Child labor

Many children in Asia are kidnapped or otherwise trapped in servitude, where they work in factories and workshops for no pay and receive constant beatings.

Typically, an agent from the city arrives in the village. He shows great sympathy for the child’s parents and a deep understanding of their plight and financial problems. He purchases two dresses for the mother and purchases a cow for the father (but the cow is an old sick cow which dies after a few months).

In due course, the family’s new friend tells them that he could get a job for the child in the city where the child would be properly trained, receive wages and have good prospects for promotion. The parents, seeing this as the opportunity of a lifetime for their child to escape from rural poverty, agree.

The agent gives them a piece of paper with the name and address of a non-existent employment agency.

The scam

In reality, it is all a scam. The children live in a den or a squalid shed, with no prospects and no pay. Many are beaten with sticks and iron rods and not even allowed to see their parents. They are branded with red hot irons, burnt with cigarettes, starved, whipped, beaten while hanging upside down, chained up, abused in an intimate way, and kept locked in cupboards for days on end. One child, Shankar, described his experience thus:

“We were poked with burning cigarettes on the back and legs. If we cried for our mothers we were locked in a room without air or enough light. We were forced to work for 20 hours a day without pay. We were kept half fed and beaten up severely by our masters if we were found talking or laughing among ourselves. One night I jumped into the nearby River Ganges to kill myself to escape from this painful life. We were never allowed to go back to our parents, to our villages.”

Some, like 14 year old Nageshwar, are branded by their masters with red-hot brands.

Most sweatshops have windows and doors barred to prevent escape. The factory or sex den is guarded by thugs armed with cudgels and, occasionally, with guard dogs.

The child’s parents hear nothing more from the child. If a parent gets suspicious, he or she may go to the address of the agency, only to find that it does not exist. If the child’s parent finally tracks down the factory or den where the child lives and works, the master tells them: “I paid for his food and medicine”, and claims that the child cannot leave until the enormous fictitious “debts” which he incurred in keeping the child are repaid. When, eventually, the police arrive, they throw the parent out.

“I was beaten for even scratching my skin and my father was beaten when he came to see me. Ever since I started working, I haven’t been given either a wage or a single day off”.

— Ashok, 8 years, who worked a 21-hour day from 3 am until midnight in a carpet factory in India.

“I was not allowed to meet my parents for the 7 years that I worked, though I would often ask for permission. The only response was more beatings”.

— Dilip, India

“Two of my friends were killed. They were wrapped in jute bags, which were tied to heavy stones and thrown in the river”

These children are the face of the slavery today.<WM

The material in this report is based on a Mission to South Asia by the Anti-Slavery Society's Secretary-General.

Copyright ©World Mission Magazine

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Cherishing Our Future

by Paolo Reyes

FACING THE CHALLENGE OF CHILD LABOR

Young people have always been the future movers of our country. They will inherit the tradition, heritage and pride that were earned by our ancestors throughout the years. Thus, they should be prepared to be the next leaders of this country. Proper education, shelter and food are the essential factors they need to have for a brighter future ahead of them.

Lives sacrificed

Most of the children are fortunate enough to enjoy such privileges, but there are some who have to sacrifice their lives and their future just to earn money and feed their families.

Child labor is one of the world’s major social problems since countries began to be industrialized. The term refers to the illegal employment of children under 18 years of age to do manual labor under hazardous working environment. According to the International Labour Organization, around 211 million children aged 5 to 14 are compelled to work in crop plantations, mining caves, rock quarries and factories.

When a child sacrifices his or her education and works instead, that makes child labor a threatening problem. One thing that makes child labor unacceptable is if the child works in a dangerous or high-risk environment such as a fireworks factory or mining caves.

Many effects

In the Philippines, child labor is prevalent whether in rural or urban areas. Examples of this are the sampaguita and cigarette vendors who are roaming the busy streets of Manila round the clock, while some children are employed as packers in garment factories. In Bulacan, especially if it is December, some low-budgeted manufacturers hire children to make and pack explosives for the New Year celebration. In some cases, these children are being used by local syndicates for their operations.

Child labor has many effects in children who are supposed to be inside the classrooms rather than roaming the streets, risking their lives only to earn an miserable amount of money. The effects of child labor may vary depending on the nature of the work. For instance, a child working in a fireworks factory may acquire respiratory diseases such as lung cancer. A girl employed as a prostitute can be infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or worse, with AIDS. Child workers can also suffer from malnutrition, hampered growth and in some cases, mutation.

Why children?

Although most of the child workers go to school, most end up as dropouts and repeaters because they can’t focus on their studies. Sometimes the children opt to be absent from their classes so that they could spend more time at their work, since the more time they work, the higher amount of money they can receive. These children are sacrificing their future just to have something to eat now.

But why hire children as workers? An employer might simply answer, “It’s cheaper to hire children rather than adults.” That answer might be true; children can easily be lured even with a small amount of money. The amount the children receive doesn’t even reach the minimum wage. The employer doesn’t have to think about insurance or other funds to pay. Basically, the employer is on a cost-cutting job.

Government measures

The government has already addressed this problem with the Rights of a Human Child or RA7658. They passed laws such as The Prohibition of the Employment of Children and provisions for the minimum age for admissions to employment. Government agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) tackle this problem.

The DSWD takes care of the children who were rescued from abusive employers, while the DOLE inspects the working permits of establishments who are suspected to have child workers. But then these actions are not enough to totally eradicate child labor. The government cannot eliminate child labor unless poverty is eliminated. The best thing the government can do is to create more jobs that can really uplift the burden of poverty.

Children and Church

As Luke 18:16 says, "Let the children come to me and don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Even the Church stresses the importance and value of these children in the Christian community. They will not only inherit the country, but the Christian tradition as well. It is they who will not only be the movers of the nation, but also the ones who will nourish the Christian faith. We as the Church community have the responsibility to protect these children. The teachings of the Church, the most basic yet the most overlooked, is to love and care for one another. That is why the Church’s call is not a simple donation of money or material things. The Church calls for awareness, aid and, most importantly, love.

The children are our future. And yet, we find ourselves in a society where children roam the streets and work. We find them with no families and with other poverty-stricken children as their companions. Children are meant to be nurtured and loved but we see them with a stack of newspapers in one hand and packs of cigarettes in the other. Let us not allow the future of these children, the future of our country, to wither and die away.<WM

Philippines: Children shipping drinking water