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Child labour activist Bhuwan Ribhu, 28, is the National Secretary of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in India. He became active in the issue of child labour at university, volunteering for BBA and then working for them pro bono after he qualified from law school. Bhuwan was particularly shocked when dealing with the issue of girls trafficked into Indian circuses. After that, he decided to join the organisation full time.
Bhuwan is now involved in trafficking issues and public interest litigation for the organisation.
In India we have a lot of good laws in theory, although we have not ratified ILO Convention No.182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. The problem is a lack of knowledge and a lack of enforcement. For example, India developed a new law banning child domestic labour in 2006, but a year later they had only identified 6,600 children and 500 guilty employers. That may seem enough, but when you thing that there are about 500 districts in India, that mean only about one prosecution per district [and India is home to 420 million children].
There is a real lack of knowledge in general, but especially among enforcement agencies. There are lots of different laws on the subject and people are not aware of them all. There is a also a lack of will. When there is will, policy follows.
We are fighting generations of conditioning. The public interest litigation work we are doing helps – for example we have recently won back pay for children. And raising consumer conscience is also a crucial area of our work.
Rehabilitation is just as important as rescue – you can’t have one without the other. In the big Gap story from last year, we rescued 89 children that week. The government announced a rehabilitation package of almost two million Rupees.
We know of at least four or five big, international organisations that are using child labour but we do not have enough evidence. For each case that gets publicity, there are 1,000 more.
Many of the parents who are sending their children to work do not realise that it is child labour, or that they are being trafficked. They think they are giving their children a better future.
There is a 12-year-old sitting in front of me who has been rescued – the parents thought they were giving their child a better life – when he was on the train no one thought it strange, then when he got the residential district where he had to work no one though it was odd either. People think the child is being helped, because otherwise he will starve. There is not much choice when faced with abject poverty.
When we contacted the police about the case, they took several days to deal with the matter, so they also have a lack of knowledge. These clothes he worked on could have reached the US or the UK, where there is also a lack of understanding on behalf of the consumer.
Even when people are aware, they turn their faces. There is a big moral gap. Sometimes people have to remember that the clothes cost a lot more than the price on the tag. There is a globalisation of commerce, but we need a globalisation of compassion.
At the Independence of India, the Prime Minister Nehru asked how he would bear the burden and make these important decisions. One of his advisors replied that you must look into the face of the most vulnerable person to see how they are affected, and it is on that basis you must make the decision.
The Convention has made a difference because it has created a policy for everyone. But law is just paper – we must also abide by it.
The best thing about my job is that each day you know that you are actually making a difference. The worst is that there are only 24 hours in a day.
There have been times when I have questioned humanity, when I say how some of the children have been abused. One child had maybe one hundred wounds on his body, and that makes you really question things.
Everyone has a role in the issue, whether it is doctors to provide medical care, lawyers, students or industrialists. We have to also stop using the products and stop the demand.
Today we are preparing a paper for civil society on strategic intervention in child labour. It is a victim-centred approach and focuses on the participation of the victim. We are also planning a mass awareness campaign to be launched in six months.
If I could some up the issue of child labour? It’s a crime.