Entries by Reid Maki

For migrant students, a cycle of dwindling opportunities

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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 days of the apple harvest, crossing off one box every afternoon, bringing her closer to a big smiley face and the words, scrawled in all caps: “DADDY’S LAST DAY OF WORK!” Ellifina and her family were preparing to leave Virginia’s Winchester area apple orchards for Florida’s orange groves before heading north again, toward New Jersey, in search of blueberries. For Ellifina, each season brings a new school and a new list of courses that bears little resemblance to the last. Such relentless mobility challenges the schools charged with educating the nation’s 475,000 migrant students. Many never start school, and in Virginia one-third fail to graduate on time. Migrant students trail others in performance on the state’s reading and math tests. That poses a major challenge for schools because federal law has set a goal for all students to pass those tests by 2014. The stakes are even higher for the students themselves. “If these kids don’t settle in one place by high school, graduation is basically an impossibility,” said Katy Pitcock, who worked for Winchester’s migrant education program for 25 years, until 2004.

Teen girl killed in quad bike tragedy

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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 a quad bike on a farm – a week after the Government started a safety campaign to lower the farm vehicle’s death and injury toll. The 17-year-old farmhand was found about 2.30pm on a hilly part of a farm at Cape Foulwind, near Westport, pinned under her overturned vehicle. She died at the scene.

Afghan Bacha Bazi Action

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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 by: Amanda Kloer The bacha bazi tradition, which literally means “boy play” has deep roots in Afghan culture. For centuries, wealthy men have been buying orphans or boys from poor families, dressing them in women’s clothing, and paying them to sing and dance for entertainment. After the bacha party, the boy is auctioned off to the highest bidder or shared by several men for sex. When the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, they banned the practice, and it remains illegal today. But since the Taliban was ousted, the tradition has been revived and is growing. Bacha bazi boys are usually teens, but many are as young as 11. Most of them come from very poor families or are orphans from the war. Boys are lured off the street or bought from family members by businessmen. Then, they are usually kept in a house with other boys, trained sing, dance, and play musical instruments. They are also introduced to the commercial sex industry, ususally by being raped by the men who train them or sold for sex out of the backseat of […]

Australian Snack Company Agrees to Source “Ethical” Cocoa

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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 with the use of child labour for all of its chocolate-based products, including the iconic Tim Tam biscuit. In response to a public campaign by World Vision earlier this year, Arnott’s said on 30 March that it was “committed to playing its part by sourcing sustainable cocoa that avoids the use of child trafficking and unacceptable forms of child labour” by the “end September 2010″.

US Waives Child Soldier Penalties in 4 Nations

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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 the 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act. In a memorandum to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama said he had determined that “it is in the national interest of the United States” to waive application of the law to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen. He instructed Clinton to submit the decision to the Congress with a written justification for the move.(See pictures of child soldiers around the world.) Obama’s memo, released by the White House on Monday, did not include the justification. Administration officials have said, however, that cutting off military aid to those four countries as required by the law would do more harm than good. And they have said that continuing close cooperation with them can be a more effective way of changing their practices. Jo Becker, children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, said Obama had supported the legislation when he was in the Senate. “This is a ground breaking law,” she said. “This is the first year it has taken effect and he’s undercutting it.”

Don’t be tricked by Halloween treats

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[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 squeezed into peas in a pod, little boys will transform into Ben 10, and tweens will prove that Hannah Montana is forever. Most parents will consider the security of the neighborhood and the safety of the candy received, but few of us will give any thought about how the 90 million pounds of chocolate candy given out this Halloween was made, who made it and under what conditions.

New Attention Given to Child Cocoa Workers in Ivory Coast and Ghana

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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 option-click and save link) This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Chocolate comes from cocoa beans, and more than half of those beans come from two countries in West Africa. But the situation is not all sweetness for poor cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast and neighboring Ghana. The United States has announced ten million dollars for renewed efforts to end the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa industry in those countries. The grant will support efforts to reduce poverty so parents do not have to depend on the labor of their children. Another aim is to give children more access to education. The money will go toward a new “Framework of Action” related to an international agreement from two thousand one. That agreement is called the Harkin-Engel Protocol. American Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Elliott Engel led negotiations with the chocolate and cocoa industries. The Department of Labor announced the grant in September, along with seven million dollars promised by the international cocoa industry. The governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast have also promised resources and policy support for the new […]

Interesting Sites

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Some interesting web sites on child labor, child trafficking, and safe work for youth [please check CLC member links in our “Coalition Members” category in our “About Us” section]: Child Labor History: Check out these child labor photos from the past. Child Labor Reports [many other reports can be found in our “documents” button on the right side of this page]: CRS Report Examines U.S. Child Labor: History, Recent Policy Initiatives, Legislation. The history of domestic child labor is examined in four periods of U.S. history, from the late 19th century through the 111th Congress ending in 2010, in a new report released Jan. 4, 2011 by the Congressional Research Service. In December 2010, DOL released three reports on child labor and/or forced labor in foreign countries. Included in the release is the newly redesigned, ninth annual Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, a report mandated by the Trade and Development Act of 2000 that provides information on the efforts of certain U.S. trade beneficiary countries to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. This year’s report highlights the major findings related to each government’s efforts and includes country-specific suggestions for government action to combat these problems. DOL also released ILAB’s update to its List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor, which is mandated by the […]

Tulane Report Focuses Attention on Child Labor in Cocoa Industry

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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, Ivory Coast — West Africa’s cocoa industry is still trafficking children and using forced child labor despite nearly a decade of efforts to eliminate the practices, according to an independent audit published by Tulane University. A U.S.-sponsored solution called the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed in 2001 by cocoa industry members to identify and eliminate cocoa grown using forced child labor. A child-labor-free certification process was supposed to cover 50 percent of cocoa growing regions in West Africa by 2005 and 100 percent by the end of 2010. But independent auditors at Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development said in a late September report that efforts have not even come close to these targets. “Hundreds of thousands of children are involved in work on cocoa farms,” the report said. Child trafficking for labor also continues virtually unabated as well, it said. Thousands of children travel from impoverished neighboring countries to the cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast, where some of them live in substandard conditions and receive little or no pay. Research in border areas shows that only a tiny proportion of children in cocoa farming ever see a police officer on their […]