ABCs of Child Labor…15 products touched by child labor and child slavery. How many do you use?
News & Resources
Child Labor Coalition welcomes the Senate Introduction of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety Act of 2024 (CARE Act)
Press Release
March 25, 2024
Media contact: National Consumers League – Reid Maki, reidm@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2820
Washington, DC – With the beginning of Farmworker Awareness Week today, the Child…
Child Labor Coalition lauds Wage and Hour’s child labor enforcement strategies that includes creating a fund for victims and use of “hot goods” provisions
March 27, 2024
Media contact: National Consumers League/Child Labor Coalition – Reid Maki, reidm@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2820
Washington, DC – The Child Labor Coalition (CLC), representing 37 groups…
The Guardian: “How child labour in India makes the paving stones beneath our feet”
"Despite promises of reform, exploiation remains endemic in India's sandstone industry, withchildren doing dangerous work for low pay --often to decorate drivways and gards thousands of miles away."
By Romita Saluja
Excerpt:
Sonu…
Filmmaker SusanMacLaury: Protections For Farmworker Children Matter More Than Ever (Link to Free Film Screening during the last week of March 2024))
By Susan MacLaury, March 23, 2024 –
In 2010, Shine Global released the feature-length documentary, The Harvest (La Cosecha), about three young migrant farmworkers – Zulema, Perla and Victor -who traveled…
Senator Luján Press Release: During Ag Week, Luján Introduces Legislation to Improve Child Protections and Safety Standards for Agriculture Industry
Press Release/March 21, 2024
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) introduced the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment in Agriculture (CARE) Act to ensure child protections and…
“Oakland Popeyes operator to pay huge sum to feds after allegedly hiring kids as young as 13”
To view "Oakland Popeyes operator to pay huge sum to feds after allegedly hiring kids as young as 13" in the S.F. Chronicle, please click here.
NY Times: “Children Risk Their Lives Building America’s Roofs
"In New Orleans, Juan Nasario said he had been replacing roofs during 12-hour shifts nearly every day since he arrived from Guatemala four years ago, when he was 10. He would like to go to school or at least join a soccer team, but he needs to pay rent to his older cousin."
Congressman Morgan McGarvey Introduces Bill to Help USDOL Build Its Labor Inspectorate
[The following is a press release from Rep. McGarvey's office dated December 06, 2023]
Congressman Morgan McGarvey Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Labor Rights Violations
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 06, 2023) – Today,…
The Guardian: “‘It Should Never Have Happened’: death of boy, 16, at sawmill highlights rise of child labour in US”
Please read the Nov. 28th, 2023 Guardian piece, which quotes the Child Labor Coalition, here:
https://tinyurl.com/2cy4yn65
Excerpt:
"One of the problems with this whole debate is that legislators extol the value…
Press Release: Schatz, Young Introduce New Legislation to Help Stop Child Labor
[We're sharing here a Press Release by Senator Schatz, 10/20/2023]
Schatz, Young Introduce New Legislation to Help Stop Child Labor
Bipartisan Bill Establishes New Criminal Penalties, Imposes New Steep Fines For Employers…
The CLC’s Reid Maki on the “Chad and Cheese” Podcast talks about the domestic child labor crisis
Please listen to the October 2023 Chad and Cheese podcast here.
“Last Week Tonight” with HBO’s John Oliver takes aim at rampant child labor in the production of chocolate
Chocolate: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) [Aired 10/30/2023].
Watch here:
https://tinyurl.com/4sxby7xc
The New York Times Magazine tells the riveting story of 14-year-old poultry worker Marcos and the traumatic injury he suffered
Marcos was maimed while working the overnight cleaning shift at a Perdue slaughterhouse in rural Virginia--another amazing exposé New York Times reporter Hannah Dreier.
Please follow this link to the story which was published…
See how your state child labor laws match up with other states in this nifty chart frp, U.S. DOL looking at allowable hours worked
U.S. Department of Labor's clickable map of the U.S. allowing users to compare their state's child labor hour restrictions with other states.
Click this link to view.
U.S. DOL News Release: Court orders operators of 14 Bay Area Subway locations to pay employees nearly $1M in wages, damages; sell or shut down their businesses
News Release/U.S. DOL/September 29, 2023
Labor Department finds employers endangered children, bounced paychecks, stole tips
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ordered…
The CLC’s Reid Maki joins America’s Workforce Union Podcast in a segment called “Child Labor in America on the Rise as States Weaken Labor Protections:”
Please listen to the podcast and Reid's discussion of alarming child labor trends in the U.S. here:
https://tinyurl.com/dta889h
Opinion: Revisiting American Exceptionalism in LIght of Child Labor Scandals
CLC-member Shawn MacDonald, CEO of Verité, exams current U.S. child labor scandals against the context of global child labor.
Facts about Human Trafficking in commemoration of World Day Against Human Trafficking, July 30, 2023
There were an estimated 27.6 million victims of human.
Child Labor Personal Experience: Growing Up in the Fields
by Jacqueline Aguilar, Child Labor Coalition intern
I grew up in a small rural area named Center, Colorado which has a population of about 2,000 people. Growing up my parents were always working in the fields,…
10 Facts About Refugees in 2023
June 20th is World Refugee Day. To highlight the challenges refugees face worldwide, especially issues that affect children, we have compiled a quick fact sheet to inform people on this worldwide day of recognition.
There…
Amazing, must-listen podcast….“Why Are States Loosening Child Labor Laws?” –New York Times child labor reporter Hannah Dreier and the CLC’s Norma Flores López on Roy Woods Jr. video podcast, “Beyond the Scenes – The Daily Show”
Amazing, must-listen podcast….
“Why Are States Loosening Child Labor Laws?” --New York Times child labor reporter Hannah Dreier and the CLC’s Norma Flores López on Roy Woods Jr. video podcast, “Beyond…
Joint Letter by Humanity United, Child Labor Coalition, and Valued Partners: Urgent Action Needed to Protect Children from Labor Exploitation
May 1, 2023
As organizations working to address human trafficking and labor exploitation, we are appalled by the horrific conditions children experienced after fleeing to the United States for refuge. This series in the…
Iowa’s Child Labor Bill Turns Priorities Upside Down
By Mike Owen, Common Good Iowa
Posted on February 9, 2023 at 12:01 PM by Mike Owen
A new proposal in the Iowa Legislature turns Iowa priorities and values upside down. At a time we are doing too little for economic…
Do Children in America Ever Work in Deplorable, Dangerous, Dickensian Conditions? The Short Answer is “Yes” — The Child Labor Coalition’s Top Ten U.S. Child Labor Developments in 2022
By Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition
Most Americans are unaware that the U.S. still has child labor, but 2022 made it abundantly clear that we do, and stories in the news exposed conditions that were often downright…
My Path from Strawberry and Blueberry Fields to College
By Alma Hernandez
Imagine being a five-year-old child; happy and carefree. The age where you either attend pre-k or start kindergarten. But can you imagine a five-year-old working in farm fields in hot 90-degree humid weather…
US Should Protect Young Farmworkers–Lawmakers, Labor Department Need to Act
Margaret Wurth
Senior Researcher, Children's Rights Division
[This piece originally appeared on at www.hrw.org on June 13, 2022]
As the world marks another World Day Against Child Labor, US leaders…
Reflections on the “5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour” in Durban, South Africa, May 15-20, 2022
The recently-concluded, week-long “5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour” in Durban, South Africa was convened against the backdrop of the announcement last July of an alarming rise in child labor numbers…
Press Release: Child Labor Coalition Welcomes the Reintroduction of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety 2022 (CARE Act)
For immediate release: March 31, 2022
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, D.C.—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC), representing 38 groups engaged in the fight against domestic and…
201 Organizations Endorse Legislation (CARE Act) to Close Child Labor Loopholes that Endanger the Health, Safety and Educational Development of Farmworker Children
The Child Labor Coalition is reaching out for organizational endorsements of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety, which would end exploitative child labor in U.S. agriculture. [The bill was…
Experts: US High-Level Office for Children is Critical for Children’s Rights
Authors: Miriam Abaya, Nandita Bajaj, Warren Binford, Michelle Blake, Carter Dillard, James Dold, Hope Ferdowsian, Wendy Lazarus, Reid Maki, Shantel Meek, Jerry Milner, Jennifer Nagda, Vidya Kumar Ramanathan, Nevena Vuckovic…
The Child Labor Coalition’s letter to Wisconsin Gov. Evers, Urging Him to Veto Legislation that Would Weaken Existing Child Labor Laws
January 21, 2022
Dear Governor Evers:
The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) based in Washington, D.C., represents 38 groups who work to reduce child labor and the dangers of child work in the U.S. and abroad.…
Ending Child Labor in Mica Mines in India and Madagascar
By Katarzyna Rybarczyk
Most people use products containing mica daily, without realizing what the story behind their production is. Mica is a mineral commonly found in products such as cosmetics, paints, and electronics.…
Global Civil Society Statement on Child Labour in Cocoa, June 12th, 2021
Today, June 12th, is the International Day against Child Labour. On this day, as a large group of civil society organisations working on human rights in the cocoa sector across the world, we urgently call on chocolate &…
Ending the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers
By Katarzyna Rybarczyk
Around the world children as young as ten years old fight in armed conflicts. According to the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, adopted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1999,…
Keeping Teens Safe at Work — Tips for Parents, Employers, and Teens”
Tips for parents, employers, and teens:
While work plays an important role in the development of teenagers, teens and parents should carefully think about prospective jobs that teens are considering and assess possible workplace…
CLC and Several Members Join 100 Organizations in Asking EPA to Immediately Ban the Pesticide Clorpyrifos which Damages Children’s Neurological Systems
March 5, 2021
OPP Docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0850-0750 Environmental Protection Agency Docket Center (EPA/DC) 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20460-0001
Subject:…
10 Stats about Women and Girls on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2021
Of the 152 million children trapped in child labor, 64 million are girls [source].
73 million children are trapped in hazardous child labor—27.8 million are girls.
29 million women and girls are in modern slavery—71…
New CLC Press Release: Chocolate Companies Must Do More to Reduce Widespread Child Labor Confirmed by New Report on the West African Cocoa Sector; Due Diligence Legislation is Needed to Fix Supply Chains
Chocolate Companies Must Do More to Reduce Widespread Child Labor Confirmed by New Report on the West African Cocoa Sector; Due Diligence Legislation is Needed to Fix Supply Chains
For immediate release: October…
Convention 182, Historic Commitment to End Worst Forms of Child Labor, Is Universally Ratified
Governments Pledge to Root Out Hazardous Work, but More Protections Needed
by Margaret Wurth
[Originally published at www.hrw.org on August 5, 2020]
MargaretWurtThe world reached an important milestone…
It’s Time for U.S. Tobacco Companies to Protect All Child Tobacco Workers with a Complete Ban on Children in Tobacco Fields
By Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition
In 2014, under pressure from advocacy groups like the Child Labor Coalition and Human Rights Watch (HRW) concerned about hazardous child labor on tobacco farms, several tobacco companies…
The Impact of COVID-19 on Child Labor
By Ellie Murphy, CLC Intern
Combatting child labor during a global pandemic is a staggering challenge. In countries like Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Bangladesh—and dozens more struggling with child labor problems—school…
After 20 Years of Little Results, New Approaches are Needed to End Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector
Here at the National Consumers League we are very proud that we’ve been a leader in the fight to end child labor since our founding in 1899. Thrity one years ago, we established the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which merges…
Boy Jockeys in Indonesia Risk Injury and Death
By Reid Maki, National Consumers League and Child Labor Coalition
I didn’t quite believe my eyes when I saw the New York Times headline: “For Indonesia’s Child Jockeys, Time to Retire at 10, After 5 years of…
Children Working in Terrifying Conditions in US Agriculture — New Research Shows Child Farmworkers Unprepared for Workplace Dangers
By Margaret Wurth
Senior Researcher, Children's Rights Division, Human Rights Watch (HRW)
New research published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reinforces just how dangerous agricultural…
Why Won’t New York’s Governor Cuomo Ban the Nasty Pesticide Chlorpyrifos which Harms Children?
Something really curious is happening in New York State. In June, the New York Assembly passed a bill to ban the nasty pesticide chlorpyrifos that damages the development of children. That’s not the weird part.…
Migrant Farmworker Children Struggle to Hold On
By Vashti Kelly, Health and Safety Program Manager, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
Children from Latino migrant farmworker families are some of the most educationally marginalized students in the…
What has happened to nurturing and protecting children?
The Child Labor Coalition is a non-partisan group that is concerned with the health and welfare of children in the U.S. and abroad. We were extremely critical of the Obama administration's decision to withdraw proposed safety…
Press Release: Rep. Roybal-Allard, 24 Cosponsors Reintroduce CARE Act to Strengthen Protections for Child Farmworkers
[Released by Rep. Roybal-Allard]
June 20, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT
Ben Soskin
(202) 225-1766
Benjamin.Soskin@mail.house.gov
Rep. Roybal-Allard, 24 Cosponsors Reintroduce CARE Act to Strengthen Protections…
CARE Act’s 24 Co-sponsors in the 116th Congress
The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety was introduced by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard on June 20, 2019 with 24 original cosponsors (bold). For the goals of the CARE Act, click here.
Nanette…
The $64,000 Question: How Can Consumers Avoid Supporting Companies that Exploit Farmworkers
“Which companies are good? Which companies can I safely buy from without risk that their products are made by child labor or forced labor?” These are questions you get asked all the time when you work for a consumer…
More US Child Workers Die in Agriculture Than in Any Other Industry
New US Government Report Highlights Dangers Caused by Weak Child Labor Laws
By Margaret Wurth
More than half of work-related deaths among children in the US occur in agriculture, according to a new US government…
New GAO Report Raises Concern over the Health and Safety of Child Farmworkers in the United States
For immediate release: December 6, 2018
Contact: Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC--In the wake of a new child labor report by the Government…
Child labor, Forced Labor, and Cotton and How They All Converged at the UN October 1st
Consumers love cotton. It’s soft, comfortable and natural. But cotton has a dark side: child labor and forced labor is often used to produce it.
Eighteen countries use child labor to produce cotton and…
Report Traces Goods Made with Child Labor to 76 Countries
Of the products we use, wear, or consume every day, how many are made with child labor? Perhaps quite a few. A new report from the US Department of Labor identifies 148 different consumer goods produced…
Advocate Len Morris: Children’s Rights are Human Rights
Photos found at vox.com
People around the world have been shocked and repelled by the behavior of the Trump Administration in separating children from their families at our southern border. Children…
10 Facts about Child Labor in Turkey’s Hazelnut Production
Child labor in Turkey remains prevalent. In 2012, around 900,000 children worked in Turkey. 45 percent of Child laborers worked in agriculture. Children make up to 8.5 percent of the workforce in hazelnut supply chains.
…
10 Basic Facts about Child Labor Globally
Worldwide 218 million children between 5 and 17 years are in employment; 152 million are victims of child labour.
Almost half of them, 73 million, work in hazardous child labour.
Hazardous child labour is most prevalent…
Child Soldiers
The countries identified by the US government in 2018 as using child soldiers:
Burma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq,
Mali, Niger, Nigeria,
Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
American 12-Year-Olds Can’t Buy Cigarettes. Why Can They Work in Tobacco Fields?
[This op-ed appeared in The Guardian on June 28, 2018. You may view it there by clicking here.]
It’s no surprise that working in tobacco fields is dangerous. Smoking tobacco kills 6 to 7 million people a year, according…
How Climate Change Can Make More Children Vulnerable to Human Trafficking
By Colleen O'Day
Hurricane Maria, the worst natural disaster ever to hit Puerto Rico, wipes out the island’s power grid. A heat wave nicknamed Lucifer scorches southern Europe. Hurricane Harvey, the second-costliest Atlantic…
How many child workers die in the work place in the US each year?
In 2015 and 2016 we averaged 27 teen work deaths a year compared to 72.5 deaths in 1999 and 2000.
Data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries by year:
2016 = 30 (report)
2015 = 24 (report)
2014…
127 Groups Ask EPA Not to Reverse Ban on Pesticide Application by Children
Dear Administrator Pruitt:
The undersigned organizations write to oppose any changes by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to the requirements in the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (“WPS”) and…
A Toxic Decision — How Protecting Child Farmworkers May Be Pushed Aside by the EPA
By Len Morris
America's fields, orchards and farms are toxic places for children; and things could get much worse thanks to recent actions by the Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency led by Administrator…
Child Labor Coalition joins calls for cleaner, more responsible jewelry supply chain
Press Release
February 8, 2018
Contact: Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC--The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) today joins nearly 30 NGOs and trade unions…
We must not leave farmworker women out of the harassment discussion
By Norma Flores López
Today’s headlines and top hashtags are showing that a powerful movement is building, and its being led by women.
Women--fed up with the constant attack on our bodies, the sexual harassment prevalent…
Holiday Shopping? Some Strategies to Consider if you are Concerned about Child Labor and Want to Shop Responsibly
With the holidays approaching and many Americans scrambling to buy presents, we get many questions from consumers who are interested in shopping responsibly. Newly released data suggests that there are about 40 million individuals…
Teen Workers May Be Dying to Produce Sugar in Nicaragua
By Deborah Andrews, Contributing Writer
Legal protections for children working in hazardous conditions in Nicaragua are robust on paper, but systematic publicity, implementation and enforcement of the law is missing. Nicaragua…
Today is National Chocolate Day….Something to Think about When You Enjoy Some Chocolate
There’s no doubt that humans love chocolate. Globally, we consume $80 to $100 billion worth of it a year. Despite its popularity and the joy it gives us, there is a dark side to chocolate: cocoa, its main ingredient,…
CLC News Release: Legislation to Protect Child Farmworkers in the US is Re-Introduced
CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE
Child Labor Coalition applauds the introduction of two congressional bills to reduce dangerous child labor in U.S. agriculture
For immediate release: June 13, 2017
Contact: Reid Maki,…
For Love of Chocolate…On World Chocolate Day, We Look at the Human Cost Behind Chocolate
There’s no doubt that humans love chocolate. Globally, we consume $80 to $100 billion worth of it a year. Despite its popularity and the joy it gives us, there is a dark side to chocolate: cocoa, its main ingredient, is…
Guest Blog: To Fight the Spread of Cybersex Trafficking, Anti-trafficking Organizations Need to Innovate
Controlling the spread of human trafficking is a monumental challenge. Traffickers are innovating in the tactics that they use to exploit millions of victims, underscoring the difficulty of responding to an international…
Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi Applauds Indian Government for Ratifying Conventions 182 and 138
Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi applauds Government for ratifying ILO Conventions 182 and 138; Calls it a historic step
On March 31, 2017, Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi welcomed the Government of India’s decision…
International Labour Organizaton (ILO) Experts Comment on U.S. Government Efforts to Implement Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor
[Adopted in 2016 and published in 2017]
Articles 4(1), 5 and 7(1) of the Convention. Determination of types of hazardous work, monitoring mechanisms and penalties. Hazardous work in agriculture from 16 years of age. The…
How a small financial transaction tax might be used to help us end child slavery and the worst forms of child labor in the next nine years
By Reid Maki
The UN has set a very ambitious goal—one of the sustainable development goals adopted last year—of eliminating child labor, child slavery, forced child labor, and the use of child soldiers in the next nine…
CLC Press Release: 47 Members of Congress Ask President Obama to Ban Child Labor in US Tobacco before He Leaves Office
For immediate release: October 18, 2016
Contact: Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—
Nearly 50 members of Congress asked President Obama to ban child labor in US tobacco…
Rep. Cicilline and 46 Members of Congress Ask President Obama to Ban Child Labor in US Tobacco
October 18, 2016
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As you approach the final months of your term in office, we would first like to commend…
Antonement and Action for President Obama in His Last 100 Days
By Jonathan Todres
This week is Yom Kippur (Sundown, October 11 to Sundown, October 12), the Day of Atonement on the Jewish calendar. As tradition has it, atoning on Yom Kippur will address only sins against God.…
Jim Leonard Remembers Claire White, Recipient of the National Consumer League’s Florence Kelley Award
REMARKS BY JIM LEONARD AT THE
CELEBRATION OF CLAIRE WHITE’S LIFE
Jim Leonard, retired attorney with the US Department of Labor and a long-time colleague of Claire White made the following remarks at a ceremony celebrating…
Child Labor Coalition Press Release: 110 groups urge President Obama to enact an immediate ban on child labor in U.S. tobacco
For immediate release: August 3, 2016
Contact: Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—A letter signed by 110 groups, representing tens of millions of Americans, is urging President…
110 Groups Urge President Obama to Ban Child Labor in US Tobacco
August 3, 2016
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
In August 2014, dozens of organizations counting millions of Americans among their members wrote to…
Len Morris: Our Kids Are Watching Us
For the first time in more than a year, Democrats and Republicans have begun to speak mistily about the prospects for our children's future.
"With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching…
Statement by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi on the passage of India’s Child Labour Amendment Bill of 2016
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 is a missed opportunity.
I was hoping that today the elected leaders of our country will acknowledge that the value of freedom and childhood is greater…
Needed: A Champion for Children
By Len Morris
If we are to have a government worthy of the America Jimmy Stewart described in his famous role as Senator Jefferson Smith, we'll need champions in government that will protect those who are the weakest and…
Harmful Child Labor Is Everyone’s Business
Contributed by Wendy Blanpied
[This piece originally appeared on USAID's web site on Wednesday, June 15th 2016].
Two little girls reading in Pakistan. / Save the Children
“Rose,” 16, never expected to end up living…
Eradicating Child Labor in Supply Chains Requires Binding, Enforceable Standards
[This piece by CLC member Sonia Mistry of the Solidarity Center was first published on June 10th, 2016 in Thomas Reuters Foundation News.]
He was completely covered in orange dust, from his hair to his toes. Maybe 7…
CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE: Advocates join Nobel Laureate Satyarthi in plea to President to ratify UN Convention on Rights of the Child
For immediate release: June 13, 2016
Contact: Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—With many World Day Against Child labor (officially June 12) events observed today and tomorrow…
NCL’s 2016 Five Most Dangerous Jobs For Teens
The National Consumers League’s annual guide to help working teens stay safe in the workplace
Report author: Reid Maki, Director of Child Labor Advocacy,
National Consumers League [This update issued June 2016. "The…
Conclusion of “The Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens” report and a final note
One hundred years ago, 100 workers died each day in America. Today, that number—with a U.S. population 3.5 times greater—is 13. While the loss of many manufacturing and farm jobs explains some of this drop, it doesn’t…
Recommendations to Protect Teens at Work
What can employers do to make teen work safer?
Employers must comply with child labor laws, provide safety training to young workers, follow all mandates safety regulations, and be vigilant about providing a safe workplace…
Another teen job to avoid: Jobs that present an elevated risk of violence
According to findings from the 2013 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, violence accounted for one out of every six fatal work injuries in 2013. Between 1992 and 2012, over 700 homicides a year occurred in workplaces.
Restaurants…
Another dangerous teen work activity: Driving
The most common way for a teen worker to die is in a traffic accident. In 2010, 32,708 Americans—about 90 a day—died in car accidents. Fifteen of the 34 youth workers under 18 who died in 2010—44 percent—perished…
Another dangerous teen work place: Lumber mills and lumber yards
A study in the American Journal of Health and Behavior noted that that 51 percent of surveyed teens who had worked in lumber mills had been injured. Four in 10 teens who worked in lumber yards had also been injured. These…
Another dangerous teen job: Meatpacking
In addition to the five most dangerous jobs that teens are legally allowed to perform, NCL warns working youth to avoid meatpacking jobs. Although workers are supposed to be 18 to work in these plants, federal immigration…
Another potentially dangerous teen work place: Restaurants, grocery stores, and retail stores
In terms of raw numbers, retail establishments, restaurants, and grocery stores are three of the largest employers of teen workers.
According to 2009 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 44 percent…
Another dangerous teen job: Driver/operator, forklifts, tractors, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs)
Forklifts, tractors, and all-terrain vehicles (ATV) pose dangers for many young workers. NCL has seen a large number of children injured in ATV accidents in the last several months (whether these are recreational accidents…
Work hazards for teens to be aware of (part of the “Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens” report)
In addition to NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs, we’d like to highlight some additional jobs that teen workers should regard with caution.
Driver/operator, forklifts, tractors, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs)
Forklifts,…
How are teens dying and getting injured at work?
Transportation accidents, broadly defined to include almost any moving vehicle, killed 19 of the 22 teens under 18 in the latest BLS Fatal Occupational Injuries report covering 2014. All eight of the youth workers who died…
Traveling youth crews performing door-to-door sales: A five-most-dangerous job for teens and young workers
“These schemes are nothing short of theft of the labor and the wages of hundreds, if not thousands, of young people.”
– Robert Abrams, former Attorney General of New York
The startling discovery of the remains…
A five-most-dangerous job for teens: Construction and height work
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics fatality records, construction and roofing are two of the ten most dangerous jobs in America. In 2014, 20.5 percent of all work fatalities—essentially one in five—were in construction,…
A five-most-dangerous job for teen workers: Outside helper, landscaping, tree-trimming, groundskeeping, and lawn service
Landscaping and yard work is a frequent entry point into the job market for teenagers. However, the sharp implements and machinery used to do the work present dangers for teens. Often, young workers are left unsupervised…
Agriculture: Other types of farm work—Harvesting crops and using machinery
Despite perceptions that farms are safe, wholesome places for children, farms are actually quite dangerous workplaces. They are the most dangerous workplace that large numbers of children are allowed to work, beginning at…
Tobacco harvester — A five-most-dangerous job for teens
A 12-year-old cannot legally buy cigarettes in the U.S., but they are allowed to work in a tobacco field for 10- to 12- hours a day in 100-degree heat and suffer repeated bouts of nicotine poisoning. This is legal because…
Introduction: Teens continue to get killed and hurt at work
[Section 1 of the "Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens" Report 2016]
Nearly 5,000 workers die on the job each year—each day, an average of 13 workers are killed on the job—some of those workers are teenagers. Each of…
NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Teen Jobs
The National Consumers League publishes its annual list of the Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens to help youth workers and parents understand that work often involves unexpected health and safety risks and that teenagers,…
A Better Brick: Addressing Child Labor in Nepal’s Brick-Making Industry
By Deborah Andrews
Prior to the April 2015 earthquake, Nepal was in the midst of a construction boom that was struggling to keep up with the rapidly increasing population and urbanization trends. After…
46 Groups Ask Congressional Appropriators to Fully Fund USDOL’s Child Labor Program
May 3, 2016
[This letter in support of ILAB funding was recently sent to appropriators Senator Roy Blunt and Senator Patty Murray, and Representatives Tom Cole and Rosa DeLauro on behalf of 46 organizations, representing…
When is it okay for children to work? CLC-member Human Rights Watch letter on the minimum age of employment
[Human Rights Watch (HRW) released this letter on April 4th, 2016. You may view it on the HRW web site here or read it below.]
Dear members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child,
We are writing on behalf of Human…
10 Facts About the Latest Research on Child Labor in West African Cocoa Growing Areas from Tulane University:
[On July 30, 2015, Tulane University researchers released their latest study -- “Survey Research on Child Labor in West African Cocoa Growing Areas”-- we present highligths here written and compiled by Mary Donovan, contributing…
Technology in the Fight Against Trafficking: Tracking Criminals and Helping Victims
By Mary Donovan, CLC Contributing Writer
From mobile phones to big data analytics, technology can help in the fight against human trafficking. Access to a phone can enable a victim to call friends, family, or a hotline for…
10 Facts about Child Soldiers…
How do you define a ‘child soldier’? The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child (1990) defined childhood as under 18 years of age. In 1997 an International conference in Cape Town adopted the definition, “any person…
The Top 10 Child Labor Stories of 2015
by Sally Greenberg
Executive Director, National Consumers League and Co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition
[Originally published 1/6/2016 in the Huffington Post]
There were plenty of ups and downs in the fight against…
CLC PRESS RELEASE: Congress narrowly avoids shutdown of programs targeting child labor
85 million children are currently in dangerous, dirty, and degrading jobs; $53 million saved in budget deal to ensure children are protected from exploitative labor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 17, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Reid Maki, Child Labor Coalition, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—The Congressional budget package released today continues funding for programs to end child labor after the House and Senate voted to cut funding to the Department of Labor’s impactful and critical program in June 2015. The International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) directs the U.S. Government’s efforts to end forced labor and child labor around the world. Advocates for protecting children from child labor are thankful for Congressional leadership.
Filipino children risk death to dive and dig for gold
By Deborah Andrews, CLC Contributing Writer
In September 2015, Human Rights Watch released a report, “Phillipines: Children Risk Death to Dig and dive for Gold,” exposing the desperate working conditions of many of…
Hyatt Hotels Chain Signs ‘The Code’
By CLC Contributing Writer Mary Donovan
On December 10, 2015, Hyatt Hotels Corporation re-affirmed its efforts to fight child trafficking by signing a code of conduct known simply as “the Code.” This is a big step forward…
Child Labor Programs in Grave Danger
Despite great progress in reducing child labor, Congress is very close to cutting all of the Department of Labor’s funding for child labor grant programs. Both the House and Senate have proposed cuts in their budgets and…
Action Needed: Help Us Save the Progress on Child Labor that Has Been Made
[An important blog from CLC-member World Vision. A call to action appears further below]:
Action needed: An update from Cambodia on the fight against child labor.
We want to say thank you to our advocates. In addition to…
Making Universal Children’s Day Meaningful
by Jonathan Todres
November 20th is Universal Children's Day. The U.N. established Universal Children's Day in 1954 to create a day of “activity devoted to the promotion of the ideals and objectives of the [U.N.] Charter…
CLC Support Statement for the Restoration of Child-Labor Funding
Child Labor Coalition Statement in Support of the Restoration of
Funding for US Department of Labor’s ILAB Child-Labor Programs
The Child Labor Coalition, whose members include the following 35 groups, representing…
Press Release: Child Labor Coalition expresses concern about child and adult workers killed in recent factory collapse in Pakistan
For immediate release: November 6, 2015
Contact: Child Labor Coalition Coordinator Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820
Washington, DC—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) laments the tragic…
Film Review: The True Cost — Film Explores the Hidden Price of Cheap Clothes
THE TRUE COST
Released 2015 | Rating: PG-13 (thematic elements and disturbing images)
Written and directed by Andrew Morgan | Produced by Michael Ross | 92 minutes
Review by Sharon L. Fawcett
One in six people on the…
Buried Childhoods — Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying
Jestoni* quit school at age 14 in order to take part in small-scale mining as a means to help support his family. They had abandoned farming for mining because of frequent flooding in their region of the Philippines.…
Artwork and Essays from Migrant Children Who Toil in U.S. Agriculture
by Madeline Daniels, First Focus Campaign for Children
“It’s a summer day, the sun is rising, and the sound of my mother’s cooking awakes me. Her meal will be enough to get us through the day that awaits us. One…
CLC and 57 Groups Urge Congress to Pass the “Children Don’t Belong in Tobacco Fields” Legislation Banning ChildLabor in US Tobacco
[Our NGO letter supports legislation to ban child labor in US tobacco fields. There is both a Senate and a House version in the current Congress--HR 1848 and S 974]
April 16, 2015
Dear Senator/Representative:
We…
NCL’s 2015 Five Most Dangerous Jobs For Teens:
Tips for Teen Workers, Parents, and Employers to Help Working Teens Stay Safe in the Work Place
The National Consumers League’s Guide, Updated Annually
Report author: Reid Maki,
Director of Child Labor Advocacy
National…
44 Groups Sign-On to CLC Letter Asking Major Tobacco Companies for Better Wages, Collective Bargaining for US Farmworkers and Expansion of the Dunlop Commission Process
[Child Labor Coalition letter mailed May 4, 2015 to Reynolds American Inc., Phillip Morris International, and British American Tobacco]
On June 24, 2014, a collection of organizations representing millions of Americans, including…
New Legislation Introduced to Protect US Children Working in Tobacco Fields –Please Call Your Member of Congress and Ask them to Support
Children Don’t Belong on Tobacco Farms Act
The Children Don’t Belong on Tobacco Farms Act (S.974/H.R.1848) would end the practice of children working on tobacco farms, where nicotine absorbed through the skin while handling…
The Legacy of César Chávez on César Chávez Day – How his vision inspires our work on child labor
Do you ever think about people from the past you wish you could go back in time to meet? At the top or near the top of my list is César Chávez, who was born on March 31st in 1927. César died in 1993 a few months before…
Hazardous Labor
In 2012, more than half of child laborers—85 million—are in hazardous work (down from 171 million in 2000).
Source:ILO
Latin America and the Middle East
There are 13 million (8.8%) of children in child labor in Latin America and the Caribbean
...and in the Middle East and North Africa there are 9.2 million (8.4%).
Source: ILO
Child labor among girls is falling…
Child labor among girls fell by 40% between 2000 and 2012, compared to 25% for boys.
Source: ILO
CLC-Member Human Rights Watch: No Virginia, Tobacco Fields are Not a Place for Children
By Zama Coursen-Neff, Human Rights Watch
"Are you saying my parents were stupid?"
From Virginia lawmaker Jonny Joannou, it seemed like a reasonable question. If working on the tobacco farm as a child was fine for many Virginians,…
End child labor in American tobacco fields
They are far too young to legally purchase cigarettes, yet children as young as 7 are being permitted to work in American tobacco fields and to be exposed to acute nicotine poisoning. Momentum is building to ban child…
GoodWeave’s Nina Smith on Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi–an engineer of freedom
[This article originally appeared in The Christian Science Monitor on October 21, 2014]
By Nina Smith, GoodWeave International
My long-time friend, colleague, and mentor has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Kailash…
The Philippines
The Philippines has 2.9 million child laborers but in its 2013 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, USDOL said the country was making "significant" progress in dealing with the problem.
[source: h…
CLC PRESS RELEASE: Child Labor Coalition applauds progress in child labor remediation suggested by US government’s 2013 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor
For immediate release: October 14, 2014
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC--The Child Labor Coalition (CLC), whose 34 member organizations fight exploitative child labor, welcomed news in…
CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE: The Child Labor Coalition applauds the selection of Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai as recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize
Washington, DC – The Child Labor Coalition (CLC), a group of 34 organizations dedicated to fighting exploitative child labor, is celebrating the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala…
The National Consumers League’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2014: An Annual Guide to Help Teenagers Select Safe Employment and Protect Themselves on the Job
Introduction:
Jobs for teens are an important part of youth development, providing both needed income and teaching valuable work skills. A survey from Citigroup and Seventeen magazine released in August of 2013, found that…
CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE: 50 Groups Urge President Obama to Take Action to Protect Child Tobacco Workers in the US
(Washington, DC) Fifty US-based organizations called on President Obama to protect children in US tobacco farming in a letter released today. The letter, issued by the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) and 15 other groups, expressed…
Open Letter to the President: CLC Members are Joined By Other NGOs and Ask the Adminstration to Protect Child Tobacco Workers in the US
Dear Mr. President,
We write to you as organizations representing millions of Americans, including teachers, healthcare professionals, workers, farmworkers, and advocates concerned about the safety, education, and welfare…
Child Mining: 10 Facts (click on title if a numbered list does not appear)
It is estimated that around 1 million children work in mines throughout the world.
Mining is considered a form of hazardous labor unfit for children under any circumstances,…
NCL Expresses Grave Concern about Bolivia’s Decision to Lower the Age of Work to Ten
Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation's oldest consumer advocacy organization with a long history of fighting to improve child labor laws in the US and abroad, decries the decision last week by…
CLC Joins other NGOs in Applauding Downgrade of Thailand in 2014 Trafficking Report Rankings
Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry regarding Thailand's downgrade in the 2014 TIP Report
Publication Date:
June 20, 2014
Dear Secretary Kerry:
We write today to applaud the U.S. State Department’s decision to downgrade…
Petition Asking World Leaders to Work Toward the Rescue of the Kidnapped Nigerian Girls
In Nigeria, over 200 girls were recently abducted from their boarding school and are reported to be eventually sold as brides for as little as $12 each. This petition calls on all World Leaders and enabled parties to rescue…
Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch: Putting 10-Year-olds to Work Doesn’t Solve Poverty
The Bolivian Congress passed a misguided bill last week that would allow children as young as 10 to work legally. If President Morales signs the bill into law, Bolivia will become the only country in the world with a legal…
Teen Safety: Preventing Workplace Violence
By Julie Duffy, Child Labor Coalition Intern
No one expected 18 year-old Christina LoBrutto's first overnight shift at the Pathmark grocery store in Old Bridge, New Jersey to be her last. Sadly, however, the recent high…
CLC press release: Tobacco Companies Should Prevent Child Labor in US Tobacco Farming—Letter to tobacco CEOs from 54 leading health, children’s, and labor organizations
For immediate release: June 26, 2014
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
(Washington, DC) Over 50 US-based organizations called on leading tobacco companies to address hazardous child labor in US tobacco…
CLC-NGO Sign-on Letter to Big Tobacco: 54 Groups Urge Companies to Act Now to Protect Children Who Work in US Tobacco Fields
On June 24th, 2014, the following letter was sent by the CLC on behalf of over 50 NGOs to the CEOs of Altria Group, Inc., British American Tobacco PLC, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, Japan Tobacco Inc.,…
2014 World Day Against Child Labor Speech by Tom Harkin on the Senate Floor
When children are exploited for the economic gains of others, everybody loses--the children lose, their families lose, their country loses, the world loses. When even one child is exploited, every one of us is diminished.
How Can We End Child Labor In The Fields? Pay Farmers Better
By Beth Hoffman, contributor to Forbes
A few weeks ago a request for internal documents from the chocolate giant Hershey’s Co moved forward, with a judge ruling that the company will have to share confidential information…
Still Buying Easter Candy? Guidance on How to Buy Candy from Companies that Treat Their Workers Well
By The National Consumers League's "Savvy Consumer" Blogger
With Easter nearly upon us, consumers will be purchasing a lot of candy over the next several days. In recent years, the chocolate industry has been rocked by a…
CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE: After Saudi Arabia Ratifies Child Labor Convention 138, the Child Labor Coalition Urges Immediate US Ratification
For immediate release: February 28, 2013
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
On February 23, Saudi Arabia became the 167th country to ratify ILO Convention 138, setting the minimum age at which children…
What Will 2014 Hold for Those Trying to Reduce Child Labor and Forced Labor in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Harvest?
For several years, the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which the National Consumers League co-chairs with the American Federation of Teachers, has worked closely with the Cotton Campaign to reduce child labor and forced child…
A Very Disturbing Phenomenon: The Rapid Increase of Unaccompanied Minors Entering the US
By Reid Maki, Director of Child Labor Advocacy and Coordinator, Child Labor Coalition
Imagine you are a child. Girl or Boy. You are 13, 14 or 15, and gang members in your school are threatening to beat you, kidnap you,…
CLC Member Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch: Will the US Be the Last Country to Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child?
As the children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch, one of the questions I’m asked most frequently is why the US has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Currently, only two other countries…
CLC Press Release: Ban Child Labor in US Tobacco Fields
For immediate release: November 22, 2013
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—In the wake of child labor exposés by The Nation magazine last week, the Child Labor Coalition is calling on…
Essay Contest Spotlights the Plight of Child Farmworkers in the US
One of the privileges of working on child labor issues is getting to know the stories of individual child workers who heroically struggle against poverty and the considerable odds that are stacked against them. Thanks to…
CLC Co-Chair Dr. Lorretta Johnson’s Plenary Speech at the Brazil Child Labor Conference
Dr. Johnson (far right) pictured here with CLC members Jackie Starr, Norma Flores Lopez, Judy Gearhart, and Reid Maki (left to right)
Child labor advocates from around the world were allowed to give four-minute plenary speeches…
Child Labor Tools for Consumers–Apps
Free2Work: This phone app lets you browse companies and how they scored on labor policies, as well as get updates from activists and check out videos and photos from the field. delivers product ratings as you shop. Products…
PRESS RELEASE: Child Labor Coalition Welcomes Falling Estimates of Child Labor But Warns that Far Too Many Children Suffer the Worst Forms of Child Labor
For immediate release: September 24, 2013
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) welcomes new estimates from the International Labour Organization that suggest…
CHILD LABOR IN DOMESTIC WORK
By Sharon L. Fawcett, CLC Contributing Writer
“I clean the floor many times in a day. When it is not well done, my employer throws the dirty water at my face.” This is how girl from Togo describes her experience with…
Child Domestic Work and Children’s Rights (Chart)
[Please click on the image to make it bigger].
Map: How Long are Children Protected from Full-Time Work?
It is important to note that many countries have good laws that protect children from exploitation, but they lack enforcement. A legal framework for protection is an important first step in safeguarding children.Major…
CLC Member Human Rights Watch Press Release: Tanzania — Hazardous Life of Child Gold Miners
For Immediate Release
Tanzania: Hazardous Life of Child Gold Miners
Government, World Bank, Donors Should Address Child Labor in Mines
(Dar Es Salaam, August 28, 2013) – Children as young as eight-years-old…
Niger’s Wahayu Endure Domestic and Sexual Enslavement
By Sharon L. Fawcett, CLC Contributing Writer
Niger’s Tahoua region has a history of enslavement dating back to the early 18th-century arrival of the Touaregs, who brought slavery-like practices with them. Today, young…
Ten Facts about Niger’s “Fifth Wives” or WAHAYU
A wahaya (plural: wahayu) or “fifth wife” is a Nigerien girl or woman born into a slave caste and trafficked into domestic or sexual servitude.
A wahaya can be sold to a wealthy or powerful man for as little as $400…
“Countries that Do Not Legally Protect Children from Hazardous Work” Infographic
[Please click on the title above to view the infographic.]
This is the first in a series of child-labor-related infographics in which we examine legal protections for children. It is important to note…
Donate to the Child Labor Coalition
Please support the Child Labor Coalition's efforts to protect children from hazardous and exploitative labor around the world. Click on the blue icon to donate now.
AFT News Release: AFT and Jamaica Teachers’ Association Launch Anti-Trafficking Project
OCHO RIOS, Jamaica—As the number of reported cases of child trafficking increases exponentially in Jamaica and in the United States, the American Federation of Teachers and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association announced…
Safe Foreign Travels: Learn about the Dangers of Human Trafficking
International travel allows you to experience different cultures, but vacations that are meant to be carefree and fun pose some threats as well. Among these threats is the risk of becoming a victim of human trafficking.
An…
10 Facts about Child Labor in Lake Volta’s Fishing Industry:
In Ghana, one in six children aged 6 to 14 are involved in child labor; 2.3 percent of them work in fishing.
NGOs estimate that 4,000 to 10,000 children are trafficked and enslaved on Lake Volta at any time.
Persistent…
CHILD LABOR AND ENSLAVEMENT IN GHANA’S LAKE VOLTA FISHING INDUSTRY
By Sharon L. Fawcett, CLC Intern
For a small sum of money, James Kofi Annan’s father handed him over to a child trafficker when he was just six years old. Born into a family in Ghana with 12 children, there was no money…
The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act) would help protect child farmworkers
Grecia Balli began working in farm fields when she was 10 years old. At age 14, she decided to drop out of school because her life as a migrant farmworker caused her to switch schools frequently, making it difficult for…
What are the Most Common Child Labor Products Found Around the World?
CLICK on title, and then click on chart to make larger.
Please note that some countries with relatively large numbers of goods on this list…
Which Countries Produce the Most Products Made from Child Labor?
Please note that some countries with relatively large numbers of goods on the List may not have the most serious problems of child labor. Often,…
PRESS RELEASE: Child Labor Coalition Applauds State Department Downgrade of Uzbekistan in the Trafficking-in-Persons Report
For immediate release: June 25, 2013
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
On June 19 the US placed Uzbekistan in the lowest rank in the Global Trafficking in Persons Report for failing to end forced labor,…
Child Domestic Servants
According to an ILO report in 2013, 10.5 million children work as domestic servants around the world.
Child Labor Coalition Press Release: The CLC Welcomes the Reintroduction of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act)
For immediate release: June 17, 2013
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, D.C.—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) applauds Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) for introducing the Children’s Act…
International Workers, Employers, Governments Call on Uzbekistan to End Forced Labor, Child Labor
Press release: June 11, 2013
The International Labour Organization supervisory body recommends that the Uzbek government to take urgent and serious action to end forced labour of children and adults in the cotton sector.
(Geneva)…
CLC Member ILRF Calls on U.S. Customs Service to Halt Imports of Forced Labor Cotton from Uzbekistan
(Washington, D.C.) – A formal complaint against the importation of cotton from Uzbekistan grown and harvested with forced labor was filed today by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), a leading American human and…
Child Labor Advocate Kailash Satyarthi on the Recent Landmark Indian Supreme Court Decision on Trafficking
With great pleasure, I share my joy and accomplishment with you. As I write to you, I am holding a copy of the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India that will have far reaching impact on the lives of millions of…
USDOL to Fund $9 Million Project for Child Labor Remediation in Colombia’s Mining Sector
News Release
ILAB News Release: [05/20/2013]
Contact Name: Gloria Della or Egan Reich
Phone Number: (202) 693-4679 or x4960
Email: Della.Gloria.D@dol.gov or Reich.Egan.2@dol.gov
Release Number: 13-0972-NAT
$9 million in…
Tragic Story of Deaths in a Grain Bin Highlights the Need for Increased Safeguards and Larger Fines
Twenty-five to 30 kids a year die at work. Through its advocacy and co-chairmanship of the Child Labor Coalition, the National Consumers League (NCL) has worked to reduce that number over the years. Each spring, NCL produces…
The CLC’s and Cotton Campaign’s Protest of the Use of Forced Child Labor and Adult Labor in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Fields
When you are a child labor activist, you spend a surprising amount of time sitting at your desk writing emails and blogs or in meetings with federal officials and others concerned about child labor. Opportunities…
Of Ships and Men–Cameron Conaway’s Poem about the Children Who Break Ships Apart in Bangladesh
Of Ships and Men
There are ships like hotels horizontal
and there are children and children
breaking, dragging these dead vessels
through beach sand soiled with oil
through the swirling peace…
Today is the Day to Think about the Plight of the World’s 300,000 Child Soldiers
Today is an important day if you care about the welfare of children. Advocates have named February 12 “International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers” to highlight one of the worst forms of child labor. It’s hard…
The CLC’s Open Letter to President Obama on His Next Secretary of Labor
January 30, 2013
Dear Mr. President:
The members of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), representing millions of Americans through unions, human rights organizations, and socially-responsible investment organizations,…
National Consumers League Expresses Concern over New Apple Inc. Child Labor Revelations
Apple Inc. announced today that its internal audits had found more than 106 underage employees at 11 different locations in its supply chain; it found another 70 “historical” cases of child labor. The company also said…
Education-for-Girls Activist Malala Yousafzai Walks Out of the Hospital after Surviving an Assassination Attempt
The world is celebrating great news that came in with the New Year: 15-year-old education activist Malala Yousafzai walked out of a Birmingham, England hospital on January 4th, nearly three months after the Taliban shot her…
Please Join Our Protest Against Forced Child Labor in Uzbekistan, Monday, March 11
The Child Labor Coalition and the Cotton Campaign are seeking your help:
Stop Forced Labor, Forced Child Labor and Human Rights Abuses in Uzbekistan During the Uzbekistan Foreign Minister’s visit to Washington, DC
March…
The Real Cost of Cheap Goods is High: The Scary Truth Behind Some Christmas Ornaments
With the holidays upon us, many American look forward to trimming their Christmas tree and spending time with their loved ones, especially their children. For many kids, Christmas invokes the happiest of memories, but not…
Number of Companies Pledging to Avoid Uzbek Cotton Zooms Past 100
The Cotton Campaign recently passed an important milestone in the fight to protect children in Uzbekistan from forced child labor: more than 100 companies have signed a pledge to try to avoid purchasing Uzbek cotton. Consumers…
New Report Grades Apparel Companies on Efforts to Combat Slavery
News from Free2Work and Not for Sale:
We are pleased to announce the release of a report ranking over 300 apparel brands on their efforts to address child and forced labor. Modern-day slavery, which currently affects…
NCL: Grain Silos are Death Traps on Farms—Efforts to Protect Workers, Especially Teens, Must be Stepped Up
NATIONAL CONSUMERS LEAGUE PRESS STATEMENT
For immediate release: October 30, 2012
Contact: Reid Maki, (703) 801-3338, reidm@nclnet.org
The Oct. 28th New York Times story “Silos Loom As Death Traps on Farms” stands…
Poultry processor House of Raeford to pay fine for child labor violations at Teachey, NC, plant following US Department of Labor investigation
U.S. Department of Labor Press Release/Wage and Hour Division [Oct. 16, 2012]
TEACHEY, N.C. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has assessed a total of $12,400 in civil money penalties against poultry processor House…
Human Rights Watch’s Jo Becker: The U.S. Can Do More to Keep Children Off the Battlefield
[This blog originally appeared on the Huffington Post on 10/04/2012]
President Barack Obama announced on Friday that, for the second year in a row, it was withholding portions of U.S. military assistance from the Democratic…
Child Mining
An estimated 1 million children perform hazardous work in mines around the world.
Child Trafficking
According to UNICEF, 1.2 million children are trafficked each year--many for purposes of sexual exploitation.
CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE: Child Labor Coalition decries shooting of 14-year-old education activist Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan
For immediate release: October 12, 2012
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—The 28 members of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) today expressed their condemnation of the shooting attack on…
Human Rights Watch: In Bangladesh, Tanneries Harm Workers, Poison Communities and Exploit Child Workers
October 9, 2012
[Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 children, some as young as 11, working in tanneries. Many children work 12 or even 14 hours a day, considerably more than the five-hour limit for adolescents in…
Human Rights Watch’s Zama Coursen-Neff on The Hidden Victims of Tobacco
The smoking habits of the presidential candidates keep coming up: Barack Obama's efforts to quit, Mitt Romney's abstention. Romney signed a ban on smoking in bars, restaurants, and indoor workplaces in Massachusetts in 2004;…
Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign Welcomes Hershey’s Announcement to Source 100% Certified Cocoa by 2020
[News from the Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign:]
Coalition urges Hershey and all chocolate companies to go 100% Fair Trade
The Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign (www.raisethebarhershey.org) welcomed today’s announcement…
Ivory Coast
According to a Tulane University study, 40 per cent of the 820,000 children working in cocoa in Ivory Coast are not enrolled in school, and only about 5 per cent of the Ivorian children are paid for their work.
President Issues Child Soldier Waivers
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 28, 2012
Presidential Memorandum -- Presidential Determination with respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008
MEMORANDUM FOR THE…
Changes to USDOL’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor by Country (2012)
Among the changes in this year’s 2012 update, the U.S. Department of Labor’s List of Good Produced by Child Labor by Country:
Additions:
[Product by country]
Afghanistan …
Philippines
In the Philippines, an estimated 246,000 children experience abuse, violence and child labor living on the streets.
Rwanda: Northern Province Records High Levels of Child Labor
By Bosco R. Asiimwe, 24 July 2012 [from AllAfrica.com]
As the government moves to eliminate the use of underage children in exploitive and hazardous activities in the country, a new survey on child labour indicates that…
Burma/Myanmar Releases 42 Child Soldiers, Vows to End Practice
September 05, 2012 [from Voice of America]
The Burmese military has released 42 child soldiers from its ranks, as part of efforts to end the recruitment of underage fighters in the Southeast Asian country.
The state-run…
Samsung to review 250 Chinese suppliers for labor violations
SEOUL | Tue Sep 4, 2012 4:28am IST
(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co said on Monday it would inspect 250 Chinese companies which make products for the South Korean firm to ensure no labor laws are broken after a U.S.-based…
SEC Adopts Reporting Rule to Help with Human Rights Issues Concerning Conflict Minerals
The primary mission of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to protect investors from unfair or unscrupulous practices. Last week, however, the SEC did something remarkable: It agreed to adopt a rule with the goal…
Nigeria: Rehabilitating Victims of Human Trafficking, Child Labor
28 August 2012 [from AllAfrica.com]
Linda Eroke writes on efforts by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Department for Equal Opportunities (DEO), Italy to rehabilitate victims of human trafficking…
Philippines Becomes Second Country to Ratify Domestic Workers Convention (HRW Press Release)
For Immediate Release [Human Rights Watch Press Release, 8/6/12]
(Manila, August 6, 2012) – The Philippines’ ratification of the Domestic Workers Convention will bring the groundbreaking international treaty into legal…
NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs 2012 Report Helps Teens Stay Safe at Work
It's that time of year again in the United States: teens are pounding the pavement looking for summer work. Having a job can be an important part of youth development, but the worst work - the ones on this year's Five Most…
Schooling and Conflict
In underdeveloped countries, every additional year of schooling reduces an adolescent boy’s risk of becoming involved in conflict by 20 percent. According to one study, a country that enrolls more than 87 percent of its…
Nestle Audit Finds Child Labor Violations in Cocoa Supply
By Dermot Doherty and Stanley James - Jun 29, 2012 9:51 AM ET [from Bloomberg]
Nestle SA (NESN) needs to step up measures to combat child labor in the Ivory Coast cocoa industry, according to a study requested by the…
The Philippines
According to the Philippine government, one in five Filipino children is involved in child labor--5.5 million in all.
Uzbekistan: U.S. Report Fails Child Labor Victims–Unwillingness to Impose Meaningful Consequences Allows Abuses to Continue
[The following is a press release from the Cotton Campaign regarding a letter to the State Department in which the CLC joined more than 40 groups to express disappointment about the failure to cite Uzbekistan for forced labor…
Forced Labor
In June 2012, the ILO estimated that 21 million people had experienced forced labor over a 10-year period--5.5 million had been children.
Trafficking
The State Department estimates that 27 million people worldwide, most of them women and children, are victims of human trafficking, forced into labor or prostitution.
CLC Letter to Congress: Do Not Pass HR 4517
[Unfortunately, HR 4517 passed the House on a voice vote July 24, 2012]
July 24, 2012
The Honorable Linda Sanchez
House of Representatives
2423 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Ms. Sanchez:
The 28-members…
Tips for Parents, Employers, and Teens from NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012 Report
While work plays an important role in the development of teenagers, teens and parents should carefully think about prospective jobs that teens are considering and assess possible workplace dangers that those jobs might possess.
TIPS…
Agriculture: Harvesting Crops and Using Machinery — One of the Most Dangerous Teen Jobs 2012
According to the CDC, in 2009 more than one million youth younger than 20 years old lived on farms and 519,000 of this number performed work. An additional 230,000 youth and adolescents were hired to work on farms.
Americans…
Workplace Violence (Segment from NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012 Report)
Restaurants and retail establishments also hold risks of workplace violence. According to 2010 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, three of the 34 youth workers who died that year succumbed to assaults or violent acts.…
NCL: Eroding Child Labor Protections in 2012 Will Put Some Teens at Risk in U.S.
[The following is a segment from NCL's Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012 Report]
The competitive teen job market means that some teens might be tempted to take jobs that are less safe than others out of desperation…
Meatpacking/Meat Processing Jobs–Teens Aren’t Allowed to Do It, But Some Do Despite the Dangers
Meatpacking
In addition to the five most dangerous jobs that teens are legally allowed to perform, NCL warns working youth to avoid meatpacking jobs. Although workers are supposed to be 18 to work in these processing plants,…
Restaurants, Grocery Stores & Retail Stores–Largest Employers of Teens–Can Be Dangerous
In terms of raw numbers, retail establishments, restaurants, and grocery stores are three of the largest employers of teen workers.
According to 2009 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 44 percent…
Indian Advocates Find Lots of Children Working in Cotton
Bindu Shajan Perappadan
[from The Hindu, 2012]
Gross violation: NCPCR members found child labourers in large numbers in Bt cotton fields in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
The latest NCPCR survey report…
Outside Helper, Landscaping, Groundskeeping, and Lawn Service–One of the Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens in the U.S.
Landscaping and yard work is a frequent entry point into the job market for teenagers. However, the sharp implements and machinery used to do the work present dangers for teens. Often young workers are left unsupervised for…
Traveling Youth Crews Performing Door-to-Door Sales–One of the Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens in the U.S.
The startling discovery of the remains of a long-missing 18-year-old girl, Jennifer Hammond, in October 2009, served as a painful reminder that traveling door-to-door sales jobs are very dangerous. A Littleton, Colorado native,…
Construction and Height Work–One of the Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens in the U.S.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics fatality records, construction and roofing are two of the ten most dangerous jobs in America. In 2007, an estimated 372,000 workers of all ages were injured in construction accidents…
Restaurants, Grocery Stores & Retail Stores (Segment from NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012)
In terms of raw numbers, retail establishments, restaurants, and grocery stores are three of the largest employers of teen workers. While not a "most dangerous" job for teens, these workplaces can be dangerous.
According…
Driver/Operator, Forklifts, Tractors, and All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs)–One of the Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012
Forklifts, tractors, and all-terrain vehicles pose dangers for many young workers. Several youth tractor accidents have been detailed in our section on agricultural fatalities and injuries. Some examples of forklift and vehicle…
Conclusion: Teen Occupational Safety Efforts are Working But Vigilance is Needed
One hundred years ago, 100 workers died each day in America. Today, that number—with a U.S. population 3.5 times greater—is 13. Safety training, education, and regulation works.
Teen workplace fatality rates have also…
Teen Deaths from Driving (Segment from NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012 Report)
The most common way for a teen worker to die is in a traffic accident. In 2010, 32,708 Americans—about 90 a day—died in car accidents. Fifteen of the 34 youth workers under 18 who died in 2010—44 percent—perished…
Data on Teen Work Safety (for Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012 Report)
Teenagers are particularly vulnerable to accidents both in normal life and at work. Accidents are the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 19. In fact, more youth between 10 and 19 die from injuries…
Introduction to NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens 2012 Report
In late July 2011, two 14-year-olds girls, Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall went off to their temporary job of detasseling corn in a field in northwestern Illinois where they worked for the Monsanto Corporation. The girls were…
The Rock-Mining Children of Sierra Leone Have Not Found Peace
The Atlantic
By Greg Campbell
Though the war has ended, Charles Taylor has been sentenced, and mineral companies are thriving, the poor of this West African country are little better off.
ADONKIA, Sierra Leone -- Ten years…
Sudan: Country Dismisses U.S. Report on Human Rights Violation
[from AllAfrica.com]
Juba — The government of South Sudan has strongly denounced the US department of states report on human rights on the country and instead reiterated its commitment to protect the fundamental human…
Moroccans Employ More Than 30,000 Child Maids
AFP | [The Jordan Times]
RABAT — More than 30,000 children under the age of 15 are employed in Morocco as domestic servants, according to figures released Tuesday by the planning ministry.
A law banning this practice…
Laos partners with ILO to combat child labor
by Khonesavanh Latsaphao, Vientiane Times & the Asia News Network
Laos is one of many countries in the world where large numbers of children are engaged in some form of work, the International Labour Organisation…
DR Congo: Hoping for a Brighter Future
By Christian Kilundu [from World Vision—A CLC member]
He was in primary school when he first met the rebels. They arrived and promised big salaries. The poverty and insecurity the children lived in could be escaped, they…
Summer 2012 Job Outlook: Difficult Times for Job-Searching Teens
It’s that frightening time of year for many teenagers: school is about to let out and the search for a summer job is about to begin. Jobs for teens are an important part of youth development, providing both needed income…
Child Labor Coalition: Withdrawal of Occupational Child Safety Rules Will Risk Children’s Lives on Farms
CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release: April 30, 2012
Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org
The 28 members of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) and the millions of Americans they represent…
Conflict and Economic Downturn Cause Global Increase in Reported Child Labor Violations- 40% of Countries now rated ‘extreme risk’ by Maplecroft
Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Philippines expose companies to high levels of supply chain risk
An annual study by risk analysis firm Maplecroft has revealed that 76 countries now pose ‘extreme’ child labour complicity…
USDOL Press Release: Withdrawal of Proposed Occupational Child Safety Rules for Farms
News Release
WHD News Release: [04/26/2012]
Contact Name: Joshua R. Lamont or Elizabeth Alexander
Phone Number: (202) 693-4661 or x4675
Release Number: 12-0826-NAT
Labor Department statement on withdrawal of proposed rule…
UNICEF: In Niger, children are forced to drop out of school to support their families
By Laura Huyghe [UNICEF]
NIAMEY, Niger, 20 April 2012 – Only a few months ago, 12-year-old Oumar Soumana was happily living with his family in Damana, in south-western Niger. But when the village’s food stocks were…
Many Children in India Live and Work in Landfills
[by Mark Magnier. the L.A. Times, 4/22/2012]
NEW DELHI — The children didn't notice the ravens and occasional vulture circling overhead, or the stream of black ooze that flowed nearby, or the inescapable stench of decay.…
Press Release: Saving Lives on America’s Farms–DOL Child Safety Rules Must Be Implemented
Washington, DC—Today, the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) held a press conference to dispel some of the misinformation surrounding the Department of Labor’s recently proposed safety updates to the rules governing child…
Kenya’s Somali Refugees: Overcoming Cultural Obstacles to Girls’ Education in Dadaab
11 April 2012 [from the AllAfrica Web site]
Dadaab — A mix of cultural practices, such as early and forced marriage, as well as child labour, are depriving girls of education in the Dadaab refugee complex in eastern…
Child Labor Coalition: U.S. should implement proposed farm safety rules for children [Press Release]
Legislation by Senators Thune and Moran May Endanger Children Working on Farms
Washington, DC--Legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress in March 2012 to block proposed safety rules for child farmworkers will endanger…
Smoking Kills: Child Labor on Malawi’s Tobacco Farms
Tobacco is Malawi's top export but at the cost of its children's health and education.
By Anna Rabin
Landlocked and with approximately 80% of its population living in rural areas, Malawi’s economy is largely structured…
Common Sense Child Labor Protections Under Attack
Article by Daniel Dahlman, National Consumers League
A teenager's first job is an important rite of passage for many, offering that first taste of adult responsibility; but young teenagers are not yet adults and need to…
Gold
18 countries produce gold with child labor and many children are exposed to toxic substances like mercury during the process.
Child Labor & Brick Making
According to U.S. DOL/ILAB, bricks are produced by child labor in 15 countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Ecuador, India, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Peru, Uganda, and Colombia…
Roadblocks to Child Labor Elimination in India
VASUDHA VENUGOPAL [from The Hindu 2.13.2012]
The HinduA child at a brick kiln in Tiruvallur. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Every evening on the Marina, 10-year-old Karunakaran is among the several who urge visitors to buy…
More than 150 Groups Urged U.S. to Implement Child Safety Rules for Agriculture But U.S. DOL Succumbs to Political Pressure from Farm Lobby and Withdraws Proposed Protections
[The CLC submitted the following letter to Secretary Solis, urging her to implement the first update of occupational child safety rules for agriculture in four decades. The letter was originally submitted in March with 105…
Hershey Announces Plans to Reinforce Cocoa Sustainability in West Africa
FBR Staff Writer Published 31 January 2012
The Hershey Company, the US-based chocolate manufacturer, plans to invest $10m over the next five years in West Africa, in programs to lower child labor and improve farming communities,…
CLC/NCL letter to USA Today on Hazardous Occupations Orders for U.S. Agriculture Published
Standards cover hazardous work
USA TODAY's article "Updated federal regulations target kids' work on farms" strove for balance, but readers might be left with the impression that the proposed safety rules are overly intrusive…
At the Deep End: Child Labor in Fisheries
from Malaya Business Insight, PHILIPPINES
FILIPINO children work in extremely hazardous fisheries.
The most notorious and extremely dangerous of deep sea jobs is in muro-ami which employs children as swimmers and divers…
India’s Exploited Child Cotton Workers
By Humphrey HawksleyBBC News, Gujarat
Civil rights activist Jignesh Mevani describes the conditions endured by India's child cotton workers
The noise was deafening and air in the factory in northern Gujarat was so thick…
High Price of Gold is Child Slave Labor
JEANETTE PAVINI'S BUYER BEWARE [from MarketWatch]
By Jeanette Pavini
Award-winning broadcast journalist and author Jeanette Pavini writes the Buyer Beware column for MarketWatch and wants to hear your stories, questions,…
Child Labor Coalition Announces Top 10 Child Labor Stories of 2011
List Points to Some of 2012’s Child Labor Priorities
Washington, DC—Advocates from the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), a group representing more than two dozen organizations concerned with protecting working youth, has…
DOL on its Proposed Child-Safety Rules for U.S. Agriculture
In September 2011, the Department of Labor proposed a rule to increase protections for workers age 15 and younger who are employed in agriculture. There are many misconceptions about how the rule would affect young agricultural…
UK Child Labor Record Worsens
Britain’s record on protecting children from workplace exploitation worsened over the past year, new research claims.
The UK was rated “medium risk” in the annual child labour index compiled by Bath-based global analysts…
Donna Ballman: Why Repealing Child Labor Laws Is a Truly Stupid Idea
RedRoom
By Donna Ballman
Did you hear the one where the Republican contender for president said we ought to repeal child labor laws? Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but if you weren't paying attention due to all…
California tells Apple, Others not to use Slaves
This isn't a repeat from the 19th century
| by Nick Farrell in Rome | Filed in Business Apple California
California has introduced a law requiring Apple and thousands of others to make sure that slave labour isn't…
More than 1 million Children ages 10 to 14 still Forced by Poverty to work in Brazil
By Associated Press
SAO PAULO — A newspaper says that despite the economic advances achieved by Brazil over the past few years, children from low-income families are still forced to work in Latin America’s biggest country.
The…
U.S. to support Peru in fight against Child Labor
By Manuel Vigo [from LivinginPeru.com]
On Tuesday the U.S Department of Labor awarded a $13 million grant in support of NGOs that fight against child labor in Peru.
The 4-year program will be carried out in Huancavelica,…
45% Reduction of Child Labor in 5 Years: Labor Minister
Printed from The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Labour minister Mallikarjun Kharge told the Lok Sabha that there has been 45% reduction in child labour between 2004-05 and 2009-10.
Replying to a question by C M Chang, Kharge…
New Law Aims To Shine Light On Conflict Metals
By: Michele Kelemen
December 20, 2011
Delly Mawazo Sesete wants American consumers to know what is in their smart phones, computers and other electronics and where U.S. companies like Apple are getting those rare metals.
Sesete…
Victoria’s Secret Revealed in Child Picking Burkina Faso Cotton
By Cam Simpson - Dec 15, 2011
Bloomberg Markets Magazine
Clarisse Kambire’s nightmare rarely changes. It’s daytime. In a field of cotton plants that burst with purple and white flowers, a man in rags towers over…
Fairtrade Response to Bloomberg Article
Bloomberg article “Victoria’s Secret Revealed in Child Picking Burkina Faso Cotton” published yesterday draws attention to the plight of “enfants confies”, foster children common across West Africa. The article…
Sudan’s Lost Boys: Our Hopes for a New Country
When South Sudan was created as an independent country in July, it offered a new hope and possibilities for a whole generation whose childhood was blighted by civil war.
Among the victims of Sudan's conflict were 27,000…
New Law in Chile Targets Street Beggars
WRITTEN BY STEVE SHEA [The Santiago Times, Monday, Nov. 7, 2011]
Parents who exploit children could face up to three years in jail.
Sen. Carlos Bianchi recently proposed a new law that would seek to discourage adults…
Cambodia
In Cambodia, 52 per cent of children aged between seven and 14 work—over 1.4 million children.
CARE Act Reintroduced–Would Equalize Protections for Children Who Work in U.S. Agriculture
Child Labor Coalition Press Release
More progress needed to reduce child labor; Urgent action required on Uzbekistan, Domestic Workers Convention, and U.S. farmworker children
For release: June 10, 2011
Contact: NCL Communications,…
Rampant Child Labor in Cambodia
by Bridget Di Certo and Chhay Channyda [from The Phnom Penh Post, Wednesday, 02 November 2011 12:04]
Labour legislation in Cambodia is so weak and so often ignored that half the Kingdom’s children between the ages of seven…
Risky Decision: Young Immigrants Sometimes Must Choose Between Work and School
BY John Cox Californian staff writer
Armando Ramirez was about 14 years old when he left his home in southern Mexico to find work in California.
First he and his 20-year-old brother went to Salinas to apply for a job…
Maid Firm Exposed
Yi Somphose, Tep Nimol, David Boyle and Eak Soung Chhay
Scores of crying women who said they had been forcibly detained and girls who claimed to have received fake documents to conceal the fact that they were as young as…
Rampant Child Labor Goes Unaddressed in Kashmir
By Sana Altaf [from IPSnews.net] India
SRINAGAR, (IPS) - Fourteen-year-old Shafat Ahmad works as a domestic helper in the house of a Srinagar-based government employee in Kashmir. His younger sister embroiders shawls in…
Protest Targets Candy Maker
A coalition accuses The Hershey Co. of refusing to commit to buying cocoa produced without child or forced labor
By STEVE SNYDER
Staff Writer
At the height of the Halloween candy-buying season, The Hershey Co. is…
Uzbekistan: EU Parliamentarians Reject Textile Deal With Uzbekistan
October 5, 2011 - 3:06pm, by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick [Source: EurasiaNet.org]
European Union parliamentarians have rejected a trade deal that would have eased Uzbekistan's export of textiles to Europe, citing the use…
Darfurian Armed Group Commits to Not Using Child Soliders
Thursday, 6 October 2011, 1:23 pm
Source: UN News
Darfurian Armed Group Makes Commitment to UN to Stop Using Child Soldiers
New York, Oct 5 2011 - A faction of one of the armed groups in Darfur has agreed to prohibit the…
Meet the Child Workers Who Pick Your Food
—By Tom Philpott [Mother Jones]
Agriculture tends to cling to certain practices long after the rest of society as discarded them as morally repugnant.
You might think slavery ended after the Civil War, yet it exists…
Peru sex slavery: Police free 300 women, including minors, in Amazon
[Source BBC News Oct. 4, 2011]
More than 400 police took part in the three-day operation
Police in Peru say they have rescued nearly 300 women from sexual exploitation in a raid in the country's Amazon region.
At least…
Child slavery bust in Vietnam
[from AFP, September 30, 2011 4:52PM]
TWENTY three children and young adults rescued from slave labour in a garment factory by Vietnamese authorities with the help of an Australian-run children's charity have arrived…
Asia Leads World in Child-Labor Products: US Report
AFP
WASHINGTON - India, Bangladesh and the Philippines lead the world in the number of products made by child workers, a US government stock-taking of the global scale of underaged labor revealed Monday.
Some 130 types…
Peru Sex Slavery: Police Free 300 Women in Amazon
More than 400 police took part in the three-day operation
Police in Peru say they have rescued nearly 300 women from sexual exploitation in a raid in the country's Amazon region.
At least four people were arrested in Puerto…
The Terrorized Lives of Somali Child Soldiers
As the rattle of gunfire echoed loudly outside, Mohamed Abdi sat in the corner of a Mogadishu restaurant and wondered aloud how much longer he could survive in one of the world’s most dangerous capitals. “Mogadishu is…
Absenteeism, a Perennial Problem in GTR Schools
MEERA SRINIVASAN
Access during monsoon, prevalence of child labour are the reasons
P. Ranjitha walks for nearly an hour and a half to reach school every morning. “It takes little longer when it rains,” says the class…
From playground to battleground: children on the frontline in Somalia
from The Guardian, reporter Mohamad Shil
As the rattle of gunfire becomes louder, Mohamed Abdi sits in the corner of a Mogadishu restaurant wondering how much longer he can survive in one of the world's most dangerous…
Tighter Child-Labor Rules on Farms Proposed
By SCOTT KILMAN [from The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 32, 2011]
The U.S. Labor Department proposed Wednesday to increase for the first time in four decades its list of jobs too hazardous for hired hands age 15 and younger…
Advocates Protest Uzbekistan’s Use of Forced Child Labor
It’s not every day that you get your message through to one of the world’s most notorious dictators, but some of us in the child labor advocacy community think we may have just done that last week during New York…
Disney Factory Faces Probe into Sweatshop Suicide Claims
guardian.co.uk
Human rights campaigners say Chinese factories using children as young as 14 and that workers forced to do overtime
A Sturdy Products’ employee works to fulfill orders, for ranges that include Disney merchandise.…
Social: Poverty in Shirak Province Hampers Struggle Against Illegal Child Labor
ArmeniaNow -- Poor social and economic conditions in Shirak - Armenia’s most impoverished region – hamper the struggle against child labor. Government officials, representatives of local authorities and regional administrations…
Afghanistan vows to “set standards” on Child Labor in Mines
By Michelle Nichols
KABUL
(Reuters) - For around $2 a day some Afghan children as young as 10 work long hours in the country's coal mines with no safety gear and, until now, no government mining policy to protect them.
While…
Kremlin Boys Still Critical
By Robert Barron, Staff WriterEnid News and Eagle
ENID — Two Kremlin youths caught in a grain auger remain in critical condition Sunday at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
Tyler Zander and Bryce Gannon, both 17, were…
Police Arrest Ex-Maoist Child Soldiers in Nepal
AFP
KATHMANDU - At least 40 former Maoist child soldiers, freed last year from camps, were detained Monday during a protest to demand better training to help them reintegrate into civilian life, police said.
They were among…
Washington Berry Farms Fined for Hiring Kids 6 and Up
By Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Labor Department has fined three Washington state strawberry farms a total of $73,000 for employing children as young as 6 years old as pickers.
The department's Portland,…
Woodland Berry Farm Fined for using Child Labor
By Marqise Allen / The Daily News
Owners of a Woodland berry farm were fined $16,000 for employing two children under the age of eleven by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Columbia Fruit LLC was caught using child labor during…
New Child Labor Laws Expand Work Hours
[Waunakee Tribune]
Tyler Lamb
Regional Reporter
By Tyler Lamb
Regional Reporter
A provision inserted within Gov. Scott Walker's biennium budget revised Wisconsin's child labor laws July 1, effectively expanding the hours…
107 Groups Endorse the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), which would extend child labor protections to many children working in U.S. agriculture.
The Children’s Act for
Responsible Employment
[CARE has been reintroduced as H.R. 2234 in the current session of Congress]
The CARE Act has been endorsed by the following 107 organizations:
Action for Children…
American Public: Young Farmworkers Deserve Equal Protection of Child Labor Laws– Consumer Survey Finds Americans Concerned about Youth Working in Ag;
Most Parents Would Restrict their Teens More than Current Laws
Washington, DC – The vast majority of American consumers do not believe 12- and 13-year-olds should be allowed to perform agricultural work for long hours…
UN Passes Resolution Against Recruitment of Child Soldiers
Agence France-Presse
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council unanimously adopted on Tuesday a resolution against recruitment of child soldiers, pressing nations to halt the abuse of children including rape and attacks on…
NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens The National Consumer League’s annual guide to help teens select safe employment this summer
National Consumers League
2011 Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens
An annual NCL guide to help teens and their parents select safe employment this summer
Contents
Introduction: This summer’s job outlook
The risks…
Retailers such as Nike and Macy’s Boycott Cotton from Uzbekistan to Protest Child Labor
BY KATHRYN KATTALIA
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Daniel Acker
Retailers including Walmart and Macy's have signed a pledge to not use cotton from Uzbekistan until the country stops using forced child labor.
Retailers are going crazy…
ILO implements project on elimination of child labour in Birim South (Ghana)
Source: GNA [from Ghana Web]
Akyem Swedru, July 6, GNA - The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is implementing a programme dubbed: 93Cocoa Community Project" (CCP) to eliminate the worst forms of Child Labour in…
Omaha Company Loses Appeal of Federal Penalty
Omaha Company Loses Appeal of Federal PenaltyOMAHA, Neb.An Omaha food-processing company has lost its appeal of a $100,000 penalty for violating federal child labor laws.
Reporter: Associated Press
An Omaha food-processing…
Bicol Takes Fight vs Child Labor to the Internet
Labor officials in Bicol have taken the fight against child labor to the Internet, with a web-based system that profiles and tracks down child labor offenders.
The Child Labor Knowledge Sharing System (CLKSS) program is…
Workplace Violence, Child Labor in Nigeria
Robert Evans, Reuters
GENEVA (Reuters) - Some 15 million children work in Nigeria, often in dangerous jobs, and many workers in Africa's most populous nation live in fear of violence from police and employers, the global…
How U.S. Budget Cuts Prolong Global Slavery
By E. Benjamin Skinner
NY Times
Three days before the U.S. congressional elections last fall, Hillary Clinton stood halfway around the world from Washington, pledging to young victims of human trafficking at Cambodia's Siem…
Child Labor Horror – 16,000 being Forced to Work in Jamaica
Jamaica’s child labourers mainly boys 15-17
BY DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE Observer staff reporter husseyd@jamaicaobserver.com
AT least 16,000 Jamaican children are being forced to engage in some form of economic activity, even…
Bringing More Danger Than Cash – Teens should be cautious of some summer jobs
By: Nicole Collier
TOLEDO, Ohio (WUPW) - When summer jobs are hard to find, teens might get desperate for work and cash.
Minimum wage might not be enough to fund all of a teens summer plans. One local author says when opportunities…
HRW Lauds New Landmark Treaty to Protect Domestic Workers Global Labor Standards for up to 100 Million People Worldwide
(Geneva, June 16, 2011) – The adoption by the International Labor Organization (ILO) on June 16, 2011, of a new, groundbreaking treaty to extend key labor protections to domestic workers will protect millions…
Children Working in one of the world’s most dangerous mines in Bolivia
Thomas Nybo, UNICEF
POTOSÍ, Bolivia, (June 14, 2011) — Thirteen-year-old Agustin's life revolves around mining. He lives in a shack right outside the entrance to a mine shaft at the famous Cerro Rico mine in the city…
GOP Set to Roll Back Child Labor Laws
JESSICA VANEGEREN | The Capital Times | jvanegeren@madison.com
If you're a 16- or 17-year-old looking to make some good money this summer, you could be in luck.
Just in time for the long summer break, the Republican-controlled…
Child Labor Continues – Unabatedly and Shamelessly
From [Newkerala.com]
New Delhi : Pramod is all of nine. His tender age, however, does not give him the luxury of a carefree and fun-filled life. He and his younger brother toil on the streets of Delhi, selling cigarette…
Firms must do more to Fight Child Labor – Norway Fund
By Oslo newsroom | Reuters
OSLO (Reuters) - Europe's largest equity investor urged companies to step up the fight against child labour on Friday and said nearly half of the 527 companies it surveyed were failing to address…
Uzbekistan Weekly Roundup
by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick [From Eurasia.Net]
The annual meeting of the International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) proved to be a forum for a serious and methodical condemnation of Uzbekistan’s…
Child Labor – A Non-negotiable Evil
Despite several Constitutional provisions and laws that safeguard the rights of all children, India has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of child labourers in the world. If one were to believe Government's…
Summer Homework: Plow the Field
from the American Prospect
By: Marie O'Reilly
From age 12, López, who is now 26, worked 12-hour days, seven days a week on farms during peak season. Children must be at least 16 years old to work in most industries in…
60 Minutes Piece on Child Farmworkers Misses the Mark
The Missing Piece
Posted on May 27, 2011 by Ayrianne Parks, Communications Director, AFOP; and Reid Maki, Coordinator, Child Labor Coalition
This past Sunday, 60 Minutes focused much needed attention on the issue of…
Poquoson Company Pleads Guilty in Wood Chipper Fatality
Associated Press
POQUOSON (AP) -- A landscaping company has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor safety violation stemming from a wood chipper accident that killed a 14-year-old worker.
The Daily Press reports that Old Tree…
Ghana Police Rescue 116 Children from Forced Labor
ACCRA, Ghana—Ghanaian police say they have rescued 116 children who were forced into child labor in the country's Volta Lake area.
Human Trafficking Unit leader Superintendent Patience Quaye said Friday that police found…
Maine lawmakers loosen teen work rules–roll back Child Labor Protections
By Mal Leary, Capitol News Service
Posted May 26, 2011, at 6:13 p.m.
Last modified May 27, 2011, at 9:46 a.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine – Gov. Paul LePage is expected to sign into law legislation allowing 16- and 17-year-olds…
On Missing Children’s Day, Murray Pledges Trafficking Bill Passage
By Colleen Quinn
State House News Service
Cambridge- Senate President Therese Murray promised advocates of missing children Monday that lawmakers would pass legislation targeting human trafficking.Cambridge —
The Plymouth…
Bill eases Child Labor Restrictions in Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine—A bill to ease Maine's child labor restrictions faces further House and Senate action after winning preliminary House approval.
Assistant Senate Republican Leader Debra Plowman's bill would allow 16- and…
Child Soldiers Add Questions for Pakistan
Bill Gunyon, OneWorld Guides
(OneWorld.net) - A new focus on Pakistan in the UN Secretary-General's annual report on Children and Armed Conflict may complicate the task of rebuilding relations with the US in the aftermath…
Burkina Faso: Texting to Help Domestic Workers
Ouagadougou — Naba Wangré, manager of the child labour project at the Burkina Faso Red Cross, sends bluntly worded text messages to government officials, employers, traditional leaders, teachers, business owners and housewives…
Child Labor Rates Go Up in Colombia
BOGOTA, May 2 (UPI) -- Colombia experienced a sharp rise in the volume of child workers in the last five years, officials say a study reveals.
A report by the non-profit communications agency PANDI said there was about a…
Child labor rates go up in Colombia
BOGOTA, May 2 (UPI) -- Colombia experienced a sharp rise in the volume of child workers in the last five years, officials say a study reveals.
A report by the non-profit communications agency PANDI said there was about a…
Save the Children
Editorial Mindinao Times
Written by: Times Editors , Times Editors
The plan of the regional office to investigate child labor in mining areas is long overdue.
On Tuesday, Regional Director Joffrey Suyao said his agency…
Pinay gets World’s Children’s Honorary Award
abs-cbnNEWS.com
MANILA, Philippines - For her "tireless struggle" against child labor and trafficking, Filipina Cecilia Flores-Oebanda is one of the 2 recipients of the World's Children's Honorary Award.
The award was given…
Helpline in Delhi to Combat Child Labor
In a bid to tackle child labour and handle complaints from workers, a toll free helpline would soon be launched by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, a state government official said Tuesday.
The helpline number…
Restaurants Beware: The Labor Department is Cracking Down
By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA --
The United States Department of Labor is launching a massive sweep of restaurants in Hillsborough County, which officials say is rife with violations of child labor rules…
More Stringent Child Labor Regulations
from Sunday Observer in Sri Lanka:
The government has begun cracking down on factories which use child labour in dangerous industries such as fire work manufacturing in a move to eradicate the use of children in these industries…
More Aussies Buying Fair Trade Eggs
From the Queensland Times:
AAP
MORE Australians are buying ethically produced Easter eggs this year but child labour is still a huge factor in global chocolate production, aid groups say.
Aid agency Oxfam said its Fairtrade…
Moin Paid with his Life for Being Slow at Work
Sahim Salim in New Delhi
Sahim Salim investigates the shocking death of 10-year-old Moin Khan, the latest victim of child labour in the country.
When 10-year-old Moin Khan's parents sent their child to New Delhi with his…
Law Preventing Move Against Child Labor
BY KIMONE THOMPSON Features editor - Sunday thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com
from the Jamaica Observer
A law that gives labour inspectors the authority to survey established work places and not the informal sector is preventing…
India bans child labour in circuses
AFP [from Dawn.com April 2011]:
NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Monday banned travelling circuses from employing children and ordered the government to conduct raids on all performing companies to rescue…
Hilton Signs Code of Conduct to Prevent Child Prostitution
After over a year of efforts from ECPAT-USA, anti-trafficking advocates,Change.org members, and Hilton staff, Hilton Worldwide has signed the Code of Conduct to prevent sexual exploitation of children in the travel and tourism…
Factory owner beats 10-yr-old worker to death
Indrani Basu, TNN | Apr 18, 2011, 04.24am IST [from the Times of India:]
NEW DELHI: Delhi was again confronted with the ugly truth of child labour in its midst when a 10-year-old migrant working in a beedi-making unit…
Child Soldiers are being used by Muammar al-Gaddafi’s Regime
from the news.scotsman.com:
Gaddafi's new force of child soldiers revealed
By Ruth Sherlock
COLONEL Muammar al-Gaddafi is using child soldiers in his battle to regain the besieged Libyan town of Misrata, The Scotsman…
Maine’s Child Labor Laws Come Under Scrutiny
by Rob Poindexter
Augusta - Hearings began in Augusta Friday on a bill that would weaken some of Maine's child labor laws.
Representative David Burns of Whiting is the sponsor of the legislation. It calls for limiting…
Foreign Tourists seek Children for Sex in Acapulco
Acapulco, Mexico (CNN) -- It's early in the evening and they're already on the streets looking for customers.They are all very young, some still in their teens. One teenage girl wearing a tight, revealing, deep pink dress…
Study says Philippines has the Worst Forms of Child Labor
[source: Press release House of Representatives, Philippines:]
Writer: Isagani C. Yambot Jr., MRS-PRIB
Lawmakers recently called for a congressional probe on the report of the United States Department of Labor that the…
Rwanda: 27 Rescued from Child Labor
allafrica.com
Government Supporting Daily
Dan Ngabonziza
Nyagatare — 27 children have been rescued from various forms of child labour in Mimuri Sector, Nyagatare District.
A combined effort by Mimuri sector authorities,…
Lunchroom Controversy Spurs Change in Idaho Law
[KTVB.com:]
https://www.ktvb.com/news/local/Lunchroom-controversy-spurs-change-in-Idaho-law-119366994.html
by Ty Brennan
KTVB.COM
MERIDIAN -- A lunchroom controversy has ended up on the governor’s desk and spurred a…
Changes to Maine’s Child Labor Laws – Will 100 Years of Progress Disappear?
[The following op-ed appeared in the Bangor Daily News on April 2, 2011]
By Barbara Burt, the Frances Perkins Center & Sally Greenberg, the National Consumers League & Co-chair, Child Labor Coalition
The Maine legislature…
NCL’s 2010 Five Worst Jobs for Teens
[This report was originally issued in Spring 2010]
National Consumers League Report:
2010’s Five Worst Teen Jobs
Traveling Youth Sales Crews
Construction and Height Work
Outside Helper: Landscaping, Groundskeeping…
Bill Nemitz: GOP bills exploit kids in workplace
Portland Press Herald
By Bill Nemitz
Staff Writer
Talk about a diversionary tactic.
While Gov. Paul LePage has much of Maine in a lather over where he's hiding the now infamous Department of Labor lobby mural (pssst ...…
Solis joins President Obama on El Salvador trip to Highlight Solidarity on Combating Child Labor
ILAB
Contact Name: Gloria Della or Lina Garcia
Announces $10 million contribution to target root causes of exploitative child labor
WASHINGTON — As part of President Obama's Latin America trip, U.S. Secretary of Labor…
Somalia: Recruitment of Child Soldiers on the Increase
Source: Content Partner // IRIN
NAIROBI - With the escalation of fighting across Somalia since January, armed groups have reportedly recruited more child soldiers to their ranks, some even forcing teachers to enlist…
New York Times: Itinerant Life Weighs on Farmworkers’ Children
March 12, 2011
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
SALINAS, Calif. — A girl in Oscar Ramos’s third-grade class has trouble doing homework because six relatives have moved into her family’s rusted trailer and she has no private…
Child labour rescue team attacked, four hospitalized in India
[from The Press Trust of India]
Several activists of a city-based child rights NGO were today allegedly attacked and severely beaten up by some people while they were trying to rescue child labourers.
A group of "traffickers"…
Global March condemns attack on Child Rights activists in Delhi
Global March has learned that Chairperson Kailash Satyarthi and four other child rights activists have been injured during a rescue effort to save child bonded labourers from zari embroidery units in an area of New Delhi,…
Iran ‘Using Child Soldiers’ to Suppress Tehran Protests
By: Robert Tait
The Observer
Iran's Islamic regime is using "child soldiers" to suppress anti-government demonstrations, a tactic that could breach international law forbidding the use of underage combatants, human rights…
UN Says Reports of Child Soldiers Being Recruited in Libya
The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION
By: The Associated Press
GENEVA - U.N. officials say they are getting reports that child soldiers are being recruited to fight for Moammar Gadhafi loyalists in Libya — which would…
Proposed Changes to Child Labor Law Spark Concern in Maine
[from Lewiston Sun-Journal. 3/10/11] By Steve Mistler, Staff Writer
AUGUSTA — Groups representing restaurants and hotels sparred with worker advocates on Wednesday over a bill that would ease work restrictions within…
New Book Provides Recollections of Former Liberian Child Soldiers
University of California/Berkeley Law School’s Web Site
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/10690.htm
By Andrew Cohen
As a former television producer and humanitarian journalist with extensive experience in Africa, Emily Holland…
Somaly Mam: Cambodian anti-sex trafficking campaigner and founder of AFESIP, rescuing women from brothels and supporting their recovery
Emine Saner
The Guardian
Growing up in extreme poverty under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Mam was sold into sexual slavery when she was 12, eventually ending up in a Phnom Penh brothel where she endured unimaginable…
Tragedy in Southern Illinois Reinforces Farm Safety Reminders
from Illinois Corn
https://www.ilcorn.org/daily-update/132-tragedy-in-southern-illinois-reinforces-farm-safety-reminders/
In an incredibly unfortunate turn of events last week, two southern Illinois teens died in a tragic…
Thai government urged to stop using child soldiers in militias
Posted : Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:08:49 GMT
Asia World News | Home
[from www.earthtimes.org]
Bangkok - The Thai government is exposing…
ASSE Rolls Out Its New Target Teen Work Safety Tools Aimed At Preventing Work Injuries, Illnesses
[from www.safetyonline.com]
March 3, 2011
American Society of Safety Engineers roll out new target teen safety kit aimed at preventing youth work injuries, illnesses
Des Plaines, IL - Slippery floors, hot cooking equipment,…
11-year-old the latest victim of child labor
The Star/Asia News Network
SOUTH INDIA - MAKKAL Osai reported that a girl, Dhanalakshmi, 11, from Tamil Nadu became the latest victim of child labour and torture when she succumbed to her injuries at Kolenchery Medical Mission…
Sex-Trafficking Bill passes House
By April Hunt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia House took aim at those who prostitute children on Wednesday, overwhelmingly agreeing to make it easier to go after pimps and others who exploit minors for…
GoodWeave and Your Carpet Choice Can Help Improve Child Labor Standards
Julia Moulden/Huffington Post
My column runs on Saturdays, so you're likely reading this on the weekend. Are you barefoot, and luxuriating in soft carpeting under your toes as you relax? And did you know that you can influence…
US Labor Department Fines Marcus Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Wehrenberg movie theatre chains more than $277,000 for Child Labor Violations
WHD News Release: [03/01/2011]
Contact Name: Scott Allen or Rhonda Burke
Release Number: 11-0247-NAT
Minors in 9 states found performing hazardous work, working longer hours than permitted by law
CHICAGO — The U.S.…
USDOL’s Polaski Lauds Liberian Union for Work on Child Labor
Liberian Union Receives Child Labor Award
by SANDRA POLASKI on FEBRUARY 23, 2011 · 0 COMMENTS
The Liberian countryside
I want to tell you about the remote town of Harbel, Liberia and the Firestone Agricultural Workers…
Islamist Suicide Bombing Kills Somali Star International–Soccer Used as Tool to Prevent Child Soldiers
[from BleacherReports.com]
By James M. Dorsey/(Correspondent) on February 23, 2011
Soccer star killed in Islamist suicide bombing in war-torn Somalia
USAF/Getty Images
An Islamist suicide bombing that killed a star…
Consumer-labor group calls bizarre Missouri Senate bill to reduce child labor protections something ‘out of Charles Dickens novel’
For release: February 24, 2011
Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the organization which helped pass federal child labor laws in the United States more than 70 years ago, is calling a Missouri bill…
Liberian Union Receives Child Labor Award
by SANDRA POLASKI
I want to tell you about the remote town of Harbel, Liberia and the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), which has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of workers and their children.…
Forgotten in the Shadows of War
By Cassandra Clifford
Female child combatants are overlooked both in the media, as well as in the rehabilitation process. All too often, female child soldiers are also expected to perform sexual services for older male…
Working More Than 20 Hours a Week in High School Found Harmful
Society for Research in Child Development Press Release
Many teens work part-time during the school year, and in the current economic climate, more youths may take jobs to help out with family finances. But caution is advised:…
US Department of Labor presents Iqbal Masih Award to Liberian workers’ group for efforts to combat exploitive child labor
News Release
ILAB News Release: [02/16/2011]
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has presented the 2010 Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor…
26 Child Laborers from Bihar Rescued in Delhi
(PTI) Twenty-six child labourers trafficked from Bihar were rescued and eight employers detained by authorities from south Delhi.
The Delhi Police and the task force against child labour conducted the rescue operation in…
UN Secretary General Calls for Greater Efforts to Tackle Child Rights Violations in Afghanistan
Greater efforts are needed to end grave violations against children in Afghanistan, including their use as child soldiers, sexual violence, killing and maiming, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report to the…
UN reports ‘grave violations’ against children in Chad including child soldiers and rapes
By Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Tue, 15 Feb, 2011 7:46 PM EST
A U.N. task force has documented "grave violations" against children in the poverty-stricken central African nation of Chad…
Apple Report Reveals Child Labor Increase
Tania Branigan in Beijing
Apple's annual report says 91 children worked at its suppliers in 2010, and 137 workers were poisoned by n-hexane
Apple said it had strengthened its checks on age because of concerns about falsification.
Apple…
Organizer of child sex ring in Thailand sentenced to 25 years
New York (CNN) -- A Canadian man who admitted to running a sex ring involving young boys at his home in Thailand was sentenced by a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, to 25 years in prison, court officials said Monday.
John…
Afghans Plan to Stop Recruiting Children as Police & Protect Sex Slaves
[From the New York Times:}
By ROD NORDLAND
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan is expected to sign a formal agreement with the United Nations on Sunday to stop the recruitment of children into its police forces and ban the…
A 2005 survey by NCL found that 96% of those Americans surveyed would not let their own children work in the fields as hired farmworkers under 13--something allowed by current U.S. Child Labor law.
U.S. DOL Fines Two Grain Operators $1.4 million in Death of Two Teens
News Release
OSHA News Release: [01/24/2011]
MOUNT CARROLL, Ill. — The U.S. Department of Labor has fined Haasbach LLC in Mount Carroll and Hillsdale Elevator Co. in Geneseo and Annawan, Ill., following the deaths of three…
Proposed changes to child labor law spark concern in Maine
[from the Lewiston Sun Journal]:
By Steve Mistler, Staff Writer
Published Mar 10, 2011 12:00 am | Last updated Mar 10, 2011 12:00 am
AUGUSTA — Groups representing restaurants and hotels sparred with worker advocates…
World Bank Responds to Criticism on Uzbek Report
[From Eurasianet.org]
by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights
Uzbek children in cotton fields, November 2010
An Uzbek human rights group concerned about the World Bank's…
Remediation
Between 1995 and 2010, the U.S. Congress appropriated approximately $780 million to the U.S. Department of Labor to support global efforts to combat exploitive child labor.
Teen Dies in Ohio Farm Accident
[from the DaytonDailyNews.com]
By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer
Updated 7:37 AM Thursday, December 30, 2010
ARCANUM — A 16-year-old who was killed in a farm machinery accident on Wednesday has been identified as John Warner…
US Department of Labor awards nearly $20 million to combat exploitive child labor in Bolivia, Egypt and Jordan
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced nearly $20 million in grants awarded to combat exploitive child labor in Bolivia, Egypt and Jordan.
The grants will fund projects that provide children with education…
A dozen nations added to U.S. Government child, forced labor list (AP)
WASHINGTON — The Labor Department is adding a dozen countries to the list of nations that use child labor or forced labor, as officials warn the global economic crisis could cause an upswing in the exploitation…
U.S. DOL Proposes Revisions to List of Products Made from Forced or Indentured Child Labor
Initial Determination Proposing Revisions to the EO 13126 List
On December 15, 2010 the Department of Labor announced an initial determination proposing to update the EO 13126 list in accordance with the “Procedural Guidelines…
Nearly 1 million children work full time in Bolivia’s tin mines, in cemeteries, on buses, or in the markets.
BY HELEN COSTER (International Reporting Project & Foreign Policy | NOVEMBER 18, 2010
POTOSÍ, Bolivia—Edwin Choquevilla is the primary breadwinner in his family, earning $7 a day pushing a wheelbarrow inside Bolivia's…
Child Labor in Brazil, an Overview Article
Press Release: Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Made in Brazil: Confronting Child Labor
by COHA Research Associate Sonja Salzburger
“To force a child to work is to steal the future of that child” – Brazil’s…
The US Blinks, and Children Will Suffer
[Blog, originally from the Huffington Post]
Jo Becker
Children’s Rights Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch
Posted: November 9, 2010 10:07 AM
Until recently, the United States might have been considered a world leader…
Harvard Crimson Editorial Board: Reject Those Who Exploit Children (op-ed)
[A recent editorial regarding the Obama Administration's military aid policies]
Reject those who exploit children
By: Harvard Editorial Board
Posted: 11/11/10
Despite its early remonstrance of perceived human-rights violations…
Romeo Dallaire was in Vancouver on Remembrance Day to call Canadian youth to duty in the fight to eradicate child soldiers.
[Dallaire is a former Canadian senator and a a retired general, who tried to stop the Rwandan genocide. This article is from the Vancouver Sun and you can read the piece at their site by clicking here.]
Dallaire calls on…
US Labor Department cites Nickerson Farms for child labor violations
More than $48,000 in penalties assessed after investigators find 7 children working in fields
Wage & Hour Press Release
PHOENIX -- The U.S. Department of Labor has fined Robert Nickerson Farms of Wellton, Ariz., $48,000…
Friendship week urges vendors to give up child labour
Reprinted from The Times of India
Kalyani Sardesai, TNN, Nov 11, 2010, 04.48am IST
PUNE: Volunteers from the city's Bal Sena, the childrens' army backed by Dnyanadevi-Childline, and gammat shalas, the informal schools, are…
Longoria and Colbert Highlight the Plight of Farmworker Adults and Children
America’s farmworkers are mostly invisible these days. The men, women, and children who pick our fruit and vegetables go largely ignored by the public and Congress, which has failed to update the Fair Labor Standards Act…
The US Blinks, and Children Will Suffer (Blog by Jo Becker from Human Rights Watch)
Check out this blog from Jo Becker, the Children’s Rights Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, on U.S. policy regarding child soldiers, here in The Huffington Post. Human Rights Watch is a member of the Child Labor…
Clinton: U.S. to Do More to End Sexual Slavery
To read this article at the Dailyrecord.com, please click here.
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AP) — Pledging to do more to help end the scourge of sexual slavery, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited a rescue…
For migrant students, a cycle of dwindling opportunities
To read this article at the Washington Post, please click here.
By Kevin Sieff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 6, 2010; 8:48 PM
In her purple school binder, 13-year-old Ellifina Jean counted down the last…
Teen girl killed in quad bike tragedy
By Amelia Wade
5:30 AM Tuesday Nov 9, 2010
On average, riders lose control of quad bikes on 12,645 occasions a year, resulting in 1400 injuries. Photo / Greg Bowker
A teenage girl was yesterday killed while riding…
Afghan Bacha Bazi Action
There is currently an active petition at change.org to prevent the trafficking of Afghan boys into a form of prostitution:
Tell the UN to Stop Child Trafficking via Bacha Bazi in Afghanistan
Targeting: UN Mission to Afghanistan
Started…
Australian Snack Company Agrees to Source “Ethical” Cocoa
Arnott’s ensure Tim Tams are free from child labour
[source: AFN Thought for Food]
by Josette Dunn
World Vision Australia today welcomed Arnott’s announcement that it will source ethical cocoa that has not been made…
US Waives Child Soldier Penalties in 4 Nations
By AP / Kristen Gelineau
(WASHINGTON) — In a move criticized by human rights organizations, the Obama administration has decided to exempt Yemen and three other countries that use child soldiers from U.S. penalties under…
Don’t be tricked by Halloween treats
[from STLToday.com:]
Read the original article here.
By Charita L. Castro and Jialan Wang |
Children all over America will participate in trick-or-treating festivities this Halloween. Babies not even a year old will be…
Convention on the Rights of the Child
193 countries have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United States has not.
New Attention Given to Child Cocoa Workers in Ivory Coast and Ghana
25 October 2010
Children living in a cocoa-producing village near the town of Oume, Ivory Coast
Photo: AP
Children living in a cocoa-producing village near the town of Oume, Ivory Coast
Or download MP3 (Right-click or…
Tulane Report Focuses Attention on Child Labor in Cocoa Industry
The Payson Center's Report can be downloaded here: https://childlabor-payson.org--Reid]
West African children still exploited to make chocolate
By Marco Chown Oved
Associated Press
Updated: 10/08/2010 09:06:06 AM CDT
ABIDJAN,…
Southern Sudan to purge child soldiers from army
By Maggie Fick
Associated Press Writer / August 30, 2010
JUBA, Sudan—The government of Southern Sudan said Monday it will purge child soldiers from the ranks of its former rebel army by year's end, a policy change that…
Uncovered
The proportion of children who live in countries that have not yet ratified ILO Convention 182 (on the worst forms of child labor) or Convention 138 (on the minimum age): 1 in 3
Agriculture
6 in 10 child laborers work in agriculture, most commonly as unpaid workers on family farms
Sub-Saharan Africa
While many areas of the world are experiencing some progress in reducing child labor, Sub-Saharan Africa is seeing an increase in child labor activity.
Hazardous work
Levels of hazardous work seem to be dropping for girls but not for boys.
Hazardous Labor
85 million children perform "hazardous" work
Decline of Child Labor Slowing?
The ILO reports that while child labor around the world decreased 10 percent between 2000 and 2004, it only decreased 3 percent between 2004 and 2008.
Nigeria: Millions Lack Schooling
`Nigeria has the highest number of children out of school'
By Ayo Okulaja [article from Next.com]
[Originally published September 22, 2010 01:43PM
In ranking Nigeria amongst the worst place for a child to be in 2010, a…
Trafficking
Nearly one in five victims of trafficking around the world are children.
Craigslist is hub for child prostitution, allege trafficked women
Open letter to founder Craig Newmark in Washington Post tells stories of young women sold for sex through 'adult services' ads
The online classified advertising site, Craigslist, is facing accusations that it has…
Poverty robs Yemeni children of their young years
[Note: Blindness is listed as one the consequences of Yemeni children working with pesticides in agriculture!]
JAMAL AL-JABERI | SANA'A, YEMEN - Aug 11 2010 13:02
After their father died two years ago, Raseel…
Despite problems, egg farmer embraced by local governments Central figure in recall has history of run-ins with regulators
By Andrew Zajac, Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau
8:23 PM EDT, August 27, 2010/WASHINGTON
Long before Austin "Jack" DeCoster became a central figure in one of the largest egg recalls in history, he had paid more than $10…
Pennsylvania Official Calls for Updated, Comprehensive Child Labor Laws
HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A comprehensive overhaul of Pennsylvania's Child Labor Law is needed to ensure safer working conditions for young people, Labor & Industry Executive Deputy Secretary…
Reports from the Uzbekistan Cotton Harvest 2010
From: Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights [mailto:cotton.harvest.uzbekistan@googlemail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 4:40 PM
Issue 5, October 12, 2010
Context: Forced Child labour is an endemic and widespread…
Child Labor Deaths in U.S.
34 workers under 18 died in the U.S. in 2008
Working Teens
In 2008, the number of 15- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. who worked: 2.3 million
Convention of the Rights of the Child (Full Text)
Full text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989.…
NCL Report: The Dangers of Traveling Sales Crews
Traveling Youth Crews Performing Door-to-Door Sales
[from NCL's 2010 Five Worst Jobs for Teens]
The startling discovery of the remains of a long-missing 18-year-old girl, Jennifer Hammond, in October 2009, served as a painful…
Safety Tips for Working Teens and Parents of Working Teens
The National Consumers League issues the 2010 Five Worst Teen jobs to remind teens and their parents to help youth workers to choose their summer jobs wisely. Summer jobs can contribute a lot to a child’s development and…
10 questions for parents to ask their child or their child’s new employer
A parent concerned about their teen's safety at work should ask these questions:
1) Will my son or daughter be asked to drive a vehicle?
2) Will the job involve their being driven by others?
3) …
NCL Report: The Dangers of Youth Work in Agriculture
[from NCL's 2010 Five Worst Jobs for Teens]
Farms look safe but they are actually very dangerous workplaces. Agriculture is consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous industries in America. In its 2008 edition of Injury…
NCL Report on Dangerous Jobs for Teens: Driver/Operator, Forklifts, Tractors, and All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs)
[from NCL's 2010 Five Worst Jobs for Teens]
Forklifts, tractors, and all-terrain vehicles pose dangers for many young workers. Several youth tractor accidents have been detailed in our section on agricultural fatalities…
AFL-CIO Asks Congressional Leaders to Protect Farmworker Kids, May 2010
[calameo code=000367716309c184a8368 lang=en width=100% height=400]
AFT/ILRF Report on U.S. Policies to Combat Child Labor, June 2010
[calameo code=00036771632eb1bbe9eca lang=en width=100% height=400]
ILRF: U.S. Is Out of Compliance of Convention 182 Because of Child Labor in U.S. Agriculture
[calameo code=0003677166961a2fddf3c lang=en width=100% height=400]
Senator Tom Harkin’s “Dear Colleague” letter on Uzbek Cotton, March 2009
[calameo code=000367716339b1dd79b93 lang=en width=100% height=400]
CARE Act Summary by First Focus Campaign for Children, May 2010
[calameo code=00036771608a26b56e207 lang=en width=100% height=400]
“Fields of Peril” Human Rights Watch Investigates Child Labor in U.S. Agriculture, May 2010
[calameo code=00036771627a017852169 lang=en width=100% height=400]
State vs. Federal Child Labor Laws: Which Apply?
There are child labor laws, both state and federal, that regulate the hours of work, types of jobs, and working conditions of children and adolescents.
Every state has a child labor law, usually enforced by a state labor…
Trafficking – Africa
According to a UNICEF report in 2003, the number of 53 African countries with human trafficking problems: 49
The Problem of Antiquated State Child Labor Laws
Weak and inadequate state and federal child labor laws
Some states have not updated their child labor laws since the early 1900s. Most state laws and the federal child labor laws do not adequately reflect today's workplaces…
Airlines' role grows in war on U.S. sex trafficking
Sigmund said she alerted the aircrew who radioed ahead to authorities about a possible case of child trafficking. Her quick wits helped her spot what ...See all stories on this topic »
Committee vs child labor formed
TACLOBAN -- The provincial government of Northern Samar will create a committee that will craft measures to wipe out child labor in the province by 2015. ...See all stories on this topic »BusinessWorld Online
Turkey's first lady addresses PACE session
The fact that the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the UN General Assembly two decades ago is the most widely accepted human rights ...See all stories on this topic »
Emmanuel Jal Breaks 661-Day Fast
The organization's primary goal is providing education to former child soldiers and others in dire need of support in Sudan and Kenya. ...See all stories on this topic »
Governments Look to End Child Labor in West African Cocoa Farming
Malian children demonstrate against child labor in Sikasso, Mali. Sikasso is the point of departure for children going to work in the Ivorian cocoa, ...See all stories on this topic »
Fighting Child Trafficking One Tweet at a Time
Scimone's 10/10/10 Twitterthon goal is for 10000 people to give $10 each—the $100000 needed to start printing a new child-trafficking awareness book and ...www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID...
More nations sign on to initiative to end use of child soldiers
By IRNA, Tehran : Eleven new countries have added their names to a growing United Nations-backed list of states that have pledged to halt child recruitment, ...See all stories on this topic »
Trafficking – Africa
According to UNICEF, every year around 1,000 Mozambican women and children are sold to brothels in South Africa and other countries. Thousands of girls from Ethiopia are trafficked to the Middle East to work as domestic …
Congo-Kinshasa: Lubanga Trial Highlights Plight of Child Soldiers
[from allAfrica.com/Lubanga Trial Website (The Hague):]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Irrespective of how Thomas Lubanga's trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
CRC 20-Year Anniversary Coming in November (The CRC in England)
Friday 20 November marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a set of rights that every child under the age of 18 ...www.equalityhumanrights.com/.../20-years-of-the-rights-of-th...
Namibian Man Employs 4-Year-Old
In addition, the country also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. Namibia signed the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of ...See all stories on this topic »
Stop Child Trafficking Now tries to fight demand for underage victims
By SOPHIA ZHANG | The Daily Tar Heel Alyssa Cance, Miranda Bullock and Laura Kaminski gather signatures during the second annual Stop Child Trafficking ...See all stories on this topic »The Daily Tar Heel
Kenyan Boys earns 1 cent per goat delivered
Child labor is illegal in Kenya, but police rarely target business owners for hiring children in the slums. Community activists say the police get a cut of the thriving trade. A senior police officer, who wouldn't give his name, ...Artbound - http:...
Blogger Cites Child Labor at Commonwealth Games in India
In addition to charges or corruption and general mismanagement in the preparations for the Games, there were also reported incidents of child and forced labor being used in various construction projects for the events. ...Columbia University Press - ht...
New rule impacts young workers at nursing homes
His hours were cut because of a change in federal child labor laws that prohibit teens from operating patient lifts. As a result, nursing homes like St. ...See all stories on this topic »
Africa & Child Labor
Four in 10 African children work. There are an estimated 80 million child workers in Africa and the number is growing.
Birth Registration
The number of every 20 children born in Somalia and Liberia that have their birth registered:
One [According to the United Nations, 'without a birth certificate, youngsters are more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, trafficking,…
Where is Child Labor Most Rampant?
Asia and the Pacific still has the largest numbers--almost 78 million or 9.3% of child population, but Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region with the highest incidence of child labor--59 million, over 21%).
Source:…
Trafficking in the U.S.
The estimated number of slaves trafficked into the U.S. each year:
14,500
Slavery
The number of human slaves around the world:
27 million
[source: Free the Slaves, 2010]
Child Labor Around the World
The number of child laborers in the world:
215 million
More nations sign UN initiative to end use of child soldiers …
More nations sign UN initiative to end use of child soldiers - New York, Sept 29 : Eleven new countries have added their names to a growing United ...www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-51662.html
1936: The Walsh-Healey Act
The Walsh-Healey Act sets safety standards, minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor provisions on all federal contracts.
Silk’s dark side: Uzbek kids made to grow cocoons
By MANSUR MIROVALEV (AP) – August 30, 2010
KOKAND, Uzbekistan — For one month a year, from morning to night, Dilorom Nishanova grows silkworms, a painstaking and exhausting job. She has been doing it since she was 8.
Uzbekistan's…
Four rescued from child labour
Printed from
TNN, Aug 29, 2010, 04.44am IST
PUNE: The flying squad of the labour commissioner's office rescued four boys working as child labourers at a restaurant, a snack bar and a fabrication workshop at Saswad…
Ghana strengthens child labour monitoring
[from the Ghana New Agency]
Accra, Aug. 27, GNA - A database system for monitoring and tracking information on child labour issues in Ghana was launched in Accra on Friday with a call on various Metropolitan, Municipal…
Child labor in Yemen…outlaw phenomenon
Yemen Observer: https://www.yobserver.com
Posted in: Reports
Written By: Fatima al-Aghbari
Article Date: Aug 26, 2010 - 4:54:28 AM
The child labor phenomenon in Yemen has worsened since the 1960s because of the…
Total Child Workers
The estimate of child laborers in the world: 168 million
Source: ILO
1883: NY Labor Movement on Child Labor in the Tenements
The New York labor movement, under the leadership of Samuel Gompers, attempts to end child labor in the cigar industry by successfully sponsoring legislation that bans production in tenements, where many of young children…
U.S. Government’s Latest Weapon in the Fight Against Child Labor
Viewpoint/Elizabeth Gardner
In an effort to combat child labor, the U.S. Department of Labor recently updated its list of products made with forced or indentured child labor in foreign countries. Federal contractors are…
Gap, Next, and M&S in New Sweatshop Scandal
By: Gethin Chamberlain
The Observer
Indian workers are paid just 25p an hour and forced to work overtime in factories used by some of Britain's best-known high street stores
Gap, Next and Marks & Spencer have all launched…
Child Soldier Resources
There has been a range of data collected about the plight of child soldiers in the world today. For further resources on the ongoing campaigns, on the ground conditions, and diplomatic situation surrounding child soldiers…
HRW: Fingers to the Bone–Child Farmworkers in the United States
Take Action with our partner in the Children in the Fields partner Human Rights Watch. See their work to keep children safe in America: Take Action!
Gartner: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Education is Key
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Education is the Key Missing Link
David Gartner, Co-Director, Center for Universal Education
The Brookings Institution
July 30, 2010 —
President Obama is releasing a plan…
2 Teen Workers Trapped Inside Grain Bin Die in Illinois
MOUNT CARROLL, Ill., July 29, 2010
[This brings to 4 the number of young workers who died in grain silos in the Midwest this summer.from CBSNews.com:]
Rescuers Drain Thousands of Pounds of Corn to Free Trapped Workers…
Human Rights Watch Report Exposes “Fields of Peril”
Fields of Peril
Child Labor in US Agriculture
May 5, 2010
In this 99-page report Human Rights Watch found that child farmworkers risked their safety, health, and education on commercial farms across the United States.…
Dangers of Working Alone–Sexual Assualt (article)
Should teens be left alone when working late hours?
September 19, 2008
BY DONNA VICKROY, Mike Nolan and Lauren FitzPatrick, Staff writers
[from Southtown Star, Chicago, Illinois: https://www.southtownstar.com/index.html]
Cathy…
Brazil’s Bolsa Família How to get children out of jobs and into school The limits of Brazil’s much admired and emulated anti-poverty programme
ELDORADO, SÃO PAULO STATE
THREE generations of the Teixeira family live in three tiny rooms in Eldorado, one of the poorest favelas (slums) of Greater São Paulo, the largest city in the Americas. The matriarch of the…
The U.S., Somalia, and Child Soldiers
Viewpoint/Elizabeth Gardner
I’ve been going through a mental checklist of some of the 12-year-olds that I’ve known. The list includes some extremely rambunctious boys and some spirited girls—my little sister’s friends,…
Senator Harkin Draws Attention to Child Labor in Uzbekistan with Resolution
S.RES.99
Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Government of Uzbekistan should immediately enforce its existing domestic legislation and fulfill its international commitments aimed at ending state-sponsored…
U.S. DOL Issues Child Labor Product Prohibition List for Government Contractors
Executive Order 13126
Executive Order 13126 [Text] [PDF] on the "Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor," was signed on June 12, 1999. The EO is intended to ensure that…
Progress in Two Areas
The ILO reports that in the four-year period ending in 2008, the number of child laborers among 5- to 14-year-olds fell 10 percent and the number children in hazardous work fell 31 percent.
1892: Child Labor Plank Adopted by Democratic Party
The Democratic Party adopts a plank in their platform, which recommends banning factory employment for children under age 15.
1899: National Consumer’s League’s “White Label” Campaign
The National Consumers’ League under the leadership of Florence Kelley launches its “white label” campaign in the women’s garment industry. The white label certified that goods were produced following minimum fair…
1901: Juvenile Protective Association Founded
Jane Addams founds the Juvenile Protective Association to advocate against racism, child labor, exploitation, child abuse, and child prostitution in Chicago and their effects on child development.
1903: Mother Jones Leads “Children’s Crusade”
Mother Jones organizes working children in the "Children's Crusade," a march from Pennsylvania to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt in New York with banners demanding "we want time to play" and "we want to go to school."…
1904: National Child Labor Committee Formed
The National Child Labor Committee is formed with the goal of abolishing all child labor.
1908: Muller v. Oregon
In the case of Muller v. Oregon the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right of states to limit the number of hours women could work in certain industries. Louis Brandeis argues the case on behalf of the National Consumers’…
1912: Children’s Bureau Founded
The U.S. Children’s Bureau is founded with Julia Lathrop as its first head. The organization is poised to monitor the situation of children at home and at work.
1916: Keating-Owen Act
Congress passes the Keating-Owen Act, which bans the interstate sale of any article produced with child labor (factory, cannery, and mine) and regulates the number of hours a child could work. The Act was declared unconstitutional…
1924: Child Labor Amendment
Congress adopts a constitutional amendment barring child labor and sends the amendment out to be ratified by the state legislatures. Not enough states ratify the child labor amendment for it to become law.
1938: Fair Labor Standards Act
1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes limits on many forms of child labor.
1949: Fair Labor Standards Act Amended
An amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act directly prohibits child labor for the first time.
1976: ILO Convention 138 on Minimum Ages
The International Labour Organization’s Convention 138 becomes international law. Known as the “Minimum Age Convention,” it sets out to abolish child labor among school-aged children.
1989: Child Labor Coalition Established
At the conclusion of a successful congressional forum on child labor, the National Consumers League and the International Labor Rights Fund establish the Child Labor Coalition, a U.S.-based member organization to work on…
1992: Introduction of the Child Labor Deterrence Act
Senator Tom Harkin first proposes the Child Labor Deterrence Act, which would ban the importation of products made with child labor. He reintroduces the legislation in 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999.
1994: Founding of Rugmark
Kailash Satyarthi founds Rugmark, an organization seeking to stop the exploitation of children in the carpet industry by building up the supply and demand for child labor-free products. A year later the first child-labor-free…
1995: Death of Iqbal Masih Child Labor Activist
Iqbal Masih, a former child slave in the carpet industry in Pakistan, is murdered for his international advocacy of child rights at the age of 13. His courage and determination continues to inspire children, activists, and…
1997: AP Series entitled “Children for Hire”
The Associated Press publishes a series entitled “Children for Hire” on the continuing exploitation of children working in US agriculture.
2000: Human Right’s Watch Report “Fingers to the Bone”
Human Rights Watch publishes a report outlining the exploitation of children in US agriculture entitled “Fingers to the Bone: United States Failure to Protect Child Farmworkers.”
2000: ILO Convention 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labor
The International Labour Organization’s Convention 182 becomes international law. This convention defines and condemns the worst forms of child labor, which include slavery, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution,…
2001: CARE Act
The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE) is introduced by Senator Tom Harkin in the Senate and Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard in the House. This bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to…
2002: Optional Protocol on the Rights of the Child
The United States ratifies the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in…
The CARE Act Had 107 Cosponsors in Last Congress
[The current Congress has not yet seen the expected re- introduction of the CARE Act. The information below if for the Congress that ended in December of 2010].
The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment
The Children’s…
North Carolina Law Increases Protections for Underage Workers
New law protects underage workers
Fines will double under bill aimed at shoring up N.C.'s child-labor rules, which are among the nation's weakest.
By Benjamin Niolet
ben.niolet@newsobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Jul. 16,…
U.S. DOL list of products that government contractors must verify are free of child labor
The updated list put out by the U.S. DOL regarding products that government contractors must verify are free of child labor:
https://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ilab/ILAB20100914.htm
Executive Order 13126
Executive…
Kazakhstan: Children Help Harvest Tobacco for Phillip Morris Cigarettes
From the NY Times:
July 13, 2010
Philip Morris Is Said to Benefit From Child Labor
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
MOSCOW — One woman said children as young as 10 working in the fields developed red rashes on their stomachs and…
Families remember two teens who died in silo accident
[The Department of Labor is currently reviewing the agricultural hazardous orders. In 2002, NIOSH recommended expanding Hazardous Order #8 to prohibit all work in silos. If this recommendation is moved forward, teen workers…
Woman Accused of Assualting 5-Year-old Maid in Botswana
[from the Botswana Gazette]
Woman poured hot water over `child maid'- allegation
Written by KHONANI ONTEBETSE
Five-year-old hired to look after toddler
Police say they have arrested a 39-year-old woman…
When a Family Business Violates Child Labor Laws
[From the Hartford Advocate]:
By John Stoehr
Where do parental rights end and children’s rights begin?
Laws protecting children from the hazards of the workplace violate the constitutional rights of parents to teach their…
The World Wide Recession?
The number of youth, 15- to 17-years-old, who work increased 20 percent in the period 2004-2008, while child labor rates are believed to have fallen among young children, particularly girls.
Child Migrants Flock to World Cup Host (South Africa)
The World Cup has football fans in its grip, but away from the main spectacle in South Africa, children, some alone, are fleeing Zimbabwe and flooding in to the country. UK charities are among those working with them.
Leeroy…
New York Times Highlights Plight of Farmworker Children
Efforts to protect farmworker children received a boost in June, 2010 when the NY Times front page featured an article on child labor in U.S. agriculture:
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/us/19migrant.html?emc=eta1
An…
World Cup Profits Bypass Asian Soccer-Ball Stitchers
By James Rupert
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Asian workers who stitch nearly all the world's soccer balls have seen little improvement in lives dominated by poverty, a report said days before the start of the World Cup, which…
Bill to protect domestic workers passes in N.Y. Senate
ALBANY - The State Senate passed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (S2311D/Savino) making New York the first state in the nation to provide new standards of worker protections for more than 200,000 employees in an industry…
Poquoson Company Fined, Cited in Wood Chipper Death
by Sula Kim
WVEC.com
POQUOSON -- A Poquoson tree trimming company has been fined $185,000 in the November 2009 death of a 14-year-old worker.
Frank Gornick was working for his uncle's company Old Dominion Tree and Lawn…
US Department of Labor announces publication of final child labor rules for non-agricultural work
News Release
WHD News Release: [05/19/2010]
Contact Name: Dolline Hatchett or Joseph De Wolk
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676 or (202) 579-7359
Release Number: 10-0666-NAT
US Department of Labor announces publication of final…
Agriprocessors Trial: Underage Workers Describe BRUTAL Working Conditions At Iowa Plant
MICHAEL J. CRUMB | 05/10/10 06:59 PM |
WATERLOO, Iowa — A former underage worker cried Monday while testifying she was exposed to harsh chemicals at an Iowa slaughterhouse where she and other teens worked 12 hours…
Agriprocessors child-labor trial starts this week
By GRANT SCHULTE • gschulte@... • May 3, 2010
Immigrants who were allegedly exposed to poisonous chemicals and dangerous machinery as minors will testify against their former bosses at Agriprocessors Inc. in a state…
University Of Wisconsin, Nike Cuts Ties: Labor Concerns Spur Split
The University of Wisconsin canceled its licensing agreement with Nike Inc. on Friday, MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin canceled its licensing agreement with Nike Inc. on Friday, becoming the first university…
Most Recent
This is where the most recent entry under "Laws & Enforcement" will automatically appear. Clicking on it will take the viewer to that post. This is where the most recent entry under "Laws & Enforcement" will automatically…
Call center pays $500K for employing children
OREM, UTAH — A Utah-based company that operates call centers in seven states has paid $500,000 in civil penalties for child-labor violations.
The U.S. Department of Labor cited Orem-based Western Wats Center Inc. for employing…
Rise of reality TV spurs look into Pennsylvania’s child labor laws
[from The Montgomery News (Penn.), Published: Tuesday, April 20, 2010]
By Jesse Reilly
Staff Writer
With the number of television and movie productions increasing in Pennsylvania the state's House Republican Policy…
CLC Co-Chair’s Remarks Beore the Dept. of Ag Consultative Group
Monday, CLC co-chair and AFT Secretary-Treasurer Antonio Cortese spoke before the Department of Agriculture Consultative Group working on measures to eliminate the use of child labor in agricultural imports, urging the panel…
Bitter plight of the vanilla trade children
From The Sunday Times
March 14, 2010
Bitter plight of the vanilla trade children
Dan McDougall in the Vanilla Coast, Madagascar
The pods used in ice cream made by some of the world's best-known brands is produced with…
Teen Dumping Trash Dies In Cesspool–Doughnut Shop Employee Fell In Uncovered Hole
[This tragedy is eerily reminiscent of a teen worker drowning in a septic tank in my home town, Holliston, Massachusetts, nearly 30 years ago. The young worker stepped on a manhole cover which flipped beneath him and he landed…
Apple Admits Using Child Labor
Apple has admitted that child labor was used at the factories that build its computers, iPods and mobile phones.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Apple has been repeatedly criticized for using factories that abuse workers and…
Group works to reform labor laws for migrant children
By Naxiely Lopez
Article published on November 17, 2010
[From The Monitor, a South Texas newspaper. Got to the newspaper article by clicking here.]
SAN JUAN — It’s been almost half a century since migrant activist César…
The CLC Applauds the Introduction of the CARE Act Press Release
Sept. 16, 2009
Washington, D.C.—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) applauds the introduction of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), H.R. 3564, introduced September 15th by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA).…
Prostitution in Cambodia: ‘New law doesn’t protect me’
[fromGuardian Weekly, Friday 3 July 2009 09.00 BST]
In March 2008, Cambodia saw the implementation of a new law entitled: Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. Aimed at offering protection to women in…
Prostitution in Cambodia: ‘New law doesn’t protect me’
Guardian Weekly
By: Claire Colley
In March 2008, Cambodia saw the implementation of a new law entitled: Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. Aimed at offering protection to women in prostitution by…
Mexican farms employ kids illegally, U.N. says
By Chris Hawley, USA TODAY
MEXICO CITY — Adriana Salgado, 10, spends her days in a field in northwestern Mexico, picking spinach, cabbage and other vegetables that fill American salad bowls.
Salgado attends school for…
Child Labor Horrors in Fashion Industry: “Hide the Shame” is the New Strategy (2007 Press Release)
Washington, DC, November 8, 2007 — With news last Friday that an additional 76 child slaves were rescued from Delhi’s embroidery dens, the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) has called for immediate and responsible…
Afghanistan: Child Laborers Miss School, Face Spiral Of Poverty
by Ron Synovitz
An Afghan child on the streets of Kabul (RFE/RL)
June 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Hasib is a 12-year-old Afghan boy who spends his days working at a bicycle repair shop in Kabul. He says he considers himself lucky…
1881: AFL Calls for Child Labor Legislation
The American Federation of Labor at their first national convention calls for states to enact legislation barring children under 14 from wage labor.
1876: Working Men’s Party Proposes Ending Child Labor
The Working Men's Party proposes to forbid the employment of children younger than 14.
1842: Massachusetts Enacts Child Labor Legislation
Massachusetts limits children to working 10 hours per day. Many states do the same but are not consistent in enforcing their laws.
1836: MA Legislates Manditory Schooling for Child Workers
Massachusetts creates the first state child labor law requiring factory children under 15 to go to school a minimum of 3 months per year.
1836: Union Proposes Minimum Age Laws
Early trade unions at the National Trades' Union Convention propose requiring state minimum age laws for factory work.
1832: Association Condemns Child Labor
The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen officially condemns child labor.
160 million
The number of children trapped in child labor globally.
79 million
The number of children trapped in hazardous child labor.
A
- Acapulco
- Accident
- AFESIP
- Afghanistan
- Africa
- AFT
- Agriculture
- Angola
- App
- Apple
- Apples
- Argentina
- Arizona
- Armenia
- Asia
- Assault
- ASSE
- ATV
- Australia
- Award
B
- Bacha Bazi
- Bangladesh
- BBC
- Beaten
- Beedi
- Begging
- Bicol
- BID
- Bloomberg
- Bolivia
- Bolsa Escola
- Bolsa Familia
- Bolvia
- Botwana
- Brazil
- Brick Kilns
- Britain
- Burkina Faso
- Burma
C
- California
- Cambodia
- Canada
- CARE
- CARE Act
- Cash Transfers
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Charles Taylor
- Child Farmworkers
- Child Labor History
- Child Labor Law
- Child Labor Laws
- Child prostitution
- Child Rights
- Child Safety
- Child Sex Trafficking
- Child slavery
- Child Soldier
- Child Soldiers
- Child Tafficking
- Children in the Fields
- Children of the Fields
- Children's Day
- Chile
- China
- Chocolate
- Circuses
- CLC
- CLC Letter
- Climate Change
- CLKSS
- Clothes
- Clothing
- Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
- Cocoa
- Colbert
- Colombia
- Commonwealth Games
- Companies
- Conflict Minerals
- Congo
- Consumers
- Convention
- Convention 182
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Copra
- Cortese
- Cotton
- Cotton Campaign
- COVID
- COVID-19
- CRC
- CSR
D
- D.R.C.
- Dangerous Job
- Darfur
- Deaths
- Delhi
- Department of Labor
- Diamonds
- Disney
- DOL
- DOL Enforcement
- DOLE
- Domestic Servant
- Domestic Workers
- Dometic Workers
- Door-to-Door Sales
- DR Congo
- DRC
E
- Early Marriage
- Ecuador
- Education
- Education for All
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Electronics
- Endorsers
- EPA
- Ethiopia
- Exploitation
F
- Fair Trade
- Fairtrade
- Farms
- Fast Facts
- Fast Food
- FAWUL
- Film
- Fines
- Fines Enforcement
- Fingers to the Bone
- Firestone
- Florida
- Foxconn
- FTT
G
- Gabon
- Gaddafi
- Gadhafi
- GAP
- Garbage Picker
- GCE
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Girls
- Global Campaign for Education
- Global Economic Crisis
- Global March
- Global March Against Child Labor
- Goods
- GoodWeave
- GoodWeave Carpets Chocolate Shopping Consumers
- GOP
- Government Responses
- Great Britain
- Greece
- Groceries
- Gymboree
H
- H.O.s
- Haiti
- Harkin
- Hazardous Occupation
- Hazardous Work
- Heat Stress
- Heatlh and Safety
- Hershey
- Hershey's
- Hillary Clinton
- Hilton
- History
- Hour Restrictions
- Hours
- House
- HRW
- Human rights
- Human Rights Watch
I
J
K
L
- Land Mines
- Laos
- Laws
- Leather
- Legislation
- Lesotho
- Letters
- Lewis Hines
- Liberia
- Libya
- Links
- List
- List of Child Labor-Free Products
- Lists
- Longoria
- Lubanga
M
- M&S
- Madagascar
- Maine
- Malaysia
- Mali
- Maoists
- Maplecroft
- Massachusetts
- Mattel
- MDGs
- Meat Processing
- Mexico
- Michigan
- Migrant children
- Migrants
- Mindinao
- Mining
- Missouri
- Monitoring
- Morocco
- Most Dangerous Jobs
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
N
- Namibia
- NCPCR
- Nebraska
- Nepal
- Nestle
- New York
- New York Times
- New Zealand
- Newt Gingrich
- Next
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Norma Flores
- North Carolina
- Norway
O
P
- Pakistan
- Parents
- Pennsylvania
- Performers
- Peru
- Pesticides
- Petitions
- Philippines
- Phillipines
- Podcast
- Poquoson
- Postville
- Press Release
- Press Releases
- Prevalence
- Products
- Protections
Q
R
- Rape
- Rapes
- Refugees
- Reid Maki
- Remediation
- Report
- Rescued
- Resources
- Restaurants
- Retail
- Roofing
- Rubber
- Rubbish Collecting
- Rwanda
S
- Samsung
- Saudi Arabia
- Seafood
- Sex Slavery
- Sex tourism
- Sexual Violence
- Sierra Leone
- Soccer
- Soccer Balls
- Solis
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- State Law
- State Laws
- Strategy
- Street Vending
- Sudan
- Supply chains
- Sweat and Toil
T
- Take Action
- Tampa
- Tanneries
- Tanzania
- Teen employment
- Teen worker deaths
- Teen Worker Safety
- Tehran
- Texas
- Thailand
- The Border
- Tin
- TIP Report
- Tobacco
- Togo
- Top 10
- Trafficking
- Trafficking in Persons Report
- Transparency
- Traveling Sales
- Treaty
- Tulane
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
U
- U.S.
- U.S. agriculture
- U.S. child labor
- U.S. DOL
- U.S. Government
- U.S.DO
- UFW
- UK
- UN
- Unaccompanied Minors
- UNICEF
- Union
- United Nations
- United States
- Uruguay
- US
- US Agriculture
- US DOL
- USDOL
- Uzbekistan
V
W
- Wage and Hour
- Wal-Mart
- Washington State
- West Africa
- Wisconsin
- Worker Protection Standard
- Working Alone
- World Day Against Child Labor
- Worst forms of child labor