Monday, December 11, 2006 Oledan: Human rights tragedy By Radzini Oledan Slice of Life
THEY are recruited on false promises of education, professional training and paid employment; transported within and across national borders; ordered into hazardous, exploitative labor; subjected to physical and mental abuse by their employers; and, if they escape or are released, denied the protections necessary to reintegrate them into society.
The International Labor Organization estimates there are about 250 million children between five and 14 who are made to work in developing countries with about a half of them working on full time basis.
The ILO data also pointed out that most of these children work in agricultural plantations, while some of them work as domestic helpers, while others are in trade, services, manufacturing and construction.
Girls, especially those coming from rural areas, are trafficked into domestic and market work while boys are trafficked into agricultural work. In urban areas, children could be found working in trade and services.
They are among the thousands of children who work long hours, often in dangerous and unhealthy conditions and regularly exposed to lasting physical and psychological harm.
Child Alert-Mindanao said because children do not demand for collective bargaining agreement, some unscrupulous individuals bring them to factories, service providers and even brothels where they are work without the respect for their basic rights.
In the Davao Region, there were reports that some children were found working in the mining areas of Monkayo, Compostela Valley, while others were found in sugar plantations in Davao del Sur.
Working in these industries has left a number of children with eye damage, respiratory diseases and stunted growth.
Child workers frequently work for long hours in scorching heat, haul heavy loads of produce, are exposed to toxic substances, and suffer high rates of injury from dangerous tools.
Their work is grueling and harsh, violating their rights to health, education, and protection from work that is hazardous or exploitative. Denied an education and a normal childhood, some of them are confined and beaten, practically reduced to slavery.
There are also children who are denied freedom of movement-the right to leave the workplace and go home to their families. Some are abducted and forced to work.
These children work for too many hours and too many days, for too little, or sometimes no pay, subject often to physical abuse, exposed to dangerous pesticides, and made to work with too dangerous tools.
However, recruitment of these children cannot be stopped by their own community. Often, it is all about survival for the whole family.
Despite the promises, many would not have any opportunity to go to school, or are forced to drop out because of the demands of their jobs.
But they remain invisible. They work alone in individual households and hidden from public scrutiny.
On 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has become a universal standard for defending and promoting human rights.
Every year on 10 December, Human Rights Day marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration. On Human Rights Day it is celebrated around the globe that "All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms".
Everyday, the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the purposes of sexual or labor exploitation continues. Trafficking of children is a human rights tragedy.
