The Saskatoon StarPhoenix November 12, 19996
250 MILLION CHILDREN IN LABOR FORCE: ILO
GENEVA (AP) - From the brothels of Asia to the carpet
factories of Pakistan, nearly twice as many children
are working full time in developing countries as
previously thought, the International Labor
Organization said Monday.
The latest calculations from the UN labor agency show
that 250 million five-to-14-year-olds are employed,
half of them full time. That's up sharply from earlier
estimates of 73 million full-time child workers.
The new figures come after in-depth surveys and
interviews in numerous countries. Previous estimates
were based almost solely on official statistics.
The ILO report found nearly 153 million children are
working in Asia, 80 million in Africa and 17.5 million
in Latin America. It called for a new international
accord banning the harshest forms of child labor:
slavery, prostitution and work in hazardous industries.
Only 49 UN members ratified a 1976 child labor
convention. Some nations said its limits on paid work
were too broad.
ILO Director General Michel Hansenne said child labor
only perpetuates an endless cycle of illiteracy and
poverty.
"We all know that . . . many efforts over the years
will be required to eliminate it completely," he said.
"But there are some forms which are intolerable by any
standard. These deserve to be identified, exposed and
eradicated without further delay."
Slavery or child bondage still is practised in South
Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa, the report said.
Children are either sold outright or rural families are
paid in advance by "contractors" who take children away
to work in carpet weaving, glass manufacturing or
prostitution.
Child trafficking for the sex industry is increasing
despite better international awareness of the problem,
the ILO said.
In Asia, child prostitutes number about one million and
rising, the report said. Numbers also are increasing in
Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
It identified international sex networks that take
Latin American children to Europe and the Middle East,
and Southern Asian children to northern Europe and the
Middle East. Child sex markets also were well
established in West Africa, Europe and the Arab world,
it said.
Among other things, the ILO found that:
ú Certain industries are exposing their child workers to
pesticide poisoning, lung diseases or even crippling their
growing bodies by forcing them to carry heavy weights.
ú In Sri Lanka, more children die from pesticide
poisoning than from a combination of other childhood
diseases such as malaria, tetanus and whooping cough.
ú Children are exposed to dust and fumes in repair shops,
woodwork factories and construction sites in Egypt, the
Philippines and Turkey.
ú In glass factories, children are often forced to drag
loads of molten glass from glowing furnaces amid noise
levels that could cause deafness. Children as young as three
were working in match factories where they were exposed to
dust, asbestos and other hazardous fumes.
ú Up to five million child domestic servants work in
Indonesia, including 400,000 in the capital, Jakarta.
