labor19

250 Million Slaves and Counting
By: Stephanie Wiener
2005

Child slave labor exists all around the world today. Although many people are trying to fight
it, it still continues to survive. Most of the slavery takes place in developing third world
countries. It has been estimated that 250 million children between the ages of five and
fourteen work in Asia and Africa alone.
There are two forms of child slave labor, the first being forced labor. "Forced labor is when
children from poor families are forced to work by parents to gain a part of the family's
income". The second type is bonded labor, which is "labor is that occurs after a child has
been handed over to an employer".
Child slave labor is present in many different areas of manufactured goods. One very
large area that is becoming increasingly more important is chocolate. Ivory Coast, Africa
has recently been the focus of much media attention and lobbying. Most of the boys
enslaved in Ivory Coast are between the ages of twelve and sixteen; however some are as
young as nine years old. "These young children are lied to about jobs and wages and
suffer through beatings, insufficient meals, lock ups at night, and workdays of more than 12
hours without breaks. They are separated from their families and live in fear". It is
approximated by the U.S. State Department's 2000 Human Rights Report that about 15,000
children work on cocoa, cotton, and coffee farms in Ivory Coast.
Child slave labor is also prevalent in the United States. Many illegal immigrants are hired
as nannies or maids, then "forced into virtual bondage, where some are beaten, barred
from leaving and denied basic medical care". An example of this is the middle-class suburb
of Laredo, Texas. A 12-year-old Mexican girl, sent to America by her family to offer
childcare and cleaning service in exchange for education, was found shackled in the
backyard by a neighbor doing roof work. "The girl had been chained after finishing her
work, starved until she became so hungry she ate dirt, and tortured by having pepper
spray blasted into her eyes when she dozed off, prosecutors say". In New York, two
Nigerian were kept in involuntary servitude by a Nigerian couple in the Bronx. One of the
girls, 13-year-old Beatrice Okezie, testified that she was beaten and forced to work as their
slave for approximately nine years.
In Surat, India, many children are being forced into slavery in diamond factories. These
children are paid so terribly that just to visit home they must borrow money from the factory
owner. However, this brings them into a horrible system dubbed "debt bondage", a form of
slavery recognized by the UN. These children are not allowed to change jobs until their
debts have been paid, yet they do not earn enough money to ever repay these debts.
They are trapped in their slavery. In 2002, these child slaves were usually paid only 25¢
for each diamond they cut and polished, which was only about four to six a day. "About
90% of the world's gem diamonds are cut in India – many in workshops employing these
children".
Haiti is also a haven for child slave labor. One skinny, 15-year-old girl named Madeleine
Vilma depicts the beatings that led to her escape as if they were justified. She says, "'I
made them mad at me. I broke the heel off my shoe, so they beat me with their
sandals…They wanted to mark me so that I would remember'". They "marked her" by also
scorching her chest and arms with shocks from a frayed electrical cord. Madeleine was
sent to Haiti when she was nine into a life of "unpaid domestic servitude in exchange for
food and shelter…She had no alternative except homelessness and hunger".
Although it is hard to believe, door to door sales is another major area where child labor
runs rampant. Children and young adults are being recruited into this business. They are
"being abandoned, mutilated and killed in traffic accidents, raped, and murdered. They are
being exploited by people who sit back in their easy chairs inside of luxurious offices
collecting hundreds of millions of dollars a year in profits". This business lives off the
"wanderlust, inexperience, and innocence of children and young adults".
Although these types of child slave labor and many others are extremely widespread, there
are also many programs that fight to end these atrocities. For examples, Kids Can Free
the Children is "an international network of children at a local, national, and international
level through representation, leadership and action." The organization was established by
Craig Kielburger in 1995; he was only 12-years-old. It not only fights to "free children from
poverty and exploitation, but to also free children and young people from the idea that they
are powerless to bring about positive social change and to improve the lives of their
peers".
Kids Can Free the Children is not the only organization fighting child slave labor. "Global
March Against Child Labour is a movement borne out of hope and the need felt by
thousands of people across the globe – the desire to set children free from servitude". The
march started on January 17, 1998. It reached every corner of the world and created a
great awareness of this horrible cruelty. It also led to an extraordinary amount of
participation from the public. The Global March movement has also now begun a campaign
to make education available for everyone. The campaign has joined with many partner
associations such as Education International, Oxfam International, ActionAid, World Vision,
Social Alert, World Confederation of Teachers, Save the Children Fund UK and Public
Services International (PSI).
Rugmark is another very important organization that works to end child slave labor. It is a
"global nonprofit organization working to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and
offer educational opportunities to children in India, Nepal, and Pakistan. It does this
through loom and factory monitoring, consumer labeling, and running schools for former
child workers". The organization enlists carpet producers and importers to manufacture
and sell carpets that are void of any illegal child labor. The Rugmark label on any carpet
"provides the best possible assurance that children were not employed in the making of a
rug. It also verifies that a portion of the carpet prices is contributed to the rehabilitation and
education of former child weavers".
Child slavery is a huge problem all over the world and in every area of industry and
business. It reaches from the chocolate business to the housekeeping service to the
diamond industry to door-to-door sales. However, as proven, many people and
organizations are trying to fight this. Kids Can Free the Children, Global March Against
Child Labour, and Rugmark are only a few of the many groups that work to end this
cruelty. Other groups include the International Programme on the Elimination of Child
Labour (IPEC), Child Workers in Asia, and iAbolish. If there are still people who are not
convinced that child slave labor is a serious international problem, then they are just being
ignorant and blind. The proof is right in front of them.