Jason and Marlon,
I may be stating the obvious here, but by way of a reply, the International
Labour Organization is the main institution opposed to child labour today .
It has a number of supporting institutions and appeals for volunteers to
help locally to alleviate the plight of children in bonded labour and other
forms of exploitation. Local groups get in touch with large stores and
companies to persuade them to boycott goods which are generated by child and
other exploited labour and I know that this strategy is effective in the
short term at least.
Information on child labour is easily available on Google for a starter.
Many have known about child labour for ages. My interest was rekindled when
I watched two particularly painful documentaries about child labour in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in India. Unfortunately, I missed the
programme that was to depict child labour in China. However, documentaries
about parents selling their young daughters into prostitution in Thailand
and elsewhere have also featured on UK TV. There have also been excellent
documentaries depicting slavery in parts of Africa as though slavery had
never
been abolished and also in parts of the Middle East.
One excellent related documentary illustrated how American university
students worked hard to boycott Nike products exploiting child and adult
labour in Thailand. It forced Nike and at least one other major producer to
re-structure their production of goods mainly for the Western market.
Clearly, poverty is the main reason for child labour exploitation.
Irrespective of whether it takes place under communism, socialism,
capitalism or any other ism, I hope we can be united in trying to help to
eradicate it, in any way possible, however formidable the challenge may be.
When I raised the point about child labour in India today, I would in no way
have minimised it as an evil in socialist or capitalist India.
Cornel DaCosta, London, England
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Monserrate" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 5:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] child labour in India
Which are the organisations involved in advocating for
the boycott of goods produced using child labour??
--- Marlon Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Cornel,
Child labor was alive and well in socialist India as
well. This has nothing to do with capitalism. While
no
one should condone child labor, one should realize
that it is the children's parents in many cases who
have sold them to virtual slavery. Furthermore, it
is
India's 50 years of its socialist legacy that failed
to make basic education accessible for all.
Marlon
--- cornel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi Elizabeth
> Re my brief post on extensive child labour and
> virtual slavery in India for
> the production of consumer goods in today's
> capitalist India, I forgot to
> add that I am ashamed to be an Indian on this
count
> and am working with
> people here who are endeavouring to boycott goods
> produced by children as
> young as five. This could paradoxically hurt those
> very children and their
> families but ways and means of getting over this
new
> hurdle are being
> explored so that the children can manage to get to
> schools instead of
> factories.
>
> Other groups are focussing on similar situations
> elsewhere.
> Cornel
>
>
>
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