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| Sunday, 8 September 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Child labour: Shouldering the burden of poverty by Carol Aloysius Anura aged nine is a seasoned sweep seller. He operates in the Pettah along with several other kids his age. Their work starts at 7 in the morning and finishes only after they have sold all the tickets. The commission they receive for their day's labour, from the sweep mudalali who hired them is barely enough to supplement their families' meagre income.
At ten years his friend Thilak is equally adept in selling vegetables - a job he has been doing for over a year now. By comparison, his sister Karuna who turned eight last week is a 'new comer' since she began her first job as a 'keera' seller only five months ago. The undersized little girl wearing a frock too big for her, says she mostly substitutes for her mother on the days the latter is unable to leave home following a severe beating from her alcoholic husband. On the days she is at home (Karuna attends school just twice a week), she looks after her younger siblings. Velu, 13, is the oldest in his family of five children and the most experienced breadwinner of the kids who works in various 'jobs' along Olcott Mawatha.Like most of the gang, he says he was forced onto the streets after his father abandoned the family home. Unable to find someone to care for the younger children, his mother turned to her eldest son for help. Velu, a bright year 8 student was forced to drop out of school and take on the job of a labourer in a fruit market to keep the home fires burning. Anura, Tilak, Karuna and Velu belong to the growing number of young children who spend their entire day toiling in the hot sun and working under hazardous conditions, unlike their more fortunate counterparts who attend school, play, read books, watch television and enjoy a carefree existence. Informal sector Growing up too early, too soon, and forced into the adult world of work due to their extreme poverty, these unfortunate children have been deprived the joys of a carefree childhood while their rights which have been universally recognised and endorsed and enshrined by so many Charters, Conventions and Acts lie buried under their burden of backbreaking chores. Child labour may not be a new phenomenon in Sri Lanka,but the recent surge in the number of young children joining the informal sector of the labour market has made it an issue of serious concern not just for state authorities but even Trade Unions, as was revealed at a press conference organised by the National Forum of Trade Unions to eliminate child Labour recently. Operating under this umbrella organisation, several Trade Unions have not only openly voiced their disapproval of child labour, but made child labour a priority issue in their agenda, joining hands with government and non government organisations to protect children from being exploited in the labour market. One of the most important fall-outs of that liaison is the intervention program initiated by the National Workers Forum (NWC), which has been actively involved in child care since 1996, when it launched the 'Darusetha' Program to help disadvantaged children. Backed by the ILO, the Darusetha Program is currently operating in 12 locations in the island spreading to Negombo, Matugama, Agalawatte, Hambantota, Tissamaharamaya and Polgahawela,targeting the country's poorest of the poor. "We have set up 16 Education Centres in these districts with the aim of providing education for drop-outs and for children at risk of dropping out in these district" explains Dudley Wijesiri, Director of the "Protecting Children at Risk" program, by the NWC.Apart from encouraging such children to return to school by giving them extra tuition classes free of charge to catch up on lost work, the Darusetha program also provides vocational training for older children so that they may find employment. Micro enterprise Along with these education programs, the NWC has also initiated social upliftment programs targeting the parents of these underprivileged children, such as helping several selected adults from poor families to start their own micro enterprises." Our aim was to raise these families from their impoverished living conditions and reduce the extent of child labour", Wijesiri explains. But what has poverty have to do with child labour? It was a survey conducted in the 12 selected locations that provided the NWC with its first clue. The target group was a number of specially selected families sharing similar characteristics (only families of children who were at risk of drifting towards child labour or already victims of child labour were targeted). The survey supported by the ILO revealed several significant findings which underlined the connection between poverty and child labour. One important factor that surfaced was the close connection between poverty and child labour. The other was the link between child labour,broken or single parent families, alcoholism and domestic violence. Wijesiri emphasises the point that of the major disadvantages suffered by children in the targeted groups, severe economic hardship took first place. "We found that all the children who were victims of child labour were those who came from very poor families. The majority of those showing risk of dropping out of school to join the labour force were also children who belonged to these poor families". Out of 1395 children surveyed, 1080 were seen as undergoing severe economic hardship. He also points outs that, "Child labour has increased because of two complementary needs. The individuals and families providing child labour are greatly in need of cash for their basic living while the parties engaging child labour are in need of cheap labour, adult labour being too expensive". This is the link between poverty and child labour. On the link between broken homes and single parent families, he explains that if the father is the sole breadwinner of the family and walks out of the family, or dies, the burden of raising money for living expenses usually falls on the mother. If the mother is unable to leave home, then the older children are forced to leave school and join the labour market, no matter how young they may be. According to the survey out of 1395 children only 720 lived with both parents, 405 with their mother only and just 93 with their father only. It was also found that although not working in the informal sector outside their homes, several children especially girls, were nonetheless forced to engage in heavy labour inside their own homes. "These children are not recipients of any cash benefits for their work round the clock. This also applies to boys who work at their parents' trade and are forced to give up schooling in order to make a contribution to the family kitty", states the report. In the current study 496 children fell into the category of "burdened with unbearable household work" which included both girls and boys. The survey also revealed other disturbing socio economic facts, directly related or caused by poverty, single or bad parenting and high school drop out. For example, it showed that many of the families surveyed had a high degree of male drunkenness, sexual abuse and harassment. Still more disturbing was the wide extent of child sex trade practised among low income groups. Another significant revelation was the high degree of domestic violence prevalent among families with low income, low education and low aspirations. In a sample of 1395 families as many as 523 women were identified as having regularly suffered from domestic violence. Parenting An important child related issue that surfaced, was the lack of proper parenting,one of the basic causes for child delinquency and child exploitation. Around 521 families (parents) in the target group were identified as being in need of counselling regarding the upbringing of their children. The findings of this survey underscore the implementation of the ILO Convention 182 on the Worst forms of Child Labour which was unanimously adopted in June 1999, and has been ratified by the Sri Lankan government. The new convention requires immediate action to eliminate crimes against children such as sexual abuse, work exploitation, trafficking, pornography, for which poverty is no excuse. That Trade Unions in Sri Lanka too have endorsed the Convention and initiated action against child labour and child exploitation is a step in the right direction. According to NWC sources, a number of action programs are on the cards to protect children in the future. They include a concerted effort to compile data on child domestics which has already been made in surveys conducted in four plantation districts. A poster exhibition to be held in October with the participation of schools in the Wester province and a handbill in all three languages to raise awareness in the community on the adverse effects of child labour which will be circulated through the network of the National Forum of Trade Unions to Eliminate Child Labour (NATFEC). "We also hope to hold workshops in Galle, Kandy and Colombo to raise awareness of the Trade Unions and community leaders on the ILO Convention dealing with the Worst forms of Child Labour," Mr Wijesiri says. |
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