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Mercy Global Concern - 2003
Mercy Global Concern: Briefing Paper Number 1: August, 2003
Child Labour - Child Soldiers
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that
250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 work in developing
countries - at least 120 million, work on a fulltime basis. Sixty-one
percent of these were in Asia, 32 percent were in Africa, and
7 percent in Latin America. Most working children in rural areas
were found in agriculture; urban children worked in trade and
services.
Conditions for child labour vary and range from that of four
year olds tied to rug looms to keep them from running away, to
seventeen year olds helping out in family farms. In some cases
child labour can be beneficial to the child's family; working
and earning can be a positive experience. This depends largely
on the age of the child, the conditions in which the child work,
and whether work prevents the child from going to school.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has largely based
its research on 'bonded-child labour', which has a devastating
effect on children. Children, who work long hours, often in dangerous
and unhealthy conditions, are more likely to suffer physical
or psychological harm. Working at looms, for example, has left
children with eye damage, lung disease and a susceptibility to
arthritis, as they grow older. In the worst cases, many children
are denied an education, are beaten and are reduced to slavery.
The Human Rights abuses in these cases are clear. The plight
of bonded and abducted children is growing every year. Bonded
labour takes place when a family receives advance payment (sometimes
as little as $15) to hand a child over -boy or a girl, over to
an employer. In most cases the child cannot escape and the family
are unable to buy the child back. The 1956 U.N. Supplementary
Convention on the Abolition of Slavery outlaws bonded labour,
or debt bondage.
Human Rights Watch estimates that 15 million children are bonded
in India alone and that the full extent of the problem has yet
to be shown. Many are subjected to severe physical abuse...
Two years ago at the age of 7, Anwar started weaving carpets
in village, in Pakistan's province of Sindh. He was given some
food, little free time and no medical assistance. He was told
repeatedly that he could not stop working until her had repaid
an alleged family debt. He was never told how much this debt
was. Any time he made an error in his work, he was fined and
the debt increased. Once, when it was considered that he was
working too slowly, he was beaten with a stick. Once when he
was beaten badly, he decided to run away only to be apprehended
by the local police and returned to his employers.
"The Small Hands of Slavery: Bonded Children in India" which
was published by Human Rights Watch, revealed that in the silk
industry, which was heavily supported by the World Bank, employed
many bonded children. The World Bank, embarrassed by this disclosure,
invited NGO monitoring of projects for child labour. As a condition
of support on future projects. The bank has now acknowledged
that bonded children were used in its projects and, in cooperation
with government and nongovernmental organization, has explored
pilot programmes to remove children from the workplace, rehabilitate
them, and provide them with an education. Since 1997, the World
Bank now has a child labour policy to be considered, when making
lending agreements to countries.
Children as Soldiers
Child Soldiers are being used in more than 30
countries around the world!
In dozens of countries around the world, children
serve as soldiers. Denied a childhood and often subjected to
horrific violence, some 300,000 children are serving as soldiers
in current armed conflicts.
Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children make obedient
soldiers. Many are abducted or recruited by force, and are often
compelled to follow orders under threat of death. When a society
breaks down during war children have no access to schooling.
Often, children separated from their families perceive armed
groups as the best hope of survival or to avenge family members
who have been killed.
In Sierra Leone, children abducted by rebel forces
witnessed and participated in horrible atrocities against civilians,
including beheading, amputations, rape and burning people alive.
Children were often given drugs in order to de-sensitize them
or to overcome their fears. In Columbia, tens of thousands of
children have been used by both sides as soldiers in the country's
ongoing conflict. Government-backed paramilitaries recruit children
as young as eight, while the guerrilla forces use children to
collect information, make and deploy mines, and serve as advance
troops in ambush attacks.
In southern Lebanon, boys as young as twelve years
of age have been the subject of forced conscription, if the boys
or their families refuse to serve, they and their families are
forced from the occupied zone. Girls have also been used as child
soldiers. In addition to combat duties, girls are also forced
to become'sex slaves.'
Often because of their lack of maturity and experience, child
soldiers suffer higher causalities than their adult counterparts.
Even after a conflict is over, they may be left physically disabled
or psychologically traumatized.
Facts
about Child Soldiers
- Today as many as 300,000 children under the age
of 18 serve in armed combat. Some are as young as
8 years old.
- Children are uniquely vulnerable to military recruitment because
of their emotional and physical immaturity. They
are easily manipulated and can be drawn in to violence that
they are too young to resist
or understand.
- Technological advances in weaponry and the proliferation of
small arms have contributed to the increased use
of child soldiers. Lightweight automatic weapons are easy
to operate, and can be
used by children as easily as adults.
- Children are more likely to become child soldiers if they
are poor, separated from their families, displaced from their
homes,
living in combat zones or have limited access to
education. Orphans and refugees are particularly venerable
to recruitment.
- Both girls and boys are used as child soldiers.
In case studies in El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Uganda,
almost a
third of the
child soldiers are girls. Girls may be raped and
in
some cases are 'given' to
military commanders as 'wives'.
- Once recruited, child soldiers serve as porters, cooks, guards,
messengers or spies. Many are pressed into combat,
where they may be forced in to the front lines or sent into
minefields ahead
of the older troops. Some children have been used
in suicide missions.
- Children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities
against their own families or neighbours. Such practices
help ensure
that the child is'stigmatized', and
unable to return to his or her home.
- Few peace treaties recognize then existence of child soldiers
or make provision for rehabilitation and reintegration
into society. Many child soldiers do not have access to educational
programmes,
family reunification or even food and shelter. As
a result, many end up on the street and become involved in
crime.
Voices of Child Soldiers
Emillo, recruited into the Guatemalan army aged 14. "The army was a nightmare. We suffered greatly. We were
constantly beaten just to keep us in a state of terror. I refused
to hit him and they told me they would shot me. They pointed
a gun at me, so I had to do it. The boy kept asking me, "Why
are you doing this?" I said I had no choice. After we killed
him, they made us smear his blood on our arms... They said
we had to do this so that we would not fear death or try to escape.
I still dream about this boy from my village that I killed. I
see him in my dreams, and he is asking me, and telling me I killed
him and I am crying."
13-year-old soldier from Liberia
"They gave me pills that made me crazy. When the craziness
got into my head, I beat people on their heads until they bled.
When the craziness got out of my head, I felt guilty. Sometimes
I tried to apologize to the people that I hurt and if they would
not accept my apology, I felt worse.
" They beat all the people there, old and young, they
killed them all, nearly 10 people... like dogs they killed
them. I saw them kill the children who were there. Then they
made us drink the blood of the people who were killed. Then they
made us eat the liver, the hearts of the people they killed."
- Peruvian woman, recruited by Shining Path at age 11
Human Rights Watch
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