Child Labor in Asia

The Asia-Pacific
region has the
largest number of
child workers in
the 5-14 age
group in the world
some 127
million, about 60%
of working children
worldwide.
~ LO Report on Labour and Social
Trends in Asia and the Pacific, 2005
Child Labor in South Asia
hat is "CHLD LABOR"?
There is no universally
accepted definition of
child labor.
"Child labor" is, generally
speaking, work for
children that harms them
or exploits them in some
way (physically, mentally,
morally, or by blocking
access to education).
Garbage Picker, ndia 1993
Is aII work is bad for
chiIdren?
Some child workers
themselves think that illegal
work should not be considered
in the definition of "child labor."
The reason: These child
workers would like to be
respected for their legal work,
because they feel they have
no other choice but to work.
On the outskirts of Dhaka, chiIdren heat and
mix rubber in a barreI at a baIIoon factory.
A young Pakistani girl carries a load of wool
down a street in a poor section of Peshawar.
Pakistan has laws that limit child labor, but
the laws are often ignored. An estimated 11
million children work in Pakistan's factories.
A boy works in a tea stall in a
small village in Nepal. Nepal is
one of the world's poorest
countries, forcing huge numbers
of children to do hard labor. For a
majority of children in Nepal,
education is a luxury.
Sakina, 9, and Javed, 6, work
on a carpet loom at a small
workshop in Kabul.
Afghanistan's deep poverty
forces many children to work in
adult jobs.
A young Burmese boy climbs
on top of piles of teak wood in
a government-run lumberyard
in Pyin Ma Bin. The boy's job is
to label the teak wood. The
wood is common in Myanmar
and is in high demand in Japan
and most of Asia.
This 9-year-old girl used to work
long hours weaving rugs in a
carpet factory. Today, she is
enrolled in a Rugmark school in
ndia. Rugmark is an organization
working to end child labor and
provide educational opportunities
for children. For child laborers all
over the world, education is the
ticket to a better future.
Circus performers, ndia 1995
Children work long hours, practice
dangerous acts, and only the best
and those who manage to survive
continue their lives as performers. A
circus may have dozens of small
children; there are few teenagers
and fewer adult performers.
Garbage Pickers, ndia 1993 and 1995
lectroplate worker, ndia 1993: The
educated use of protective equipment
by electroplaters is extremely
important in preventing contact with
various metals and acids. The
minimum protective equipment should
include gloves, aprons, boots, and
chemical handlers' goggles. Aprons
should come below the top of the
boots.
Metal workers, ndia 1995: Children in factories such as this make polished metal
tableware. They use high speed polishing machines and the noise in these factories
is overwhelming. No doubt most of the workers suffer hearing loss from the loud
noise.
Carpet eaver, Nepal
1993: There are between
60 and 115 million child
laborers in ndia; of these,
at least 15 million work as
bonded laborers. Bonded
labor refers to working in a
condition of servitude in
order to pay a debt. Most
often the debt is incurred
by a child's parents or
relatives. The debt is paid-
off by labor. Children sold
into debt bondage work
long hours for many years
in order to pay the debt.
n ndia and Nepal there are an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 children who
work as bonded laborers making carpets. Shop owners say that they need the
good eyesight and fine fingers of children to make carpets. However, adults, not
children, produce the h ighest quality, more finely-knotted carpets.
Brick worker, ndia 1993
Throughout much of the world, bricks are made by hand. ven a small brick
factory may produce as many as 500,000 bricks per year. ach brick weighs
between one and two kilograms (2.2-4.4 pounds). A small child may haul over
1,000 bricks on his/her head or back each day.
Stone quarry workers, ndia 1993
n many quarries the stones are broken by hand.
Because of the large amounts of dust, the work is
quite dangerous. orkers are at extreme risk of
developing silicosis (scarring of the lungs) and a
related disease, silico-tuberculosis.
hy do parents make their
children work?
hile the proportion of girls among out-of-school children dropped sharply in
most of Asia since 1990 (to 49%), the proportion of out-of-school girls in South
Asia is 60 per cent or higher.