IN HER foreword to the US Department of Labor’s findings on the worst forms of child labour in 2011, Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor says: ‘When jobs are scarce and money is tight and workers feel abandoned by their governments in these times of greatest need, they are most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
‘Desperate families may turn to desperate measures to survive, and core labor standards – those fundamental human rights that are the underpinnings of worker dignity – are at risk.
‘Children become more vulnerable to harmful child labour, and adults more vulnerable to forced labour.
‘The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has produced new global estimates placing the number of people trapped in forced labour at 21 million, including six million children forced into labour or sexual exploitation.
‘The ILO also estimates that 215 million children are working as child labourers, of which about 115 million participate in hazardous labour.
‘This year, through the US Department of Labour’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs (ILAB), I am releasing the 11th edition of the Department’s Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour as mandated by the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (TDA), and the fourth edition of the List of Goods Produced by Child Labour or Forced Labour as mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act of 2005 (TVPRA). . .
‘These reports shine a spotlight on the great strides some countries have made in upholding their commitments to abolishing the worst forms of child labour and eliminating all forms of forced or compulsory labour.
‘They also clearly indicate where much work remains to be done.’
The report says: ‘Recent estimates indicate that 215 million children are working, while six million children are working in forced labour, including commercial sexual exploitation and debt bondage.
‘The ILO has expressed concern that continuing financial stresses from the global economic recession may be contributing to the slowing of efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. . .
‘Globally, 109 countries made at least one meaningful effort this year to combat this problem.
‘However, gaps still exist in governments’ efforts to counter children’s exposure to exploitative labour practices.
‘While many governments strengthened legal frameworks, 90 countries, or 62.5 per cent of those included in the report, have not ratified at least one of the international conventions related to child labour or have laws that are not in compliance with international standards regarding required ages for work or school. . .
‘Although two governments established policies to offer free education this year and several more expanded efforts to implement existing education polices, 14 countries lack a compulsory education age and 32 countries have an age that falls below the minimum age for work, which may increase children’s risk of entering the worst forms of child labour. . .
‘While many states have established enforcement bodies for relevant labour laws, insufficient resources create barriers to effective, targeted inspections and subsequent sanctions on child labour violations.
‘Similar trends exist in the area of policies. While many governments have now adopted national policies to address child labour, they face barriers to implementation, including a lack of financial resources to adequately fund programmes. . .
‘The following “year in review” presents the results of the country assessments; highlights positive efforts that governments are taking to eliminate the worst forms of child labour; draws attention to those countries that have taken minimal to no action; and identifies governments who continue to compel children to work or forcibly recruit them to fight in government armed forces.
‘Out of the 144 countries covered in the report, two received an assessment of Significant Advancement, 48 received an assessment of Moderate Advancement, 56 received an assessment of Minimal Advancement and 27 received an assessment of No Advancement. Eleven territories and non-independent countries were not given an assessment.
‘Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region to contain countries that made a significant advancement during the past year, and the only region where the majority of countries received an assessment of moderate advancement.
Countries with Moderate Advancement
‘In Asia and the Pacific, nearly half of the countries that received an assessment made a moderate advancement this year.
‘Approximately half of all countries in the remaining regions received an assessment of minimal advancement: Sub-Saharan Africa (48 per cent), Europe and Eurasia (52 per cent), and Middle East and North Africa (45 per cent).
‘Of the 144 countries and territories covered in this report, there were 56 countries that received an assessment of Minimal Advancement.
‘Fifty of these countries received this assessment because suggested actions or other meaningful efforts were undertaken in only a few relevant areas, generally including a single action in laws and regulations, coordination and enforcement, policies, and social programs. . .
‘Two countries received this assessment because they established a new law, regulation, policy or practice or continued to uphold a law, regulation, policy or practice that reverses or delays advancement in eliminating the worst forms of child labour. . .
‘Two countries that received an assessment of Minimal Advancement due to the establishment or continuance of practices or laws that reverse or delay advancement in eliminating the worst forms of child labour are Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
‘Colombia might have received a Moderate Advancement assessment if it were not for reported cases of members of Colombia’s National Armed Forces using children as informants, an illegal practice in direct contravention to both national law and military policy.
‘The Dominican Republic might also have achieved an assessment of Moderate Advancement had it not been for immigration provisions in its 2010 Constitution, upheld by the Supreme Court during the reporting period, that effectively, and in many cases retroactively, deny citizenship and birth certificates to many Dominican-born children of Haitian descent.
‘These provisions deny such children school completion certificates, for which birth certificate presentation is a legal requirement…
Countries with No Advancement
‘Twenty-seven of the 144 countries and territories in this report received an assessment of No Advancement. These countries were dispersed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (8 countries), Asia and the Pacific (8 countries), Europe (3 countries), the Middle East and North Africa (4 countries), and Latin America and the Caribbean (4 countries).
‘Out of the 27 countries that received an assessment of No Advancement, 24 received the assessment because no suggested actions and no other meaningful efforts were undertaken during the reporting period to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
‘There are three countries that received an assessment of No Advancement for complicity in the use of forced child labour: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea and Uzbekistan.
‘Many No Advancement countries are missing basic child labour legislation, like a minimum age for employment or compulsory education age, or have not ratified any international conventions on child labour. Six No Advancement countries have yet to ratify ILO C. 182 or 138.
‘There are also often important gaps in the child labour laws that do exist in these countries, including exempting major sectors or activities from coverage and thereby leaving many children vulnerable to labour exploitation. In addition, in many cases, laws are ambiguous or include exclusions and caveats that make them confusing to adhere to and even more difficult to enforce.
‘Furthermore, these countries often have no designated coordinating bodies to organise government efforts, lack official policies to combat child labour, and have limited or no social programmes to prevent and/or eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
‘Some countries in this category simply made no efforts to combat the worst forms of child labour. Others made limited efforts to fix these gaps, but the actions were not considered meaningful and thus did not justify a higher assessment level.
‘In some cases, such limited actions fell short due to lack of government commitment to address the problem; in others, they fell short due to budgetary constraints largely beyond the governments’ control.
‘Some countries, such as Burundi, Cook Islands and Mozambique, drafted policies to combat child labour but did not adopt or implement them.
‘Others, like Madagascar, announced support for social programmes to combat child labour without meaningfully contributing to them through an allocation of resources or an expansion of relevant government initiatives.
‘In the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Labour requested additional child labour inspectors during the budget process, but due to budgetary limitations, could only support an increase of one.
‘The Palestinian Authority also solicited donor support to expand vocational programmes for youth, but again did not receive the necessary funding.
‘While the majority of countries that received No Advancement fell into that category because of a lack of efforts, a few countries merited this assessment because of the commission of a serious violation involving the worst forms of child labour, namely the involvement of children in forced labour.’
