PARTIE I :
RELATIVE IMPOTENCE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN FRONT OF THE EXTENT OF WORK
CHILDREN
For a long time, the child work was completely ignored by the
international community, because this phenomenon had course with considering
and with known everyone, even in the industrialized countries. Nevertheless,
the living conditions appreciably improved for the populations of the rich
countries to leaving the Second world war, which made it possible a broad
population to have access to information, and to discover the conditions of the
children in the developing countries. This knowledge of the extreme destitution
in which the poor children, forced lived to work to be able to survive, moved
the public opinions, and thus forced the political leaders to set up against
these deplorable living conditions. Today conscious of the extent of the
problem which constitutes the child work throughout the world, the
international community tries to set up, in co-operation with the countries
concerned, of the policies intended to fight against the child work. Indeed, in
spite of a rather late awakening at the international level, everyone agrees
today to saying that the fight against the child work must be a priority of the
international community. However, in spite of the adoption of many
International Conventions condemning the use of childish labor, the situation
of the children working with the four corners of the world does not improve.
Before seeing in detail the fundamental principles as regards child work
enacted by the International Conventions (Chapter II), we will study the extent
and the nature of the child work (Chapter I).
CHAPITRE I :
CHILD WORK : AN
INTOLERABLE REALITY
The child work is, in spite of many studies carried out on the
subject, a reality little known or badly. Everyone agrees to saying that many
children are obliged to work and that this situation is intolerable, but one
knows little the nature and the working conditions of these children ; in
the same way, nobody can say with precision which is the number of children who
work in the world. However for considering effective policies of fight, it is
necessary very well to know the phenomenon against which one intends to fight.
It thus appeared essential to to me to begin this study with a
detailed talk of the extent of the child work in the world (Section I), before
seeing in which branches of industry and which conditions the children work
(Section II).
SECTION I :
Extent of the phenomenon
of the child work
Everyone is conscious today that a great number of children
work, but because of combination of several factors making difficult the access
to the children who work, the exact width of this phenomenon is quantifiable
with much difficulty (Paragraph I), the more so as, contrary to the generally
accepted ideas the child work does not meet unfortunately only in the poor
countries but also in the countries known as rich, of which our European
neighbors (Paragraph II)
Paragraphe I :
A phenomenon whose width
is
not easily quantifiable
Nobody currently knows with certainty how much children work
today in the world. The International Labor Office (the ILO), which makes
authority on the matter, considers as for him that the statistics available are
very inadequate and not very reliable, and that the process of data-gathering
comprises much complications. Indeed, under the terms of the principle
according to which what is not supposed to exist in comparison with the law,
could not appear in the official statistics, the child work is not listed in
many countries. Moreover, the investigations launched to count the population
of children to work are limited bus much national governments do not answer it,
and that sometimes, those do not include the children of the industrialized
countries or those which have less than 10 years or those which are provided
education for while having an activity. Moreover, one most of the children to
work is not accessible, to see even invisible, because occupied with housework,
whether it is for their family or as servants. Lastly, the activity of the
children cannot be indexed with precision because it can be intermittent and
irregular, and that it is mingled everywhere with that with the adults ;
their activity can also geographically be very burst, in immense agricultural
areas or thousands of urban workshops. The collection of solid and reliable
data on work of the children is also blocked by the fact that certain
authorities prefer to be unaware of the existence of this childish labor which
is thus not entered by the official statistics : only in India that would
add nearly 90 million children, as a majority of the girls.
One can then wonder why quote figures ? The answer to
this question is simple : these figures make it possible to attest the
phenomenon in its dimension and to open the eyes of the opinion and the
leaders. In fact also elements of comprehension make it possible to locate the
child work taking into consideration other social reality. Majority of the
estimates, because it is absolutely necessary estimates, come from UNO, and to
the first chief of its agency specialized in the regulation of work, ILO. The
UNICEF also constitutes another organization of foreground ; these two
organizations have local establishments which enable them to work with the
actors of the countries concerned
(governments, associations,
sociologists, trade unions...) and to thus have a direct sight on the situation
in these countries. In addition, the international Confederation of the free
trade unions (CISL), established in 141 countries, regularly provides local
studies carried out by its affiliated, on all shapes of work children. A
certain number of data also emanate from investigations of nongovernmental
organizations (ONG) such as Anti Slavery International or Amnesty
International.
The existing evaluations were often established starting from
investigations by company, branches of industry, areas or cities. The stepping
of the results with broader socio-economic data, such as the number of children
in the age bracket concerned, working population or poverty lines ; allows
extrapolations, at the national or international level. The only organization
to have established a methodology in this field is the ILO, which launched a
first series of questionnaires at the beginning of the Nineties in 200
countries or territories. In order to better quantify the problem , the
ILO launched into 1992 of the experimental investigations to Ghana, to India,
to Indonesia and in Senegal, in order to study a sample of approximately 4000
households and 200 companies per country. According to results' of this
investigation, the proportion of children economically active between 5 and 14
years was 25% on the whole of these 4 countries, and reached the surprisingly
high figure of 40% in Senegal8(*). On a worldwide scale, it is possible to depict the
situation of the children thus : the large majority of the children who
work live in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Asia with it only gathers half of
it, although their proportion seems to decrease in Southeast Asia because of
increase in the income per capita, of the generalization of basic education and
the reduction in the size of the families. In Africa, a child on three on
average carries on an economic activity, proportion which passes to a child on
five to Latin America. In Africa and Latin America, only a very small
percentage of childish labor is employed in the structured sector : the
great majority works in its own family, in residence, in the fields or the
street.
The ILO estimates today that only in the developing countries,
there are at least 120 million children from 5 to 14 years compelled with work
and that they are twice more numerous (either approximately 250 million) if one
includes those for which work is an ancillary activity. Michel Bonnet, who
worked a long time at the ILO estimates that this figure of 250 million
represents a minimal order of magnitude9(*) since this figure does not include/understand the
children who are only active at the house because it is about an activity known
as « noneconomic ».
One of the paramount questions today is to know if the child
work increases further. The majority of the data are indeed still too recent to
draw an evolution in time, but several factors could contribute to an increase,
in particular the demographic growth which increases the number of active
children mathematically and the epidemic of AIDS which prevails in the poor
countries, returning the every day of the thousands of orphan children and thus
much more vulnerable to the economic exploitation. A beginning of social
development in certain countries of Latin America and Asia had made decrease
the number of active children, but the financial crisis of 1998 in Asia was
unfortunately not without consequences on the level of poverty, and thus on the
strategies of survival of the families. Improvements perceived not thus be that
of short duration. In Africa, the ILO on the contrary perceived a clear
tendency to increase, during the years four twenty ten, of the recourse to the
childish labor, because of the persistence of poverty.
By evoking these amazing figures we see the world situation,
where the immense majority of the children who work live developing countries.
However, it would be completely false and utopian to think that the
industrialized countries, said rich countries, do not know the child work.
* 8Child Surveys
Ploughing : Results off methodological experiments in furnace
countries 1992-1993, ILO, Geneva 1996, press release of April 4, 1996.
* 9 Benedicte Manier:
«Child work in the world» ED. The Discovery 1999, p.23
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