The Human Right That Keeps on Giving

Op-ed by Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Laureate & Commissioner at International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity

NEW DELHI – In Côte d’Ivoire, I once met a boy working on a cocoa farm whose only dream was someday to taste the rich brown chocolate he helped produce. And in Pakistan, I once rescued a boy who sewed footballs and wished only to play with the product of his work.

In the course of more than three decades of defending children’s rights – including rescuing tens of thousands of children from bonded labor and slavery, among them little girls who were trafficked from their homeland for sexual exploitation – I have met young people from many backgrounds. But, whether they are child laborers or victims of war who have lost everything, all have something in common: an indomitable urge to study. They want nothing more than to pick up a book, go to school, and improve their lives through education.

According to UNESCO, every additional year of schooling a young person receives increases their average future earnings by 10%, and can boost countries’ average annual GDP growth by 0.37%. Education doesn’t only break the shackles of human slavery; it can also fuel social, economic, and political change.

Recognition of education’s importance is enshrined in many United Nations treaties and international declarations, and in the constitutions of its member countries. Education is not just a fundamental human right, but also an enabling right – essential for the exercise of all others. With such a powerful tool available to us, we should be doing whatever we can to use it.

To that end, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Malawian President Peter Mutharika, and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova have convened the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity.

Chaired by United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown, the Education Commission (as it is more widely known) brings together a committed and diverse group of experienced individuals who share a belief in the importance of accessible schools for all. I am both proud and humbled to be a member of the Commission, which has developed a bold agenda to turn today’s global youth into a “learning generation.”

Currently, millions of children are being denied quality education, and 263 million children are out of school worldwide – including 63 million in conflict zones and another 30 million who have disabilities. Millions cannot go to school because they are trapped in child labor and slavery, fueling a lifelong cycle of poverty and illiteracy. Poor children who are forced to perform unskilled repetitive tasks fail to learn anything else, which erodes their future employability and puts them on a path toward continued hardship in adulthood. Only education can stop this cycle and give children the means to secure a future free from exploitation.

Meanwhile, 600 million children who are in school are missing out on the full benefits of education because they are not learning basic skills. Young people who haven’t learned the skills they need to participate in the global economy are becoming disillusioned, which makes them more likely to find outlets in extremism or crime.

These numbers tell a story of education in crisis. But it’s worth mentioning that in 2000 the total number of out-of-school children was almost one-quarter higher, at 374 million, than it is today. This improvement proves that we can still build a better, more equitable, and sustainable world through education.

Fortunately, many countries are now implementing sound policies to do just that, including abolishing school fees, starting school meal programs, and using cash transfers to provide educational opportunities in poor communities. Moreover, at the international level, the fourth UN Sustainable Development Goal encapsulates a new commitment by member countries to ensure inclusive, quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all people by 2030.

SDG 4 is ambitious, but achieving it is imperative if the world is to meet the other 16 SDGs. The Education Commission’s new report, “The Learning Generation: Investing in Education for a Changing World,” recommends a targeted approach and greater investment aimed at the hardest-to-reach children – those who are in child labor, suffering from disabilities, affected by conflicts, or excluded from education simply because they are girls.

The Education Commission proposes a strategy that fosters empathetic, compassionate, and respectful youth leaders who can show their peers that peace and innovation are worthy alternatives to fundamentalism and extremism. And, because education is ultimately a public good furnished by states, we advise governments to increase their investment in schools, either with domestic resources, international support, or private-sector partnerships.

The Education Commission’s report was presented to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at this month’s UN General Assembly summit, and we hope that world leaders will take notice and begin to translate its recommendations into action.

A childhood without education isn’t a childhood at all, and every youth who is out of school is one too many. We must act urgently to provide universal primary education by 2030. Creating a “learning generation” is a moral responsibility we all share – and a legacy all subsequent generations will carry on if we can just take the first, crucial steps.

Trabajo Infantil en Panamá

Unos de los problemas que presentan los niños y niñas de este país es la falta de educación, los niños y niñas a temprana edad viajan de los campos a las ciudades ya que en los campos las personas trabajan para satisfacer sus necesidades y no generan dinero.

Debido a su bajo nivel de escolaridad no les permite trabajar en una empresa, buscan trabajos como empleados domésticos en casas de familias, donde viven diferentes problemas  ocasionados por  sus jefes. Es un problema que se vive día a día, ya que las regiones más lejanas del país no tienen servicios y están alejadas de las oportunidades del país. Hay una gran desigualdad entre los pobladores del campo y la ciudad. Como adolescentes líderes hemos trabajado para salir adelante, necesitamos unir fuerzas para erradicar el trabajo infantil en nuestro país y así disminuir la tasa de niños y niñas  sin una educación de calidad.

Juan Camaño.

18 Años.

Pertenezco al grupo Fraternidad por los niños y niñas Veragüenses.

Santiago, Veraguas.

En el presente trabajo como maestro de escuela primaria para poder ahorrar dinero y continuar la Universidad el próximo año.

Estudio de caso del trabajo infantil en el trabajo doméstico en Costa Rica

DNI Costa Rica cuenta con una línea de atención a víctimas de trata, esclavitud moderna, abuso sexual y toda forma de violencia, donde se brinda atención psicosocial y legal. Llamada “Línea Mano Amiga”.

Por lo que de manera regular se reciben llamadas en donde se hacen consultas acerca derechos laborales. En el siguiente caso se ejemplifica un tipo de violación de derechos humanos  que sufren las personas adolescentes, en ella se podrá encontrar el tipo de intervención que se realizó por parte de la organización.

Se recibe una llamada de una adolescente de 16 años, de una comunidad urbana marginal. Comenta que está realizando trabajo doméstico en donde realiza funciones como limpieza, preparación de alimentos y el cuido de dos niños. La adolescente llama para hacer una consulta sobre sus posibilidades de seguir estudiando, dado que la señora donde trabaja no le permite ir al colegio. Por teléfono nos damos cuenta que la adolescente tiene horarios laborales muy extensos; de las 6 am hasta 8 o 9 de la noche, que solamente tiene un día libre, pero durante este día generalmente recibe una llamada de la empleadora solicitando “su colaboración” para cuidar a los niños para que puede hacer mandados.

Atención proporcionada:

• Después de una intervención telefónica en donde se le explica a la adolescente acerca de sus derechos laborales con relación al horario, pago, funciones a realizar, etc. se decide visitarla en la comunidad para poder brindar una atención individualizada.
• En una cita, en la comunidad, donde se atienda a la adolescente en un espacio comunitario (local de una Asociación de Desarrollo) se profundice sobre la situación de la adolescente y se determina que la adolescente vive situaciones severas de abuso y de explotación ya que existe un abuso psicológico y manipulación constante de la empleadora hacia la adolescente, descalificándola y criticándola de manera permanente. También la adolescente no goza de ninguna protección y garantías laborales y el salario que percibe es bastante bajo. También las horas que laboran sobrepasan lo permitido y además realiza funciones, como es el cuido de los niños, que no son permitidos por ley.
• Se hace una visita al trabajo de la adolescente en donde se conversa con la empleadora y en donde se informa a la señora acerca de la legislación existente. La señora manifiesta que le es imposible poder cumplir con la normativa dado que le significaría que gran parte de sus ingresos tendría que gastar en una empleada doméstica. Se sugiere a la señora alternativas para el cuido de sus hijos y se le informa que esta situación no puede perdurar dado que violan los derechos (laborales) de la adolescente.
• Se informa a la oficina de protección al trabajador adolescente del Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social sobre la situación y la intervención que se está dando.
• Junto con la adolescente se inicia a buscar un nuevo trabajo, de acorde a la normativa y que le permite retomar sus estudios, entrando nuevamente al colegio nocturno de su comunidad.
• Se logra encontrar otro trabajo para la adolescente, que le permite estudiar y en donde cuenta con las condiciones necesarias para su protección.
• Asimismo se apoya a la adolescente en matricularse en el colegio nocturno para que vuelve a retomar sus estudios.
• Se mantiene un contacto telefónico de manera regular para garantizar que la adolescente se encuentra en condiciones adecuadas.  

Lutte contre le Travail des Enfants au Bénin : « Recrutement et Placement des enfants »

Eduquer un enfant est un sacerdoce dont certains parents se sont désengagés. Des êtres si fragiles qui n’ont pas demandés à naitre et qui se retrouvent pris par les tourments de la vie et condamnés à survivre.

Aujourd’hui près de 178 millions d’enfants sont au travail, dont 120 millions âgés de 5 à 14 ans.

5millions d’enfants sont considérés, en situation d’esclavage. Des chiffres accablants et révoltants. Ce qui consiste en une violation des droits de l’enfant (extrait doc Plan Bénin).

De l’aide familiale, au champ, à l’exploitation, dans les mines ou dans la construction, le travail des enfants revêt des formes très différentes au Bénin.

Ainsi les enfants sont envoyés des campagnes vers les villes, mais  aussi vers les pays  voisins comme le Nigéria pour aller travailler dans des carrières de pierre, ou la côte d’ivoire. Loin  des leurs, ils se retrouvent  dans une situation de vulnérabilités extrêmes et soumis à toutes les formes possibles d abus : heures de travail excessives, violence physique et verbale, violences sexuelles…..

Mais la pratique la plus courante est celle des enfants vendeurs ambulants, apprentis, manœuvres ou aides de maison.

Pour assouvir les besoins fondamentaux que sont : se nourrir, se loger et se vêtir ; ces enfants se retrouvent très tôt confronter aux aléas et méandres de la vie active. D’autres se retrouvent au sein de chaine de production très complexe qui usent leur santé, leurs vie, leur épanouissement. Certains enfants se prostituent pour se nourrir. D’autres habitent et dorment dans des espaces publics comme le marché international ‘’Dantokpa’’ et le stade de l’amitié ‘’General Mathieu Kerekou’’. D’autres ne voient leur salut qu’en rejoignant les bandes organisées qui sèment la désolation et le chaos dans les villes.

Tout ceci constitue une violation majeure des droits de l’enfant Bénin. Et il convient donc  de combattre le phénomène de la  façon la plus juste qu’il soit.

Heureusement que beaucoup d’ONG Nationales ou Internationales (LERB, ESAM, Global March, Plan International Bénin, UNICEF etc…) se mobilisent à travers des campagnes de sensibilisations, des campagnes de préventions en agissant sur les causes profondes que sont :

• la pauvreté,
• l’éducation,
• l’amélioration des cursus et de l’accueil scolaire,
• le changement des mentalités,
• la politique etc … Pour essayer de faire diminuer ces taux alarmants.

Car  ‘’Chaque enfant qu’on enseigne, est un homme qu’on gagne’’ dixit Victor Hugo. En renchérissant, on pourra dire ‘’ chaque enfant qu’on éduque est un bénéfice pour sa nation’’

On peut donc dire que la lutte contre la traite des enfants est un travail de fourmi, mais qui donne des résultats durables. C’est là l’objectif de l’ONG LERB  et de ses partenaires  dont GLOBAL MARCH.

Francine TOUPE ENIANLOKO

Présidente de l’ONG LERB (Les Enfants de la Rue Bénin)

Child Labour in Humanitarian Crisis

In today’s volatile world, more than 100 million people are in an urgent need of humanitarian assistance, of which 50 percent are children. More than 60 million people have been displaced and are facing extreme situations due to conflict, emergencies and natural disasters. Some of the major consequences of these are mass displacement, separation of families, loss of parents, lack of opportunities in the formal labour market, increased poverty, and greater chances of children going missing and becoming invisible. Prone to more vulnerability, children in such delicate times remain the worst sufferers who continue to be attacked, used as combatants, abused physically and sexually, raped and forced into some of the most abusive forms of work such as sex slavery and soldiering. UNICEF estimates that 50-60% of the population affected by disasters is children and nearly a billion children live in countries that were affected by conflict in 2013 or 2014 alone. However, lack of basic preparedness standards during natural or man-made disasters, and the emergency preparedness plans that do exist, have often failed to address the needs of the children, hence intensifying the need for child-friendly crisis plans and policies.

Given the mentioned backdrop, in the absence of educational systems for children, due to legal and social barriers to employment for adults and cultural inappropriateness for women to work, millions of children go missing into the shackles of bonded or forced labour in the hopes that resources gained will enable other family members to survive. Moreover, there are a large number of children that migrate unaccompanied and eventually find themselves in the worst forms of child labour. These children who are breadwinners of their families or who are trafficked and forced into slavery, are often labelled as ‘invisible or missing children’.

Due to the ongoing conflict in Syria, it is estimated that 1 in 10 Syrian refugee children in the region are engaged in child labour. Children affected by the conflict are at serious risk of becoming trafficked, abused, exploited, raped and in some cases beaten to death. Millions are out of school and it is feared that Syria is losing a whole generation of its youth.  Nearly 5 years into the Syrian war, some 4 million Syrian and host community children and youth aged 5-17 years are in need of education assistance, including 2.1 million out-of-school children inside Syria and 700,000 Syrian children in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. But with no political solution in sight to one of the most brutal conflicts the world has seen in decades, the number of children missing out on an education continues to climb. It is no co-incidence that the countries with the highest numbers of child labourers-Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan that have been affected by longstanding conflict and emergency situations-are also the countries with the highest out of school populations.

Comparative analysis between war‐affected and non‐war‐affected regions done by ILO reveals that child economic activity is higher in the war‐affected regions than in the regions that enjoyed relative security. A recent analysis further emphasises that adolescents, specifically girls, are the age group that is most frequently missed by international assistance. Therefore it is not an understatement to say that without targeted national and international efforts, children and adolescents will continue to face barriers and miss out on education, miss out on social protection and remain at risk of being abused, injured and face death, during conflicts and emergencies.

It cannot be false to say that these problems are intensified by the absence of a strong and effective child protection system, including the lack of policies backed by adequate resources, capacity and measures to improve child protection in emergencies.

It is important to note that true prevalence of child labour is always higher than what is reported. Because child labour is illegal in many countries, refugee families and employers in the host countries often hide the practice for fear of legal consequences. It is often difficult to track the occurrence of child labour in such situations as many children are engaged in irregular, short-term jobs that change daily and in unpaid work. Also because of the frequent movement of the refugees, children engaged in work go unnoticed.

Nearly a year ago the world witnessed another grave emergency in Nepal as two earthquakes killed an estimated 8,500 people and injured another 20,000 in Nepal. An estimated 12,000 Nepalese children are trafficked every year, but since the two catastrophic earthquakes, the threat of  child rights abuses with many reported cases of trafficking, child marriage, child labour and violence against children is said to be even higher.

According to a recent report from the European Union’s intelligence agency, nearly 10,000 refugee children have gone missing- many being feared to have fallen in the hands of organised trafficked syndicates.

Education is a proven strategy to reduce and eliminate child labour and violence against children in crisis situations. Education is a necessary tool to break the cycle of poverty faced by displaced children. However, despite several emergency situations that the world has seen, the financing for education along with financing for children specifically remains low, leaving millions of children without any hope for their future.

The Secretary-General’s Report on World Humanitarian Summit, that is going to be held in Mat in Istanbul, turkey this year,  brings some optimism, as he focuses on the fact that now every country should have inclusive national developmental strategies, laws, economic and social policies and safety nets to protect and respect all vulnerable people including children.

The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015, wherein world leaders committed to ensuring inclusive and quality education, eliminating forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and ending all forms of violence against children represented in Goal 4, 8.7 and 16.2, provides the impetus to this bold ambition. It is now a legal and moral responsibility of the heads of states, global leaders in business, NGOs and people affected by crises to create a more humane world and ensure no one is left behind and those furthest behind are reached first.

Global March Against Child Labour works to advocate for rights of vulnerable children engulfed in the cruelties of war, disasters and emergencies. We believe that every child has a right to a safe environment and a happy childhood- free of abuses and exploitation.

Therefore in our engagements with partners, world leaders, NGOs, Governments and people like you, we stress on the fact that humanitarian response mechanisms that the world currently is used to, during the times of emergencies, needs reform and greater inclusion of child protection measures and targeted programmes to eliminate child labour, child slavery and child trafficking.

While you and your child may feel secure right now, there are millions of children who feel the opposite due to the harsh circumstances they are facing. You and we together can make a difference to the lives of such children, by only raising our voices and concerns about them. Join our efforts to talk more and more about greater inclusion of child labour in humanitarian assistance efforts and need for proper child protection measures for prevention of worst forms of child labour in the fragile states and the countries hosting refugees.

You can join our movement by copy pasting the following line in your Facebook/Twitter Feed and tag us and World Humanitarian Summit in the same.

Facebook: “Greater inclusion of child slavery, child trafficking and prevention of worst forms of child labour is needed in humanitarian response mechanism.” Global March Against Child Labour WHSummit

Twitter: ““Greater inclusion of child slavery, child trafficking and prevention of worst forms of child labour is needed in humanitarian response mechanism.” @kNOwchidlabour @WHSummit

Every voice raised for the rights of children is a movement in itself. By speaking more and more about children's rights we can ensure that the concerned authorities are listening and we cannot do this without you.