Archive for December, 2008
Trina Tocco, Deputy Director, International Labor Rights Forum
It's with great pride that I wanted to share with our blog readers a recent victory in India where 28 child laborers were rescued. ILRF has worked with BBA for years and years, most recently concerning the identification of child labor in the production of soccer balls. Learn more about child labor and soccer balls here.
You can find out more about the 28 rescued children here or read the press release from BBA below.
The youngest child rescued is a mere 7 year old. He, along with all other kids, used to work from 8 AM to 1AM in the night without any money or wages for the last one year. All rescued children have similar stories of being trafficked from Darbhanga, Bihar and being forced to work in harsh living and working conditions. Many children were found shivering as they were only in T shirts and many had no footwear. They lived and slept in the same room where they stitched leather purses and did embroidery.
While some of the older children were being given Rs. 20 a week on Sundays as a weekly wage, 9 year old Abdul said: "My parents were given money by the uncle who brought me here. Ever since I came here, I have never been given any money. My master used to beat me up too. It was extremely tiring to work so many hours. I just want to go home now."
R.S. Chaurasia, from Bachpan Bachao Andolan said "there are thousands of children working in illegal factories in this area. Even in today's operation we had hoped to rescue more that 100 children but there was an initial delay in sending the enforcement officers to the spot of rescue. Due to this there were only 4 police constables who assisted us in the operation in two locations instead of the expected 9 locations. Even during the operation, the lethargy of the law enforcement in arresting the employers/traffickers and rescuing the children was evident."
Ramesh Gupta, President of BBA added, "the law must act as a deterrent if child trafficking and child labour have to be eradicated from our society. How can we think of Child Friendly Delhi before the Common Wealth Games with thousands of children still languishing in slave-like conditions in many areas of the Capital? BBA will also be writing to the State Government of Bihar as well to take necessary and strict actions against trafficking of children for forced/bonded labour as most of the children found in the Capital seem to have been trafficked from certain areas of Bihar."
Deputy Labour Commissioner Shri Rajendra Dhar said "These homes are not units and as such they are unauthorised. Strict action will be taken against the occupants and owners of these homes as well."
The children rescued will be produced before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Model Town, Mr. B.S.Thakur in order to enable them to obtain get release certificate under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. The release certificate would entitle these children to a rehabilitation package of Rs 20,000 in their native district. In addition, they would be enrolled in NCLP schools, their families entitled to government schemes on a priority basis.
