Corona Daily 066: I Must Work to Eat

12 June is the “World Day against Child Labour”. Two distressing reports were released today in advance. One is an 87-page report by UNICEF and the other a 69-page report by the Human Rights Watch. The second report, “I must work to eat”, focuses on child labour in Ghana, Uganda and Nepal.

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Almost all the Nepalese children interviewed said their families’ income nosedived or was completely lost in the pandemic. Asim, 12, said his father was a barber but couldn’t work. Maimun, 13, is the son of farmers. They had to throw away the tomato and cauliflower crop because there was nowhere to sell them. Rupa, 14, said both her parents lost work. They drank a lot and fought with each other about money.

Rajesh, 14, said, “I was so desperate (to study online) but we didn’t have money to buy a phone.” Nepal’s Ministry of Education worked to develop remote learning options, but two-thirds of Nepali children were unable to access them. 

Amir, 14, said, “There was nothing to do at home since school shut down. And with everybody at home, we started to run out of food quickly. I decided to go to work because what else was I going to do?”

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The children interviewed worked in brick kilns, carpet factories, in construction, as mechanics, rickshaw drivers, carpenters, and as street vendors selling tea, balloons, masks and other goodies. Most of them worked for more than eight hours daily, some more than twelve hours. Children reported fatigue, dizziness; pain in the back, legs, knees, hands, fingers and eyes from carrying heavy loads, repetitive motions and sitting for extended periods.

Some children described work that was hazardous. In Uganda and Ghana, children carried heavy bags of ore at gold mining sites, crushed the ore with hammers, breathed in dust and fume from processing machines, and handled toxic mercury to extract gold from the ore. At stone quarries, some children reported injuries from flying stones, including sharp particles that got into their eyes. Children showed the interviewers their injuries.

Most were paid very little, at times nothing. A 12 year old boy from Ghana said he worked 11 hours a day carting fish to market, but was paid only 2-3 cedis per day ($0.34-$0.52). “On many days, I go very hungry”, he told the researchers.

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The UNICEF report tells us the scale of the problem. One in every ten children is subjected to labour, some are enslaved or worse (prostitution, pornography, used in armed conflict, drug trafficking). Worldwide 160 million children (aged 5-17) are engaged in child labour, 79 million of them performing dangerous work. The figure includes 97 million boys, and 63 million girls. However, the work done by girls at home is neither paid for nor counted.

The United Nations planned to eradicate child labour by 2025. Unfortunately, since 2016, the progress had stopped. Pandemic has aggravated the situation. Asia and Latin America saw some progress in the last decade, however in sub-Saharan Africa, the picture has become increasingly worse.

Contrary to what we think, most children (72%) work within their family unit. This includes hazardous work, though ‘family’ is usually understood as a safe work environment. 25% of the youngest children (5-11) and 50% of teenagers in family-based set-up end up harming their health, safety or morals.

The agricultural sector accounts for the largest share (70%). Employing child labour on farms is taken for granted in many rural areas.

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Now in the second year of the pandemic, with global lockdowns, school closures, loss of jobs, economic disruptions, and shrinking national budgets, many families and children themselves are left without a choice.

Formal schooling not only educates, it keeps a child engaged and away from illegal labour. Opening schools must be the first priority of any country.

Offering economic assistance to poor families by cash transfer or free food is another necessary measure. However, many governments in Asia and Africa are themselves running out of resources.

The G7 meet begins tomorrow. To get rid of the coronavirus, G7 may decide to assist poor countries with vaccines. Will the group ever think of helping them to eradicate child labour?  

Ravi