Entries by Reid Maki

Tragedy in Southern Illinois Reinforces Farm Safety Reminders

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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 accident on a farm, the victims of electrocution. Our thoughts and prayers center on the affected families at this time. In this time of loss, IL Corn hopes that everyone will remember the price paid by these two young men and invest in your own families and employees the time needed to properly handle on-farm safety issues.  Yesterday marked the beginning of National Farm Safety Week. “Growing the Most Important Crop,” this year’s theme, focuses on making farms and ranches safer for farmers, their family members and employees with special emphasis on children. People of all ages, but particularly children, are at risk of injuries on the farm. With more than 1 million youth living on farms, reaching out to adults with information on how they can reduce risks to the children in their care is critical to preventing farm and ranch incidents and fatalities. More than half of young people living on farms and ranches pitch in doing chores, with those age 10 to 15 helping the most. Another 307,000 youth not living on farms are hired as employees each year. According to the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, the rate of childhood […]

Thai government urged to stop using child soldiers in militias

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Posted : Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:08:49 GMT Asia World News | Home [from www.earthtimes.org] Bangkok – The Thai government is exposing children to “significant risks” by recruiting them in the war against Muslim insurgents in the south of the country, a coalition of humanitarian non-governmental organisations alleged on Thursday. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and the Justice for Peace Foundation (JPF) said children between the ages of 9 and 17 were taking part in weapons training under the government-established Village Defence Militias, known locally by the Thai initials Chor Ror Bor. “Children under the age of 18 are exposed to significant risks due to their association with Chor Ror Bor,” the coalition said. “The militias are armed with a mixture of shotguns and automatic weapons,” the coalition’s Arachapon Nimitkulpon said at a press conference. “On occasions the militias are required to take part in military operations,” including searches for insurgent suspects. Over the past four years, more than 4,000 soldiers, militia members, police, Muslim insurgents and civilians have been killed in violent incidents in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala. The Village Defence Militias were set up in 1985 as a successor to a network of local village volunteer groups established in the 1960s to combat communist insurgents. In a report issued Thursday, […]

ASSE Rolls Out Its New Target Teen Work Safety Tools Aimed At Preventing Work Injuries, Illnesses

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[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, heavy lifting, loud noises and working alone are some of the dangers teens face as they experience a first job or seasonal employment. If not aware of the risk and properly trained and protected, these dangers can lead to serious injuries or fatalities for teen workers. To help teens stay safe at work, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has developed a new, comprehensive “Target Teen Work Safety” electronic tool kit (www.asse.org/teensafety) it is rolling out this month to ASSE chapters.

11-year-old the latest victim of child labor

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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 Hospital in Hyderabad, South India. It was reported that Dhanalakshmi was in a coma when she was admitted to the hospital on Thursday. She had sustained injuries like multiple burns and haemorrhage in her left eye. Paediatricians and physicians found several burns on her body and informed the police.It was reported that her employer, Jose Kurien, who claimed to be a lawyer residing nearby, brought Dhanalakshmi to the hospital. The hospital authorities said they were told that she was doing domestic work in Kurien’s house and attending to his sick wife. It is suspected that Dhanalakshmi was tortured in his house. -The Star/Asia News Network

Sex-Trafficking Bill passes House

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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 sex. House Bill 200 also would significantly increase the penalties for the crime of human trafficking and sexual servitude, bringing them in line with those for drug trafficking. It passed the House with bipartisan support, 168-1. The lone dissenter, Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta, said he objected only because of constitutional questions about how many features the bill contained. He said he did not oppose the bill’s goals. House members applauded themselves after the vote. “Passage of this bill sends a strong message: ‘Not in our Georgia,’ ” said Majority Whip Ed Lindsey, the bill’s sponsor. The approval comes just a year after legislators let a bill designed to help children trapped as sexual slaves die over concerns it would legalize prostitution for children under 16 by treating them as victims instead of criminals. Georgia’s age of consent is 16.

GoodWeave and Your Carpet Choice Can Help Improve Child Labor Standards

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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 whether the rugs you buy for your home and office are made with child labour or not? Well, with a little help from the folks at GoodWeave, you can. GoodWeave certifies child-labour-free rugs and provides education and opportunities for children who are rescued as well as those at risk.

US Labor Department Fines Marcus Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Wehrenberg movie theatre chains more than $277,000 for Child Labor Violations

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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. Department of Labor has assessed a total of $277,475 in civil money penalties against three movie theatre companies, Marcus Theatre Corp., Regal Cinemas Inc. and Wehrenberg Inc., for allowing dozens of teens to perform hazardous jobs and work longer hours than allowed by the youth employment provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, through a strategic enforcement initiative aimed at curbing violations in an industry found to have a high rate of non-compliance with child labor laws, discovered approximately 160 minors were being required to perform hazardous jobs — such as operating paper balers and trash compactors, operating motor vehicles, using power driven mixers and baking — in theatres owned by the three chains. Marcus Theatre Corp. also allowed youth to work beyond permitted hours. The 27 theatres where the minors were employed are in nine states: California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

USDOL’s Polaski Lauds Liberian Union for Work on Child Labor

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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 Union of Liberia (FAWUL), which has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of workers and their children. The union just won the Department of Labor’s 2010 Iqbal Masih Award, an award that Congress established to recognize extraordinary efforts to end the worst forms of child labor.  This award is given in remembrance of Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani child carpet weaver who was sold into slavery at the age of four.  He escaped his servitude to become an outspoken advocate against child labor before losing his life at the age of 13. FAWUL won the award for their efforts on behalf of children on the Firestone rubber plantation in Harbel. For years, children had labored on the plantation alongside their parents to meet the quotas for tapping rubber trees.  FAWUL was established in 2007, and by 2008 it had negotiated a landmark collective bargaining agreement that reduced the quotas by 25% and banned child labor on the plantation.  In 2010, FAWUL negotiated a second contract with Firestone that went further.  Under it, the company agreed to provide children living on the plantation with better schools. […]

Islamist Suicide Bombing Kills Somali Star International–Soccer Used as Tool to Prevent Child Soldiers

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[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 international on war-torn Somalia’s U-20 soccer team and wounded two other players constitutes a setback for the squad as well as efforts by the country’s football federation to lure child soldiers with the prospect of a soccer career away from the Islamist militia. The attack is likely to figure prominently when FIFA President Sepp Blatter meets Somali Football Federation (SFF) president Said Mahmoud Nur on Thursday at a Confederation of African Football (CAF) gathering in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. FIFA supports the SFF campaign that has succeeded in turning hundreds of Somali youngsters recruited by the militia into soccer players. The three players were targeted by the suicide bomber when they walked home earlier this week from training in a heavily fortified police academy in Hamar Jajab District, an area of several blocks in the bullet-scarred Somali capital of Mogadishu controlled by the US-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) rather than the Islamist insurgents of Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda affiliate. Under-20 international Abdi Salaan Mohamed Ali was among 11 people killed when the suicide attacker rammed his van packed with explosives into a police checkpoint. Players Mahmoud Amin Mohamed and […]

Consumer-labor group calls bizarre Missouri Senate bill to reduce child labor protections something ‘out of Charles Dickens novel’

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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 to bring back child labor “straight out of a Charles Dickens novel.” The 112-year-old NCL is condemning a bill introduced in the Missouri state Senate by Republican Jane Cunningham that would eliminate the prohibition on employment of children under age 14. “Labor crusader Florence Kelley would be rolling over in her grave,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “This is a new low,” said Greenberg. “Those who are attacking labor and worker protections are now apparently willing to put children back into factories or coal mines.”