From: harelb@MATH.CORNELL.EDU (Harel Barzilai)
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: From the Cold War Triumph folks comes: Child Labor Endemic
Date: 27 Jul 92 05:28:30 GMT
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB

In the afthermath of the Grand Triumph of Free Market Capitalism and
the U.S. System, a "a triumph of liberal capitalism and democracy so
final and conclusive, some feel, that we have reached "the end of
history," after which we sink into a sad state of boredom, relieved
only by the occasional technical manipulations needed to deal with
questions at the margin" as Chomksy notes in Part I of the Victors,
surveying the domains of the "Free World" and which turns out to be
equal to, and often surpassing, in horrors, that of the former Soviet
Bloc.


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Topic 97        LABOUR: ILO finds child labour bigg 
ggundrey        IGC Networks Headlines Digest    3:17 pm  Jul 23, 1992 

From: George Gundrey <ggundrey> 
Subject: LABOUR: ILO finds child labour bigg 

/* Written 12:11 am  Jul 23, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */ 
/* ---------- "LABOUR: ILO finds child labour bigg" ---------- */ 
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re- 
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'. 

Title: LABOUR: ILO finds child labour biggest source of child abuse 

/repeat/ 

//att editors:                        embargoed copy// 

please note that the following copy is under embargo and may not 
be printed or otherwise reproduced before tuesday, jul. 21 

washington, jul 21 (ips) -- as many as 25 per cent of all children 
between the ages of 10 and 14 are working in many third world 
regions, according to the 1992 world labour report released here 
tuesday by the international labour organisation (ilo). 

''child labour is the single most important source of child 
abuse and child exploitation in the world,'' says ilo director - 
general, michel hansenne. 

the report says that while most children are employed in 
agriculture, many others work in factories, as domestic servants, 
in family-run businesses, as street hawkers, and in prostitution. 

it says youngsters working as domestic servants -- especially 
those who live in the homes of their employers -- may be the most 
vulnerable and exploited children of all, experiencing isolation 
and a profound stunting of their psychological growth. 

the ilo says child labourers are often exposed to high risks, 
and many develop life-long injuries and deformities. 

it points to child carpet-weavers in india who work long hours 
under conditions which ruin their eyesight and lead to deformed 
backs and limbs, and to young pencil-makers who breathe in 
hazardous slate-dust which condemns them to early disability and 
death from tuberculosis and other lung disease. 

further, many children, the report states, are infected with 
the aids-related human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) through sexual 
abuse by their employers, or through forced prostitution. 

while it is hard to say just how many children are  working, 
hansenne estimates the figure is ''in the hundreds of  millions''. 

the numbers are greatest in asia, where some 67 million 
children are estimated to be working, accounting for up to 11 per 
cent of the total labour force in some nations, says the report. 

in africa, 20 per cent of all the children are forced to work 
in some nations. in nigeria, for instance, an estimated 12 million 
children work . and in latin america, up to 26 per cent of the 
children in some countries work. (more/ips) 

labour: ilo (2) 

the ilo predicts that by early next century, more children 
will be employed in the urban informal sector than in agriculture, 
a trend already well advanced in latin america. 

child exploitation is a major problem in africa and latin 
america as well, says the report, which is quick to point out that 
child labour is also a problem in the developed world, especially 
in italy and spain. an estimated 100,000 children work in spain, 
most of them on family farms, claims the report. 

the ilo distinguishes child labour from the normal, healthy, 
''round-the-house'' style of work. ''child labour defines a 
condition of children being exploited, or overworked, or deprived 
of their rights to health and education, or just deprived of their 
childhood''. 

many governments are seeking ilo advice on how to curb  child 
labour. these include brazil, peru, egypt, india, pakistan, 
kenya, the philippines and thailand. yet a conspiracy of silence 
still prevails among the children, parents, employers and even 
governments in many developing nations, the report notes. 

poverty is the most significant cause of child labour, but the 
report suggests the problem persists for a variety of reasons. 

with adequate education being scarce or too expensive, many 
children are left with nothing to do, and the only way they can 
help their families is through labour, according to the report. 

employers see children as a source of cheap labour, yet the 
paltry wages the children receive create a large jump in family 
income, according to the ilo. the report says governments often 
turn a blind eye to child labour because of the foreign exchange 
earned by some industries that employ children. 

''in the long run, child labour generates poverty,'' since up 
to one-fifth of some populations are disabled or uneducated as a 
result of labouring as children, says gunn. ''this puts a major 
brake on development.'' 

several million children work in southern asia in child- bonded 
labour, and the most common situation is one in which  parents 
accept a loan, then, unable to repay, agree to let the  children 
work off the debt. in practice, the debt never decreases,  only 
rises, as a result of usurious interests rates and outright 
fraud, says the report. 

the ilo says all governments, if they cannot eliminate child 
labour completely, should at least remove all children from 
abusive labour and institute compulsory primary school education. 

while the ilo is working with governments to create child- 
labour legislation,  the study recognises that it will take a long 
time for many poor nations to eradicate the problem.  ''we are 
saying, 'set yourselves a target and work towards it','' gunn told 
ips. (end/ips/lt/jl/yjc/92) 


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