CRINMAIL 1331
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WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
The International Labour Organization created the World Day Against Child Labour to highlight the plight of hundreds of millions of child workers around the world. Observed every year on 12th June, the day's purpose is to raise awareness on child labour defined as work carried out by children that is physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to them and interferes with their schooling. The day also seeks to promote activism in defence of the human rights of working children who engage in labour activities. This year is no exception to the sustained and growing movement against harmful child labour, as the 2013 theme looks at the plight of child domestic workers who are often victims of physical, psychological and sexual violence and abusive working conditions.
CRIN is preparing a special edition of its Violence Against Children CRINmail, which will reflect on the situation of child domestic workers in more detail. We invite organisations to send us materials they will be launching on the occasion of the 2013 World Day Against Child Labour for inclusion in the CRINmail. Send contributions to [email protected].
In the meantime, this week's CRINmail features as guest editor Ms Jo Becker, Advocacy Director in the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.
No Child Labour in Domestic Work
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 15.5 million children are engaged in domestic work, making up nearly 30 per cent of all domestic workers worldwide. Many work more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, doing laundry, ironing clothes, shopping, and caring for children and elderly members of their employer’s household. They typically receive very low wages, if they are paid at all. A survey in Nepal found that 76 per cent of child domestic workers received no salary.
Because they work in private homes, child domestic workers often have little contact with the outside world, and are at heightened risk of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Studies by Anti-Slavery International have found that 68 per cent of child domestic workers in India, and 56 per cent in Togo reported physical punishment by their employers. Verbal abuse – including shouting, insults, and threats – is even more common.
Families from poor, rural areas may believe that domestic work in a larger city offers a child better living conditions and opportunities for education, future employment, or marriage. However, child domestic workers are frequently denied education. A Human Rights Watch investigation in Indonesia, for example, found that only one of 45 child domestic workers interviewed was attending school.
According to the ILO, nearly half of all child domestic workers are under the age of 14, with 3.5 million between the ages of five and 11. Some employers deliberately seek children for domestic work, believing that they are easier to control and can be paid less. National laws setting a minimum age for employment are often not enforced, allowing employers to exploit children with no consequences.
Child domestic workers who are above the minimum age of employment are frequently excluded from national labour laws, leaving them no legal right to a minimum wage, to a weekly day off, or to limits on their hours of work.
Advocates for children can encourage their governments to ratify the Domestic Workers Convention (ILO Convention No. 189), a new international treaty adopted by members of the International Labour Organization in 2011. This groundbreaking treaty protects children and adults alike. It obliges government to take steps to eliminate child labour in domestic work, and set a minimum age for domestic work, in accordance with international standards. It requires governments to ensure that domestic work by children above the minimum age of employment does not deprive them of compulsory education, or interfere with opportunities to participate in further education or vocational training. The Convention also provides child domestic workers above the minimum age of employment the same labour rights as workers in other sectors, including daily rest and weekly days off, limits to hours of work, and minimum wage coverage. It also explicitly calls on governments to protect domestic workers from abuse, harassment, and violence.
Ratification and implementation of the Domestic Workers Convention is a critical tool in ending child domestic labour and improving the lives of millions of child domestic workers who are above the minimum age of employment. As of June 2013, seven countries – Uruguay, the Philippines, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Italy, Bolivia and Paraguay – have ratified the Domestic Workers Convention. Dozens of others are working to bring their national laws into compliance with the Convention’s standards.
Take Action:
Urge your government to ratify the Domestic Workers Convention. Encourage it to announce its ratification or make a pledge to ratify at the October 2013 Brazil World Conference on Child Labour. See a sample letter here.
Join the ‘12 by 12’ campaign, now active in 92 countries, to push for domestic workers’ rights. The campaign was launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to seek 12 ratifications of the Convention in 2012, and continues to organise worldwide. Find out more at http://www.ituc-csi.org/domestic-workers-12-by-12
Additional materials:
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Extremists execute three children
Islamist gunmen executed a 15-year-old boy in Syria this week after he was summarily accused of blasphemy, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported. The events occurred in the northern city of Aleppo after the boy, Mohammad Qataa, was abducted by the gunmen, who allegedly belong to an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group, after they overheard Qataa making what they regarded as a heretical comment against the Prophet Mohammed. The boy was then tortured, and later shot in the head and neck in a public square in front of a crowd and the boy’s parents. Full story.
In Afghanistan the Taliban have allegedly beheaded two boys, aged 10 and 16, who they accused of spying. The boys were abducted in the southern province of Kandahar as they scavenged for food in bins near police headquarters. A Taliban spokesman denied the group was behind the killings. Correspondents, however, say Taliban fighters have been known to behead victims, including a 12-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl in 2012, but have always denied such attacks against children. Full story.
Albania and Spain ratify CRC complaints mechanism
Albania and Spain have become the fifth and sixth states, respectively, to ratify the Optional Protocol (OP) to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a complaints mechanism. They now join the ranks of Thailand, Gabon, Bolivia and Germany. Thirty-four more states have signed the Optional Protocol, but we are still four ratifications away from the mechanism’s entry into force. In the meantime, Slovakia and Montenegro have both committed to ratifying in 2013.
Further information:
Age assessment methods criticised
Migration authorities in Sweden are using controversial age-assessment methods to determine if asylum seekers who claim to be children are indeed under 18 years old, reigniting concerns about the accuracy of the results. Under the age verification assessment, young asylum seekers’ wrists, teeth and skeletons are X-rayed to determine their “bone age”. Full story.
Medical associations and children’s ombudspersons have discredited these age assessment methods - which are also practiced in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, among other countries - as “unethical” and “inaccurate”, risking the deportation of children wrongly identified as adults. In particular in 2011, the former Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg highlighted medical specialists’ concerns that X-rays cannot reliably determine exact age because bone and physical development varies between adolescents, and depends on various factors including ethnic and geographical background, nutrition and socio-economic situation, and previous and current illnesses.
Additionally on an ethical front, Mr Hammarberg reiterated the position of the London-based Royal College of Radiologists which in 1996 said that it is “unjustified” to undertake an X-ray for age assessment purposes, and “not acceptable” to expose children to radiation purely for administrative purposes. Read Mr Hammarberg’s full commentary here.
Insufficient investigations into missing children
Some 200,000 children disappear in China every year, usually falling into the hands of human traffickers, with only 0.1 per cent of missing children found and returned to their families, according to recent media reports. A State security official denies the claim, saying that the department in charge of handling child abduction cases has “solved” 54,000 cases in almost three years. Commentators criticise China for not making figures of abducted children public. They also criticise the leniency in punishment for those who buy children from human traffickers - an administrative fine at the most - with one journalist saying that “as long as there is no penalty for it, the cost of committing the crime is low.” Full story.
New publication on child marriage
With one in three girls in the developing world married by the age of 18, a new report by Plan International draws attention to the barriers that prevent girls from realising their right to education and the risks of marrying too young. Child marriage, which is largely owed to financial constraints, harmful gender norms and perceived risk of sexual abuse with the onset of puberty, forces millions of girls out of education and into a cycle of poor opportunities. Plan’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign aims to ensure girls receive a quality primary and secondary education so that they have more choices in life. Download the report here.
Proposed anti-gay law criminalises opposition views
A “draconian” anti-gay bill passed by Nigeria’s House of Representatives not only seeks to ban same-sex relationships, but also makes it a criminal offence to lobby against the law itself, the International Service for Human Rights reports. If signed into law, the bill would also punish (with up to 10 years in prison) anyone who “support[s]” LGBT groups, processions or meetings, or who “registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations”, effectively also criminalising the work of LGBT human rights defenders. More on the story.
Russia's lower house of parliament has passed a law that imposes heavy fines for making information about homosexuality available to children. Under the new law, private individuals "promoting" homosexual behaviour among minors face fines of up to 5,000 roubles (£100; $155). Meanwhile schools could be fined 100 times that amount, affecting children's right to receive comprehensive sex education. The bill will become law once approved by the upper hourse of parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin. Full story.
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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS WIKI: Spotlight on Nigeria
In this week's Children's Rights Wiki, we look at the persistent violations of children's rights in Nigeria: http://wiki.crin.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Nigeria
- Inconsistent definition of the child;
- The possibility of applying the death penalty to under 18s under the Sharia penal codes;
- Detention of children with adults;
- Inconsistent minimum age of criminal responsibility across states;
- Ethnic tension and violence affecting children;
- Early marriage;
- High prevalence of child trafficking;
- High prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM), particularly in northern states;
- Violence against children, particularly girls;
- Low enrolment and completion rates and gender inequality in schools;
- High rate of child labour, particularly in domestic service, mining and agriculture;
- High rate of infant and maternal mortality and access to health services, particularly for women and girls.
For more information on these persistent violations, visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=26467&flag=report
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Africa: Eliminating harmful social and cultural practices - 2013 Day of the African Child
Organisation: FEACOBA et al.
Date: 14 June 2013
Location: New York, United States
More details here.
Domestic violence: 6th Annual Domestic Violence Symposium - safeguarding victims, rebuilding lives
Organisation: Public Policy Exchange
Date: 17 July 2013
Location: London, United Kingdom
More details here.
Business: 2013 Regional Forum on Business & Human Rights for Latin American and the Caribbean
Organisation: UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights et al.
Date: 28-30 August 2013
Location: Medellín, Colombia
More details here.
Abuse & neglect: 13th ISPCAN conference on child abuse & neglect
Organisation: International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Date: 15-19 September 2013
Location: Dublin, Ireland
More details here.
Sexual violence: Evidence into action
Organisation: Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Date: 14-17 October 2013
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
More details here.
Genital autonomy: Whole bodies, whole selves - Activating social change
Organisation: Genital Autonomy et al.
Abstract submission deadline: 15 December 2012
Event date: 24-27 July 2014
Location: Colorado, United States
More details here.
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EMPLOYMENT
SOS Children's Villages International: Consultant Writer/Editor
Location: Home based, with travel to Vienna, Austria
Application deadline: 15 June 2013
More details here.
Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust: Internships
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Application deadline: 10 August 2013
More details here.
Raising Voices: Programme Manager (Violence Against Children Prevention)
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Application deadline: Until filled
More details here.
Save the Children: Senior Child Protection Specialist (Latin America & Middle East)
Location: Washington DC, United States
Application deadline: Until filled
More details here.
ChildFund International: Director of Infants and Young Children Technical Unit
Location: Washington DC, United States
Application deadline: Until filled
More details here.
The Last Word
Testimonies of child domestic workers around the world taken from the ILO's new report 'Ending child labour in domestic work':
"We have to work without breaks because we don't feel we can ask adults for them as our rights." -- Priyanka, 14, India
"My sister told me that her employer came close to her and told her: Mamita, I want to have sex with you." -- Maria, sister of a female child domestic worker, Peru
"Instead of beating us, slapping us, making us kneel down in the gravel, wounding us with blades, putting pepper in our private parts, denying us food as punishment for making mistakes, we would rather you gave us advice and taught us good manners." -- Esther, 14, Togo
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