been generated. Collection of qualitative data is particularly important for the worst forms of child labour, which will not yield up their secrets to customary forms of survey based on the workplace or household and using questionnaires or similar conventional instruments.

Data about children and their lives are still inadequate. Children are often ef­fectively excluded from official statistics, which tend to focus on adults or formal in­stitutions rather than on children. For example, children may be merely counted as members of households or as students in schools. Even where data on children are available, they may not be disaggregated by sex, age or other groupings, which would allow an understanding of the differences in situations and needs between these groups. Different government agencies often collect information for distinct purposes, using various age groupings, methods and time periods, so that the data sometimes cannot be centrally managed, shared or compared. National-level sta­tistics are frequently not disaggregated to the levels at which programme interven­tions are planned and implemented (e.g. districts, sectors or villages) and this makes it difficult to undertake proper needs assessment, to target interventions and to evaluate their impact.

A major difficulty lies in counting and researching the many children working in the informal economy, in private homes, in family enterprises and in illegal and hidden activities. For a long time, the lack of reliable methods of meas­urement and the absence of statistics on child labour were serious impedi­ments to its effective abolition. The situation has improved considerably in recent years, but there is still some way to go.

  1. The ILO has made considerable strides over the years in assisting mem­ber States and other partners to collect and disseminate information about child labour, using innovative research methods. Since 1979, when a large number of country studies were commissioned for the International Year of the Child, there has been an ongoing programme of child labour research pro­viding new insights through counting, describing and analysing the work of children in a variety of economic settings. [1] This work was given a boost in 1998 with the launch of the Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labour (SIMPOC) within IPEC. ILO constituents, other international organizations, NGOs, academics, activists and others have all contributed to the rapidly expanding knowledge base about child labour. [2]

The number of child labourers in the world today

  1. The ILO estimated that in 1995 some 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 were working (i.e. “economically active” [3]) in the developing world; at least 120 million of these children were working full time. This un­doubtedly helped to raise public awareness of the scale of the problem and to promote action against it. [4] These estimates were based on the data available at that time, primarily from replies to special questionnaires sent to national statistical offices and some experimental child labour surveys, along with published labour force and population statistics. While neither estimate cor­responded to the global number of “child labourers” (according to the provi­sions of Convention No. 138), they nonetheless gave a clear indication of the magnitude of the problem to be tackled.
  2. The time is now ripe to update and refine the estimates, and to make an attempt – in full recognition of data and methodological constraints – to assess the number of children involved in the often hidden worst forms of labour. New estimates by the ILO now provide us with an updated, more complete picture of the child labour problem across the world.

Methodology for estimation

  1. A single estimate of economically active children does not capture the various kinds and intensities of work in which children are involved. Esti-

mates were therefore made of the number of children (aged under 18) engaged in the following categories of economic activity, for the year 2000:

  • children engaged in any type of economic activity, including for short periods of time, and in light work;
  • children engaged in all types of child labour to be abolished;25
  • children engaged in hazardous work which, because of its nature or the number of hours worked, jeopardizes their health, safety or morals; 26 and
  • children engaged in the unconditional worst forms of child labour.27

Figure 3 shows the numbers of children involved in these different cate­gories of economic activity, according to age group.

  1. Various statistical data, including national SIMPOC surveys of child la­bour and other household and community surveys such as the surveys con­ducted under the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS), were used to estimate the numbers of children engaged in all types of eco­nomic activity, in all types of child labour to be abolished and in hazardous work. Statistical techniques were applied to allow extrapolation from national data sets. For the worst forms of child labour, global estimates were based on an assessment and aggregation of existing national and regional estimates for each worst form.28

Global estimates

  1. The global estimates for the year 2000 are:
  • Of an estimated 211 million children aged 5-14 engaged in some form of economic activity, 186 million children are engaged in child labour to be abolished (including in its worst forms).
  • Of an estimated 141 million children aged 15-17 engaged in economic activity, 59 million children are engaged in child labour.29
  1. Table 1 and figure 3 present a detailed breakdown of the aggregate fig­ures, by economic category of activity and by the age group of the children in­volved. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Table 1. Numbers and percentages of children engaged in economic activity, child labour and worst forms of child labour in 2000 (by age)

  5-14 years   15-17 years   Total  
  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
  (millions) of age group (millions) of age group (millions) of age group
Economically active 210.8 18 140.9 42 351.7 23
children
of which: Child labourers 186.3 16 59.2 18 245.5 16
■ of which: Children in worst forms 178.9 11.5
of child labour
■ Children in hazardous 111.3 9 59.2 18 170.5 11
work
■ Children in unconditional 8.4 0.5
worst forms

— = figures not available.

Source: ILO estimates for 2000 and World Population Prospects: The 2000 Revision. Vol. 2. The sex and age distribution of the world population (New York, United Nations, 2001).

 

Table 2. Percentage of girls in economic activity, child labour and hazardous work

  5-14 years 15-17 years Total
Economically active children 50 47 49
of which:               Child labourers 49 42 48
of which:
■ Children in hazardous work 47 42 45

Source: ILO estimates for 2000.

 

Table 3. Estimated number of children involved in the unconditional worst forms of child labour

Type of worst form of child labour Global number of children (in millions)
Forced and bonded labour 5.7
Forced recruitment into armed conflict 0.3
Prostitution and pornography 1.8
Other illicit activities 0.6
Trafficked children 1 (1.2)
Total 8.4

1 Children are generally trafficked into another worst form of child labour. Therefore, the number of traffic­ked children cannot be included in a calculation of the total number of children in the worst forms of child labour, as this would result in double-counting.

Source: ILO estimates for 2000 based on various secondary sources.

Estimates of economically active children

Estimates by economic 52. Estimates by economic or regional grouping are possible only at the level or regional grouping of economically active children. These estimates are presented in table 4 for

children aged 5-14. In the absence of more complete data on child labour, these estimates provide a proxy measure.

Can we compare the new and the old estimates of working children?
Sources: ILO Bureau of Statistics: Data for 2000 based on 29 national household surveys; ILO: The ILO economically active population estimates and projections (LABPROJ), see www.ilo.org/public/english/ bureau/stat/info/dbases.htm; and United Nations Population Division: World Population Prospects: The 2000 Revision. Vol. 2. The sex and age distribution of the world population (New York, United Nations, 2001).

  1. If we subtract the numbers of economically active children in the devel­oped and transition economies from the global estimate of 211 million, we ar­rive at a figure of 206 million for the developing economies. It might then be tempting to make a comparison between the 1995 and the 2000 global esti­mates – and thereby conclude that the number of economically active children (5-14 years) in the developing economies has decreased from 250 million to 206 million, and that the situation must therefore be improving in many coun­tries.
  2. It is undeniable that the 2000 estimate for economically active children is less than the 1995 estimate. However, because very different methods and data sources were used for the two computations, the conclusions that can be drawn from a straight comparison of the two figures are limited. Two basic propositions (not mutually exclusive) are possible:
  • The difference between the estimates reflects the different and improved methods and data used to compute the 2000 estimate.
  • The difference reflects an actual decline in the number of working chil­dren across the world.
  1. It is not possible to know which of the above propositions carries most weight in explaining the difference between the 1995 and 2000 estimates. However, the size of the difference between them (44 million or a decrease of almost 20 per cent) might suggest that indeed there has been a global reduc­tion in the number of children working over this five-year period, giving some grounds for cautious optimism that the measures being taken to combat child labour, considered in Part II of this Report, are having an effect.

What do the estimates tell us about child labour in the world today?

New insights into child 56. The main value of the new estimates lies in the insight they give us into labour the dimensions of the child labour to be abolished. They show us clearly that, while some progress may have been made, there is no room for complacency. Although it is not the purpose of the Global Report to provide a detailed analy­sis, some of the main conclusions that emerge from an initial look at the new estimates can be highlighted.

  1. First, child labour persists on a very large scale. Although numerous young people are engaged in work that is consistent with their full develop­ment, many more are being harmed by child labour. The estimates indicate that there are some 186 million child labourers aged 5-14, and 59 million aged 15-17 worldwide; on average, one child in every six aged 5-17 can be classed as a child labourer.[10]
  2. Second, the extent of the worst forms of child labour, particularly hazard­ous work, appears to be more serious than was previously thought. More than two-thirds of the total number of child labourers, i.e. one in eight children across the world, or a total of nearly 180 million children, are exploited in the worst forms of work.
  3. Third, it is especially alarming that almost two-thirds (or 111 million) of the children who are engaged in hazardous work are less than 15 years old, and so should be immediately withdrawn from this work. This still leaves some 59 million young workers between 15 and 17 years old who are exposed to haz­ards at work, and who urgently need either immediate protection from the dan­gers they face or to be withdrawn totally from such work.
  4. Fourth, there are still major problems of data availability and reliability for the unconditional worst forms of child labour. While the estimates repre­sent a best attempt, with the methods and data currently available, to quantify children’s exploitation under the unconditional worst forms of child labour, the ILO is keenly aware of their limitations. Further research, using new methods, is urgently needed. There will always, however, be severe limits to the accurate measurement of these essentially clandestine activities.
  5. Fifth, with regard to the gender dimensions of the global estimates, at all ages, boys have a slightly higher level of involvement in child labour than girls and the proportion of boys involved increases with age. Boys represent around 60 per cent of the children aged 12 years and over in hazardous work.
  6. Sixth, the estimates according to economic or regional groupings for eco­nomically active children (as a proxy for child labour) indicate where the problem is most serious. The Asia-Pacific region harbours the largest absolute number of working children (5-14 years), some 127 million or 60 per cent of the total, followed by sub-Saharan Africa with 23 per cent of the total. How­ever, the intensity of the problem is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where 29 per cent of all children under 15 are at work, compared to 19 per cent in Asia and the Pacific. Children are also economically active in transition and devel­oped countries, although in much smaller absolute numbers and proportions.

Child labour – a key new 63. The human dimension of these aggregate statistics is difficult to compre- development indicator hend and convey. In a very real sense, a single child subjected to child labour,

especially to its worst forms, is one too many. But the estimates show that child labour remains a problem on a massive scale. We have surely reached a mo-

ment in history where the absolute number of child labourers, and the propor­tion of a country’s children who are subject to child labour, particularly to its worst forms, should become key indicators of economic and social develop­ment.

A better grasp of the shape of the problem

  1. Numbers of child labourers alone paint only part of the picture. While it is important to know how many children globally are involved in different types of labour, to help them we need to know where they are, what their work involves and how it is affecting them.
  2. Contrary to popular opinion, child labour is not confined to developing or poor countries: it is found in all countries, to a greater or lesser extent. The ILO’s new estimates indicate that nearly 3 per cent of children in the 10-14- year age group in developed countries are economically active, as are just over 4 per cent of children in transition countries (see table 4). In the review of an­nual reports under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration for 2002, at least five governments of developed countries acknowledged the suspected existence of one or more of the worst forms of child labour in their country.[11] It is clear that economic growth does not automatically lead to the disappearance of child la­bour, as is too often assumed. However, the problem is most critical in devel­oping countries.
  3. Popular perceptions of where children work can easily be distorted by uneven coverage in the media and other sources of public information. For ex­ample, much attention has been paid in literature and advocacy to the involve­ment of children in export-oriented manufacturing, and in international activities such as sex tourism. Yet it is estimated that only 5 per cent of child labourers work in formal-economy, export-related jobs, [12] and commercial sexual exploitation of children is dominated by local rather than by foreign customers. [13]
  4. It is also important to remember that, far from being static, children’s in­volvement in the labour market is constantly changing. Individual children move in and out of school and work, and between different types and intensi­ties of work depending, for example, on the season, the immediate cash needs of the family, and where income opportunities are perceived to exist. At the macro-level, the market for child labour is constantly evolving, in the context of globalization, and demographic and attitudinal change. Experience teaches us that child labour is a very stubborn problem: its abolition in one economic sector may be accompanied by its re-emergence in another, and nowhere has it been completely abolished.
  5. The following review of the main types of work undertaken by children around the world today helps us to understand better the “who, what and where” behind the principle of the effective abolition of child labour. It does not pretend to be a comprehensive overview of child labour in the world today. Rather, it provides some glimpses into different manifestations of the problem – in order to present a background for examination in Part II of the action taken against child labour.
  1. The review starts by looking at children’s participation in legitimate sec­tors of economic activity, in which the activity per se is not illegal, but the type of work or the conditions in which it is performed by children, and the age of those children, may mean that they are victims of child labour or even of its worst forms because of the hazards to which they are exposed. The review then looks at the forms of child labour that, by their very nature, constitute worst forms.

The sectors in which children work

  1. Surveys in developing countries tell us that the vast majority (70 per cent) of children who work (i.e. are economically active), are engaged in agri­culture, fishing, hunting and forestry.[14] Less than 9 per cent are involved in manufacturing, and the same number in wholesale and retail trade, restau­rants and hotels. This is followed by community, social and personal services, including domestic work (6.5 per cent) and transport, storage and communi­cation (4 per cent). Around 3 per cent of children are involved in construction, mining and quarrying combined (figure 4).
  2. However, questions need to be asked about these aggregate figures. For example, exactly what types of activity are being undertaken by children in these different sectors? How many and which boys and girls are at risk of physical or other harm through their work, and what kinds of harm? Is work in mining (regarded as a hazardous sector) necessarily more damaging than that in agriculture? How many children are working full time or combining their economic activity with schooling, and how many have had their education suf­fer because of their work? What are the gender and age differences in partic­ipation in different types of work? Are there differences along lines of ethnicity, race, class or other social group? Only when we can examine these details will we be able really to understand the dynamic forces behind the child labour that we are trying to abolish, and how to go about achieving that goal.

Domination of the informal economy

  1. The informal economy is a burgeoning field of economic activity to be found throughout the developing world as well as in transition and in some de­veloped countries. It encompasses “the expanding and increasingly diverse group of workers and enterprises in both rural and urban areas operating in­formally … they share one important characteristic: they are not recognized or protected under the legal and regulatory frameworks … Informal workers and entrepreneurs are characterized by a high degree of vulnerability”.[15] The informal economy is where by far the most child labourers are found. It cuts across all economic sectors and may be closely linked to formal sector produc­tion. In agriculture, for instance, highly organized commercial plantations may contract out some production to small-scale family farms. In manufactur­ing, the factory of a multinational or a national enterprise may use parts or ma-

Figure 4. Sectoral distribution of working children

Source: K. Ashagrie: Statistics on working children and hazardous child labour in brief (Geneva, ILO, 1997).

terials sourced from small workshops or through contractors from families working at home.

  1. Most small and micro-enterprises are characterized by an informal work setting, unsafe conditions, cheap (and sometimes unpaid) labour, including that of children, and relatively low productivity and returns on investment. Where activities such as mining, fishing, and home-based production and as­sembly work are unregulated, untaxed and do not involve recognized employ­ment relationships, children can be considered as working in the informal
    The preponderance of child labour in the informal economy beyond the reach of most formal institutions in countries at all levels of income,[16] rep­resents one of the principal challenges to its effective abolition.
  2. Many other aspects of the lives of poor people are informal, in addition to their economic activity, thus compounding their overall poverty and vulner­ability. They may have no land or property rights, be unregistered as citizens and have no access to formal social protection, legal recourse or financial and other services. Households headed by women or children are the most inse­cure of all. Although informal safety nets exist, they are often far from ade­quate, and they are less reliable in urban areas compared to rural areas. Urban households tend to share fewer assets with others, making them more depend­ent on jobs for income.[17] In such conditions, the risks of children being pulled into income-earning activities are all too obvious.

Child labour in agriculture

  1. The agriculture sector contains “the bulk of the world’s poor, working long hours for meagre returns and under hazardous and difficult conditions”.[18] Exercise of the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining is denied many adult agricultural workers around the world.[19] Work performed by children varies widely – from short periods of light work after school to long hours of arduous work that may involve dangerous chem­icals and work processes, both in subsistence-oriented and commercial pro­duction.
  2. While children’s involvement in agriculture may indeed be a normal and useful part of their socialization in many countries, imparting skills for the fu­ture, the reality of such work is often harsh. Evidence from India suggests that the combination of poor nutrition and agricultural work in childhood results in stunting, which then impairs earning ability later in life.[20] In the Philip­pines, family-based vegetable farming has been shown to be a hazardous oc­cupation for children, by virtue of exposure to infection from soil and water, the use of heavy watering cans and the lack of protective clothing.[21] Process­ing of agricultural products can also pose hazards. Peeling, cutting and grad­ing cashew nuts, for example, exposes children to cuts, skin irritation and fatigue, and pain from sitting or standing for long periods.
  3. Gender roles are important in determining what work children do in ag­riculture. Both girls and boys generally contribute to the work of adult women, yet may be assigned different tasks requiring different levels of effort. In rural

Bangladesh, girls begin work at a younger age and, because of their domestic tasks, work longer hours than boys. The number of boys and girls in a family and their birth order is also a factor. Among the rural Tonga of Zimbabwe, for instance, both boys and girls help women with household tasks. Many agricul­tural tasks are classed as women’s work but, if women do not have daughters, they can rely on their sons, until the latter turn 10, for help in the fields.[22]

  1. Children’s work in agriculture too often goes hand in hand with debt bondage, one of the worst forms of child labour. The very poorest families, without land or with too little of it to meet subsistence needs, can quickly be­come entrapped by debt to their landlord or to a third party. Parents or guard­ians may have little choice but to bond their children into agricultural or domestic labour to repay the debt.[23]
  2. Child labour often assumes serious proportions in commercial agricul­ture, associated with global markets for cocoa, coffee, cotton, rubber, sisal and tea, and other commodities. Children may represent a substantial portion of the commercial agricultural workforce. Studies in Brazil, Kenya and Mex­ico have shown that children under 15 make up between 25 and 30 per cent of the total labour force in production of various commodities.[24] Recently, the spotlight has turned to child (and forced) labour in cocoa production in West Africa (see Part II, Chapter 4). In Central America, too, large numbers of chil­dren work on plantations. Rapid Assessments (RA) carried out by IPEC have shown striking similarities among children who undertake agricultural work on plantations:

Box 2.2

The hazards of herding sheep

“We take 500 sheep to a distance of 10-15 kilometres for rearing. We walk a long distance and work in the sun. It is difficult to bear scorching heat. We carry drinking water from home. We may not find fodder for the sheep in the field. We have to climb trees and cut the leaves for the sheep. We are prone to health prob­lems like headaches and burning eyes, hands and legs. It causes heatstroke. We have to stop the sheep from straying. It is dangerous for both us and the sheep if a jackal attacks.

Sometimes we have to spend the night with the sheep in the field. We don’t get food or sleep if we stay there overnight. We have to make temporary shelters, which we have to shift every day. If there is an emergency we don’t have any sup­port. We cannot play or rest. If it rains we have to take the sheep home. Generally when it doesn’t rain we take the sheep out for three days at a time. Girls face a lot of problems while herding sheep. Boys cause problems in the fields for the girls.”

Source: Statement by Uttungamma, spokesperson for 823 working children from six villages, Karna­taka, India, 2001.

  • parents have low levels of educational attainment;
  • most children attend school, but work at weekends or during school va­cations;
  • children’s wages are included in those of the working parent(s); and
  • children do not like the work but are resigned to helping out with house­hold expenses and/or school fees.[25]
  1. The discussion so far has focused on developing countries. Children’s in­volvement in agriculture has also increased dramatically in certain transition countries with the break-up of collective farms into private, family-held small­holdings – increasing the need for the unpaid labour inputs of household members. In the Russian Federation, however, there are indications that children now work less in agriculture than they did during the Soviet period, as the forced involvement of children in crop-harvesting on collective farms, organized through schools, has been curtailed.[26]
  2. In many developed countries agriculture is also the sector in which most children work. Family farms are a common exemption from minimum age legislation.[27] In the United States, “children of any age may be employed by their parents or persons standing in place of their parents at any time and in any occupation on a farm owned or operated by their parents or persons stand­ing in place of their parents”,[28] with the implication that these children may engage in activities that they would not be allowed to undertake in other cir­cumstances. Seven per cent of all farm workers (approximately 126,000) are between the ages of 14 and 17. However, the risk of accident and injury in modern agricultural production is high. In the United States, this sector has the highest number of occupational fatalities for youths under 18, accounting for 42.7 per cent of all fatalities in that age range.[29]

Child labour in fishing

  1. Fishing is a particularly hazardous occupation, even for adults. In the small-scale sector, which accounts for over half the world’s seafood catch and millions of small fishing craft, health and safety problems are endemic for all age groups. [30] The contribution of children is most widespread in small-scale fishing where it can be critical for the profitability of the enterprise. In El Sal­vador, children work in small-scale, family-based or private enterprises in which boys and girls harvest shellfish, and girls also market the product. For both sexes, this work begins well before the age of 10.[31]
  2. Some child labour in fishing occurs outside the family or traditional sec­tor. For example, muro-ami fishing (named after the net used) in the Philip­pines takes place on large vessels, and the profits are reaped by the group that monopolizes the business. Children are engaged as swimmers and divers for catching reef fish – extremely dangerous work. In southern Thailand, chil­dren work as fish sorters, factory workers and as crew on fishing boats. They carry out a wide range of tasks on board, and may be away at sea for several months at a time. In central Java, work undertaken by children in fishing in­cludes handling and repairing nets, diving, draining boats and cooking.[32]
  3. As in agriculture, gender issues are important in fishing. A strong con- Clear gender roles nection in general between fishing and cultural perceptions of masculinity, as

well as income that looks high to boys, encourages them to go to sea as early as they can. As a good deal of fishing takes place at night, these boys make poor daytime pupils, and high school drop-out rates are a feature of fishing communities. Girls and women are engaged in marketing as well as fish processing, which can cause cuts and skin damage.

Child labour in the urban informal economy: Street children

  1. Although the informal economy is sometimes described as invisible, Diversity of work children working on the streets of cities across the world are probably the most on the streets visible face of child labour. Their activities are diverse – vending food and

small consumer goods, shining shoes, washing windscreens, repairing tyres, scavenging and ragpicking, begging, portering, and numerous others. They face hazards both from the work itself and more importantly from the environ­ment, such as traffic, exhaust fumes, exposure to the elements, insecurity, harassment and violence. Work in the urban informal economy also includes work in small businesses and workshops providing carpentry, car repair, food preparation or other services to urban dwellers. Children may be part of family or other informal enterprises and networks, or they may be self-employed. Ac­tual street work is often associated with socially excluded (especially ethnic) groups.

  1. Increased numbers of street children can be a reflection of upheavals and crises. A 24-country study by the Council of Europe found a higher number of street children in all European countries after the collapse of the communist system. Children and youth migrated to the West searching for work in the face of sudden poverty and loss of state social protection at home.[33] A similar story applies in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the wake of the Asian crisis, and indeed in many other countries affected by crisis. [34]
  2. Street work has gender dimensions too, tending to involve more boys than girls, although more girls are involved in prostitution. Surveys of children working on the street in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, found that about 75 per cent are boys and 25 per cent girls.[35] In most devel­oping countries, the proportion of boys among street children is even higher.

Child labour in manufacturing: From factories to home-based work

  1. While far from being the sector employing the greatest number of chil­dren, manufacturing for export has had the highest profile in relation to child labour, for example, in carpet-weaving, soccer-ball stitching and clothing pro­duction. Typically, however, children are involved at the end of supply chains producing largely for the domestic market, in home-based, informal work to assemble parts or finish products in a wide range of industries. These range from textiles, clothing and footwear, to production of fireworks and matches in many countries around the world. The explosion that killed children who were making fireworks during their school lunch hour in China in 2000 showed just how dangerous such work can be. Some production processes, such as leather tanning and brassware production, are particularly hazardous because of the toxic products used. In glassmaking, children risk burns and cuts and are exposed to hazardous dust and lead. Incense stick production in India and Pakistan causes upper respiratory tract problems.[36] Because this work is mostly carried out by girls, it is they who are especially at risk. Often the con­ditions under which production occurs make the work even more dangerous because of the lack of proper engineering, work organization and protective equipment. Low profit margins do not encourage investment in improvements.
  2. Home-based work involving subcontracting appears to be increasing in many countries. A comparative study in Asia (covering India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand) found that production had shifted from factories to homes for products ranging from carpets to leather goods to hybrid seeds. This reduced labour costs for employers, with the work being carried out by women and children, especially girls. In some cases, older chil­dren were working between 20 and 30 hours a week, and reported suffering back and muscle pain from the cramped working conditions.[37]

Workshops in developed 90. Developed countries can also have child labour in manufacturing. Por- countries tugal, having encountered significant numbers of children in the textile, clothing and footwear industries, has placed control of the problem high on the Government’s agenda.[38] In southern Italy, children are reported to work in small industrial/manufacturing workshops in unsafe conditions, for well be­low the equivalent adult wage.[39] Of Spain’s estimated 200,000 under-14- year-old workers, many work in small subcontracting businesses, in particular in the footwear industry. [40]

Child labour in tourism

  1. In the hotel, catering and tourism industry, children carry out a variety of jobs, from bell-boys and maids to dishwashers, beach attendants, hawkers and golf caddies; worldwide in this industry, 10-15 per cent of workers (be­tween 13 and 19 million) are under 18 years of age.[41]
  2. While much of the work of young people in the sector is legitimate, there The dark side of tourism are indications of considerable abuse. Low pay is the normal experience of

young employees in hotels and catering. Many children work in the informal economy which surrounds and supports the formal tourist industry. Active re­cruitment and trafficking agents may pull children to work in the sector, al­though poverty and the lure of consumerism are key push factors. Children’s work in tourism may have a spillover effect into prostitution – exposing chil­dren to the risk of sexual exploitation because of the element of “personal service” involved and the stark discrepancy in income between workers and clients.[42]

  1. In Acapulco, Mexico, children aged 7-12, employed by beach restau­rants to bring in customers, are paid exclusively by commission on the cus­tomers’ drinks.[43] Studies of India’s Dhaba boys reveal that those working in small hotels receive such meagre daily wages that they have to take out loans from their employers. The terms of repayment and interest can lead to debt bondage.[44] In Kenya, children’s work related to tourism includes selling crafts, food and other items, entertainment, beach work and prostitution.[45] Most children are involved in a combination of jobs; many work at night when they can gain the most money from entertaining tourists. Children’s wages are often very low, but their employers expect them to find their own ways to earn more money, such as through tips or by taking on more work. Economic ex­ploitation leaves young workers in an extremely vulnerable situation, expos­ing them to other forms of exploitation, including commercial sex.

Children in domestic service

  1. There are large numbers of children in domestic service but they are Child domestic workers – among the most invisible child labourers and are therefore difficult to survey hidden from view

and analyse. There are clear links between children in domestic service and trafficking, both within and between countries.[46] Child domestics are often ig­nored by policy-makers and excluded from the coverage of legislation; indeed, even adults in this sector are often hidden from view in private households and denied legislative protection, let alone guarantees of the right to organize. A number of countries have reported under the follow-up to the Declaration that their labour laws exclude domestic work in private households altogether.

Child domestic work is a problem across the world, affecting rich as well as poor countries.

  1. While most child domestic workers are between 12 and 17 years of age, some are as young as 5 or 6. The majority are girls, but boys are involved too; in Kathmandu, Nepal, more than half the child domestics are boys. Child do­mestics, often isolated and far from their families, are under the total control of their employer and are often deprived of emotional support, good nutrition and education, and work long hours for meagre payment in kind. They can be victims of physical, emotional and sometimes sexual abuse. In addition, the

mantle of foster care or informal adoption can be thrown over a relationship that ends up being pure child exploitation.[47]

  1. Paradoxes abound. Young girls from poverty-stricken rural families may be taking care of older, less capable children in richer urban households. In other cases, there may not be a great wealth difference between employer and employee; even urban slum-dwelling families may have a young female ser vant, perhaps a distant relative from the countryside. The domestic, unpaid labour of young girls may enable adult women to take up new opportunities in the paid labour market.
  2. The problem is a sizeable one. The Government of Haiti reports that some 250,000 children of disadvantaged parents are in domestic service (known as “restavek”, or “stay with”).[48] A substantial proportion of the child population of a country can be involved. In Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, 20 per cent of all girls between the ages of 10 and 14 are engaged as domes­tics, and in rural areas the percentages are even higher. [49] Official statistics normally capture, if at all, only child domestics who are working in the homes of other people. [50] Yet, where school-age children are systematically kept at home by parents or other adults to undertake long hours of domestic work in­stead of going to school, this too can amount to unacceptable child labour.

Child labour in construction, mining and quarrying

  1. These sectors pose the most obvious hazards for children, although they probably involve the smallest number of child labourers. Children of con­struction workers, particularly when they live on-site, are at risk of child labour in several ways. They may not be in any one place for long enough to attend school regularly, they may take up casual work with parents as an al­ternative to idleness or play, and they may, by virtue of their location, be ex­posed to the hazards of construction.
  2. In developed countries, work in construction poses hazards to young workers. In New Zealand, one study revealed that construction has the second-highest injury rate for adolescents, at more than one per four full-time equivalent workers.[51] In Italy, a recent survey by the labour federation, Con- federazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL), estimated that, of the 400,000 children aged 11-14 at work, 10 per cent were in construction.[52]

100.In different countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia, children work alongside their parents, or independently, in underground mines, opencast mines and quarries. They also carry out support functions such as collecting, sorting and transporting aggregate, or cooking and cleaning in remote mining enclaves.[53] The hazards of such work are multiple: from cave-ins to long-term damage from carrying heavy loads and exposure to dust or chemicals, and they vary according to the substance mined and the way the work is organized.

Box 2.3

Child labour in small-scale mining in Colombia

Studies of child labour in the extraction of gold, emeralds, coal and clay in Colombia provide considerable insight into children’s time use, the income re­ceived (and by whom), the problems and risks encountered, children’s percep­tions of work and school and the situation of mining families and communities.

Both boys and girls are at risk of becoming involved in small-scale mining at a very early age (as young as 5 years, with participation increasing after age 7). Girls bear an additional heavy burden of domestic chores, and their schooling suffers as a result. In spite of the hours worked (ranging from 14 to 27 hours per week), 60 per cent of the children are not paid. Thus, perceptions of children’s contribution to the family income are illusory. Although children are exposed to extreme tem­peratures, strong odours, dust, and insect and animal bites, they nonetheless ex­press a degree of satisfaction with their work.

Source: ILO and MINERCOL: The boys and girls who work In Colombia’s small-scale mining: Socio­cultural, economic and legislative diagnosis (ILO and MINERCOL, Lima, 2001).

Children as young as 6 or 7 years old are breaking up rocks, and washing, sieving and carrying ore. Nine-year-olds work underground setting explosives and carrying loads. An IPEC survey in Madagascar found that 53 per cent of the children in small-scale mines and quarries were aged 12 or younger. In Guatemala and the United Republic of Tanzania, as in other countries, children work alongside their parents crushing rock to make gravel for the construction industry. And while the children may work just as hard as the adults, they are paid much less, if at all. Mining sometimes involves debt bondage (as with gold in Peru), and it may coincide with the bankrolling of armed conflict (as with diamond mining in Sierra Leone). While much of the mining that involves child labour is small scale, the hazards it poses are not. In a closely related field of production, children are directly employed in brick-making in many countries, often in connection with bonded labour (as in South Asia) or family production quotas (as in some countries in Latin America).

The unconditional worst forms of child labour

  1. Thus far, we have considered child labour in legitimate economic sec­tors, where national law determines whether or not a particular activity is per­missible for children of different ages. The unconditional worst forms of child labour are those which, under any circumstances, are in contravention of in­ternational law. While increased research is certainly leading to a better un­derstanding of these forms of child labour, we still face a huge problem of data availability and quality. The evidence is patchy and incomplete, and thus the dynamic global picture remains partial – a sketch rather than a sharp image. The next Global Report on child labour four years from now will provide an opportunity to see how much the gaps in our current understanding have been filled.

Forms of child slavery such as sale and trafficking, debt bondage, serfdom and forced or compulsory labour

  1. The various forms of child slavery that are outlawed under Convention No. 182 (and other international instruments) can occur across different eco­nomic sectors and types of activity. For example, we have seen already how debt bondage occurs in agriculture and in brick-making, and how children are

trafficked into domestic service. The labour practice under which an other­wise harmless economic activity occurs may transform this activity into a worst form of child labour. It is thus important to understand that the worst forms of child labour can come about as a result of the type of work undertaken or the labour practice used to exact the child’s work, or a combination of the type of work and the labour practice.

  1. Debt bondage, regardless of whether parents have contracted a debt that is to be paid off by their own labour or by pledging the services of their chil­dren, places children ultimately at the mercy of the landowner, contractor or money-lender, where they suffer from both economic hardship and educa­tional deprivation. The main difference between adult and child bonded la­bour is that children have not themselves contracted the debt – it was done on their behalf by adults. The link between child labour and the inter-genera­tional perpetuation of poverty could hardly be clearer. Bonded child labour flourishes in different parts of the globe; not only in South Asia with which it is most commonly linked, but also in Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia.
  2. Debt bondage is increasingly linked with trafficking of children for la­bour exploitation. Rural poverty, coupled with population growth and rapid urbanization, leads some parents to place their children with agents, not only in exchange for money but also in the hope that the child will receive educa­tion or training at the point of destination. In other cases, children themselves make the decision to leave their home (see box 2.4). The child victims, who may end up in commercial sexual exploitation, domestic work or sweatshops, may never know the amount of the debt they are working to pay off or the terms of repayment.
  3. The subjection of children to forced labour through trafficking has age and gender dimensions: the younger the child, the less likely he or she is to be able to escape a forced labour situation. Boys and girls may be forced into different types of activity, for instance, girls predominate in commercial sex­ual exploitation and domestic work, and boys in forced recruitment for armed conflict and for camel jockeying in the Middle East, although there is consid­erable overlap.
  4. The routes and mechanisms for trafficking are increasingly well understood,[54] but the numbers of children involved remain vague. It is thought that child trafficking has become a billion-dollar-a-year business, with an estimated 1.2 million children falling victim annually. It is a truly glo­bal problem connecting all countries and regions of the world in a complex network of illicit movements of human beings. Sources, destinations and routes for trafficking are constantly evolving in the face of global changes in supply, demand and the regulatory environment. In West and Central Africa, most trafficking is family-based, related to traditional systems of fostering that have now become exploitative.
  5. Trafficking of young children for exploitation in agriculture and domes­tic service has only relatively recently been recognized as a problem in sub- Saharan Africa, for example, while in South-East Asia, trafficking for prosti­tution is a long-standing source of concern. Countries in Western Europe and North America now openly acknowledge that they are destinations for traf­ficked men, women and children from around the world and for a variety of purposes. Transition countries are witnessing a huge upsurge in the problem. The Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine are major source coun-

Box 2.4

Recruitment procedures in trafficking

The spectrum of methods for recruitment by traffickers runs a wide gamut from drugging and abduction to persuasion.

Evidence from the Mekong subregion confirms that not all trafficked chil­dren enter the process against their will. A growing number of girls, especially in Myanmar and Yunnan, China, are simply persuaded into a job, and are aware of the trafficking process but not of the levels of indebtedness they will experience. Many of these girls socialize with prostitutes and, through peer pressure and fa­miliarity with the environment, become prostitutes “voluntarily”. The more ex­perienced children are, the more independently they migrate. The first time, children can be trafficked under coercion but, with limited alternatives, they may opt to remain in the situations into which they are trafficked.

In this region, trafficking takes place in a well-organized and profitable net­work. The actors involved include facilitators, agents or sub-agents, trip mana­gers, police authorities, parents and other relatives, guards, and job-placement agencies, each with a specific role and profit. Different procedures and routes apply to different jobs, each with its own network.

International law makes it clear that, for children under 18 years of age, any “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the pur­pose of exploitation” shall be considered as trafficking, even if it does not involve “the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of de­ception, of the abuse of power …” and other forms mentioned in Article 3(a) for trafficked persons aged 18 years and older).1

1 United Nations: Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), Article 3.

Sources: H. van de Glind and C. Coenjaerts: Combating trafficking, in children for labour exploitation in the Mekong subregion: A proposed framework for ILO-IPEC action and proceedings of a Mekong subregional consultation (Bangkok, ILO, 1998).

tries for trafficked girls and women. Girls from Eastern Europe are first brought to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo or Albania where they are sold to local gangs to be trafficked to Western Europe for prostitution.75 Other transition countries, such as Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, have also become targets of sophisticated international trafficking rings that channel girls through the Russian Federation to Western Europe and through China to Japan and Australia. 76

Forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict

  1. The experiences of children forced to participate in armed conflict, par- Children in armed ticularly in Africa, led the International Labour Conference to include this conflict practice as one of the worst forms of child labour. Although “child soldiers” 77 [55] [56] [57]
A DYNAMIC GLOBAL PICTURE  
  comprise only a small proportion of the child population of any country in con­flict, the trauma they endure is extreme. As a government loses effective con­trol over parts of its territory (e.g. as in Colombia), its scope of action against children’s involvement in armed conflict diminishes.

109. The number of children under the age of 18 who have been coerced or induced, either by the State or by non-state military groups, to take up arms as child soldiers or to serve as porters, messengers, cooks and sex slaves is generally thought to be in the range of 300,000,78 with 120,000 of those in Africa alone.79 These children are reported to be as young as 8 years old.80 The part played by girls in armed conflict is important and often misunder­stood. Although often portrayed only in the context of forced provision of sex­ual services to adult soldiers, girls have multiple roles, including that of front­line fighters. 81

 

Vulnerable groups of 110. Children recruited as soldiers in times of armed conflict and as child

children labourers in peacetime originate from the same groups:

—         children separated from their families or with disrupted family back­grounds (e.g. orphans, unaccompanied children, single-parent families, child-headed households);

—         economically and socially disadvantaged children (e.g. the rural and ur­ban poor, those without access to education, vocational training and a reasonable standard of living); and

—         other marginalized groups (e.g. street children, certain minorities, refu­gees and the internally displaced).

111.    Examples of forced recruitment of children and adolescents abound: in the northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, children aged 16-18 were caught up in forced labour brigades digging trenches, moving supplies, evacuating dead and wounded combatants, acting as human shields, harvest­ing crops, cutting firewood and working in factories without pay. It is notable that most were from socially excluded groups among the Muslim, Croat and Roma communities.82

112.    Low-intensity, long-term conflict means that children are more likely to become combatants as educational opportunities and infrastructure are pro­gressively destroyed. Changing labour markets may also play a role. In Sierra Leone, for example, during the 1980s, the diamond-mining industry reverted to small-scale, local entrepreneurs, who kept profits high by paying young people low wages. Educational investment in mining areas was also low. It was therefore easy for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to target disaffected youth for recruitment. Some were forcibly abducted to work as soldiers but others joined because of incentives such as informal education, better wages

  78   United Nations: Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on the implementation of resolution 1261 (1999) on children and armed conflict, United Nations General Assembly, 55th Ses­sion, New York, 2000.

79   The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers: Africa Report, see www.child-soldiers.org/ reports_africa/executive_summary.html

80   The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers: Americas Report, see www.child-soldiers.org/reports latamr/executive_summary.html

81   S. McKay and D. Mazurana: Girls in militaries, paramilitaries and armed opposition groups, Paper presented at the International Conference on War-Affected Children, Winnipeg, Canada, Sep. 2000. According to this research, girls play multiple roles in armed groups: fighters, 41 per cent; suicide mis­sions, 10 per cent; porters, 25 per cent; cooks, 13 per cent; camp followers, 18 per cent; spies, 1 per cent; looters, 21 per cent; and sexual services, 28 per cent.

82   United Nations: Situation in the region of Banja Luka, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Periodic re­port of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights (doc. E/CN.4/1996/3, 1995).

and access to drugs.[58] Not all children are physically coerced into becoming combatants; soldiering may tragically appear to be the best economic option available for marginalized, vulnerable groups of children. In addition, chil­dren, particularly adolescents, may be lured into armed conflict by the ideo­logy associated with it, be it religious expression, the struggle for self­determination or other social causes.[59]

Commercial sexual exploitation of children

  1. This worst form of child labour illustrates, in the most dramatic way pos­sible, how the powerlessness of children renders them vulnerable to exploita­tion by adults. For many children, being drugged, abducted, abused and/or sold by their parents or other relatives can lead them down the path to exploi­tation through prostitution, production of pornography and pornographic performances. [60] However, it is not always so easy to draw the line between children involved in commercial sexual exploitation and those who, because of their situation, are prone to sexual exploitation and abuse by adults. Chil­dren may be persuaded or threatened into having sex with adults who have power over them. Sexual abuse of children by male teachers in the closed school environment has been widely reported in sub-Saharan Africa.[61] The terrible consequences of sexual exploitation for children, both emotional and physical (as a result of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection, un­wanted pregnancy and abortion, physical violence and abuse by clients) are liable to lead to loss of self-esteem, mental and physical illness, infertility, be­havioural problems, substance abuse and death.
  2. Prostitution and the sale and trafficking of children, particularly of girls, was the worst form of child labour most often cited as “known or suspected to exist” in reports submitted under the 2002 follow-up to the Declaration by countries at all levels of development. While estimates of the numbers in­volved go into the hundreds of thousands in some countries, the true extent of the problem is unknown. Where data do exist, they are often not disaggregated by sex or age.
  3. Socio-cultural factors driving children’s, often girls’, involvement in commercial sexual exploitation include lack of education and economic op­portunity, the relatively high earnings perceived to be on offer, a cultural ob­ligation for children to support their parents by earning money in whatever way they can and disintegration of the family.[62] As in many other transition countries, prostitution of children in the Russian Federation (12-15 per cent of prostitutes in Moscow are estimated to be under 18, with higher per­centages in smaller cities) is often related to internal or external migration. In a number of developed countries, a high representation of children of indige­nous groups or of foreigners in such activities has been noted (e.g. Canada, the United States).

Demand: the driving 116. Demand, of course, also plays an important part in determining the shape force of the problem as it affects children. The presence of military troops or of large public works projects may act as pull factors. Tourist centres create high de­mand for prostitution. Client preferences for young children, particularly in the context of HIV/AIDS, inevitably get translated into an increased supply. Clients in the sex tourism trade are both male and female, as are the children they exploit. For example, beach boys in Gambia and in Jamaica cater to the female tourist trade.

  1. Commercial sexual exploitation of boys is reported to be increasing. A recent IPEC Rapid Assessment in El Salvador found that one-third of the sexually exploited children aged between 14 and 17 were boys. Although in most countries, boys represent 10-20 per cent of the children involved, there are some countries, such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where boys are in the majority. While both boys and girls may experience sexual exploitation differ­ently, and boys may be less subject to physical coercion, neither experience is any less intolerable than the other.

Children in illicit activities

There is very little information available about children’s involvement in illicit activities, such as producing and trafficking drugs. Countries facing se­rious problems with the drugs trade, from Colombia to Cambodia and the United States to the Russian Federation, know all too well that children, including very young children, can be swept up in such activity. There is also a spillover between drug availability and street children. In a study of street children in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, 6 per cent said they worked because they needed money to buy drugs.

[1]    Recent research outputs by IPEC can be accessed on the IPEC web site: www.ilo.org/public/english/ standards/ipec/

[2]    The ILO’s bibliographic database, LABORDOC (www.ilo.org/public/english/support/lib/labordoc/) contains some 2,200 references to child labour.

[3]    “Economic activity” is a broad concept that encompasses most productive activities undertaken by children, whether for the market or not, paid or unpaid, for a few hours or full time, on a casual or regular basis, legal or illegal; it excludes chores undertaken in the child’s own household and schooling. To be counted as economically active, a child must have worked for at least one hour on any day during a sev­en-day reference period. “Economically active” children is a statistical, rather than a legal, definition. It is not the same as the “child labour” referred to with regard to abolition.

[4]    ILO: Child labour: Targeting the intolerable, op.cit., p. 7; and K. Ashagrie: Statistics on working chil­dren, op.cit.

[5]    In line with ILO Convention No. 138 and Recommendation No. 146, and Convention No. 182 and Recommendation No. 190. This includes all economically active children aged 5-14, except those aged 12-14 engaged in light work only (for statistical purposes, defined as less than 14 hours of work per week), and all children aged 15-17 engaged in hazardous and other worst forms of child labour (see be­low).

[6]    Children in hazardous work comprises all children aged 5-17: (a) working in the mining and con­struction sectors; (b) working in other occupations or processes considered as hazardous by their nature or the circumstances in which they are carried out; and (c) working excessive hours (for statistical pur­poses, defined as 43 hours or more a week).

[7]    As defined in Convention No. 182, Article 3(a)-(c), “(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the pro­duction and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties”.

[8]    Estimates for this last category were based on a wide range of sources, which were collected, screened and validated to ascertain which were considered sufficiently reliable for inclusion in the over­all calculation. These estimates may significantly underestimate the numbers of children involved in these hidden forms of labour. They must therefore be treated with caution.

[9]    Child labourers in the 15-17-year age group are necessarily involved in the worst forms of child la­bour (either unconditional worst forms or hazardous work) as they are above the minimum age for entry into all other forms of work.

[10]   Population figures for this calculation were derived from World Population Prospects: The 2000 Re­vision. Vol. 2. The sex and age distribution of the world population (New York, United Nations, 2001).

[11]   In the introduction to the review of annual reports under the follow-up to the Declaration for 2002, the Expert-Advisers remarked that “modernization and high per capita incomes do not, by themselves, lead to the disappearance of all forms of child labour”. See ILO: Review of annual reports under the Fol­low-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (subsequently referred to as ILO Review of annual reports under the Declaration), Part I. Introduction by the ILO Declaration Ex­pert-Advisers to the compilation of annual reports, Governing body doc. GB. 283/3/1 (Geneva 2002) p. 32.

[12]   S.L. Bachman: “A new economics of child labour: Searching for answers behind the headlines”, in Journal of International Affairs (New York), Vol. 53, No. 2 (Spring, 2000), pp. 545-572.

[13]   L.L. Lim (ed.): The sex sector: The economic and social bases of prostitution in South-East Asia (Ge­neva, ILO, 1998).

[14]  K. Ashagrie: Statistics on working children, op. cit.

[15]   ILO: Decent work and the informal economy, Report VI, International Labour Conference, 90th Ses­sion, Geneva, 2002, Ch. 1.

[16]  The Government of Belgium, for example, in its annual report under the follow-up to the Declaration for 2002, indicates that it “could reasonably estimate that child labour has disappeared from the legal economic network. It is only in the ‘shadow’ economy, which operates clandestinely and outside the scope of the law, that there is the risk of child labour”, including in the food industry, the hotel-restau­rant-cafe complex, sewing, activities linked to the sectors of prostitution and, to a lesser extent, agricul­ture and horticulture (p. 282).

[17]  S.F. Rashid: “The urban poor in Dhaka City: Their struggles and coping strategies during the floods of 1998”, in Disasters (Oxford, Blackwells, 2000), Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 240-253.

[18]   ILO: Note on the Proceedings, Tripartite Meeting on Moving to Sustainable Agricultural Develop­ment through the Modernization of Agriculture and Employment in a Globalized Economy (Geneva, 2000), p. 3.

[19]  ILO: Your voice at work, Report of the Director-General, International Labour Conference, 88th Ses­sion, Geneva, 2000.

[20]  K. Satyanarayana, T. Prasanna Krishna and B.S. Narasinga Rao: “Effect of early childhood undernu­trition and child labour on growth and adult nutritional status of rural Indian boys around Hyderabad”, in Human Nutrition: Clinical Nutrition, 1986, No. 40C, pp. 131-139.

[21]  IPEC: Defining hazardous undertakingsfor young workers below 18 years of age: A country report (Ma­nila, ILO, 1997).

[22]  P. Reynolds: Dance civet cat: Child labour in the Zambezi Valley (London, Zed Books, 1991), pp. 61, 122-124.

[23]  ILO: Stopping forced labour, op. cit.

[24]  ILO: Sustainable agricultural in a globalized economy, Report for discussion at the Tripartite Meeting on Moving to Sustainable Agricultural Development through the Modernization of Agriculture and Em­ployment in a Globalized Economy, ILO Sectoral Activities Programme (Geneva, 2000); and IPEC: Child labour in commercial agriculture in Africa, Technical Workshop on Child Labour in Commercial Agriculture in Africa, Dar es Salaam, the United Republic of Tanzania, 27-30 Aug. 1996 (Geneva, ILO, 1997), pp. 6 and 8.

[25]  M. Pearson and R.T. Jensen: Investigating the worstforms of child labour: Rapid Assessment synthesis report (Geneva, ILO, 2001).

[26]  S. Stephenson: “The abandoned children of Russia: From ‘privileged class’ to ‘underclass’”, in S. Webber and I. Liikanen (eds.): Beyond civil society: Education and civic culture in post-communist coun­tries (Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2001).

[27]  Convention No. 138 specifies that “the provisions … shall be applicable as a minimum to the follow­ing: … and plantations and other agricultural undertakings mainly producing for commercial purposes, but excluding family and small-scale holdings producing for local consumption and not regularly em­ploying hired workers” (Article 5(3)).

[28]  ILO: Report of the United States on the effective abolition of child labour, Review of annual reports under the Declaration, Part II (Geneva, 2000).

[29]  United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics: Report on the youth labor force (June 2000, revised Nov. 2000).

[30] ILO: Note on the Proceedings, Tripartite Meeting on Safety and Health in the Fishing Industry (Ge­neva, ILO, 2000), p. 3; and ILO: Safety and health in the fishing industry (Geneva, ILO, 1999), p. 12.

[31]  IPEC: Project document: Supporting the Time-Bound Programmefor the elimination of the worstforms of child labour in El Salvador (Geneva, ILO, 2001).

[32]  ILO: Safety and health in the fishing industry, op. cit.

[33]  Council of Europe, Steering Committee on Social Policy, Study group on street children: Street chil­dren: Coordinated research programme in the social field (1992-93), Definitive Report (Strasbourg, Council of Europe Press, 1994).

[34]  C. Manning: The economic crisis and child labour in Indonesia, IPEC Working Paper (Geneva, ILO, 2000).

[35]  S. Stephenson: “The abandoned children of Russia: From ‘privileged class’ to ‘underclass’”, op. cit.

[36]  S. Mehrotra and M. Biggeri: The subterranean child labour force: A comparative analysis of subcon­tracted home-based manufacturing in five Asian countries, Innocenti Working Paper (Florence, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, forthcoming 2002).

[37]  ibid.

[38]  PEETI (Plan on the Elimination of Child Labour Exploitation): Guide of legislation and resources on child labour (Lisbon, Ministry of Labour and Solidarity, 2000); and PEETI: Child labour in Portugal: Social characterization of school age children and theirfamilies (Lisbon, Ministry of Labour and Solidar­ity, 2001).

[39] R. Lorenzo: Italy: Too little time and spacefor childhood (Florence, UNICEF International Child De­velopment Centre, 1992).

[40]  Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly, Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee: Combat­ing child labour exploitation as a matter of priority (Doc. 7840), 5 June 1997.

[41]  ILO: Human resources development, employment and globalization in the hotel, catering and tourism sector (Geneva, 2001), pp. 74-76.

[42]  M. Black: In the twilight zone: Child workers in the hotel, tourism and catering industry (Geneva, ILO, 1995).

[43]  ibid.

[44]  ibid.

[45]  ILO: Child labour in tourism on the Kenyan coast, Project INT/96/M06/NOR (Geneva).

[46]  This is well documented in West Africa; see, for example, IPEC: Combating trafficking in children for labour exploitation in West and Central Africa: Synthesis report based on studies of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Togo (Geneva, ILO, 2001). Networks between rural and urban areas have also been described in Peru and the United Republic of Tanzania.

[47] S.W.E. Goonesekere: Children in domestic service in Sri Lanka (Geneva, ILO, 1993).

[48] ILO: Review of annual reports under the Declaration. Part II (Geneva, 2001), p. 289.

[49] ILO: Targeting the intolerable: A new international Convention to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, fact sheet on domestic service (Geneva, ILO, 1999).

[50] Household surveys may not even pick up non-family domestic workers, as they do not necessarily distinguish between children of the household and children in the household. Household heads may also simply not report domestic workers in surveys.

[51] V. Dufort et al.: “Occupational injuries among adolescents in Dunedin, New Zealand, 1990-1993”, in Annals of Emergency Medicine (St. Louis, Missouri), Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 266-73.

[52] P. Dorman: Child labour in the developed economies, IPEC Working Paper (Geneva, ILO, 2001), p. 27.

[53] ILO: Social and labour issues in small-scale mines (Geneva, 1999).

[54]  See, for example, P. Boonpala and J. Kane: Trafficking of children: The problem and responses world­wide (Geneva, ILO, 2001).

[55]  IOM: Trafficking in unaccompanied minors for sexual exploitation in the European Union (Brussels, IOM, 2001); and IOM: Victims of trafficking in the Balkans: A study of trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation to, through and from the Balkan region (Slovak Republic, IOM, 2001).

[56]  IPEC: Country report Mongolia: Trafficking related issues (Ulaanbaatar, ILO, 2001); and IOM: Traf­ficking in women and children from the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek, IOM, 2000).

[57] The popular term “child soldier” extends as well to support personnel, broadly defined. There is a link between the increased use of small arms in modern conflict and the increased use of child soldiers. Because modern guns are light and portable, children become more attractive as both supply carriers and fighters.

[58]  P. Richards: Fighting for the rainforest: War, youth and resources in Sierra Leone (Oxford, James Cur- rey, 1996), pp. 28-29, 48-52.

[59]  United Nations: Promotion and protection of the rights of children: Impact of armed conflict on chil­dren, Study prepared by Gra§a Machel (doc. A/51/306, 1996).

[60]  United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific: Sexually abused and sex­ually exploited children and youth in the Greater Mekong subregion: A qualitative assessment of their health needs and available services (New York, United Nations, 2000).

[61]  See F. Leach, P. Machakanga and J. Mandoga: Preliminary investigation of the abuse of girls in Zim­babwean Junior Secondary Schools (Harare, United Kingdom Department for International Development Research Paper No. 39, 2000), cited in R. Baker: The sexual exploitation of working children: Guidelines for action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour (London, DFID Social Development Department, 2001), p. 17.

[62]  H. Berger and H. van der Glind: Children in prostitution, pornography and illicit activities, Thailand: Magnitude of problems and remedies, Discussion Paper, Asian Regional Meeting on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, Phuket, Thailand, 1999 (Bangkok, ILO, 1999).