"On the backs of trafficked workers and child labourers, China exploits the vast cobalt resources of the DRC to fuel its economy and global agenda," a congressional hearing on human rights violations heard this week

Rigobert Minani Bihuzo, a Catholic priest who has worked to expose child labour and human rights violations in the DRC's mining sector, testified to the dangerous working condition at the mines.

The children work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, he said. He described their working conditions as being "like slavery".

Injuries are common, and for those who are hurt or become sick, lack of medical care means "the majority will die due to various untreated illnesses", he said.

US representative Christopher Smith, who chaired the "Child Labour and Human Rights Violations" in the Mining Industry of the Democratic Republic of Congo, clearly voiced his views on the violations.

"The Chinese Communist Party's quest for cobalt for batteries and lithium for solar panels to power the so-called Green Economy motivates human rapacity as an estimated 40,000 children in Congo toil in non-regulated artisanal mines under hazardous conditions."

The DRC produces over 70 percent of the world's cobalt. 15 to 30 percent of this is produced in artisanal mines.

Smith said that, for years, these small-scale operations have been notorious for human rights violations. The congressional Council on Foreign Relations attributes some of the inhumane working condition to the DRCs instability - "a country weakened by violent ethnic conflict, Ebola and high levels of corruption".

Congolese civil rights attorney Hervé Diakiese Kyungu told the hearing children are trafficked and exploited because they are small.

Kyungu explained this is because the artisanal mines "are often no more than narrow shafts dug into the ground.

"Children are recruited — often forced — to descend into them, using only their hands or rudimentary tools without any protective equipment, to extract cobalt and other minerals."

At the Chinese company Dongfang Congo Mining, children are often exposed to radioactive minerals, injuries, and deadly and painful diseases as they work to extract the valuable ore, Kyungu testified.

They are also unpaid and exploited. The work is often fatal as the children are required to crawl into small holes dug into the earth.

"Officially artisanal mines are supposed to be owned by Congolese citizens working in ‘cooperatives'.

"In reality, they are selling the product extracted from these to the Chinese and other foreigners such as Pakistanis or Indians. The vast majority of this ore, however, is trafficked through Chinese intermediaries."

Chinese representatives are on site, overseeing the operations.

On one occasion "two persons identified as Chinese citizens… instructed two Congolese military officers to whip two Congolese who were found on their site".

The whipping, which was shared on the internet, demonstrates the cooperation between Chinese companies and DCR government officials, Kyungu said.

Source

• CNA

Children's situations have been made worse because of "the current health emergency situation," Francis says. Many children and young people are "forced into jobs that are inadequate for their age" just to help their families in conditions of extreme poverty.

"In many cases these are forms of slavery and imprisonment, resulting in physical and psychological suffering."

"We are all responsible. I appeal to the institutions to make every effort to protect minors, filling the economic and social gaps that underlie the distorted dynamic in which they are unfortunately involved."

"Children are the future of the human family: all of us are expected to promote their growth, health and tranquility."

Francis spoke out in support of the need to protect children from exploitation in the days leading up to the World Day Against Child Labour, which was marked on Friday.

The 12 June is marked as a special day to bring attention to this problem of child labour and to find ways to eradicate it or fight against it.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to highlight the situation of the many children in the five to 17-year old group who are engaged in work that deprives them of a normal childhoods.

There are about 152 million children in child labour at present, according to the ILO. Of these, 72 million are employed to do hazardous work.

The ILO agrees with the pope that as a result of the pandemic, these children are now at even greater risk of facing circumstances that are even more difficult and working longer hours.

Source

• La Croix
• Asia News
• Image: Kennedy School Review

But for millions of working children worldwide, the adventures of a new school year remain but a dream.

Sadly, these children will never learn to read or write.

They will not acquire computer skills. They will not experience singing in chorus, going on field trips or playing at recess.

Rather, their classrooms will be sweatshops, farm fields, and battlefields.

Their days will be filled with long, dirty, dangerous work. And the lesson they will learn is that life is cruel and unfair.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 152 million children 5-17 years old are victims of child labor, while 73 million of these children are trapped in hazardous work.

And even more tragic is that approximately 8 million children are enslaved in the worst forms of child labor - the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, drug dealing, forced recruitment to fight in armed conflicts, prostitution and pornography.

And worst of all, according to the ILO every year about 22,000 children are killed while working.

The ILO has several excellent resources to assist us in helping to end child labor.

One of the main reasons children do not attend school, and work instead, is because adults in countless families in poor nations have not had access to a good education, learning a viable trade, or are subsistence farmers who are unable to grow enough food for their families.

Thus, it sadly becomes imperative that children must work.

This enslaving chain can, and must, be broken!

The poor deserve better - especially poor children who belong in school not in sweatshops and on battlefields.

Wealthy nations have a moral obligation to justly, generously and energetically work to abolish world poverty, hunger and child labor.

For as St. Pope John Paul II said in his 1979 visit to the U.S., "The poor of the United States and of the world are your brothers and sisters in Christ. You must never be content to leave them just the crumbs from the feast. You must take of your substance, and not just of your abundance, in is order to help them. And you must treat them like guests at your family table."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

Sadly, these children will never learn to read or write. They will not acquire computer skills. They will not experience singing in chorus, going on field trips, or playing at recess.

Their classrooms will be sweatshops, farm fields, and battlefields. Their days will be filled with long, dirty, dangerous work. And the lessons they will learn are that life is cruel and unfair.

According to the International Labor Organization's (ILO) latest report "Global child labor trends 2008 to 2012," approximately 168 million children aged 5-17 were involved in child labor - that is, labor not in legal accordance with ILO Conventions - in 2012.

And even worse, nearly half of all child laborers - 85.3 million - work in hazardous conditions, or what the ILO terms as the worst forms of child labor.

According to the ILO, "Hazardous work includes night work and long hours of work, exposure to physical, psychological or sexual abuse; work underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces; work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; and work in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations damaging their health."

Selling and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom, forced recruitment of children for armed conflict, child prostitution, pornography, and drug activities are among the worst forms of labor millions of children are trapped in.

And according to the ILO every year about 22,000 children are killed while working.

Globalization is a key factor to child labor. Children are cheap to employ; they are docile and easily controlled, and do not organize to defend their human rights.

To unscrupulous corporate executives, child labor offers an attractive incentive to keep labor costs down in a highly competitive global market.

When money is the bottom line - as is virtually always the case in the corporate world - children are simply tools to be used and abused.

Many companies like Disney and Wal-Mart either know, or don't care to know, that their products are often made at the expense of suffering children.

In a Maryknoll Magazine article "Stunting child labor," We read how "Girls of 16 sew Disney garments for subcontractors in China and Bangladesh, getting paid 12 cents an hour for 15-hour days, seven days a week. In Honduras, 14-year-old girls get 43 cents an hour, far below a living wage, in miserable conditions to make Wal-Mart clothing."

Let's work to change all of this injustice against millions of children.

We can vote for compassionate politicians, and urge sitting legislators to: greatly increase international poverty-focused assistance, establish fair trade policies with all poor nations, pass loophole-free legislation severely penalizing corporations that take advantage of sweatshop workers, give tax incentives to companies that financially help their suppliers provide a living wage and decent working conditions for their employees.

And we can patronize Fair Trade certified companies.

Furthermore, we can visit www.freethechildren.com to learn about kids helping kids, and how we can help their efforts.

Let's tirelessly work for the day when cruel and dangerous children's work gives way to school work and homework!

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist.

"There are millions of children, mostly young girls, who are victims of this hidden form of exploitation that often leads to sexual abuse, poor treatment and discrimination," the Holy Father told a crowd of 60,000 gathered in St Peter's Square.

The comments came at the conclusion of his weekly General Audience and were made to coincide with the World Day Against Child Labour, an initiative of the international Labour Organisation that brings attention to the plight of exploited child labourers.

According to figures published today by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), an estimated 10.5 million children worldwide are working as domestic workers in people's homes.

Six and a half million of these child labourers are aged between five and 14 years old and more than 71 per cent are girls, it said.

"It is slavery!" the Pope declared.

Pope Francis concluded his appeal by calling on the international community to bring about more effective measures to combat child labour.

The 76 year old Pontiff also stated that all children have the right to play, study, pray and grow in their families.

"It is their right and our duty," the Pope stressed.

"A serene childhood allows children to look towards life and the future with confidence. Woe unto those who suffocate their joyous momentum of hope!" he said.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Zenit
• Image: The Telegraph

On World Day against Child Labour Fiji's Minister for Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation Dr Jiko Luveni said the issue of child labour was a challenging one and needed to be addressed collaboratively by government, non-government organisations (NGOs), child advocates, schools, communities and individuals.

On the same day Fiji Ministry of Labour northern mediator, Sadrugu Ramagimagi, speaking at the in Labasa, suggested not all work done by children is child labour. He said work becomes child labour when the nature of the task deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity and is harmful to their physical and mental development.

Ramagimagi said legitimate forms of work that children could participate in "include activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays".

And in Lautoka West Police Commander SSP Salacieli Naivilawasa said the police are working closely with the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Education and non-governmental organisations in the fight against child labour.

He said that with the assistance of these organisations, children were being given their basic right to education. "In a situation where the child is not willing to go back to school who is 15 years and above, these children can be registered and trained under the National Employment Centre."

Naivilawasa labour inspectors had the power in law to enforce the minimum age of employment, which was 15 years. "Those who violate this law can face a fine from $10,000 for individuals to a maximum of $50,000 for corporations."

Source

• Fiji Times
• Fiji Times
• Fiji Times
• Fiji Times
• Image: CRS Asia