Millions Of Children Enslaved Group Reports On Conditions Of Asian Child Labor, Slaves To Western Consumerism
More than 100 million Asian children - some as young as 4 - are forced to work in appalling conditions to make consumer products for Western nations, an Australian group charged Monday.
The Anti-Slavery Society said between 104 million and 146 million children, most in India, are making car parts, jewelry, clothing, toys, food, fireworks, chemicals and other goods in sweatshops.
“The punishments meted out to these children by their owners defy description,” said Paul Bravender-Coyle, spokesman for the Melbourne-based group. “They have been burned, branded with red-hot irons, starved, whipped, chained up, raped and kept locked in cupboards for days on end.”
The society, which is devoted to ending child labor exploitation, estimates that between 73 million and 115 million children are working in India alone.
Other nations cited by the group as tolerating forced child labor are Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, China, Thailand, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
The group’s London affiliate counts 500,000 child slaves in Pakistan, 300,000 in India and 110,000 in Nepal in the carpet industry alone. The number of children slaving in other industries is unknown.
Children generally work from 6 a.m. to midnight, have no regular meal breaks and are beaten for spending longer than three minutes in stench-ridden toilets, Bravender-Coyle said.
“In most of these sweatshops, children are forced to eat, sleep and work in the same stuffy, overcrowded room,” Bravender-Coyle said. Doors and windows are locked or barred to prevent escape, he said.
The society did not disclose the names of companies its investigations link to goods made by exploited children. Many companies are unaware how their products are manufactured. Western countries receiving goods made by children include the United States, Canada, Australia and all of the European Union.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narashimha Rao announced plans to remove 2 million children “from hazardous occupations” by the year 2000.
Indonesian officials, however, maintain no country has the right to criticize others about child labor because it is prevalent in all countries including the United States.
The Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights was founded in 1839 and is the oldest human rights organization in the world. It has members in 30 countries.
xxxx CHILD SLAVES Estimates from the Anti-Slavery Society in Melbourne, Australia, of the number of children in Asia and India forced into slave labor: India - between 73 and 115 million Pakistan - 8 million Nepal - 5.7 million Philippines - 5.5 million China - 5 million Bangladesh - 2.8 million Indonesia - 2.4 million Thailand - 1.1 million Sri Lanka - 500,000 The Associated Press