Child Labour

27 Child labourers rescued in Bengaluru

July 15, 2015 by Nasheman

Bengaluru: Around 27 child labourers from Thagajaguppe village in Kaggalipura police limits were rescued by CID’s anti-human trafficking unit on July 14.

The officials conducted a raid based on information provided by the 16 children who were rescued earlier from the same area. The children, all under the age of 15, hail from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

It is learnt that the employers, Ashwath Narayana (35) of Lingarajapuram, Anand of Chamarajpet and Prashanthkumar (35) of Vijayanagar brought them to Bengaluru on the pretext of giving them jobs; they were then made to work on segregating and cleaning plastics from the garbage. Both the accused are said to be absconding.

The children told the officials that they used to work from 6 am to 7 pm. Having been assured jobs, they were brought to the state by Tannulal, Mandee and Suresh Lal Jadhav, all belonging to the state of Bihar. The police are on a lookout for the accused.

(Agencies)

Child labour law amended: Children below 14 can now work in family businesses

May 13, 2015 by Nasheman

New Delhi: Government today gave its nod to a proposal allowing children below 14 years of age to work only in family enterprises or entertainment industry with certain conditions while completely banning their employment elsewhere.

The original child labour law banned employment of children below 14 in only 18 hazardous industries.

The amendments also make it clear that children between 14 and 18 years will also not be allowed to work in hazardous industries.

The changes in the labour law also provide for stricter punishment for employers for violation. While there is no penalty provision for parents for the first offence, the employer would be liable for punishment even for the first violation.

In case of parents, the repeat offenders may be penalised with a monetary fine up to Rs 10,000

In case of first offence, the penalty for employers has been increased up to two and half times from the existing up to Rs 20 thousand to up to Rs 50,000 now.

In case of a second or subsequent offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law, the minimum imprisonment would be one year which may extend to three years.

Earlier, the penalty for second or subsequent offence of employing any child in contravention of the law was imprisonment for a minimum term of six months which may extend to two years.

After the Cabinet nod, Government will move official amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 in Parliament.

While child rights activists were opposed to the dilution saying it will promote child labour, those involved in business maintained that children need to be trained in traditional arts at an early stage or they will not be able to acquire the required skills like weaving and stitching.

The age of prohibition of employment has been linked to age under Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

Exceptions have, however, been made in case of works in which the child helps the family or family enterprises.

The condition is that such enterprises should not involved any hazardous occupation. Another condition set forth is that they should work after school hours or during vacations.

Moreover, exemption has also been given where the child works as an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry, including advertisement, films, television serials or any such other entertainment or sports activities except the circus.

This exemption is also conditional and stipulates taking up prescribed safety measures

An official statement said that while considering a total prohibition on employment of child, it would be prudent to also keep in mind the country’s social fabric and socio- economic conditions.

Justifying the amendments, it said, “In a large number of families, children help their parents in their occupations like agriculture, artisanship etc and while helping the parents, children also learn the basics of occupations.

“Therefore, striking a balance between the need for education for a child and the reality of the socio-economic condition and social fabric in the country, the Cabinet has approved that a child can help his family or family enterprise, which is other than any hazardous occupation or process, after his school hours or during vacation.”

Besides a new definition of adolescent has been introduced in the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act and employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years of age) has been prohibited in hazardous occupations and processes.

“These provisions would go a long way in protecting adolescents from the employment not suitable to their age,” it said.

The statement said that in case of first offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law, penalty would be imprisonment for a term not less than six months but which may extend to two years.

Besides they could be fined an amount not less than Rs 20,000 which may extend to Rs 50,000. They could also be penalised with both imprisonment and monetary fine.

Earlier, penalty for employing any child in contravention of the law was imprisonment for a term not less than three months, which could extend to one year.

The monetary penalty for the same was a fine not less than Rs 10000, which could extend to Rs 20,000 either alone or with the imprisonment.

In case of a second or subsequent offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law, the minimum imprisonment would be one year which may extend to three years now.

Earlier, penalty for second or subsequent offence of employing any child in contravention of the law was imprisonment for a minimum term of six months which may extend to two years.

Besides, the offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law by an employer has been made cognisable which allows police to arrest without a warrant.

Government believes that this provision would act as a deterrent against the offence of employing a child or adolescent in contravention of the law.

In the principal Act, the same punishment was provided for parents or guardians for permitting a child to work in contravention of the Act, as prescribed for the employer of the child.

However, taking a “realistic view” of the socio-economic conditions of the parents, there would be no punishment in case of a first offence by them and in case of a second and subsequent offence, the penalty would be a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000, the statement said.

The proposal also provides for the setting up of a Child and Adolescent Labour Rehabilitation Fund for one or more districts for rehabilitation of children or adolescents rescued.

Thus, the Act itself will provide for a fund to carry out rehabilitation activities.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (CLPR Act) 1986 prohibits employment of a child in 18 occupations and 65 processes and regulates the conditions of working of children in other occupations/ processes.

As per this Act, a child means any person who has not completed 14 years of age. The Act provides punishment for the offence of employing or permitting employment of any child in contravention of the provisions of this Act.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 enjoins the state to ensure free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years.

A corollary to this would be that if a child is in the work place, he would miss school.

It was felt that thus, the CLPR Act is not aligned to the RTE Act as it permits employment of child below 14 years in occupations and processes not prohibited.

It was also felt that the CLPR Act is not in conformity with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 138 and 182, which provide for minimum age of entry into employment and prohibition of employment of persons below 18 years, in work which is likely to harm health, safety and morals.

The amendments being brought in the Act takes care of these anomalies, the government said.

(PTI)

48 children rescued from bangle factories in Hyderabad

January 30, 2015 by Nasheman

Representational Image

Hyderabad: In a series of raids, Hyderabad Police have rescued at least 48 child labourers from various bangle factories in the city.

Most of the rescued children belonged to Bihar.

The police have been carrying out raids as part of their ‘Smile’ programme to rescue minor children working in hazardous conditions.

Hyderabad Police circle officer, N. Rama Rao said they have booked a case against the factory owners and efforts are on to nab the culprits.

“As per instructions, we have raided three places. We have rescued 48 people who were working in hazardous conditions in bangle making factories.

We are booking case against the owners who are keeping these people in working in hazardous situations. We are taking action against them and we are also taking action against those who are abetting them to do this work,” said Rao.

Some of the rescued children said they were forced to abandon their studies and work in factories with either no or little pay.

Thirteen-year-old Mohammad Ruhail, who hails from Bihar, said he was forced to work ‘because my aunt is in the factory’.

“They are not giving us money… (I work) for round two and a half hours. But they don’t pay us,” Ruhail added.

Many children had untreated wounds and shards of glass on their face.

Last week, the police had rescued 218 under-age children during raids at several bangle and leather making units.

More than 12 million children below the age of 14 are working as domestic servants or other jobs such as in stone quarries, embroidery units, mining, carpet-weaving, tea stalls, restaurants and hotels, according to government data.

A law prohibiting employing children in homes and in the hospitality industry came into effect in October 2006.

The law-where violators face a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of 20,000 rupees is an extension of a previous 1986 ban prohibiting children from working jobs deemed too ‘hazardous’ for minors such as in factories and mines.

However, the law has failed to make significant progress as people still continue to employ children in odd jobs.

(ANI)

No one should work this way – Asian domestic workers endure staggering abuse

December 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Over the past two years I traveled around Asia with Steve McCurry, a photographer known for fascinating faces, particularly the one on the cover of National Geographic magazine known as the “Afghan Girl,” to document the abuse some domestic workers endure at the hands of their household employers, either in their own country or abroad.

We found cases of child labor, forced labor, human trafficking, rape, starvation, excessive working hours, little or no pay and restricted freedom of movement or communication. We spoke with workers who had been beaten with a pot, a mop, a broom, a stick, a hanger, a cane and a metal pipe. We heard of women coming home in a coma or a coffin.

The victims were female and male, young and old, educated and illiterate (and their abusers also varied – female and male, rich and middle-class, living in Asia and in the Middle East). What linked them was a toxic combination of desperation, born out of poverty, and a lack of legal protection – in most countries, domestic workers are not protected by employment laws. In some societies, they are treated as “property” and not as individuals or even workers entitled to equal treatment and rights as most other workers.

We met a Nepali woman who had been blinded from repeated beatings by her female employer in Saudi Arabia and had had feces rubbed into her face. An Indonesian woman’s back was heavily scarred – almost in the shape of angel wings – by boiling water that her male employer in Malaysia had thrown on her. I tried to count the scars on another Indonesian woman’s body but lost track after reaching 20; she did not know what her male employer in Taiwan had used to cause many of them, including the slash across her face.

In Nepal we interviewed a pregnant woman who, when she told her female employer in Oman that her policeman husband had raped her, was thrown into prison for three months for seduction. Pregnant, she was in hiding because she feared her family would desert her. Another Nepali woman, hired by a family in Kuwait to look after 13 children, was beaten because she resisted working in the family’s brothel.

In a Hong Kong shelter Indonesian woman recalled how her female employer spoke to her: “Come here, dog. You are stupid. You are a dog. Helper, come here.” Also in Hong Kong we met another woman from Indonesia who had been given only bread in the mornings, instant noodles for lunch and leftovers (if there were any) for dinner. Her weight dropped more than 30 pounds before she finally ran away.

I met a Filipina who told me she had been given the top of the washing machine to sleep on. She giggled when explaining that her male employer liked to wash clothes at night time, so she had to lay there while the machine shook. She didn’t really think it was funny, but what could she do – the law in Hong Kong, one of the few places in the world that actually has legislation that covers domestic workers, requires them to live in the homes of their employers. Never mind that the “room” they may be given is a cupboard, a stairwell, a bathroom – or the top of a washing machine.

And we met an Indonesian woman whose employment agency staff tried to talk her into accepting a wage increase if she would stay with her mentally and physically abusive female employer. She feared for her life and wanted out. The employer had once said, “If I hit you and kill you, no one will know.” The agency then placed another woman in that home. Earlier this year, Hong Kong streets erupted in a massive protest against the abuse and inhumane conditions after a photo emerged of a young woman, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, severely battered from beatings and medical neglect she endured by that same female employer. A different agency had placed her, but employment agents are also culpable in the abuse.

When another Indonesian woman we met had run away in Malaysia because of beatings by her young male employer, the police took her back and her employment agent threatened legal action if she tried to run again. Many domestic workers have their passports taken from them by their employer or agent after arriving in a foreign country, which is one reason why they find it difficult to leave when the abuse starts. Many don’t know where to go. Many are just so desperate to send money home that they endure as best they can.

That same woman who had run away had lost a front tooth when her male employer threw a shoe at her for heating up the “wrong” soup and whose ear is now permanently deformed from his constant twisting of it. She is reluctantly considering going abroad again as a maid because her husband can find no work.

These are not uncommon experiences.

Steve McCurry and I thought the general public needed to see how the abuse scars lives as much as bodies. We wanted to help make the case for labor law protection for domestic workers. We also know that decency cannot be legislated, so we wanted abusers to know the public is now aware of what is going on behind their doors.

Many women in this line of work have good experiences – though their hours may be excessive, without overtime pay, benefits or days off, they earn more than they could back home. And there are certainly many decent household employers in every country.

But the International Labor Organization, which is the United Nation’s specialized agency dealing with work-related issues and which funded our photography project, estimates that there are more than 52 million domestic workers in the world. So even if a minority of them experiences the staggering meanness or the criminal evilness that we found, that is still likely a vast number of abuse cases.

In 2011, a new International Labor Organization Convention (treaty) specifically covering the rights of domestic workers came into force. Thus far it has been ratified by only 15 countries – by only one (the Philippines) in the Asia–Pacific region and none in the Middle East. Ratifying Convention No. 189 is important because it obliges governments to bring their national laws and enforcement in line with the recognition of domestic workers as deserving of the same labor law rights and protection accorded to most workers.

No one should work the way the people we photographed have worked.

Text by Karen Emmons, photographs by Steve McCurry

Indra, now 30, from Nepal, abused in Kuwait. “Everyone has left me. My brothers spit on the ground when they see me…I will try my best to prevent anyone from ever going abroad for domestic work. I can work to stop it. I will do whatever it takes.” Indra went abroad to pay medical and education bills, after her husband abandoned her and their three children. She never went to school and cannot read or write. She was hired to look after 13 children, but her employers’ family also ran a brothel in their building and beat her to make her work there too. When she fought back they tried, and failed, to sell her to a family in Saudi Arabia. She eventually escaped by climbing down an elevator cable. Injured, she returned to Nepal on a stretcher. Her family has rejected her and her injuries make it hard to earn a living.

Saraswati, now 19, from rural Nepal, abused in Nepal. “She took me to my room and started beating me with her hand. Pulling my hair. With no one at home to stop her, she would beat me a long time…The Government should not allow children to be used as domestic workers.” Sarawati became a domestic worker aged 12 because her family could not afford to send her to school. A shopkeeper helped her escape from an abusive employer, but her next employer, in Kathmandu, was even more abusive. She has scars on her forehead and knee. She still works as a maid but is now finishing her education and helps other domestic workers learn about their rights.

Tutik, now 37, from Indonesia, abused in Malaysia. “After the first three weeks working there I tried to escape to the agent but the police took me back. The agent said, ‘If you try to escape again, I will sue you with legal action.’” For two years Tutik was only allowed to sleep for three hours a night. Every day she cleaned the house and every evening worked in the family bakery. Her young male employer knocked out her front tooth with his shoe. Her ear is deformed by his constant twisting. His mother hit her with sticks and a rattan cane, fracturing her wrist and backbone. When she asked to go home the employer refused to let her leave.

Sumasri, possibly in her 60s, from Indonesia, abused in Malaysia. “I go to the clinic regularly to get medication. Now it is not painful any more. It was most painful the first four months.” Sumasri’s back and thighs are heavily scarred from the boiling water her male employer in Kuala Lumpur threw on her. The story of exactly what happened to her often changes, each time she recounts it. Neighbors in her east Java village say she is no longer mentally stable.

Sritak, now 30, from Indonesia, abused in Taiwan. “He took a hot fork that he had heated on the stove top and he put it on my hand. He pressed the hot fork onto my hand…It’s quite strange, like he had the devil inside.” Sritak left her village because her family were too poor to eat every day. She worked from 6 am to midnight daily. Her passport was taken away and her freedom to talk to her family or outsiders was restricted. Her employer beat her, once with an iron pipe. He accused her of stealing and poured hot water on her body. She has more than 20 scars, including a long slash across her face.

‘Anis’, now 25, from Indonesia, abused in Hong Kong. Five days after ‘Anis’ arrived, the family’s barking dog woke – and enraged – her female employer. Shouting in Cantonese, the woman pulled Anis into the kitchen and grabbed a butcher’s knife. Anis jerked away, but the ring finger tendon was sliced and the bone fractured. She escaped with the help of a building security guard and another domestic worker.

Susi, now 29, from Indonesia, abused in Hong Kong. “My employer said she’s very rich. She said, ‘If I hit you and kill you, no one will know that’…The agent tried to calm me, saying, ‘I will give you a very good employer if you don’t tell anyone.’” Susi worked 20-hour days, only sleeping as the sun came up. Her Hong Kong Chinese employer frequently slapped her and made her sign a paper saying wages had been paid. After seven months without contact, her family forced a meeting, and Susi left. The agent then placed another domestic worker in that home. Note: Susi’s Hong Kong employer subsequently hired (through a different agency) another Indonesian maid, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, whose eight months of ill-treatment made international headlines and resulted in criminal charges.

Sring, now 33, from Indonesia, abused in Hong Kong. “To help protect workers from physical abuse you need to educate them to understand the laws in their workplace. They don’t know that they have rights.” Sring’s first employer did not give her the legal minimum wage or her legally-entitled days off. For six months she had to give most of her salary to the recruitment agency. When her contract ended Sring was able to find another, better, employer. She still works for a Hong Kong family, but is now Chair of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union, where she is the first person called to help Indonesian workers in trouble.

Siti, now 38, from Indonesia, abused in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Hong Kong. “She said, ‘Come here, dog. Come here. You are stupid. You are a dog. Helper come here’.” In Saudi Arabia, Siti worked 20-hour days, didn’t get enough to eat and had to sleep on a mattress on the floor of a storage room. In Oman, when she complained about being sexually harassed by her male employer, his wife slapped and abused her. In Hong Kong, she had to work at night, was verbally abused and her food was rationed.

‘Beth’, now 20, from rural Philippines, abused in Manila. “My employer would bang my head on the wall and she would throw hot water on me. She would burn my skin with cigarettes. She said this was the punishment for my sins.” ‘Beth’ was sold by her sister to a couple in Manila when she was 10. She worked from 4 am until late every day, cleaning and looking after their small child. She was not paid. Her female employer beat her frequently, with sticks, pots or pans, and, after the boyfriend once walked out, began burning her with cigarettes. After seven years locked in the house Beth escaped. She had never been to school, watched TV, or listened to music or the radio.

Mary Grace, now 35, from the Philippines, abused in Malaysia. “The owner of the agency is so bad. He said to me, ‘Fuck you. You bitch. All your family, your young son will die. You, fuck you. You are a bitch. Your son will die.’ Then he threw his coffee mug at my face.” Mary Grace needed to earn money for school fees and to feed her family. She had two employers, neither of whom gave her enough to eat. One day, she fainted while at a market. She woke up in an ambulance to find herself being sexually abused by the attendant. When she tried to report the assault at the hospital, a nurse told her to be quiet. She left Malaysia with no earnings.

Dalits have the least social protections and are highly vulnerable to severe forms of exploitation and modern slavery

November 24, 2014 by Nasheman

by Counterview

Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, in its new report, “The Global Slavery Index 2014”, has identified India as ranking fifth out of 167 countries of the world in severity of modern slavery. It defines modern slavery as involving “one person possessing or controlling another person in such as a way as to significantly deprive that person of their individual liberty, with the intention of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer or disposal.” Modern-day slaves, it adds, include children denied an education by being forced to work or marry early, men unable to leave their work because of crushing debts they owe to recruitment agents, and women and girls exploited as unpaid, abused domestic workers. The report estimates, there are 35.8 million people living in some form of modern slavery globally. This is what the report has to say about India:

*India’s Index rank: 5
*Estimated number of people in modern slavery: 14,285,700
*Government response to modern slavery: CCC
*Vulnerability to modern slavery: 56.7%
*Population: 1,252,139,596
*GDP (PPP): per capita (Int$) $5,410

Prevalence

India’s modern slavery challenges are immense. Across India’s population of over 1.2 billion people, all forms of modern slavery, including inter-generational bonded labour, trafficking for sexual exploitation, and forced marriage, exist. Evidence suggests that members of lower castes and tribes, religious minorities, and migrant workers are disproportionately affected by modern slavery. Modern slavery occurs in brick kilns, carpet weaving, embroidery and other textile manufacturing, forced prostitution, agriculture, domestic servitude, mining, and organised begging rings. Bonded labour is particularly prevalent throughout India, with families enslaved for generations. There are reports of women and children from India and neighbouring countries being recruited with promises of non-existent jobs and later sold for sexual exploitation, or forced into sham marriages.

Modern slavery: Top ten countries

In some religious groups, pre-pubescent girls are sold for sexual servitude in temples. Recent reports suggest that one child goes missing every eight minutes; it is feared that some are sold into forced begging, domestic work, and commercial sexual exploitation. Bangladeshis and Nepalese, particularly women and children, migrate to India in search of work. Young Nepali women banned from traveling to the Gulf for domestic work also pass through India as an alternative route. Some of these migrants then experience abuse and exploitation. Other migrants are fraudulently sent by recruiters to India to be transported to jobs in the Gulf, only to remain in India in positions of forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation.

Government Response

Given the scale and complexity of the response required in India, it is significant that the Indian Government has taken steps to better communicate key elements of its anti-trafficking response. In 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs launched the ‘anti-trafficking portal’, which includes information on criminal justice statistics, anti-trafficking police units, government and law enforcement training, the anti-trafficking legislation, and reporting mechanisms, including the ChildLine hotline number. The portal does not appear to provide information about forced or bonded labour, which reflects a broader institutional separation between responses to bonded labour, which is the responsibility of the Department of Labour, and human trafficking, which is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. On paper, criminal justice reforms specific to human trafficking are the strongest component of India’s response to modern slavery.

In 2013, the government amended the Indian Penal code to include specific anti-trafficking provisions. In 2014, the government expanded the number of police anti-human trafficking units across the country to 215 units, aiming to establish a unit in 650 districts. The judiciary and over 20,000 law enforcement have received training on victim identification, the new legal framework, and victim-centered investigations. The government’s victim compensation scheme extends to human trafficking victims, however, the amount and efficiency of dispersal is largely dependent on the State administration, and is not available country-wide. Although bonded labour is criminalised, it is still a significant issue.

The government response to bonded labour is monitored by the National Human Rights Commission that reviews existing policies and practices, and provides training to district Magistrates, Deputy Commissioners, and other government officials. Reports suggest that most States are yet to implement the Supreme Court Order which required District Vigilance committees to undertake surveys to identify and release those in bonded labour, as already required by the Bonded Labour Act. The State of Karnataka is an exception and has made progress on the Order. Efforts need to be directed toward expanding and improving victim support services.

The Ujjawala project is a victim support programme that provides rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration services for commercial sexual exploitation victims, and trafficking prevention initiatives. In addition, the SWADHAR GREH scheme provides temporary accommodation and rehabilitation services for women and girls, including survivors of trafficking. While government shelters are required to register, there are no standards attached to registration, and no inspections or followup. The shelters have limited facilities and resources to provide holistic support and are currently only available for women and girls. Of particular concern are reports of traffickers re-recruiting women into trafficking from shelters.

Indian police are beginning to collaborate with regional counterparts on transnational human trafficking investigations. In 2014, Indian and Bangladeshi police undertook a joint investigation to identify two Bangladeshi girls sold into commercial sexual exploitation in India. Both girls were found and successfully repatriated; the offenders are being prosecuted under new anti-trafficking provisions.

Vulnerability

Dalits have the least social protections and are highly vulnerable to severe forms of exploitation and modern slavery. The limited ability for people to move out of this group increases their vulnerability. Approximately 90 percent of India’s labourers are in the informal economy, presenting risks associated with a highly unregulated and unmonitored work environment. Women and girls face significant discrimination and high rates of sexual violence across India.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to a string of rapes as a national ‘shame’, and there has been a raft of legislative and criminal justice reforms signalling some progress, women are still at risk of sexual assault and domestic violence. The rates of forced and servile marriage continue to trap women and girls in cycles of domestic servitude with few opportunities for education, meaningful employment or access to reproductive rights. Indian migrant workers actively seek jobs in construction and care industries, primarily in the Gulf, Europe and North America. From 2012 to 2015, there were more people leaving India than arriving, with most migrants seeking work through their networks rather than formal channels.29 Official migration processes are complex and often tainted by corruption, which further encourages irregular migration. These channels leave migrants with little recourse against practices such as unilateral contracts, dangerous working and living conditions, limited movement and access to communications, withholding of passports and wages, and physical and sexual abuse.

Recommendations to Government

Ratify and implement the Convention of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and the Domestic Workers Convention.
Require all States to follow up on the Supreme Court Judgment of October 15, 2012, to identify and release those in bonded labour.
Update regulations and processes for the implementation of the Bonded Labour Act, and report on its implementation.
Implement a new National Action Plan that targets the full spectrum of modern slavery.
Continue to strengthen protections for victims of modern slavery and ensure that they are not criminalised. Victims must be protected (including protecting their identities) throughout the duration of their court cases.

Parliament should pass strong anti-child labour law: Kailash Satyarthi

November 15, 2014 by Nasheman

New Delhi: On the occasion of Children’s Day Friday, Nobel laureate and child rights crusader Kailash Satyarthi urged parliament to pass a strong anti-child labour law in the upcoming session.

“I urge parliament to pass a strong anti-child labour law in the upcoming session as this has been pending for nearly two years,” Satyarthi appealed in a statement.

“I demand complete ban on all forms of child labour bringing the law in sync with Right to Education Act. I further demand prohibition of employment of children between 14-18 years in hazardous occupations and processes.

“Rehabilitation should be made an integral part of the legislation,” Satyarthi said.

Questioning the celebrations when “millions of children” are still working as labourers, Satyarthi said India needed to act immediately.

“While the nation is celebrating Children’s Day, millions of children are compelled to languish in various forms of labour from farms to mines and factories to homes. Their innocence, freedom and future are getting robbed and education denied,” he said.

“Unless they are brought back to the classrooms, any celebration is incomplete. A proud and progressive India has to act now,” he added.

Satyarthi along with Pakistan’s Malala Yousufzai won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

(IANS)

27 Child labourers rescued in Bengaluru

Child labour law amended: Children below 14 can now work in family businesses

48 children rescued from bangle factories in Hyderabad

No one should work this way – Asian domestic workers endure staggering abuse

Dalits have the least social protections and are highly vulnerable to severe forms of exploitation and modern slavery

Parliament should pass strong anti-child labour law: Kailash Satyarthi

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