Gordon Brown must end modern day slavery of India's child workers
Save the Children calls on Gordon Brown to put pressure on the Indian Government to end the exploitation of millions of children forced into child labour.
Tuesday 16 January 2007
Gordon Brown must put pressure on the Indian Government to do more to end the exploitation of millions of children forced into child labour, when he visits the country this week, following his recent comments on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.
Official Indian statistics put the total number of children working at 13 million. However, unofficial figures vary between 60 and 100 million. Many are forced to work in fields or stone quarries, although the largest group (20-40 per cent) are used as domestic servants - young girls who come from poor families and are forced to work up to 15 hours a day with no breaks or little pay.
Shireen Miller, Head of Policy for Save the Children India, said: "Children forced to work as domestic help - especially girls, endure harsh and miserable lives, being used as modern day slaves. Many will earn little or nothing and face being regularly beaten, deliberately burnt or sexually abused."
Despite the Indian Government recently banning the employment of children aged under-14 in domestic work, Save the Children is concerned that it will do little to stop domestic workers being exploited. The majority, (74 per cent) of those working as domestic helpers in people's homes, are aged between 12 and 16-years-old.
Miller continued: "Brown recently stated that there could be no better commemoration to mark the 200th anniversary of Britain ending the slave trade than to abolish all child labour, and ensure that all young children go to school. This trip is his first opportunity to put words into action and put pressure on the Indian Government to address the large chunk of unprotected child domestic workers.
"These children continue to spend their childhoods being exploited at the hands of others. Unless an end is put to children working as domestic help, Gordon Browns visions for the children of India will seem idealistic and will ignore India's poorest."
Save the Children wants the Indian Government to raise the age limit of the Child Labour Act from 14 to 18 years, develop clear procedures to implement the law - including stringent penalties for those that ignore it - and to deliver plans to rehabilitate former child workers and help them get an education.
