South Asia Congress on Child Labour and Education

Free and Compulsory Education to become a Reality, claims Arjun Singh

Historical announcement on World Day Against Child Labour

12 June 2008, New Delhi: On the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labour, 12 June 2008, in New Delhi, Shri. Arjun Singh, Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development made the historic announcement that “The Right to Education Act will be tabled in the next session of the Parliament.” This will impact the lives of millions of children for whom free and compulsory education remains a distant dream. The announcement came during the South Asia Congress on Child Labour and Education organised by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Global March Against Child Labour.

Shri. Singh further elaborated that India’s leading civil society movement for the rights of the children Bachpan Bachao Andolan, and the his ministry’s flagship programme on Education for all, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would have to work hand in hand to solve the problem of illiteracy and exploitation of children.

The civil society has been demanding to make education a fundamental right for years. After several campaigns including a 15,000 km long Shiksha Yatra, the 86th Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament that incorporated Art. 21 A into the Constitution making education a fundamental right. However, this was far from achieving the goal of Education For All as Art. 21 A remained non-enforceable. This announcement is the result of tireless effort by Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Global March Against Child Labour, who have been demanding that Right to Education Act is enforced by the central government.

Suimali from Sri Lanka, Birija from Nepal, Prashant from Pakistan and Om Prakash, winner of the International Children’s Peace Prize shared the inaugural dais with Sheila Dikshit. Smt. Dikshit alleged “It is a matter of shame for all of us that our civilization is 5000 years and we have not been able to eradicate this heinous and inhuman practice of child labour. It is our shame and we must invoke shame in those employers and trafficker and unscrupulous people who benefit from this practice.” She implored all those present in the Congress to come up with ideas and concrete solutions that can be implemented by the Delhi government and reiterated her governments’ readiness to adopt them.

Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson, Global March Against Child Labour called for focus on the ILO Conventions 138 on Minimum Age of Employment and 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour. He reiterated the need to respond urgently to the cries of children like Naushad, rescued on the eve of World Day Against Child Labour from a zari sweatshop in New Delhi. Naushad, 9 year old boy represents the millions of children trafficked for forced labour from poor regions wasting their childhood ill-lit claustrophobic sweatshops. Abused and beaten when the cry for their mothers, these children need the light of hope, air of liberation and power of education to overcome their traumatic situation, and they can not wait any longer for this.

Anees Jillani, Advocate and civil society leader from Pakistan came up with the slogan of a “Child labour free Delhi”. K Kekulandara, Education Secretary Sri Lanka elaborated on the situation of education in his country and emphasized the need for more inter-country exchanges like this for the benefit of children in South Asia, while Commissioner Gauri Pradhan of the NHRC Nepal brought focus to the need to greater policy coherence and coordination in elimination of child labour and education for all.
 
A unique communiqué was drafted by the policy makers, media representatives and the children reflecting the demands, aspirations and hope of all to end child labour and ensure education for all. A unanimous call for a complete ban on child labour and exploitation of all children came from all groups, to ensure a child friendly world.

This high profile South Asia Congress was attended by 200 delegates from Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India, including former child labourers, children affected by conflict, out-of-school children, children of marginalised and disadvantaged communities, country representatives of international organisations, UN bodies and several leading NGO leaders, eminent leaders from the media and academicians. The World Day Against Child Labour brought the most promising commitment for millions of children of South Asia and globally languishing in various forms of child labour and education as a tool.

Preamble

On 12 June 2008, (world day against child labour) 70 children and more than 100 policy makers, representatives of the NGOs, governments, media and UN agencies, came together from 4 countries of South Asia – India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to discuss and share the problems that are being faced (or continue to be faced) in receiving a quality education, and the exploitative conditions faced by the child labourers, victims of trafficking for forced labour, out-of-school children, children belonging to tribal, nomadic and marginalised communities, victims of man-made and natural disasters, especially the girls. Together with Parliamentarians, policy makers, representatives of UN agencies, civil society representatives, concerned individuals from corporations and media, the children set out to map out the main issues that they believe governments, policy makers, corporations, media and the larger civil society should be focusing on to ensure that every girl and boy in the world are guaranteed the fundamental right to education, and are free from all forms of economic exploitation.

The child delegates were children that have first hand experience of being denied their right to education, and know better than anyone the urgency of meeting the education for all goals and the ILO Conventions of worst forms of child labour; how education has helped them overcome the trauma of being a child labourer or a victim of child trafficking. Education has been for these children a beacon of hope and a bridge that has helped them take the leap into mainstream society facilitating their social rehabilitation and reintegration. The Congress heard varied, and often heart-rending, accounts from children who had been directly affected by these problems. For instance: girls from Nepal gave speeches on the effects conflict has had on their education, children from Pakistan explained what it is like to have your life and education interrupted by poverty and unemployment in family, children from poverty stricken rural areas in the state of Bihar explained how after a failed agricultural season their parents could no longer afford to send them to school, former child labourers explained how happy they are now to be free from toil and receiving an education, other school going children, who represented the quality of education, shared how frustrating it is to receive an education that is so meaningless that they aren’t learning anything of value.

The presentations – drama, role-play, etc. by the children and the panellists acted as a springboard for further debate on the problems that are faced by child labourers, all children face in receiving an education, the need for greater policy coherence and programme coordination, synchronisation among the different agencies working with children, the important role mass media, awareness and advocacy plays in reaching the unreached. The participants also discussed on the commonality of shared experiences with other children in the world, keeping in mind that these experiences are just a snapshot of the problems encountered by the more than 72 million children around the world who are out of school and more than 214 million children toiling as child labourers. The communiqué was drafted keeping all these children in mind, taking inputs from the policy session, the corporate and media session, in the understanding that an international audience is receiving and would receive the document.

The final session of the Congress focused on what the child delegates, policy makers, civil society representatives and media believed governments of the world should be doing to ensure a child friendly world and to achieve education for all goals. During the final session, they drafted the Communiqué that follows, lively debate ensued and what is contained below is the final set of demands that were thrashed out over a much-extended final session. 

Let it be clear, that the Communiqué reflects so little of the raw emotion shared at the Congress, there were tears and laughter and learning from all present. One thing was apparent; these children understood the value of education in their lives, and what they want more than anything is the chance to move beyond their exploitative situation and receive a quality education. Do not let them - and the millions more children who are toiling as child labourers and missing an education – down.

South Asia Congress on Child Labour and Education - Communiqué

Children’s Session:

1. Child labour should be completely abolished. No children should work.

2. All children should go to school.

3. Education should be free. School fees and all materials related to school should be free.

4. Girls and boys should get the same education.

5. Children should be provided with good schools, with all the basic amenities and facilities in the school.

6. In every government and private school there should be the same education; education at government schools should be as good quality as private schools.

7. The governments should make arrangements for education for needy children, tribal children (like Tharu children), children of minority communities and with special focus girls.

8. Communal violence and tensions should be stopped, so that children are able to enjoy their childhood and get an education.

9. Children themselves should be allowed to participate and voice their demands in any matter that relate to them.

10. Special schooling should be provided to child labourers so that they can then go to normal school.

11. During natural disasters and other difficulties special arrangements should be made for children and, at that time, special arrangements should also be made for education.

12. There should be quality education, and that means:

1. Trained teachers, who know how to teach, and want to teach
2. There should be medical facilities in school
3. Games and fun in school
4. Participation of children in school planning and lessons

13. Special education and school arrangements need to be made for children with disabilities, especially former child labourers who have been afflicted with disabilities during work.

Policy Session:

14. A holistic approach toward elimination of child labour and provision of education for all children should be adopted, with a move towards a complete ban on child labour.

15. Promote alliances between policy makers and practitioners, at various levels including the target groups for synchronised policy planning and implementation.

16. Education Policy should ensure that the fundamental right of education is enforced. Education should be free and compulsory as well as meaningful.

17. Promote deeper and genuine partnerships, between governments, bilateral, multilateral, inter-departmental, inter-agency and civil society organisations, trade unions and employers organisations, teachers associations, and co-operations within and across countries.

18. Strengthen collaborative efforts with local/municipal governments and NGOs, education and vocational training and poverty reduction programmes.

19. Develop and enforce concise and clearly defined legislation and policies that all ambiguity and doubts are removed – be it about the minimum age of employment, or rescue and rehabilitation of children currently in labour.

20. Replicate good practices and adopt blue print models for elimination of child labour and promotion of education for all.

Media and Advocacy Session:

21. Media should be community based and community driven, reflecting the voices and needs of the most downtrodden.

22. Raising awareness on the issue- an important means of prevention of trafficking and child labour.

23. Give a genuine and rights based representation of the stories of the survivors of trafficking and child labour.

24. Be sensitive to the special needs of children especially girls including privacy; protect the wishes and the rights of the children by ensuring that there is no undue pressure during interviews or other communication with them.  
    
    
25. Document and promote good practices to end trafficking and child labour. 

Background and rationale

Child labour is a critical obstacle in the path of children's development and society's sustainable development. Children who must spend the most important stage of their lives striving merely to survive are denied the opportunity to develop to their full potential. One in every eight children 5 to 17 years old - 179 million - work in the worst forms of child labour. There are around 300,000 child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict worldwide, some younger than 10 years old. In the 21st century as bonded or forced labour with more than 12.3 million forced labour victims worldwide out of which 2.4 are victims of trafficking, according to ILO’s Global Alliance Against Forced Labour Report.

South Asia

• The vast majority of the world's slaves are in South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
• Millions of children in India are given up by their families into virtual slavery as domestic workers.
• Despite a ban on employing children under 14, India's labour ministry recently said there are 12.6 million children aged between 5 and 14 working, the largest number of child labourers in the world.

In the recent progress reports on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) and the Education For All (EFA) targets have identified that child labour is the major obstacle to access to education. The 2007 EFA Global Monitoring Report indicated that 77 million primary age children are still not enrolled in school and many countries risk not achieving the 2015 target.  The Report stated that “Education for all requires an inclusive approach that emphasizes the need to reach groups that might not otherwise have access to education and learning” it called for policies aimed at “reaching the unreached including the policies to overcome the need for child labour”.

The Global March firmly believes that ending the economic exploitation of children can only be possible when free, compulsory and quality education is assured for all children regardless of gender, race, religion, and social or economic status. The elimination of child labour and education for all are two sides of one coin. One cannot be achieved without provision for the other. With governments, international agencies and civil society committing not to let education for all fail due to lack of funds, the elimination of child labour becomes a realistic goal. All stakeholders must take this inseparable relationship into account in their policymaking, law enforcement, budgetary measures and developmental aid in order for all children to enjoy their childhood with books, and not with tools and labour.

The theme for this year’s World Day Against Child Labour is rightfully “Education is the Right Response to Child Labour”. Education, as has been amply demonstrated, is the only approach that should be adopted by all the stakeholders and social leaders to end exploitation of children.

The World Day Against Child Labour has a huge significance for the Global March movement; the voice of the global marchers was heard and reflected in the draft of the ILO Convention 182 against the worst forms of child labour. The following year in 1999, the Convention was unanimously adopted at the ILO Conference in Geneva on 12 June, and later marked as the World Day Against Child Labour commemorating the voices of millions of children around the world demanding an end to child labour and all forms of exploitation of children.

Child Participation is at the core of Global March vision and action. Global March believes that children are subjects of rights, rather than merely recipients of adult protection, and that those rights demand that children themselves are entitled to be heard. This is further reinforced by ILO Recommendation 190 on the implementation of ILO Convention 182 (concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour) which states: The programmes of action referred to in Article 6 of the Convention should be designed and implemented as a matter of urgency, in consultation with relevant government institutions and employers' and workers' organizations, taking into consideration the views of the children directly affected by the worst forms of child labour, their families and, as appropriate, other concerned groups...”

The best way the children can truly learn that they have rights and come to believe in them through the process of acting on them. Having a voice about their rights is therefore essential to push for their fulfilment.

Objectives: South Asia Regional Congress on Child Labour and Education aims to

• Visibility and Advocacy: on the issues of child labour and education in the South Asia region amongst main stakeholder groups such as policy makers, government agencies, bilateral and multilateral agencies, academia, workers associations, corporations, children’s groups and representations, media and other civil society groups
• Promote Child Participation – and genuine representation of children’s voices and demands at the regional policy forum
• Knowledge Sharing – on various facets of child labour, worst forms, education strategies, corporate social strategies, etc.

Event:

• Release of Standard Operating Procedure on Trafficking of Forced Labour
• One day South Asia Regional Congress at Constitutional club, Rafii Ahmed Kidwai Marg, Opposite Shram Shakti Bhawan
• Fundraising and Musical Concert evening

Date:

Congress: 11 June 2008
Congress: 12 June 2008
Concert: 13 June 2008

Participants:

• Representatives from South Asia – civil society members, representatives from Government. Academia, and media representatives.
• Selected representatives from various international organisations and donors will also be invited to participate.
• Selected participants from the private sector