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P ts

If!! COB81 OF CHILD LftlOTB

Who says slavery is dead? It is still very much alive. It survives especially among
children-more than two hundred million in the world, very many of them Asian.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) all child labour "the conspiracy of silence".
It is labelled the world's best kept secret by the International Conference of Free Trade
Unions. These are peculiar descriptions for a problem that by its sheer magnitude and
consequences should be impossible to hide or ignore.

Child labour exploitation is a global issue-with problems evident in over two-thirds of all
nations. According to the ILO, more than 95 per cent of all child workers live in
developing countries. In some regions, as many as 25 per cent of children between the
ages of
10 and 14 are estimated to be working. The US Department of State's 1994 and 1995
Human Rights reports and a 1995 ILO report attest to the growing numbers of children in
servitude and their worsening conditions of work.

Conditions of child labour are defined by ILO as working:

(a) too young;

(b) for long hours, in some cases 12 to 16 hours a day;

(c) under physical, social and psychological strain and stress;

(d) on the streets in healthy and dangerous condition;

(e) for very little pay.

Opinions on the conception of child labour are divided and distorted amongst various
countries depending on the stages of their development. The developing countries,
including Pakistan and other South Asian countries, view it essentially as a projectionist
ploy. They also pint to the condition of child labour in the pre- tday developed countries
in the early stages of their developrncnt as graphically described Charles Dickens"
Pickwick Papers.

The developed countries project child labour and the conditions of their work and
remuneration as a fundamental question of human rights. They view conditions of work
for child
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labour as harsh, exploitative and hazardous. A number of work places are seen as
exposing children to undesirable environments: smoking, drug-addiction, crimes and
other immoral pursuits.

1 Child labour is also seen as contributing towards the

perpetuation of poverty levels by reducing the overall work opportunities available to

adults. By accepting lower wages, child labour forces even adults to accept lower
competitive wages. Lower wages accepted by adults force other family members
including children, to become active in the labour market and seek any work opportunity
irrespective of wages and conditions of work. This vicious circle has to be broken
somewhere.

Asia accounts for more than 50 per cent of the world's a child labourers who constitute as
much as 17 per cent of the overall child force in some countries. In the Philippines, 4.5
million children work-legally and illegally ~vin factories, farms and households. Burma,
CamhTodia, Indonesia an Thailand also are noted for their child labour problems.
Observers claim that as many as two million children under the age of fourteen are
working half-to full tie in Indonesia, mostly in family-run businesses in the informal
sector and in agriculture.

One-fourth of all the World's child labourers are found in India alone -- around fifty-five
million In 1984, when India exported S100 million worth of hand-knotted carpets, it had
an estimated
100,000 children wo riving fourteen to sixteen hours a day in the industry. Now, with the
export figure reaching S300 million, Child labour industry has reached more than
300,000. One out of four Indian children between the ages of five and fifteen are
working. Other countries in southern Asia are also rife with child labour problems. A
1990 report by a Nepali organisation stated that close to five million children work at
least part time. Another area of great concern is Bangladesh, where it is estimated that
three million children are working. An overwhelming majority of these children are
engaged in family subsistence agriculture, but children can be found doing mental work
almost every occupations throughout southern Asia. Child labour in Pakistan is estimated
at eight million. This is quite a high count relative to Pakistan's total labour force of
32 million.

Child labour is a product of various factors: (a) unemployment, underemployment and

poverty; (b) unsatisfactory availability of educational institutions and poor quality of
education; (c) indifferent attitude of parents an society; (d) absence of any formal social
security mechanism; and (c) sub-optimal policy formulation and implementation.

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Twenty-five million children are not able to attend school in Pakistan for some reasons
for the other, a fifth of boys an a half of girls of 5-9 years of ages. Dropout rate of about a
third in primary schools in high. Quality of educational institutions is poor, (a) a quarter
of them are shelters; (b) most of them are two room and two-teacher schools handling
five classes; (c) the low quality education is irrelevant for labour market needs.

In the case of death or major sickness of an adult working member of a family, children
have no other choice but to forgo their education and become active in the labour market.
Child labour is always cheap labour. That is the attraction. Children are targeted for non-
skilled, labour intensive work. Employers have no fear of children, docile and easily
controlled, demanding no rights or organising. Child employment creates a climate
encouraging employed or under employed parents to get support from their children.

Not only are the numbers of working children increasing, but their working conditions
are worsening. Children arc coerced into employment in construction, brickyards stone
quarters, mctahvork, pottery and glass factories, making fire works and as carpet
weavers.

A US labour grc jp has already filed a petition in the office of the US Trade
Representative for the withdrawal of GSP status from Pakistan on the allegation of labour
rights violation spearheaded by child labour activist. ILO has accused private companies
in developing countries of creating sweat shops where children and indigent adults work
in horrid conditions an earn little money.

Child labour is believed to be particularly involved in Pakistan's exports of carpets, sports

goods an surgical instruments to USA. Most prominent among sports goods is the soccer
ball. Over half of soccer balls manufactured in Pakistan are sold in the USA. The
generally accepted figure of child workers in soccer ball industry is 25 per cent of the
industry total, which is probably an over-exaggeration. UNICEF paces the number of
child workers in hand-woven carpets at about a million. The ILO's International
Programme for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) plates a particular emphasis on this
industry.

According to the ILO the best way to abolish child labour is to ensure enhanced
remuneration to their parents. ILO has urged Pakistan to take stronger action to step use
of forced labour and v-hild labour in carpet, sports goods and brick-making industries.
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The worst-affected is the carpet industry. Carpet exports dcclinci' by 24.7 per cent from
S14.5 in the first 8 months of 1994-95 to S109 million in 1995-96. In quantitative terms,
carpet exports declined (in the first eight months) by 19.5 per cent from 2.4 million
square metres in 1994-95 to 1.9 million square metres in 1995-96. These are serious
matters or an industry which is 97 per cent export-based and employs 1.5 million people.

The main reason perhaps for the slump of carpet business, is the repeated charges levelled
by the West of bonded (hild labour. The allegation, the carpet manufacturers and
^cxoortcrs say, is baseless and false. According to them carpet weaving in an art which
gets transferred from generation to generation and does not involve bonded or forced
labour. The Socio-economic scene of the society is explained to be such that if the whole
family does not get involved in economic pursuits, it would starve, which to a large
extent is true.

On the other side of the world the hazardous work of these children bestows luxurious
comfort to consumers who pay thousands of dollars for each carpet decorating their
living rooms.

Child labour is less a phenomenon of poverty than of social attitudes and sensibilities.
Learning skills through education is a sure way to break the cycle of child labour and low
income.

Simply trying to enforce the law through labour, "Rugmak" or "Kalecn" inspectors is not
likely to yield results, as the numerous small-scale units that use child labour are highly
dispersed and difficult to keep a tab on. Suitable laws against child labour are necessary
but not sufficient.

Nor is spreading a meaningful primary education an casj tusk. It required Herculean

efforts at mobilising physical and financial resources by risking trampling many
influential toes. It also requires squeezing privileged unquestioned items of expenditure.

To coriclii!e, children work on land and water, in homes, on the streets, on plantations
and arms, underground and is swat shops. Cruelty .is t*ie ever-present reality, illiteracy is
a leg icy, «nd poverty is the futur*. of these children. Millions will never sec 'heir adult
years. Yet, forced, oppressive, abusiv and hazardous child employment thrives, and the
silenc , continue' .-How long will it go on is anybody's guess.

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the optional teaching of Islam in schools, some 5,570 MNLF fighters will be integrated
into the military and an MNLF officer will be appointed as deputy chief of the military
command in the South. Under the accord, Mr. Misuari ran as a candidate of the ruling
party forth governorship of a four-province Autonomous Region for Muslim Mandanao
(ARMM), which includes the provinces of Sulu, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi an Lanao del
Sur, and won it very comfortably, as no other candidate challenged him.

Apparently, the accords contain enough ingredients to enable Mr. Misuari to give the
much-needed self-respect and a sense of security to the impoverished Muslim
community. Apart from its significance in the political context, this accord is likely to
give new impetus to economic activities in a long-neglected region where most of the six
million Filipino Muslim live. Alexander Magno, leading analyst, commented on this
aspect of the accord thus: "This is not only about politics. The impetus is as much
economic. Mindanao is now after all the Philippines' front door in ASEAN (Association
of South-East Asian Nations)."

Being an ASEAN economy, the Philippines is vehemently promoting Mindanao as a

"bomm-town", \\hich had been a bat in the past, because of its geographic continuity with
a growth area in the eastern ASEAN region along with Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
Contrary to some booming ,areas of Mindanao where the government has taken generous
economic initiatives, the southwestern part, mostly inhabited by the Muslims, reflect a
pathetic picture due to the cycle of underinvestment by the government and continuos
war. It is a hitter fact that the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, which falls
under the governorship of Mr.. Misuari, is categorised by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) reports as the lowest in human development in the
Philippines.

However, economic dividends from peace are quit apparent The impending peace and
formation of Muslim-led administrations will not only initiate new developmental
projects and build a strong infrastructure in the region, but also attract heavy investment
to break the cycle of poverty. Following the peace accord, an urge ha's been witnessed in
the neighbouring countries to invest more aggressively in the region. Peace and human
development are directly proportional to each other. "A recognition of cultural and
religious diversity as well as decentralised economic and political governance are
prerequisites for any development," is how Kevin McGrath, UNDP representative in the
Philippines, linked human development with the descending peace on the southern
Philippines.

Aside from its positive impact on the Muslim community's socio-political standings, the
peace accord contains the germs of new

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tussle between the signing parties and the extremists, who are nt ready to accept the draft
of the accord. The Christian community, which has now outnumbered the Muslim
inhabitants in the region, is fiercely opposing the accord on the ground that President
Fidel Ramos has given "too much" to the Muslims to achieve peace. For obvious reasons,
the protests were spurred in the Christian areas by the accord that paves the way for a
Muslim-led administrative body. Local Christian leaders have resorted to a mounting
protest campaign, including candle-lighting and the display for inverted Philippine flags.
The intensity of indignation of the Christian community can be gauged from the fact that
in July screaming demonstrators tried to strike President Ramos with placards during his
visit to the region to marshal support for the peace agreement. Now some extremist
Christian groups have threatened to wage a new armed movement to sabotage the peace
accord.

Similarly, the Muslim extremist groups,. exotically the Islamic radical faction Abu
Sayyat, pose a serious challenge to the p^ace process. These extremists, who are in no
mood to accept anything less than an independent Muslim state, are likely to step into the
breach left by the MNLF. Thus, extremists on both sides are not going to sit calmly and
let Misuari and company have a smooth sailing in the coming days.

At the same time, the accord too, contains certain flaws, which would make it very
difficult for Mr. Misuari to have total control over the administrative body. Even Mr.
Misuari himself has complained that the Manila agreement was faulty because it did not
give police powers to the MNLF to deal with the lawless elements. Obviously in the
absence of police powers, the administrative body will not be in a position to project it
self as a "government."

However, the most pinching question faced by Mr. Misuari is what could happen to the
peace process when President Ramos ends his term in 1998. Constitutionally, President
Ramos will not be eligible to re-run for the presidency in 1998. Being the co-author of
the peace initiative, who even did not hesitate to invite fierce opposition from the
majority Christian community, President Ramos has emerged as the protector of the
peace process. Ostensibly, his absence from the scene will give rise to uncertainly in the
MNLF camp. Nonetheless, by signing the peace accord, Mr. Misuari has taken a timely
and pragmatic step, which is expected to bring about a positive change in the lives of
Flipino Muslims.