Entries by Reid Maki

American Public: Young Farmworkers Deserve Equal Protection of Child Labor Laws– Consumer Survey Finds Americans Concerned about Youth Working in Ag;

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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 in the fields and would not allow their own children to work on a commercial farm at ages that the government currently allows, according to a survey released today. The survey, commissioned by the National Consumers League (NCL), the organization largely responsible for passing many of the nation’s first laws restricting child labor, reveals that most consumers—four out of five—agree that child labor laws should protect children equally no matter what industry they work in. Two in three survey respondents “strongly agreed” that protections should be equal. Only 1 in 7 favored unequal protection for agriculture. Only 3 percent of those surveyed would let their own children under the age of 14 works more than 40 hours a week in the fields. Yet, federal law allows farmworker children to work unlimited hours in the fields outside of school hours and many farmworker children report working 60 or 70 hours a week.

UN Passes Resolution Against Recruitment of Child Soldiers

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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 schools. In its report on child soldiers last year, the United Nations for the first time named military forces and rebel groups that persistently used children in armed conflict. The groups included Myanmar’s national army and two rebel militant groups in the country; three insurgent groups in the Philippines; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; armies and militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and pro-government militias in Sudan as well as the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army. The signatories “call upon member states concerned to take decisive and immediate action against persistent perpetrators of violations and abuses committed against children in situations of armed conflict, and further call upon them to bring to justice those responsible for such violations.” The resolution highlighted actions prohibited under international law, including “recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming, rape and other sexual violence, attacks on schools and/or hospitals.” It also cited “the primary role of governments in providing protection and relief to all children affected by armed conflicts,” and said it was “the responsibility of states to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against […]

NCL’s Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens The National Consumer League’s annual guide to help teens select safe employment this summer

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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 of teen employment Advice for parents: be their advocates Advice for Teen Workers 2011 Most Dangerous Jobs: An in-depth look Agriculture: Harvesting Crops and Using Machinery Construction and Height Work Traveling Youth Sales Crews Outside Helper: Landscaping, Groundskeeping, and Lawn Service Driver/Operator: Forklifts, Tractors, and ATV’s A special note about meat packing

Retailers such as Nike and Macy’s Boycott Cotton from Uzbekistan to Protest Child Labor

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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 for cotton — but not in a good way. Superstores Walmart and Macy’s have joined up with  such big names  as Liz Claiborne, Nike, Eileen Fisher and Nautica to sign a pledge boycotting the use of cotton from Uzbekistan, WWD reported. They are among the first companies to team up with the nonprofit group Responsible Sourcing Network to demand that the country stop using forced child labor to harvest its cotton crop.

ILO implements project on elimination of child labour in Birim South (Ghana)

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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 Cocoa growing communities across the country. The project is titled: 93Towards Child Labour Free Cocoa Growing Communities in Cote D’lvoire and Ghana through an integrated area base approach.” Mrs Stella Ofori, Principal Labour Officer, Child Labour Unit of the Labour Department of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, speaking at the end of a two-day district level consultative workshop for cocoa growing communities at Akyem Swedru in the Birim South of the Eastern Region, said the project was to identify communities for interventions and control groups for impact evaluation. The event brought together 45 participants from various heads of departments, cocoa farmers, District Assembly and unit committee members and cooperative institutions. She said it was to establish an inventory of available social interventions and other complementary services to which interventions might be linked. In addition, it was to document the status of child labour interventions in the district plan, budgets, monitor and evaluate frameworks and other mechanism for sustainability. Mrs Ofori said the CCP would contribute to the National Plan of Action (NPA) through the awareness raising and development of action plan for implementation by […]

Omaha Company Loses Appeal of Federal Penalty

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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 company has lost its appeal of a $100,000 penalty for violating federal child labor laws. A news release Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Labor says the department had cited Progressive Protein LLC after a 17-year-old worker died on a forklift accident in 2009. The department says the company had allowed Miguel Herrera-Soltero to operate the forklift, violating federal law. The department said Progressive Protein knew the boy was in high school and should have checked his age. The company appealed the civil penalty. Administrative Law Judge Stephen Purcell rejected the appeal. Speaking for the company Wednesday, Bill Rhein said there would be no comment on the judge’s action.

Bicol Takes Fight vs Child Labor to the Internet

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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 accessible to child labor program coordinators and the Regional Anti-Child Labor Committee. “It is basically a regional data hub. Any member of the RACLC, or any claim holder or duty bearer may register or log on to the CLKSS portal” and gain access to its products and services, as well as participate in twits or discussions”, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Child Labor Program (CLP) Coordinator and Statistician Cyre Cabredo said. DOLE Bicol regional head lawyer Alvin Villamor noted lack of data on child labor is a tough problem in the DOLE’s child labor prevention and elimination program. “The CLKSS, which is being administered by the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC), contains relevant information on child labor cases, statistics on child labor, and other data that may lead to the detection, apprehension and, hopefully, putting behind bars child labor offenders,” the DOLE said.

Workplace Violence, Child Labor in Nigeria

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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 labor grouping ITUC said on Monday. The report said many core international labor standards that the energy-rich African giant has signed up to were regularly breached and there was widespread discrimination against women and minority groups in the labor market. “Some 15 million children are at work, many in dangerous jobs,” said the ITUC — the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation, which represents some 175 million workers in 151 countries, including Nigeria, around the world. “Unions frequently experience violent attacks and there is little protection from anti-union discrimination,” said the report submitted to the 153-member World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva. Women and minority groups face discrimination in getting jobs and getting promotion, it said. “The gender pay gap stands at 68 percent and the majority of women are employed in precarious and informal economic activities.” The WTO is this week discussing Nigeria’s trade policies, a process through which all its members pass regularly, and the ITUC insists that the trade body should also look at labor practices. But WTO officials, and most developing country trade diplomats, say labor conditions — despite efforts in […]

How U.S. Budget Cuts Prolong Global Slavery

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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 Reap Center that they would continue to enjoy the support of the U.S. State Department, which then provided some $336,000 to the shelter. The acclaimed center, situated near the magnificent temples of Angkor Wat, was an oasis of peace for some 50 survivors who, before they were rescued or escaped, had endured slavery in brothels, where they were forced to have sex with as many as 30 men a day. At the shelter, they received counseling, studied hairdressing, learned to sew, and otherwise worked to rebuild their lives and reclaim their humanity. In the evenings, they did aerobics together. On Monday afternoon, some eight months after that visit, as she unveiled the State Department’s 11th annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report to a packed room in the department’s ornate Benjamin Franklin Room, Clinton only hinted that the result of the congressional elections had left in doubt the long-term value of her pledge to the survivors. “Even in these tight economic times, we need to find ways to do better,” Clinton told the overflowing crowd. (Watch “Nepal: Escaped from the Sex Trade, Unable to Go Home.”)

Child Labor Horror – 16,000 being Forced to Work in Jamaica

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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 as the Government tries to stem the problem through work with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Marva Ximinnies, director of the Child Labour Unit in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, said of the 16,000 child labourers, just over 7,000 are engaged in more hazardous work — which includes prostitution, the production of pornographic material and child slavery. This information, she explained, was taken from the last official survey that the ministry relies on for its data. The majority of Jamaica’s child workers are found in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries, while there have been prosecutions of persons who involve children in prostitution, she said. Other workers include street children and market vendors in the larger metropolitan areas of Kingston, Spanish Town and Montego Bay. Jamaica’s child labourers are predominantly male, aged 15-17 years. “Over 60 per cent of the children involved in child labour are usually found to be working in the agricultural sector. There were also children found to be working in manufacturing, construction and installation, while in wholesales and restaurants, a little over 4,000 were found to be working in those particular sectors,” Ximinnies said […]