Scooty Streak

India is home to more than 12.6 million children who are forced to work in order to survive. These children are working as domestic help, on streets, in factories and farmlands silently suffering abuse. Save the Children works to end exploitative Child labour. Some types of work make useful, positive contributions to a child’s development. Work can help children learn about responsibility and develop particular skills that will benefit them and the rest of society. Often, work is a vital source of income that helps to sustain children and their families. However, across the world, millions of children do extremely hazardous work in harmful conditions, putting their health, education, personal and social development, and even their lives at risk. These are some of the circumstances they face: * Full-time work at a very early age

* Dangerous workplaces
* Excessive working hours Subjection to psychological, verbal, physical and sexual abuse
* Obliged to work by circumstances or individuals
* Limited or no pay
* Work and life on the streets in bad conditions
* Inability to escape from the poverty cycle – no access to education

Trafficking involves transporting people away from the communities in which they live, by the threat or use of violence, deception, or coercion so they can be exploited as forced or enslaved workers for sex or labour. When children are trafficked, no violence, deception or coercion needs to be involved, it is merely the act of transporting them into exploitative work which constitutes trafficking. Increasingly, children are also bought and sold within and across national borders. They are trafficked for sexual exploitation, for begging, and for work on construction sites, plantations and into domestic work. The vulnerability of these children is even greater when they arrive in another country. Often they do not have contact with their families and are at the mercy of their employers. REVELANCE OF THE PROBLEM:

* The International Labour Organization estimates there are 215 million child labourers aged between five and 17 year old (ILO, 2010) * Just over half of these children, 115 million are estimated to work in the worst forms of child labour (ILO, 2010) * 53 million children under 15 year old are in hazardous work and should be “immediately withdrawn from this work” (2010) * 8.4 million children are in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities (ILO, 2002) * Girls are particularly in demand for domestic work

* Around 70 per cent of child workers carry out unpaid work for their families =”font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;”>Most children work because their families are poor and their labour is necessary for their survival. Discrimination on grounds including gender, race or religion also plays its part in why some children work.

Children are often employed and exploited because, compared to adults, they are more vulnerable, cheaper to hire and are less likely to demand higher wages or better working conditions. Some employers falsely argue that children are particularly suited to certain types of work because of their small size and “nimble fingers”.

For many children, school is not an option. Education can be expensive and some parents feel that what their children will learn is irrelevant to the realities of their everyday lives and futures. In many cases, school is also physically inaccessible or lessons are not taught in the child’s mother tongue, or both.

As well as being a result of poverty, child labour also perpetuates poverty. Many working children do not have the opportunity to go to school and often grow up to be unskilled adults trapped in poorly paid jobs, and in turn will look to their own children to supplement the family’s income.</lt;*>> Where do children work?

* On the land
* In households — as domestic workers
* In factories — making products such as matches, fireworks and glassware
* On the street — as beggars
* Outdoor industry: brick kilns, mines, construction
* In bars, restaurants and tourist establishments
* In sexual exploitation
* As soldiers

The majority of working children are in agriculture — an estimated 70 per cent. Child domestic work in the houses of others is thought to be the single largest employer of girls worldwide. Export industries account for only an estimated five per cent of child labour. To see what you can do to help see our Fair Trade, Slave Trade leaflet. case study:

When Ahmed* was five years old he was trafficked from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates to be a camel jockey. He was forced to train and race camels in Dubai for three years. “I was scared …. If I made a mistake I was beaten with a stick. When I said I wanted to go home I was told I never would. I didn’t enjoy camel racing, I was really afraid. I fell off many times. When I won prizes several times, such as money and a car, the camel owner took everything. I never got anything, no money, nothing; my family also got nothing.” Ahmed was only returned home after a Bangladesh official identified him during a visit to Dubai in November 2002. Our local partner Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association provided him with the specialist support and help he needed to resume his life with his family. profile of our organization:

TheChild Labor Coalitionformed in November 1989, as concerned groups mobilized following the Capitol Hill Forum, “Exploitation of Children in the Workplace.” The coalition believes that no child, regardless of race, sex, nationality, religion, economic status, place of residence, or occupation, should be exploited. Exploitative child labor is defined as employment (whether in the formal or informal sector; whether paid or unpaid) that is coerced, forced, bonded, slave, or otherwise known to be unfair in wages, injurious to the health and safety of children, and/or obstructs a child’s access to education or impairs educational attainment. We are involved in the following activities:

1. testifying before state and federal legislatures and agencies on child labor
2. presenting comments in response to regulatory initiatives
3. hosting conferences, forums, and briefings
4. creating and distributing educational and public awareness materials
5. initiating research
6. conducting campaigns and media events
other organizations involved in the same issue:
*anti slavary
*ilo
*save the children

similar campagins:
Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign Welcomes Hershey’s Announcement to Source 100% Certified Cocoa by 2020 [NEWS FROM THE RAISE THE BAR, HERSHEY! CAMPAIGN:]

Coalition urges Hershey and all chocolate companies to go 100% Fair Trade The Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign (www.raisethebarhershey.org) welcomed today’s announcement from the Hershey Co. (HSY) that it will be certifying 100 percent of its cocoa by 2020 and urged the chocolate giant to go 100 percent Fair Trade with incremental benchmarks. Hershey appeared to join its main rival Mars in announcing its target for certification with a 2020 deadline. Many other smaller chocolate companies are already 100 percent certified, a number of them using Fair Trade certification, the most rigorous certification for identifying and remediating the Worst Forms of Child Labor. The Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign released the following joint statement: “The Raise the Bar, Hershey! campaign is pleased that Hershey is announcing 100 percent certification for its cocoa by 2020. To truly address child labor, Hershey needs to make sure it is certifying all of its cocoa Fair Trade, the only certification that adequately addresses the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

Hershey should certify and label one of its top-selling, brand name bars Fair Trade within the next year, and should certify and label all of its chocolates Fair Trade by 2020. We urge Hershey to reveal how the company plans to get to 100% certification by disclosing the certifiers it will be working with as well as a timeline for converting specific product lines. The Raise the Bar Hershey campaign, joined by over 150,000 consumers, union allies, religious groups, and over 40 food co-ops and natural grocers has been pressuring Hershey to address child labor for several years. Just this week, Whole Foods Market (WFM) announced that it was removing Hershey’s Scharffen Berger line from its shelves until Hershey took steps to address child labor in its supply chain. The Raise the Bar, Hershey Campaign! and its allies will continue to encourage Hershey, and other chocolate companies, to improve labor practices on cocoa farms and plantations.”