As the pollination time for Bt cotton has arrived, small tribal children from across the border from Banswara, Dungarpur and Udaipur districts in Rajasthan have been brought by contractors to the Bt cotton farms in Idar Taluka in Sabarkantha district.  
 
This is the scenario year after year. Thousands of children have been extensively employed for pollinating plants manually, so that Bt cotton seeds are ready for the market.  
 
This year, the first lot of child labourers has arrived in the villages of Sherpur, Laloda, Ganeshpura, Hassanpura in Idar taluka. These small kids are fated to inhumane tortures by the farm owners. They start their day at around four in the morning and work till late afternoon. For this laborious job they get the minimal wage of Rs40 per day.  
 
It is estimated that every year more than one lakh tribal children below 14 years from poverty stricken Rajasthan, arrive to work for three months in the BT cotton seed farms of Sabarkantha and Banaskantha districts of Gujarat. Children are being employed primarily because they can be paid very low wages and made to work long hours. 
 
Even though there are strict laws for employing children, Bt cotton farms in these areas never care to follow any rules. For farmers here, these children are merely means to mint money.

Continental Clothing Co. (asi/46410) has announced its latest stand on the state of Uzbekistan's child labor cotton-picking industry: As of this fall, the company is going 100% organic. The initiative makes Continental Clothing the first major clothing company to boycott cotton sales from Uzbekistan, the world's second largest exporter of cotton. To implement the large-scale switchover in inventory, Continental Clothing is purchasing 750 tons of organic cotton as part of its initial conversion. The company will now also label these garments with the "country of origin," not the "country of manufacture," as is usually the case.

"We're simply trying to do the right thing," Philip Charles, head of the company's United States division, says of the boycott. "We've educated ourselves about cotton agriculture and we don't like what we've learned."

Located in central Asia, Uzbekistan – a former Soviet Union republic – has been scalding in the international limelight for its treatment of child cotton laborers. With its approximately 800,000 tons of cotton exports each year, this industry reaps $1 billion (U.S. dollars) in annual revenue. According to a report on the Environmental Justice Foundation's Web site, hundreds of thousands of youths are forced to labor in Uzbekistan's cotton fields and forgo classroom education, with earnings reportedly ranging from 15 cents to $5 for a five-day period. "The responsibility is to our customers," Charles says. "If a customer had a choice between a T-shirt that was made using child labor in Uzbekistan and a garment that wasn't, I know which one they'd choose."

LAHORE: Speakers at the workshop of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and International Labour Organisation said on Wednesday that the media should help in making society realise that child labour should be eliminated.

The workshop was held to build the capacity of journalists from print media and was titled ‘Activating Media in Combating Worst Forms of Child Labour in Pakistan’. MediaMark arranged the workshop.

National project manager of ILO Saba Mohsin Raza, chief guest and director general of Public Relations Punjab Farrukh Mahmood Shah, columnist Javed Chaudhry, columnist Munno Bhai and an official Iftikhar Mahmood Randhawa spoke at the occasion.

Saba Mohsin Raza said that little awareness on child labour had forced ILO to start the media awareness plan in Pakistan as media could connect with people effectively. She said according to Federal Bureau of Statistics’ 1996 study, there were 3.3 million child labourers in the country, and the number was had grown alarmingly by 2007.

Javed Chaudhry said that when the printing press started in the 18th century, concept of spreading awareness changed. He said educated people started imparting information rather than the elite and royal classes. He said that in 1950, GPRS contributed to making electronic media more popular.

Farrukh Shah said the Punjab Government had started delivering free education to children and had also established the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau institution for homeless children.

People marching to support child rights in Sihanoukville on August 24

Although Cambodia has seen rapid economic growth in recent years, it is still one of the poorest countries in the world with most of its citizens living in poverty. The reality of poverty is that it is indiscriminate and affects not only adults but also children. This sadly forces many young children to engage in domestic and manual labor to support their families, with a large proportion working under severe conditions. According to the NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child (2006 NGO Statement to the Consultative Group), Cambodia has more than 1.5 million child laborers, of whom 250,000 are working in the most severe forms of child labor such as in brick factories, brothels, drug factories and mines. Research by the National Institute of Statistics in 2003 indicated that in Phnom Penh alone there were 27,950 children working as domestic workers. These children do not have an opportunity to receive an education and most of them face exploitation and physical and verbal abuse, every day.

Cambodia has more than 1.5 million child laborersOn August 18, 2007, LICADHO's Child Rights Office (CRO) in cooperation with World Vision Cambodia (WVC) launched their campaign to combat the worst forms of child labor under the theme 'I protect children, do you?' The campaign launch was held at Phnom Penh's Old Market (Phsa Chas) and was attended by approximately 2,000 people including child protection group (CPG) members, representatives of brick factory owners, parents and guardians of working children, NGOs representatives, local authorities and the public.

The LICADHO/WVC campaign is a part of a two-year project that aims to raise public awareness on the worst forms of child labor and the impact that it has on children's morale, safety, education, health, and physical and mental development. One of its major focuses is to understand the vital role children play in Cambodia's social and economical development. It also highlights the abuse and hardship of children working as domestic workers, in brick factories and in night clubs and restaurants.

In another campaign titled "To Secure Children's Rights in Cambodia", LICADHO's CRO (with the European Union and DanChurchAid), organized a public march in Sihanoukville on August 24. Members of CPGs, government officials, police officers and local NGO workers from M'Lop Tapang, LAC, CCBO and APLE, all participated in the march. The march aimed to raise public awareness on the need to protect children from trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Two cases reported to LICADHO in early 2007 reveal the brutal extent of child labor in Cambodia's brick factories. One incident involved a 14-year old girl who lost her arm while she was operating a clay machine. The girl had been indebted to the brick factory owner for one million Riel (USD$250), a debt which was owed by her father. She had left school in order to pay off the debt. In another incident a 13-year old boy lost four of his fingers while he was working with heavy machinery. The boy was trying to earn money to buy a bicycle so he could ride to school which was very far from his house. It was his first day of work at the brick factory.

LICADHO also receives cases which exposes the abuse and exploitation of children as domestic workers. In one case a 15-year old girl was indebted to a well-off businessman after her mother purchased land from the businessman in exchange for her daughter's domestic services for 3 years. Every day, the girl had to work for 16 hours straight, from 4am to 8pm. She looked after the businessman's children, cleaned the house, cooked the food, washed the clothes, tended the garden and planted trees. She could not to go to school at all. Finally, the businessman demanded the mother repay the debt even though her daughter had completed 3 full years of service.

Under the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 182 and Recommendation No. 190 on Worst Forms of Child Labor (which was ratified by Cambodia in October 2005) the term "the worst forms of child labor" comprises:
(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 labor, 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.

Article 177 of Cambodian Labor Law states that the minimum age for wage employment is 15 years. Children from 12 to 15 years of age can be hired to do light work provided that: (a) the work is not hazardous to their health or mental and physical development and (b) the work will not affect their regular school attendance.

LICADHO strongly appeals to employers of child laborers to comply with the International Child Labor Convention and Cambodian Labor Law. Employers need to ensure that working conditions are safe and that health care is provided for child laborers, furthermore these children must have access to an education. Governmental authorities, civil society and the private sector must work together to rescue child laborers and provide them with physical and mental rehabilitation services and to ultimately stop the abuse and exploitation of Cambodia's children.

Assembly fights child trafficking

THE Make Poverty History campaign of 2005 harnessed the power of popular culture to transform a G8 conference in Scotland into a summit about starvation.

The long-term effects of the activism will be judged by historians. But the energy which flowed down the streets of Edinburgh when 250,000 people marched flowed into a campaign which shines a light on one of the darkest secrets of the West.

Stop the Traffik has united more than 800 groups in 50 countries to campaign against the ongoing trade in humans, responsible for the enslavement of at least 12.3 million people worldwide.

Successes include lobbying the UK Government to sign the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The Welsh Assembly Government yesterday launched a new drive to combat child trafficking.

Welsh ministers have issued guidance for professionals on how to tackle child trafficking.

Official figures suggest more than 300 children have been trafficked in the UK since 2004, usually for financial gain from slavery, forced labour, prostitution, illegal adoption, to act as drug mules or for the removal of organs.

The advice published by deputy health minister Gwenda Thomas on Tuesday aims to increase awareness among those responsible for protecting children.

It sets out the methods used by traffickers and highlights signs that a child has been trafficked. It also points to the roles of various agencies and how professionals can help protect children who may have been trafficked.

"Child trafficking is an appalling crime and nothing less than modern day slavery where victims are coerced, deceived or forced into the control of others who seek to profit from their exploitation and suffering," Thomas said.

"As more cases of child trafficking come to light, it is essential that all professionals who come into contact with children who may have been trafficked are fully aware of the background to this activity and know what procedures to follow to safeguard trafficked children."

She added that social services should work with professionals across education, immigration, health and law enforcement to "develop an awareness and ability to identify trafficked children".

Children's minister Jane Hutt said: "The Welsh assembly government is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. 

"Child trafficking is a horrific crime and the guidance published today will play a key role in raising awareness of trafficking, its impact and the procedures practitioners need to follow to protect the welfare of suspected trafficked children."

NSPCC Wales welcomed the consultation, with director Greta Thomas saying: "We look forward to working with the Welsh assembly government around this issue and hope that the final guidance will address the wider measures needed to support and assist the special needs of child victims of trafficking."

Pakistan is experiencing the worst form of child labour, but with a total of 3.3 million child labourers, a point of concern for all stakeholders, efforts are being made to control this menace by implementation of laws and more public awareness, speakers at a one-day capacity-building workshop titled “Activating media in combating worst forms of child labour in Pakistan” remarked. The workshop, arranged by MediaMark, was organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

ILO National project manager Saba Mohsin Raza said, “There are 3.3 million child labourers in Pakistan between the ages of 5 and 14 years. These workers, which include 73 percent boys and 23 percent girls, are being exploited by their employers mainly as domestic help”.

She said “The Punjab has the highest percentage of child workers with a staggering 60 percent followed by 20 percent in the NWFP, 14 percent in Sindh and 6 percent in Balochistan. More alarmingly, 70 percent of the all working children were found to be illiterate”.

She said that the situation needed to be highlighted through the media. She added that the ILO project was aimed at strengthening the capacity of media personnel and contributing towards national efforts to eliminate child labor.

Government of the Punjab spokesman Saeed Awan said that the Government of Pakistan was working extremely hard under the ILO conventions 182 and 136, ratified by Pakistan in 2001 and 2006 respectively. He also said that his government was committed to end child labor and strongly urged a “coherent social action to provide our future generations with a bright future”.

Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) president Chaudhry Talib Nawaz said “The child labor ratio is high particularly in areas such as the carpet industry, the bangles-making industry, surgical instruments manufacturing, tanneries, coal mines, and deep sea fishing”. Columnist Javed Chaudhry said “Controlling child labor is the need of the hour, as living with this curse would be a far cry from stability in the national economy”.

“Major responsibility lies with the national media, as it can effectively highlight the negative impact of child labor”, he added.

LUCKNOW: The state government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary, Labour to monitor the status of identification and abolition of child labour in Uttar Pradesh.

While providing this information here on Thursday, the Principal Secretary, Labour, Kapil Dev added that notification for the committee's constitution has been issued.

The committee will meet at least once in three months.

Dev further said that as per the government's committment for abolition of child labour, during the past three months, 407 child labours engaged in hazardous works and 218 child labours engaged in non-hazardous works were identified.

Dev said that with the co-operation of UNICEF, transit shelters at Kanpur and Lucknow have been established for providing lodging and food facilities to the identified child labourers.

Negros Occidental (23 August) -- ABK Initiative spearhead a three-day advocacy training and campaign in Negros Occidental to combat child labor through education.

ABK is the first three letters of the Alibata, an old form of the Filipino alphabet which stands for pag-Aaral ng Bata para sa Kinabukasan (Education for the Children's Future) is in this province to conduct an advocacy training for teachers, parents, and other stakeholders from Himamaylan City and the Municipality of Isabela for the sustainability of the programs in the said areas.

Together with other implementing agencies – Christian Children's Fund (CCF), Education Research and Development Assistance Foundation, Inc. (ERDA), Plan Philippines, and the World Vision Development Foundation Inc. (WVDF), ABK initiated advocacy programs in Negros Occidental since 2004.

The training aims to equip the stakeholders of the programs with the necessary skills and knowledge for its sustainability as ABK's assistance will terminate by March 2008. This 5-year program is funded by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL).

Negros Occidental is one of the eight priority provinces of ABK Initiative in the country. Other areas include Bulacan, Camarines Norte, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Negros Oriental, and Metro Manila.

Based on the report from ABK, the Philippines has over 2 million children living desperate, unprotected lives as "invisible" workers engaged in six worst forms of child labor. Topping the list is child labor in sugarcane plantation which has high incidence in Negros Occidental. International Labor Organization has identified Himamaylan City and the Municipality of Isabela with high child labor incidence in sugarcane plantations.

Other worst form of child labor or priority sectors are children working in pyrotechnics factories, children in mining and quarrying, children in deep-sea fishing and children in domestic work and children in commercial sexual exploitation. ABK Initiative targets to rescue 30,000 of these Filipino children trapped in worst forms of child labor with interventions focused on education.

The training will capped with a press conference at the Grand Regal Hotel at 10:00 am with panelists Kay Maatubang, Communication Specialist, Lolita Lachica, Media Consultant and Josie Laña, Project Assistant, all of ABK Initiative

Pune, August 23: OVER 2,000 girls rescued in trafficking cases in Maharashtra during the last three years hail from other states and other countries like South Africa, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. This fact was highlighted by Aslam Khan, social worker at the Police Commissionerate’s Women and Child Vigilance Department. He was speaking at a regional consultation on anti-trafficking organised by Holistic Child Development India (HCDI) on Thursday.

With Maharashtra emerging as a major destination for trafficking, Khan said that Pune, Nagpur and Jalgaon were among the primary hubs. “Approximately 3,755 girls, including minors, were rescued in the previous three years. Of these, barely 600 girls come from Maharashtra, whereas 500 were brought in from other countries, and the remaining from other states in the country,” said Khan.

Khan also said that trafficking and prostitution were no longer restricted to just brothels. “Recently, this trade has also been mushrooming in newer places like massage parlours, ‘friendship’ clubs and even web portals like Orkut,” said Khan.

Emphasising the need for prevention as a means to tackle trafficking, Khan said that the Maharashtra Government was drawing up a State Action Plan for prevention of child trafficking. “The draft for this plan has already been approved by the committee headed by the additional secretary of the State Home Department, and is likely to be approved by the Legislative Assembly within the next few months,” he said.

The Action Plan would involve interventions at every stage, beginning with the reasons for trafficking. “In most cases the parents send their children into prostitution to generate additional income. In such cases, the government would offer financial aid schemes like scholarships for the child’s education,” said Khan.

The regional consultation was attended by representatives of various organisations in Pune and Mumbai working in the field of child trafficking, prostitution and HIV prevention. These included representatives of the Good Shepherd Sisters, Mumbai, Indian Network for People living with HIV/AIDS (INPH), Pune Diocese, and Kaya Kalp, Pune. “HCDI along with the Good Shepherd Sisters, Mumbai, will be preparing a programme of action based on the discussions and suggestions made during the consultation,” said HCDI consultant Naina Athalye.

Father Jeetendra David of Pune Diocese spoke about the difficulties encountered while preventing children from entering into prostitution, because of objections by employers and even parents who lived off the additional income. “Such women should be provided with basic facilities like ration cards and education, and security for them and their children,” said David.

Network to track missing

A national network to track missing children is being set up through collaboration with NGOs and various government committees at the national, state and district level, said Khan. “This network would involve setting up a software to track and match details of missing children, which could be uploaded on websites at the city and village level,” said Khan, adding that the project was currently being designed by various NGOs like Prerna and Save the Children. “The project implementation can be done by district level committees comprising special police officers, who could keep a close watch on activities in brothels, and report details of any missing children found in these areas,” he said.

Child labour is an internationally recognised phenomenon but still there is a lot to be done regarding this dilemma of the under-developed countries. Unfortunately the state of child labour is grave in Pakistan. Although rapid progress, awareness and globalisation have reduced the practice it remains a curse which must be eliminated.

Even in the presence of national and international laws no relevant actions have been taken so far and like many other fields the statutes regarding child labour are not enforced in their spirit and the consequences are hazardous. Child labour is basically the output of the exploitation of the poor; the absence of relevant education; and restrictions of tradition. The traditional restrictions are especially imposed regarding females, which is not only immoral but also unreligious.

Major steps should be taken regarding the elimination of child labour. First of all, such economic policies should be made that are public-friendly. Steps should be taken to educate the elders not to send their children to work, but to send them to schools and technical institutes, so that they have a better future.

Of course this is only possible if families are not poverty-stricken to the extent that they have to make their children work and they are able to afford schooling. People involved in smuggling children for camel races in Gulf States should be given exemplary punishments. These people exploit the poor by giving them a nominal amount of money and take their children to the Gulf States where they ultimately die during camel races.

Lucknow, August 22: Is there a connection between the number of missing children in Uttar Pradesh and the child labourers working in various industries across the state? Based on reports from discussions in the Parliament and Supreme Court orders in the last six months, a Delhi- based NGO Shakti Vahini is all set to ask this question from the state government. The NGO will be be filing an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act soon.

According to the NGO, the state fares third in the entire country in the number of missing children and also, identified child labourers. Rishikant of Shakti Vahini said, “Some two months ago, the Supreme Court had asked all the states about the number of missing children in their state and also the number of child labourers rescued. Just three days ago, the question whether the number of missing children can be interlinked with the number of child labourers was raised in Parliament.”

The NGO states that, so far, whatever reports UP has given are only about missing children. The action taken to find them, how many child labourers have been identified and what has been done to rescue them has still not be stated by the government, said the NGO. “We had recently rescued children of Barabanki district from Karnal in Haryana where they were working as child labourers. But the state government has done nothing to rehabilitate them. In fact, they have not even been sent back to their homes,” said Rishikant.

Labour department officials said they were all set to launch a drive to identify the number of child labourers in the state. “The numbers keep changing as we conduct rescues quite regularly. But we will launch a drive to confirm the numbers,” said Labour Secretary Dharam Singh.

In over 20 countries around the world, children are direct participants in war. Denied a childhood and often subjected to horrific violence, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children are serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in current armed conflicts. These young combatants participate in all aspects of contemporary warfare. They wield AK-47s and M-16s on the front lines of combat, serve as human mine detectors, participate in suicide missions, carry supplies, and act as spies, messengers or lookouts.

Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children make obedient soldiers. Many are abducted or recruited by force; often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. Others join armed groups out of desperation. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children perceive armed groups as their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed.

Throughout history and in many cultures, children have been extensively involved in military campaigns even when such practices were supposedly against cultural morals. The earliest mentions that minors were involved in war come from antiquity. It was customary for youths in the Mediterranean basin to serve as aides, charioteers and armour bearers to adult warriors. Examples of this practice can be found in the Bible (such as David’s service to King Saul), in Hittite and Egyptian art, and in Greek mythology (such as the story of Hercules and Hylas), philosophy and literature.

In World War II, children frequently participated in popular insurrections like the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and other anti-fascist resistance movements across Nazi-occupied Europe. On the opposite side, Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend or HJ) was an official organisation in Nazi Germany that trained youth physically and indoctrinated them with Nazi ideology. By the end of World War II members of the HJ were taken into the army at increasingly younger ages. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945 they were a major part of the German defenses.

In some cases, youth organisations were, and still are, militarised in order to instill discipline in their ranks, sometimes to indoctrinate them with propaganda and prepare for subsequent military service.

International Human Rights Law: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Art. 38, (1989) proclaimed: “State parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.” The optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict to the Convention that came into force in 2002 stipulates that its State Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities and that they are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1261 “strongly condemns... recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in violation of international law.” (UN Sec. Council Res. 1261 (1999), art. 3, 8, 13.)

The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the use of any civilian as a shield. (Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 12 Aug, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3516, 75 U.N.T.S. 287, art. 28)

International Labour Law: Forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, is one of the predefined worst forms of child labour in terms of the International Labour Organisation’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, adopted in 1999.

In terms of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Recommendation, ratifying countries should ensure that forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict is a criminal offence, and also provide for other criminal, civil or administrative remedies to ensure the effective enforcement of such national legislation (Article III (12) to (14)).
Child soldiers today: According to Amnesty International, “An estimated 300,000 children under the age of 18 are currently participating in armed conflicts in more than 30 different countries on nearly every continent. While most child soldiers are in their teens, some are as young as seven years old.”

Children have been used as spotters, observers, message-carriers, and even as human shields. The last case is particularly disturbing: if the hostage value of the child is respected, children will be increasingly used as human shields, and the soldier is placed at a tactical disadvantage. If not, soldiers must suffer the morale effects of wounding and killing children in self-defence. Usually, girls are made to perform as slaves and aides, while boys are used for combat. To counter their reluctance, the children’s senses are dulled by forcing them to commit brutalities, and to take drugs like marijuana and amphetamines that inhibit guilt and fear. Propaganda, revenge and fear of being left alone influence children to “voluntarily” stay in the army. Reports on child soldiers.

Nepal: Thousands of children were recruited by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) during Nepal’s 10-year civil war. Children served on the front lines, received weapons training, and carried out crucial military and logistical support duties for the Maoists. Even after signing a comprehensive peace agreement with the government in November 2006, the Maoists continued to recruit children and refused to release children from their forces.

Sri Lanka: Thousands of children are believed to be in the ranks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a rebel group banned as a terrorist organisation by a number of countries including the United States, Canada, India and the European Union.

Since signing a ceasefire agreement in 2001, the latest available Unicef figures show that the LTTE has abducted 5,666 children until July 2006, although the organisation speculates that only about a third of such cases are reported to them. Sri Lankan soldiers nicknamed one unit the Baby Battalion, due to the number of children in it.

Burundi: During the 13 years of civil war in Burundi, children were recruited and used as combatants and general help by all sides in the conflict. More than 3,000 children have been demobilised, but the one rebel group the National Liberation Forces (Forces Nationales pour la Libération, FNL), continues to use children as combatants and for various logistical duties.

West Africa: Since 1989, young soldiers have fought in armed conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, often crossing borders to fight for personal economic gain in neighbouring countries.

Colombia: More than 11,000 children fight in Colombia’s armed conflict, one of the highest totals in the world. Both guerrilla and paramilitary forces rely on child combatants, who have committed atrocities and are even made to execute other children who try to desert.

Uganda: Children are abducted in record numbers by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda and subjected to brutal treatment as soldiers, labourers, and sexual slaves. In 2002, an estimated 5,000 children have been abducted from their homes and communities -a larger number than any previous year of the 16-year-old conflict and a dramatic increase from the less than 100 children abducted in 2001. Lebanon: In southern Lebanon, boys as young as 12 years were subject to forced conscription by the South Lebanon Army (SLA), an Israeli auxiliary militia. When men and boys refuse to serve, flee the region to avoid conscription, or desert the SLA forces, their entire family was subject to expulsion from the occupied zone.

Vietnam: During the Vietnam War, American soldiers reported (and US military sources documented) a number of incidents where Vietnamese children were given hand grenades and/or explosives and used as weapons against American troops.

The present international laws are not enough unless implemented by the nations.

In India the situation may not look serious but reports have come that children are recruited for armed conflicts in the north-eastern states.

Our work doesn’t stop only by taking action against those recruiting children. But we need to address the root cause of the problem i.e. poverty. Poverty forces children to take up guns. Moreover, there should be rehabilitation plans for these children who are so used to violence and hatred that they fail to adjust in normal life.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says child trafficking is rampant in fishing communities along Ghana’s Lake Volta. The organization has been trying to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate trafficked children.  But are the children really being enslaved or the chores they do are part of a cultural tradition?

Eric Peasah is a Ghanaian and counter-Trafficking Field Manager for the IOM. He is in the United States to sensitize human rights activists about the trafficking of fishing children in Ghana.  Peasah tells VOA English to Africa reporter James Butty the International Organization for Migration has been working to free the children because they face dangers and brutality.

“We are trying to rescue some children because they don’t go to school, and these children are given out to these fishermen to work in the fishing area, and they are being exploited. They eat once a day and they do jobs beyond their strength. Some of the children scoop water from the canoe as it goes. Other children also dive in the water on the lake because there are some stumps on the lake to entangle nets in the lake. So we think it is good to rescue these children, give them back to their parents and help the parents take care of these children,” he said.

Peasah said even though the children are not being held against their will, they are still children who are being made to do dangerous adult jobs.

“They are not being held against their will, but as a child they have no consent. What happens is that some of these children have uncles or relatives who come to these poor parents in fishing area, in the village to take them to go and stay with. When they go there, they in turn give the children to fishermen and collect some money from the fisherman, and the children go and work for the fisherman instead of going to school,” Peasah said.

He said the practice, though rooted in the traditional cultural belief whereby poor parents send their children to informal schools rather than conventional schools, has been abused.

“You know all around Africa children can stay with uncles, relatives and help them learn the trade. But this decision is being abused by some parents and some fishermen,” he said.

Peasah said while some people consider the practice as a way of life, some have frowned upon it.

“Some of the chiefs and some of the people in the communities frown against this issue because people give out the children because they are poor, and some parents do not know what the children go through when they give them out. And so once they realized what happen, they want to do something about it,” Peasah said.

He said the International Organization for Migration has been working with the Ghanaian government to help obtain the freedom of the children.

“We are working with the government’s Ministry of Women and Children, Social Welfare, UNICF, ILO, all of us are on board trying to first of all educate these fishermen and the parents about the dangers involved in using children in fishing. Secondly, the government has passed a law in 2005 to combat human trafficking. So IOM, together with the government, through ministry of women and children, we are helping those children who are there that they will bring them back home to attend school, and those who haven’t been recruited we educate them that this is not the right thing to do,” Peasah said.

Peasah said IOM is providing micro-assistance to some of the parents to enable them come out of poverty so that they can support their children in school.

Bangalore, August 20: The Karnataka Lokayukta has launched proceedings against two couples here on charges of employing minors as domestic helps and "ill-treating" them.

Charges under various sections of The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 have been filed against Mahesh Reddy and Roopa Reddy who had employed 10-year-old Poojita and allegedly tortured her.

A similar case has also been filed against Farook and Banu Farook, who had employed Fatima (13) and Romana (8) as domestic help and had reportedly ill-treated them.

The Upalokayukta G Patri Basvana Gouda initiated proceedings suo moto after learning about the plight of the children from media reports in May.

The Lokayukta also has initiated proceedings for recovery of Rs 20,000 penalty from Poojita's employers and Rs 40,000 from Farooks, in pursuance of the Supreme Court judgement.

Arrears of wages payable to the domestic helps would also be recovered under separately, a Lokayukta release said on Monday.

A couple whose names The Post simply got as Mr. and Mrs. Afanyi of Ets. AFCAM in Yaounde, have been charged with child trafficking and exploitation.

The international police organisation, INTERPOL, asked the couple to pay FCFA 500,000 for exploiting one Helen Shey Yuonti, a minor, whose services they have been exploiting since July 2004.

The issue was reported to INTERPOL by Serve the Orphans Foundation, SOF, which has been working to discourage child trafficking and exploitation in Cameroon since 2003.

According to the complaint submitted to INTERPOL by the Executive Director of SOF, Dr. Njingti Nfor, Helen Yuonti, who is now 17 years old, hails from Konchep village in Donga Mantung Division.

The complaint states that Yuonti was brought by an intermediary, one Julius working in Edea, Littoral Province, and who happens to be a paternal uncle to the minor.It notes that Yuonti was handed to the Afanyis on a verbal promise that she would learn sewing as a trade after working with the family for sometime.

"For her length of stay with the Afanyi, Helen has never received any remuneration for her work," the SOF complaint states.Meanwhile, in her testimony, Yuonti told INTERPOL how she was taken from her native village passing through Bamenda and then to Yaounde where she was handed to the Afanyis.
She said her duty, as explained by her paternal uncle who negotiated the deal, had to do with baby sitting a new born and that when the said baby attains school going age, the Afanyis would pay for her training as a seamstress.

She outlined other household chores assigned to her to include: doing laundry, cooking and washing utensils, feeding the children as well as doing other assignments as instructed.

Yuonti says the kid she was looking after will start school in the next academic year. She said her troubles started on July 2 when she inquired from Mrs. Afanyi when she [Yuonti] would start the tailoring training promised her three years ago.

According to Yuonti's testimony, "this provoked her (Mrs. Afanyi's) anger to the point that she scolded me and told me the contract was that I should live with her for 10 years before ever dreaming of learning any trade."

The SOF complaint corroborates that on July 3, 2007, the Afanyis took Yuonti to the Amour Mezam bus agency where a ticket of FCFA 5000 was procured for her to travel back to Bamenda.

An additional FCFA 6000 was handed to her to serve as food money and transport fare from Bamenda to Konchep. The complaint states that Yuonti hesitated to go because of the insufficient funds and idled around the park until one Amadou, who reported the matter to SOF, rescued her.

Stating that Yuonti's situation is a classical case of child trafficking and exploitation, Dr. Ngingti urged the Director of INTERPOL to prosecute Mr. and Mrs. Afanyi in a court of law for damages to be paid to Yuonti.

Dr. Njingti told The Post that the couple would still be legally pursued to respond to charges as stipulated by the law while the FCFA 500,000 would be used to pay for Yuonti's tailoring training.
He said a new sewing machine has already been acquired for Yuonti.

DESPITE stepping up efforts to ensure that all school going children in Karamoja region are forcefully enrolled in Universal Primary Education schools, the UPDF has only managed to get 54 children.

According to the 3rd Division spokesman, Lt Henry Obbo, the 54 children are all enrolled in the army boarding school in Kotido District.
Lt. Obbo said even the threats of arrest and prosecution of parents who are rooted in traditionalism and want to frustrate the government programme have not yielded results.

He said the progamme, which targets to reduce on the high illiteracy rates in the region and re-direct the region on the road to development is bound to fail basically because the local leadership is not involved.

“Ever since we introduced forceful education for all school going children in Karamoja after registering success with the forceful disarmament exercise, it is disappointing that we have only managed to get 54 children in school despite the big number of children that are not in school in Karamoja,” Lt Obbo said.

This is because local leaders have not come out to support UPDF in this programme,” he said. The 3rd Division commander, Lt Col. Patrick Kankiriho, launched the forceful Education for All school going children project.

According to Lt. Kankiriho, under the programme all children aged between five and 10 were to be forced to enroll into Universal Primary Schools in the region to help the region develop better. Many families have resorted to holding the children to catttle keeping in Karamoja than going to school.