Entries by Reid Maki

Nearly 1 million children work full time in Bolivia’s tin mines, in cemeteries, on buses, or in the markets.

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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 Cerro Rico mine. He spends his money on food and clothing for his mother and three siblings, who live in a 600-square-foot cement hut that doubles as a storage shack for wheelbarrows, canisters of gasoline, and clusters of dynamite. But unlike most of the other 15,000 miners who work in the Cerro Rico mine, Choquevilla wants to be a soccer star when he grows up. He is, after all, only 14 years old. “I need to help my family,” Choquevilla says. “Hopefully next year, I can go back to school.” Choquevilla is one of an estimated 1,000 children who work in Cerro Rico — “the hill of wealth” — Bolivia’s most famous and fertile mine. In the 16th century, silver from Cerro Rico bankrolled the Spanish empire, and at one point, Potosí was one of the wealthiest towns in the world. But production peaked in 1650 and then went into a century-long decline when Mexico entered the market. Over the next 200 years, demand for silver and other minerals ebbed and flowed — and with it, miners’ fortunes. The Bolivian government nationalized the mining industry after the 1952 […]

Child Labor in Brazil, an Overview Article

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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 President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva1 While Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made significant efforts to reduce child labor, at the end of his tenure the issue still remains urgent. Forging a successful strategy to reduce child labor is not a simple task, since the reasons behind it are deeply embedded in the country’s economic and social structure. In 2004, President Lula, who himself began to work at the age of eleven, declared fighting child labor a high priority.2 Although Brazil is often regarded as a positive example for other Latin American countries for its progress in the fight against child labor, more than four million Brazilian children between the ages of 5 and 17 are still working.3 Especially in the poorer northeastern part of the country, many children have no choice but to become integrated into the illegal job market. In 1989, the Brazilian constitution enshrined certain fundamental rights for children. The constitution now states that the state has to approve every decision made by the federal government that affects children in order to demonstrate that it is beneficial to children’s interest.4 […]

The US Blinks, and Children Will Suffer

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[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 in combating the use of child soldiers. But after events last month, children victimized in war may need to look elsewhere for help. The United States has spent millions of dollars supporting the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, and Sierra Leone. It enacted groundbreaking legislation enabling the United States to prosecute child soldier recruiters entering the United States, and to withhold US military assistance from governments that use child soldiers. In 2002, it joined an important international treaty that prohibits the use of children under 18 as combatants. It even changed its military deployment practices to set a good example. These actions put it on the forefront of international efforts to end one of the most heinous aspects of modern warfare. But last month President Obama issued an order allowing US military assistance to governments that use child soldiers, undermining a law he voted for as a Senator just two years ago. Also last month, the US became the first Western nation since World War II to convict a former child soldier of war crimes.

Harvard Crimson Editorial Board: Reject Those Who Exploit Children (op-ed)

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[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 such as Guantanamo Bay, the Obama administration took a step backward last week by issuing a waiver that will allow the continuation of military aid to four countries that openly employ child soldiers.

Romeo Dallaire was in Vancouver on Remembrance Day to call Canadian youth to duty in the fight to eradicate child soldiers.

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[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 youth to mobilize, eradicate use of child soldiers Romeo Dallaire was in Vancouver on Remembrance Day to call Canadian youth to duty in the fight to eradicate child soldiers. By Vancouver SunNovember 12, 2010 Romeo Dallaire was in Vancouver on Remembrance Day to call Canadian youth to duty in the fight to eradicate child soldiers. “Go and get your boots dirty,” he said. “Be part of the solution.” It is young people, he believes, who can mobilize through social networks to save children who are being forced into combat in developing countries.

US Labor Department cites Nickerson Farms for child labor violations

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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 in civil money penalties after finding seven children between the ages of nine and 13 working during this past summer’s okra harvest. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Robert Nickerson Farms employed six children – three 13-year-olds, one 12-year-old, one 11-year-old and one 9-year-old – to weed okra fields between June and August of this year. Another 11-year-old was hired to set gopher traps and dispose of the dead animals. Investigators confirmed that the children over 11 years of age were all employed without written parental consent, which is required by the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor provisions. Children under the age of 12 cannot legally be employed by Robert Nickerson Farms. “Having children under the legal age of employment work in agriculture, and without written parental consent, is not only wrong but against the law,” said George Friday Jr., regional administrator of the Wage and Hour Division’s Western Regional Office. “We must do everything that we can to protect the most vulnerable workers among us.” Individuals under the age of 12 may be employed in agricultural jobs with […]

Friendship week urges vendors to give up child labour

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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 all set to celebrate Childline Maitri ( friendship week) with a sensitisation programme aimed at reaching out to food vendors and urge them not to employ child labour and to call Childline in case they spot a child in trouble. Childline is a 24 x 7 toll free helpline for children in distress. An initiative of the Ministry for Woman and Child Development, Childline (1098) has a pan-India presence, and is partnered by local NGOs in various cities. All India Childline Maitri week is being celebrated in different cities between November 8 and 14 to coincide with the impending Childrens’ Day.

Longoria and Colbert Highlight the Plight of Farmworker Adults and Children

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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 leaving farmworkers mostly unprotected from workplace abuses.  This September, however, two celebrities—Eva Longoria and Stephen Colbert—traveled to Capitol Hill in an effort to shine a much-needed spotlight on the plight of farmworkers. On September 15, Longoria, a cast member from the television hit Desperate Housewives, appeared at an informal briefing in the Rayburn House Office Building to promote “The Harvest”,  a documentary she is producing about child labor in agriculture.  Longoria and filmmaker Robin Romano showed clips of child workers featured in the film, which will premier at the Sundance Film Festival. The Harvest follows kids as they migrate and perform back-breaking work that many adults will not do because it is too hard and the pay is too low.

Clinton: U.S. to Do More to End Sexual Slavery

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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 and rehabilitation center for child prostitutes in northern Cambodia on Sunday. Before touring the famed 12th century Angkor Wat temple complex, Clinton met with a group of about 50 victims of human trafficking at the U.S.-funded facility in Siem Reap and promised them continued American support. “I am so proud of you,” she told the girls and young women, most of whom are between 17 and 23. They receive an education and vocational training that includes weaving and sewing lessons.