Stolen Childhoods

Author

Synopsis

Every year, the trafficking and labor of children produces $10 billion worth of trade. It is endemic in desperately poor areas of the world. In countries where parents cannot afford to feed their families, selling a child’s labor to someone who can teach a trade and possibly send the child to school seems more reasonable than keeping children at home to starve. In other instances, children are orphaned or lured from desperate situations by the promise of opportunities and education in faraway cities.

Often these promises are merely a marketing tool. Instead, children are crushed by the futility of their situation and the danger of their tasks. They find themselves far from home and often beaten or frightened into submission (LaFranier, 2006).

Nearly 211 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are part of the worldwide work force and are engaged in work that falls under the international definitions of child labor (International Labor Organization, 2000). UNICEF counts seven main types of child labor, including domestic service, forced and bonded labor, commercial sexual exploitation, industrial or plantation labor, street work, and work for the family (Bellamy, 1997; Global Fund for Children, 2002). Much of this work, according to standards set in 1999 by the International Labor Organization (ILO), is “harmful or hazardous to health, safety, or morals of girls and boys under 18 years of age” (ILO/IPEC, 2003).

Play the video to see children from Albania, the Philippines, and Nicaragua (in that order) — all of whom have been exploited in the workforce and in the sex trade.

Nearly two-thirds of child workers — an estimated 171 million children or one in eight children ages 5 to 14 — labor in hazardous or harmful jobs, such as working in mines, with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture, or with dangerous machinery (Global Fund for Children, 2002). Millions of girls who work as domestic servants are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked; 5.7 million are forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery; 1.8 million are lured into prostitution and pornography; 0.3 million end up participating in armed conflict; 0.6 are involved in other illicit activities. However, the vast majority of child laborers —70% or more — work in agriculture. These young workers are everywhere but largely out of the world’s eye or consciousness (UNICEF, 2007).

Child labor represents the largest single cause across the globe of child maltreatment. Many child workers experience child neglect because they are denied basic health care, adequate nutrition, and education. Additionally, other children suffer physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their employers and, at times, even by their own families.

Play the video to hear Chhakali, a young rescued Nepalese girl, tell her story of betrayal and loss.

Play more of the interview with Chhakali to find out what became of her after being rescued by the police during a raid on the brothel.

Several governmental and industry-supported programs have stepped in to help combat Nepal’s child labor crisis. One of these is GoodWeave (formerly known as RugMark). GoodWeave is an organization of carpet manufacturers and exporters in Nepal, India, and Afghanistan that works with European and North American importers and businesses to help secure markets for their products that are not produced by child labor.

Through a system of labels, each rug produced can be traced to a specific factory and loom, which are regularly inspected. When inspectors find children working on these looms, the employers are fined. The formerly employed children are sent to local schools close to their families or placed in one of many GoodWeave-sponsored rehabilitation centers or schools depending on the needs of the individual child. These efforts help reduce the number of child workers and give children a chance to be educated (http://www.GoodWeave.org).

Play the video to learn how GoodWeave (formerly RugMark) has changed the lives of child workers.

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