Child_Labour

Implementation of Human Rights: A Ray of Hope to Stop Child Labour Prof. G. B. Mane Abstract Literacy about the human rights and the increasing awareness about childrens problems and needs gave way to the convention that children have rights, the same full spectrum of rights as adults; civil, political, social, cultural and economic. As a result of all these conventions, expressed as the conventions of the rights of the child, are entered into international Law on, 2nd September 1990. This convention has been ratified by Indian government also. Though the government made many laws related to the issue of child labour, the problems especially of bonded child labour and children working in hazardous industries remains as it is. In India many children work as wage labourers. They are exploited both by parents and by the employers. As a result they are deprived of education, joy of childhood and many other liberties. It affects their development of personality, creativity and health. Child labour was employed to extreme levels of difficulties through most of history but due to public dispute with advent of universal schooling, with the changes in working conditions during industrial revolution and with the emergence of the concepts of workers and children rights major changes have been taken place. The government of India passed several legislative measures to prohibit or improve the working conditions of child labour. Child labour Act-1986, National Policy on child labour – 1987, National authority for Elimination of child labour – 1994 and supreme- court directions – 1996 were some significant steps in this direction. The objective of the present research paper is to check whether the awareness of human rights is helpful to prohibit the problem of child labour or to improve the working condition of the child labour. Implementation of Human Rights: A Ray of Hope to Stop Child Labour Introduction Literacy about the human rights and the increasing awareness about childrens problems and needs gave way to the convention that children have rights, the same full spectrum of rights as adults; civil, political, social, cultural and economic. As a result of all these conventions, expressed as the conventions of the rights of the child, are entered into international Law on, 2nd September 1990. This convention has been ratified by Indian government also. Though the government made many laws related to the issue of child labour, the problems especially of bonded child labour and children working in hazardous industries remains as it is. The government of India passed several legislative measures to prohibit or improve the working conditions of child labour. Child labour Act-1986, National Policy on child labour – 1987, National authority for Elimination of child labour – 1994 and supreme- court directions – 1996 were some significant steps in this direction. The objective of the present research paper is to check whether the awareness of human rights is helpful to prohibit the problem of child labour or to improve the working condition of the child labour. Functional Definitions 1) Child labour: Child labour is a work that harms children’s well being and hinders their education, development and future livelihood. Work which, by its nature and the way it is carried out, harms, abuses and exploits the child or deprives the child of an education. 2) Human rights: Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. 3) Bonded Child Labour: It is widely use for the virtual enslavement of children to repay debts incurred by their parents or family members. When can Child Labour be Exploitative According to the convention of the Rights of the child (Article 32) ‘State parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and form performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or harmful to the child’s education or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social development’ (Article 32) Child labour is the work which involves some degree of exploitation i. e. physical, mental, economic. It denies the joy to children and access to social opportunities like education. Child labour is exploitative if it involves: 1. Full time work at too early an age. 2. Very large and arduous working hours. 3. Work that exerts undue physical, social or psychological stress. 4. Inadequate wages 5. Work that hampers access to education 6. Work that undermines child’s dignity and self esteem such as slavery, bonded labour and sexual exploitation. Major Realms of child labour: a) Domestic Work: This includes the household work done by the children which is unpaid and done only for maintenance of the household eg. caring for younger sibling, cooking, cleaning, washing, fetching water etc. performed by the girls. Due to this they do not go to school. Although domestic service need not be hazardous but children in domestic servitude may well be the most vulnerable and exploited children, as they most difficult to protect. b) Non-domestic Work: We can see in rural areas from the age six onwards boys are usually engaged in family tasks like looking after the cattle, grazing goats, collecting fodder and scqring away birds from their crop etc. Naturally they do not get a chance to go to school which hampers their mental development and creativity. c) Bonded Child Labour: Generally in the traditional rural agriculture and unorganized sector children are bonded. The main feature is the pledging of children against a loan which may be small or large or an agreement between the child parents and the employer. Where, the child should have to work through out the whole life in exchange for money or food. Though they work life long their debt never be lessened. d) Commercial Sexual Exploitation: C. S. E. of children especially of girls is common world wide. Girls are lured or forced into this form of hazardous labour. The physical and psychological damage inflicted by commercial sexual exploitation makes it one of the most hazardous child labour e) Wage Labour (Industrial, plantation and street work): Many children work as wage labourers. They pay low wages to children. So they often preferred to adults, because of low wages, docile nature, pliability and non-compliance of labour laws. The children are exploited both by parents and by the employers. Therfore the child is deprived of education, joy of childhood. It affects his development of personality, creativity and health The nature of work in industries is highly hazardous like carrying molten matter, working in furnances with temperature between 1500 to 1800o C etc. following are the industries where we find many children working as child labour. 1. Bangle/glass industry 2. Silk industry 3. Lock industry 4. Stone – Quarries 5. Brick Kiln 6. Diamond cutting 7. Ship breaking 8. Construction work 9. Carpet weaving In this way all such practice are considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labour was employed to extreme levels of difficulty through most of history, but due to public dispute with advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during industrial revolution and with the emergence of the concepts of workers and children rights major changes have been taken place. Rights in the Convention Related to Child Labour: The provision of convention applies for four main areas of children rights- 1. The rights to survival (Act 6 & 24) – it includes the right of life, the highest attainable standards of health, nutrition of adequate standards of living. It also includes the right to name and nationality. 2. The Right to protection (Act 18 & 32) – it includes the freedom from all forms of exploitation, abuse, inhuman or degrading treatment and neglect including the right to special protection in situations of emergency and armed conflicts. 3. The Right to development (Act 6 & 28) – it includes the right to education, support for early childhood development and care, social security and the right to leisure, recreation & cultural activities. 4. The Right to Participation (Act 12) – it includes respect for the views of the child freedom of expression, access to appropriate information and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Major Acts made by Indian Constitution to prohibit Child Labour: Taking into consideration all the basic human rights the constitution of India provides safeguards for children through certain directives eg. ‘Article 24’ of constitution says that children below 14 years should not be employed in factory, mine or any other hazardous occupation. Article 35(e) urges that the tender age of children ought not to be abused and argues against their being given such work which is not suited to their age. Article 45(f) is mandate to the state to try and provide free and compulsory education. Several acts are periodically enacted with a view to providing legal protection to children in various occupations. Indian factory Act 1948, plantation labour Act 1951 which prohibited employment of under 12 years in plantation Merchant Shipping Act 1951, Mines Act 1952, Apprentices Act 1961, Beedi and Cigar worker Act 1966. Major Changes due to Education and Awareness of Human Rights: Awareness about the human rights due to spread of education among the society is quite responsible for the decrease in child lablour. The census of India reported 9.08 million full time child workers and 2.20 million marginal child workers in 1991. The proportion of child workers to child population (Aged 5-14 years) has shown constant decrease from 12.7 % in 1961, 7.1% in 1971, 6.1% in 1981 and 4.32% in 1991. |Year |Child Population |Child Population (5-14 years) % | | |(5-14 years) Millions | | | | |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 | | | |workers |Marginal Workers |Students |Nowhere |Total (1,2,3,4) | |1961 |113.9 |12.7 |- |30.4 |57.0 |69.6 | |1971 |150.7 |7.1 |- |33.6 |59.3 |66.4 | |1981 |179.5 |6.1 |1.3 |43.3 |49.3 |56.7 | |1991 |209.9 |4.32 |1.04 |49.65 |44.98 |50.35 | Child Labour Estimates – India (1961-91) National Sample Survey Organizations (NSS) report of 1983 (43) round) indicated 17.4 million children in the labour force which decreased to 13.5 million in 1993-94 according to 52nd NSS report. A study sponsered by labour ministry reports 44 million child labourer in the age group of 5.14 year. Planning commission estimated 20 million child workers by 200 AD (UNICEF-1994). All above statistical data prove that due to awareness of humanrights there is decrease in the number of child labour problems and it is one of the important factor to solve the issues related to child labour. If we make people aware about Human rights the condition may change in a following scenario. The Present Scenario The Preferred Scenario Child labour Perpetuates poverty If Child labour were to be as children become part of the vicious abolished and all children were circle of poverty from generation to go to schools it is likely that to generation the problems of over-population would decrease Child labour Abolish child labour No Education child Educationj Unskilled jobs Skilled Jobs Exploitative wages Better Wages Denies adults education Adult employment Early Marriage Delayed marriages Many Children fewer children Economic insecurity Economic security Low equality of life Better quality life Perpetuates poverty Economic advancement. Conclusion Poverty and illiteracy is one of the major factor responsible for children’s to do work. If we provide education and tried to improve their economical condition we should make them free from the problem of child labour. The awareness about Human rights and the punishment given after the violations of it among the peoples in society will definitely lessen the problems of child labour References: 1. Alfred D. S. (ed), 1979, Children in India, Oxfam India. 2. Chanlett, Elisha MGM, 1968, Declaration of the Rights of the Child Int. Child Welfare Rev. UN. 22.1 3. Chopra J. K. Violations of Human Rights in India. 4. Shukla C. K., Ali S. 2006, Child Labour and the Law, Sarup and Sons: New Delhi, p-40. 5. Supreme Court directions on Child Labour. 6. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/child-labour.