Jeremy Seabrook Children of Other Worlds : Exploitation in the Global Market (London: Pluto Press, 2001, 166pp.) “There can be no task nobler than giving every child a better future…The children of the world are innocent, vulnerable and dependent. They are also curious, active and full of hope. Their time should be one of joy and peace, of playing, learning and growing. Their future should be shaped in harmony and co-operation. Their lives should mature, as they broaden their perspectives and gain new experiences” World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, United Nations, New York, 30 September 1990 As Jeremy Seabrook states in this powerful reporting on child labour “Child labour — one of the most monstrous of many institutionalised injustices — is, perhaps, the greatest reproach to a model of growth and development that is now uncontested in the world. This is perhaps why it generates so much pietism and handwringing, so many words, so much jargon, so many convoluted defences, so many comforting evasions, so much talk now of gradualism, reform and improvement.” What is needed is a more realistic view of both ‘child’ and ‘work’. As Seabrook writes, “Limited hours of labour, especially if a young person is acquiring a useful skill, is certainly not the worst thing that can happen to a child, although fourteen hours a day in a glass factory or working in a mine most certainly is. Some work is certainly better than not working, and the focus should be on eliminating the worst while improving the conditions of the rest.” This is the approach which is being undertaken by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In June 1999, its General Conference adopted a new Convention on the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. (ILO Convention 182) For the purposes of this Convention, the age definition of a child was set at 18 years (article 2). This represents an unambiguous statement regarding the age for protection and will enhance action against abuse and exploitation of children and youth. The worst forms of child labour comprise (article 3): a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. The Convention is supplemented by a Recommendation, the Worst Forms of Child Labour Recommendation 1999, which provisions should be applied in conjunction with the Convention:

“Programmes of Action (article 6): Among other issues, the situation of the girl child and the problem of hidden work situations in which girls are at special risk are explicitly mentioned; “Hazardous work” (article 3(d): In determining the types of hazardous work, consideration should be given, inter alia, to work which exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse. ILO Convention 182 has been ratified by 136 countries which requires countries to take legislative and programmatic steps to ensure the full prohibition and eradication of the worst forms of child labour and the proper rehabilitation of former child labourers. The ILO estimates that worldwide there are 352 million economically active children between the ages of 5 and 17. Of these, an estimated 250 million are involved in child labour that is now prohibited by international treaties. Of these, some eight and a half million are caught in the very worst forms of child labour including slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities. The challenges facing those who would abolish the worst forms of child labour are great. In an interview, Claude Dumont, head of the ILO project on the abolition of child labour said “ Indifference, inaction, resignation, the lack of a collective will: these are the ills that we have to struggle against with all our force. All too often governments consider that having enacted legislation prohibiting the employment of children and taken a few measures to apply it, they have done all that is required of them; but legislation is not an end in itself but only one means among many. Workers’ organizations are only hardly involved in the struggle, perhaps because it is a problem of the informal sector of the economy, where these organizations are sparsely represented. The parents themselves sometimes have doubts as to the efficiency of the educational system and prefer to put their children to work rather than see them ‘waste their time’ on what they consider useless studies. Finally, public opinion remains indifferent, as if people feel that child labour is a part of the normal course of things. The result is that up until now in the majority of the countries of the Third World, there has not been sufficient pressure on public authorities to cause matters to change. Nongovernmental organizations have certainly done good work, but lacking sufficient financial means, they have been able to reach only a very small minority of child workers. One of the indispensable keys to success in combating child labour is to change attitudes at all levels of society.” Thus Dumont underscores the reality that ending child labour is a complex problem that requires an integrated set of solutions that must be implemented at international, national, and local levels. Concern with child labour also requires that we look at labour conditions for all. As Seabrook writes of his observations of Dhaka, Bangladesh “The main hazards for children at work were exposure to naked flames, working with electricity, exposure to harmful chemical substances, gas, fumes, garbage, high-speed machinery, sharp equipment, extreme heat or cold, insufficient light, heavy loads, continuous working with ice or water.” Women and men are also working in these conditions and can be as prone to accidents and failing health. As Seabrook notes “One of the most obvious but least commented areas of child work is how brief the time of child worker is, even though, to an individual child, each day may

seem interminable. Children are swiftly absorbed into the anonymity of adulthood, and any tenderness and consideration extended to children are withdrawn as soon as they become adults. This itself is a shifting frontier. Adulthood is often thrust upon children who become responsible for siblings after the death of a parent, which might mean any time from eleven or fifteen; for some, domestic workers, factory workers, it is even earlier.” Child labour is an important aspect of persistent poverty on a world scale. We cannot look at child labour without looking at the broader patterns of poverty and family relations. As Seabrook writes “As we have seen, most children are employed on their own account, by relatives, their own parents or small employers — to abolish child labour in farms, fields and workshops would require a quite impracticable intervention in the lives of families, which no one is seriously contemplating.” Nevertheless, child labour gives us a focus for looking at society — at family relations, at the socialization of the young, at the education system and points of entry into the labour force. Serious study and focused action must go hand in hand. Rene Wadlow

Drawing : Lona Towsley