A/HRC/25/NGO/X

United Nations

General AssemblyDistr.: GeneralXX February 2014
English only

Human Rights Council
Twenty-fifth session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including theright to development

Written statement* submitted by Human Rights Now, a nongovernmental organization in special consultative status
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated inaccordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[18 February 2014]*This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting nongovernmental organization(s).
GE.14-

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Extremely hazardous Child Labour in coal mines inMeghalaya, India
1. Introduction
Following a fact-finding mission in Meghalaya, India in 2010, Human Rights Now (HRN), a Tokyo based
international human rights NGO, has found an alarming child trafficking and labour crisis in the mines of Meghalaya.
Our mission, conducted with a local NGO, Impulse NGO Network 1, revealed the extremely hazardous and inhumane
conditions under which the trafficked children were forced to engage in mining work. 2 Children were sent deep down
underground through small tunnels called ‘rat holes’ with little oxygen and ventilation. Inability to pay their family’s
debts and lack of financial stability victimized them3.
The Special Rapporteur on trafficking persons, especially women and children, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, soughtclarifications of the facts and investigations by the Government of India in May 2011 (Paragraph 36-42)4. Even though
investigations and issuance of guidelines seemed to be performed by the government of India and Meghalaya, it wasreported that the thousands of child miners were still at significant risk of in coalmines5.
Despite the efforts made by civil society organizations, there is little improvement in the condition and safety
standard in the mining sites. This problem should not be kept unaddressed for children’s wellbeing and future. This
practice of child labour violates the Indian Constitution and Child Labour Act, and the Indian government has aresponsibility to conduct further investigations of labour practices in Jaintia Hills or invite international monitoring, andstrengthen supervision and correction of these practices. Also, immediate action must be taken in cooperation with thegovernment of Nepal and Bangladesh for fundamental improvement.
2. Background
Meghalaya is a northeastern Indian state, which shares borders with Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, andMyanmar. Jaintia Hills is one of the seven districts in Meghalaya in the east of the region with a population of 299,108.
Coal mining has become a growing industry in Meghalaya due to the Supreme Court’s ban on the sale of timber in 1981.
From 1997 to 2003, coal production in this place increased by 36% and accounted for 8-10% of the state’s GDP.
The first concern lies in the problematic statistics of children who are engaged in labour work. According to theCensus of India in 1991 and 2001, the number of working children aged 5 to 14 increased from 11.3 to 12.7 million.
However, according to the National Sample Survey Organization, the number of working children dropped from 13.3
million in 1993 to 10.4 million in 1999, and to 8.6 million in 2004. UNICEF also estimates a slight decline in theproportion of children involved in labour from 14% in 1999 to 2003 to 12% from 2000 to 2009. These differences maybe attributed to different definitions of child labour, resulting in a significant number not being accounted for in thecensus.
What is also striking is where the children in the mining industry originated. Nepal and Bangladesh are the main
sources of labour besides India. Poverty is also rampant in all three countries. Those we interviewed told us that they
thought ‘migration’ to be an opportunity to earn money so that they could support their families economically. The factfinding mission reported that mine supervisors and managers confirmed high prevalence of child labour in Jaintia Hill

1ABC News, Children of the Rat Holes Pictures,
http://abcnews.go.com/International/slideshow/indias-child-coal-miners-19383690/image-19384170
2
HRN, Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Meghalaya, Fact Finding Mission of HRN to India,
http://hrn.or.jp/activity/20110804IndiaReport.pdf
3Their own investigative report is seen at; http://hrn.or.jp/activity/2011/02/08/201102_Meghalaya.pdf
4
A/HRC/17/35/Add.1
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/17session/A.HRC.17.35.Add.1_EFSonly.pdf
5
Al Jazeera English, The Child Miners of Meghalaya
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/child-miners-meghalaya-2013103132125749825.html

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mines, and one supervisor commented that 25 children were employed in his mines, which constituted a quarter of his
total labour force.
3. Working conditions in the mines
The Impulse NGO Network has estimated that there are at least 5,000 mines in the region, however, one of themanagers HRN interviewed asserted that there are approximately 100, 000 mine in the region6. Each mine has wooden
steps running down the wall from the entrance to the bottom of the shaft, and due to frequent rainfall, they often become
slippery and prone to rot. Their structural collapses are common, and slips and falls can cause injury and in worst cases,death. The height of the hole is typically short only to allow a crouching child to enter. The working conditions arehazardous, due to poor lighting, lack of/insufficient safety equipment, and faulty ventilation in the rat holes that cansecure little oxygen deeper into the hole. Flooding is also a major issue with tunnels, filling with water and drowninglabourers while they are constructing a new hole. Although accidents often cause deaths or injuries, these casualties are
not reported and mine owners do not provide compensation or medical supports for victims or their families. Since minemanagers do not record labourers’ addresses or family details, families have no means to know anything happened totheir beloved ones. Machineries are also often inadequate, poorly maintained, and operated by unqualified workers.
Furthermore, our mission has acknowledged a practice of extrajudicial execution by the mine owners to control
their labourers. Interviewees confessed that the labourers, including children, have been left inside the rat holes as apunishment and have died from oxygen deficiency. This practice makes child labourers intimidated and fear managers
whom they do not have any choices but obey, even if they wish to leave. One adult labourer told us that labourers had toremove the body of a dead labourer from a rat hole in April 2009 because of their confrontation with the owner.
The living conditions of labourers at the mines are inhumane and unsanitary. Lack of safe drinking water and noproper sewage system contributes to a variety of diseases. However, mine owners provide no medical facilities forlabourers.
4. Efforts since 2010 mission - unimproved situation
In May 2012, two years after our fact-finding mission with the Impulse NGO network, the National Commission
for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) visited the coalmines of Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya 7. Their report revealed thehazardous situation under which children work with little progress in providing any safety or welfare measures.
Children were reportedly sent away from the sites when the investigation team arrives so that mine owners could not bequestioned or alleged. One of the investigating members who went into the ‘rat hole’ felt suffocated as he reaches thebottom with gas and fumes emanating.
Also in the same month, National Human Rights Commission expressed their serious concern over child labourin Meghalaya. The Commission recommended the state government to stop child labour in all forms. It also
recommended the state government conduct a survey of mines to find the number of child labourers employed there andtake measures for their schooling and rehabilitation. The State authorities admitted that 220 child workers wereidentified in Jaintia hills. The claim was also brought with a reference to cases of “sexual exploitation of minor girls andabandoning of newly born children and dead fetus”8. Nonetheless, after the intervention by two National Commissions,
there is little improvement on the ground and the devastating situation continues to exist. Lack of political will and6HRN, Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Meghalaya, Fact Finding Mission of HRN to India,
http://hrn.or.jp/activity/20110804IndiaReport.pdf
7National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Child Labour Situation in Coal Mines, Pits & Rat
Holes of Jaintia Hills, MEGHALAYA,
http://www.ncpcr.gov.in/Reports/Jaintia%20Hills%20Visit%20Report%20-%20Revised.pdf
8National Human Rights Commission, NHRC expresses serious concern over child labour in Meghalaya,
http://nhrc.nic.in/disparchive.asp?fno=2574

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determination of enforcing laws is evident from continual denial made such as by the deputy chief minister for miningand geology9, and silence from authorities have been depriving children’s life and future continuously10.
5. Related laws and statutes
The Indian Constitution prohibits the employment of children, defined as those under the age of 14, engaging inany hazardous employment including mining industry (Article 24, THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA). Under the Child
Labour Act of 1986, it is prohibited to employ children under 14 in mines or in other hazardous work, while the Mines
Act prohibits employment of those under 18 in mines. In addition, the Coal Mines Regulations of 1957 and the Mines
Act of 1952 codify safety rules and procedures and labour conditions to ensure the health and safety of workers. India
has legal obligations to eradicate child labour under International Labour Organization Conventions on the minimum
age conventions of 1919 and 1965, although these conventions are now considered outdated and India has not ratified
the new convention. India also accedes to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, Article 32 thatprohibits child labour on economic exploitation when it threatens the physical, mental, emotional, and social
development of children.
6. Recommendations
The grave human rights violations in the practice of child labour in Jaintia Hills are still evident within extremely
hazardous environment and slavery-like practice. Despite numerous laws, regulations, and mechanisms to eliminate
child labour in India, they are powerless to save the children in Jaintia Hills. Indian Government has to keep a thorough,effective, and transparent large-scale investigation of child labour practice and human rights violations regarding thisissue and invite and accept international monitoring. The international community is highly encouraged to acknowledge
the severity of the matter. HRN calls relevant UN Special Rapporteurs and the ILO to conduct thorough investigation
over this grave situation.

9The New York Times, Children Toil in India’s Mines, Despite Legal Ban,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/world/asia/in-india-missing-school-to-work-in-themine.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
10
Al Jazeera English, The child miners of Meghalaya,
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/child-miners-meghalaya2013103132125749825.html

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