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| Sunday, 15 August 2004 |
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Child labour : Victims of poverty The under 18 population of Sri Lanka was estimated at 4,344,770, according to the Child Activity Survey (1999-2000) conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics. According to the survey 2.9 per cent of children in the age group 5-14 and 29.3 per cent in the age group 15-17 are not engaged in education. Among children below 18 years, 5.3 per cent were involved in economic activities and another 7.1 per cent in housekeeping and were not attending school. According to the 1999 ILO Year Book of Labour Statistics, 33,432 children between the ages 10-14 and 496,550, between the ages 15-19 are economically active. The ILO projected that there would be 35,000 economically active children in 2000, comprising 15,000 girls and 20,000 boys between the ages of 10-14, representing 2 per cent of this age group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997) Among the number of children in employment 51 per cent are below the age of 15. (Ministry of Finance and Planning and IPEC, Child Activity Survey, 1999). Out of all male children, 26 per cent are engaged in an economic activity. The corresponding proportion for females is 17 per cent. (Ministry of Finance and Planning and IPEC, Child Activity Survey, 1999). In 1995, there were 48,000 economically active children - 21,000 girls and 27,000 boys between the ages 10-14, representing 2.43 per cent of this age group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997) In 1991, the National Plan of Action for Children developed by the Ministry of Policy Planning estimated that there were about 500,000 child labourers in Sri Lanka. (ILO-IPEC, Country Paper: Sri Lanka, citing Ministry of Policy Planning and Implementation, 1991). **** by Ranga Jayasuriya and P. Muthiah Commercial exploitation of children takes place in Colombo, under cover and often in secrecy. The exploitation is largely happening in the informal sector, the disorganised nature of which often succeed in keeping law enforcing agencies at bay. Even though tough regulations have reduced the magnitude of the problem, the lesser developed countryside, especially estate areas provided a steady supply of cheap child labour to the towns. Further complicating an already exhausting problem, is the increasing number of under age children coming from the war-ravaged North-East seeking jobs in the capital and towns in the neighbourhood. Increasing public awareness against child labour, has had a positive impact. Most employers are now aware that employing children under the age of 15 is illegal and punishable by law. This to a certain extent forces them to turn away a key source of cheap labour. Nevertheless, in some lesser developed neighbourhoods in Colombo, for instance, Sea Street, Slave Island and Armour Street, child labour is rampant. According to the Department of Census and Statistics a total of 16,511 children in the 10-14 age group were employed as child labourers in 1997. The group is composed of 11,132 boys and 5,379 girls. The Sri Lankan country paper of the International Labour Office in 1999 pointed out that nearly 40,000 children between the same group were in employment, according to the statistics of the Labour Force Survey of 1998. Seeking answers to a gamut of questions on child labour, the Sunday Observer visited the lesser developed neighbourhoods in the capital, to meet some of these underage workers and asked them about their plight. One of the most concentrated areas of child labour is the Manning Market, where a disorganised business environment and a 'unique' sub culture creates ideal conditions for such a practice. Nadan is a slim teenager working at a retail shop in Manning Market. Clad in dirt stained shorts and a T-shirt, the barefoot boy hailing from Batticaloa says he is sixteen, even though his body indicates he is much younger. However, he refuses to answer further questions. These children do not feel free to talk to an outsider about anything except business. Nadan was not an exception. But compared to his friend, a seemingly 12 or 13-year-old, whom Nadan says is also from Batticaloa, he is somewhat talkative. Kumar, as Nadan introduced his friend avoided us and ran into the shop. Underpinning the reluctance of these boys to talk to outsiders is the sense of fear and insecurity they feel perhaps instilled by those who brought them to Colombo. Both boys and their employers are aware that child labour is illegal. And though their daily routine is tough, these boys do not want to change it for a future that is uncertain. We came upon Parthian from Deraniyagala, at the entrance to a shop in Sea Street. His father is an estate worker and the mother is a housemaid in the Middle East. In Parthian's case, as he confesses, the absence of guidance and motivation had led him to give up school. And subsequently, an uncle had brought him to Colombo to work in a jewellery shop, where he has found a new life. His duties are not tough: sweeping the shop and bringing lunch to the Mudalali, from his home in Kotahena. His salary is a paltry Rs. 1,000 plus meals. The salary is below the minimum wages stipulated by the Government. Parthian says he is sixteen. His employer, whom we befriended and who permitted us the interview with the boy asked to put it at seventeen. A smiling thirteen-year-old Shanmu is from Madulkelle. His mother is dead, and he is left with his younger brother and father, who does not work. Shanmu left school because of poverty, even though he fared well during his short school career. The boy first joined a family-run bakery in Nugegoda at a monthly salary of Rs. 2,500, but later left the place due to ill-treatment by the employer. He said he gave his salary to his father, who squanders it within a few days. In disgust, the boy came to Colombo and joined a hotel in Sea Street, where he now works. He is the sole breadwinner of the family and finances his younger brother's education. And his father threatens to commit suicide, if he is not given money. As for tackling child labour, perhaps the most successful initiative is the campaign against employment of children as domestic aides, an area identified as the key sector for child employment. The increasing public awareness has seen a remarkable decline in the number of children employed as domestic labourers. A survey conducted in 1997 in some 700 urban households in the South, revealed that one out of twelve houses had employed an underage child as a domestic aide. It also revealed one in three domestic aides to be an underage child (Prof. Harendra de Sivla and other. UNICEF Report 1997) Recent statistics indicate that this once growing trend has been arrested, not because the estate areas, which provided 40 per cent of underage child labourers has stopped supplying an underage work force but because of tough regulations and increasing public awareness against child labour. Chairman of National Child Protection Authority, Prof Harendra de Silva says the latest survey reveals that the number of houses which employed underage children has declined to one out of hundred or some cases one out of two hundred. The progress is remarkable. "Situation in child labour is now better than a few years ago. This is partly because of our education campaign. Also we are prosecuting an increasing number of people who employ children. This is a deterrent to employing children," say Prof. Silva. But the story of fourteen-years-old Raja underlines, what could be perhaps the biggest obstacle to tackling child labour. Born in Upcot, Raja is the youngest of a five-member family. A terminally ill father, sick elder brother and unemployed sister now live off what Raja and his mother, who is an estate worker earns. It is absolute poverty in the countryside, especially the least developed estate areas that force kids to leave the families to earn. Raja, Shanmu, Kumar and Parlian all are victims of poverty. Lack of opportunities, poor social infrastructure, high population growth, low income are a vicious circle which breeds child labour. Unless economic and development inequalities and concerns of marginalised communities are addressed, poor villages will continue to pump child labour to towns. |
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