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[BISHKEK, 26 June 2006] - Samat is pushing a heavy cart at the ‘Osh Bazaar’ in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. The 11-year-old labourer is tired, but a strong desire to earn money for his family makes him continue his back-breaking work that lasts from early morning to sunset. “I have to work. The money that my parents earn is not enough and therefore I help them,” the child said. His family came to Bishkek from the southern province of Batken almost a year ago in search of a better life, like many internal migrants. Such stories are common in the former Soviet republic of 5.1 million, where extensive poverty and chronic unemployment are the major factors fuelling child labour, experts say. At least 40 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, according to the World Bank, while in rural areas this rate leaps to over 65 percent. Many youngsters in urban areas sell cheap goods or work in markets as cart-pushers or loaders, while children in rural areas work on rice and cotton plantations and tobacco farms. There are also many children involved in construction work. Under-aged labourers are expected to produce as much work as adults, but for much lower pay, employers told IRIN. According to national statistics, the number of registered child workers has remained the same for the past few years – standing at only 575 cases. However, analysts say that the actual figure is considerably higher and could be up to 125,000. Whatever the real figure is, hundreds of children are working at the Osh bazaar every day. The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Kyrgyz Federation of Unions said that there were up to 7,000 working children in Bishkek alone, according to a new report. The authorities acknowledge the seriousness of the issue. “Throughout the country there are numerous cases of child labour and the most dangerous is the sex industry, where there are many cases of 14- to 16-year-old girls working the streets,” said Nurjan Bardinova, from the National State Secretariat on Family, Women and Gender Affairs. In a further effort to tackle the issue, an ILO project, “Reducing Worst Forms of Child Labour”, started operating in the country in 2005. The project runs in all Central Asian countries, except for Turkmenistan. “The importance of this work is that in Kyrgyzstan, we can see that there is an increase in child labour. Until now nobody had looked at this issue, but now we have financial and technical resources to change the current situation,” Amina Kurbanova, national coordinator of the ILO project, said. The project aims at raising awareness on child labour, targeting government officials, local NGOs and ordinary citizens through the mass media, as well as providing recommendations to the national legislature on child labour issues. The project works with the national programme on reducing child labour, which will be operational by September. The project also supports local NGOs that work on the issue. “We have now also financed the project in Orlovka village [where local people are engaged in mining near uranium waste dumps] with the aim to inform locals on child labour, because children there are engaged in mining together with adults. In addition, medical testing of those children will be done in order to help them,” Kurbanova added. As the result, on 20 January, President Kurmanbek Bakiev signed a decree aimed at reducing child labour in the Central Asian country. “The government had not paid attention to this issue earlier. Now the situation is changing and we are learning how to tackle it,” Bardinova said. It is already evening on the streets of Bishkek and Samat in his dusty clothes is counting his daily earnings. It is just a little over US $3. “Not so bad compared to yesterday, when I made $1.50. My mum will be glad and I am proud that I can help her,” he said. Further information
pdf: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=34533