Joining forces against child labour Inter-agency report for The Hague Global Child Labour ...

184 Pages·2010·2.4 MB·English

Joining forces
against child labour
Inter-agency report
for The Hague Global
Child Labour Conference
of 2010
May 2010
Hague_Report_EN.indd i 01.09.10 12:10
Copyright © International Labour Organization and Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) 2010
First published 2010
For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions),
International Labour Offi ce, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. Short excerpts
may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of translation appli-
cation should be made to the ILO, acting on behalf of both organizations, to the address mentioned above.
Libraries, institutions and other users registered with reproduction rights organizations may make copies in ac-
cordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to fi nd the reproduction rights
organization in your country.
UCW
Joining forces against child labour. Inter-agency report for Th e Hague Global Child Labour Conference of 2010 /
Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) Programme – Geneva: ILO, 2010
ISBN 978-92-2-123458-6 (print)
ISBN 978-92-2-123459-3 (Web PDF)
International Labour Offi ce; Understanding Children’s Work
Also available in French: Tous unis dans la lutte contre le travail des enfants. Rapport inter-agences en vue de
la Conférence mondiale sur le travail des enfants de La Haye de 2010, ISBN 978-92-2-223458-5 (print),
978-92-2-223459-2 (Web PDF), Geneva, 2010; Spanish: Unidos en la lucha contra el trabajo infantil. Informe
interagencial para la Conferencia mundial sobre trabajo infantil de La Haya de 2010, ISBN 978-92-2-323458-4
(print), 978-92-2-323459-1 (Web PDF), Geneva, 2010.
Funding for this publication was partially provided by the United States Department
of Labor and the Government of Italy. Th is publication does not necessarily refl ect
the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor or the Government of
Italy, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply
endorsement by the United States Government or Italian Government.
Th e designations employed in this publication, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression
of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Offi ce and Understanding Children’s Work
(UCW) concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimi-
tation of its frontiers.
Th e ILO and UCW do not accept any responsibility in case of inaccuracy, errors or omissions resulting from the
use of this data.
As part of broader eff orts towards durable solutions to child labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO),
the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Bank initiated the interagency Understanding
Children’s Work (UCW) programme in December 2000. Th e programme is guided by the Oslo Agenda for Action,
which laid out the priorities for the international community in the fi ght against child labour. Th rough a variety
of data collection, research, and assessment activities, the UCW Programme is broadly directed toward improving
understanding of child labour, its causes and eff ects, how it can be measured, and eff ective policies for addressing it.
For further information, see the programme website at www.ucw-project.org.
Printed in Switzerland ATA
Photocomposed by WEI
Design by HEM
Hague_Report_EN.indd ii 01.09.10 12:10
Acknowledgements
Th e Report has been prepared by a team led by Furio C. Rosati, comprising Lorenzo Guarcello,
Nihan Koseleci, Scott Lyon, Gabriella Breglia, Irina Kovrova, and Cristina Valdivia.
Wendy Cunningham (Th e World Bank), Joanne Dunn (UNICEF) and Frank Hagemann
(ILO) provided guidance and advice at various stages of the report and coordinated the inputs
from their respective teams.
UCW is particularly grateful to Susan Bissell (UNICEF), Alessandro Cigno (University of
Florence), Guillermo Dema (ILO, Lima), Tazeen Fasih (Th e World Bank), Sherin Khan (ILO,
New Dehli), Marco Manacorda (QMUL and LSE), David Newhouse (The World Bank),
Harry Patrinos (The World Bank), David Robalino (The World Bank) and Simrin Singh
(ILO, Bangkok).
iii
Hague_Report_EN.indd iii 01.09.10 12:10
Hague_Report_EN.indd iv 01.09.10 12:10
Contents
Contents
Preface  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Chapter 1. Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part I. Pro(cid:386) le of child labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chapter 2. Child labour: Characteristics and trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Child labour incidence  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Child labour characteristics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Hazardous child labour  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 Th e dynamic picture  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Part II. Child labour and national development goals  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 3. Child labour and education for all  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1 Child labour and school attendance  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.2 Child labour and learning achievements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 4. Child labour and youth labour market outcomes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.1 Child labour as a factor in youth labour market outcomes . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2 Youth labour market conditions and human capital
investment decisions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Chapter 5. Child labour and migration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.1 Children left behind by migrating parents  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2 Children migrating with the household  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.3 Children migrating alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 6. Child labour and health  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.1 Immediate health consequences of child labour  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.2 Longer term health consequences of child labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
v
Hague_Report_EN.indd v 01.09.10 12:10
Joining forces against child labour
Inter-agency report for Th e Hague Global Child Labour Conference of 2010
Part III. Addressing child labour: Building an integrated policy response  . . . . 73
Chapter 7. Improving child labour regulation as a foundation for action  . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 8. Strengthening education as an alternative to child labour  . . . . . . . . . . 80
8.1 Reducing costs of education  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
8.2 Extending early childhood development opportunities  . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8.3 Extending school access  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8.4 Improving school quality  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
8.5 Policy options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Chapter 9. Reducing household vulnerability: Th e role of social protection . . . . . 88
9.1 Social protection as a strategy against child labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
9.2 Social protection instruments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.3 Policy options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Chapter 10. Transitioning to decent work: Skills development
and labour market policies  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
10.1 Skills development  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
10.2 Improving labour market opportunities for young people  . . . . . . . . . 108
10.3 Policy options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Chapter 11. Building consensus for change: Knowledge building,
awareness-raising and social mobilization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
11.1 Communication: Addressing social norms and knowledge  . . . . . . . . 113
11.2 Advocacy: Mobilizing civil society and generating political will  . . . . 117
11.3 Policy options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Chapter 12. From planning to action against child labour:
Th e role of inter-agency cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Annexes
Annex I. Measuring child labour  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Annex II. List of household surveys utilized in the report  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Annex III. How do economists think of child labour?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
vi
Hague_Report_EN.indd vi 01.09.10 12:10
Contents
Panels
Panel 1. Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) Programme: An overview . . . . . . . 2
Panel 2. Household chores and child labour  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Panel 3. Measuring worst forms of child labour other than hazardous work . . . . . . . . 16
Panel 4. Progress against child labour in the context of the global economic crisis  . . . 18
Panel 5. Child labour, HIV/AIDS and the African orphan crisis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Panel 6. Progress against child labour in Brazil  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Panel 7. Child labour in India  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Panel 8. Th e emotional impact of migration on children left behind:
Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Panel 9. Children in armed confl icts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Panel 10. Child labour as a violation of children’s rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Panel 11. Developing school feeding programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Panel 12. Micro-credit as an instrument against child labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Panel 13. How infrastructure and basic utilities can aff ect child labour  . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Panel 14. Integrating former child labourers into the school system:
Policy experiences and lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Panel 15. Local level communication eff orts targeting child labour and schooling:
Field experience from Brazil and Guatemala  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Panel 16. Child labour terminology and measures used in this report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Tables
Table 1. Estimates on children in hazardous work based on national legislation,
5–17 years age group, by country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Table 2. Number of children in employment, 7–14 years age group, base year
and most recent, by country  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 3. Child activity status in Mongolia, 7–14 years age group, by migrant status . . 59
Table 4. Child activity status in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), 7–14 years age group,
by migrant status  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Table 5. Migrant children, percentage of child domestic workers and children
in employment (excluding domestic workers) which moved to current place
of residence from rural areas in the past three years, Paraguay  . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Table 6. Migrant children, percentage of child domestic workers and children
in employment (excluding domestic workers) which moved to current
place of residence from rural areas in the past fi ve years, Uganda . . . . . . . . . . 62
Table 7. Estimated hours worked incidence rate and index of relative risk,
by employment sector, children aged 5–17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Table 8. Weekly hours of work necessary for constant probability of injury, by sector  68
Table 9. Education: Possible policy options for strengthening education
as an alternative to child labour  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Table 10. Children aged 10–14 in Venezuela, by activity status and year . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Table 11. Social protection: Possible policies for reducing household risk
and expanding household social protection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Table 12. Labour markets: Possible policies directed towards providing skills
and ensuring successful transitions to decent work  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
vii
Hague_Report_EN.indd vii 01.09.10 12:10
Joining forces against child labour
Inter-agency report for Th e Hague Global Child Labour Conference of 2010
Table 13. Advocacy and social communication: Possible policies for building
consensus for change  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Table 14. Availability of data on children’s employment, by reference year and country  146
Table 15. Country, surveys type and year, survey fi eld work period,
school academic year  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Figures
Figure 1. Key determinants of child labour and schooling and policy pillars
to address them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Figure 2. Child labour and youth labour market outcomes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Figure 3. Percentage of children in employment, 5–14 years age group,
most recent year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Figure 4. Children’s activities, 7–14 years age group  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 5. Composition of children’s employment, 5–14 years age group,
by country, by industry  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 6. Composition of children’s employment, 5–14 years age group,
by country, by status in employment  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Figure 7. Distribution of weekly working hours, 7–14 years age group  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 8. Distribution of children in employment by working hours,
5–14 years age group, Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 9. Number of children exposed to specifi c work hazards, Zambia and Mali  . . . 15
Figure 10. Trends in children’s employment rate, 7–14 years age group,
base year and most recent, by country  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 11. Trends in children’s employment and school attendance rate,
7–14 years age group, base year and most recent, by country, SSA region  . . . 22
Figure 12. Trends in children’s employment and school attendance rate, 7–14 years
age group, base year and most recent, by sex and country, SSA region  . . . . . . 22
Figure 13. Trends in children’s employment rate, by whether or not they are also
attending school, 7–14 years age group, base year and most recent,
by country, SSA region  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 14. Trends in children’s employment and school attendance rate, 7–14 years
age group, base year and most recent, by country, Latin America region  . . . . 25
Figure 15. Trends in children’s employment and school attendance rate, 7–14 years
age group, base year and most recent, by sex and country, LA region . . . . . . . 28
Figure 16. Trends in children’s employment rate, by whether or not they are also
attending school, 7–14 years age group, base year and most recent,
by country, Latin America region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 17. Trends in the composition of children’s employment, base year and
most recent, by country, Latin America region  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Figure 18. Trends in child activity status, 7–14 years age group, by country  . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 19. Trends in children’s employment and school attendance rate, 7–14 years
age group, base year and most recent, by country, Asia region  . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Figure 20. Trends in children’s employment and school attendance rate, 7–14 years
age group, base year and most recent, by sex and country, Asia region  . . . . . . 31
Figure 21. Trends in children’s employment rate, by whether or not they are also
attending school, 7–14 years age group, base year and most recent,
by country, Asia region  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
viii
Hague_Report_EN.indd viii 01.09.10 12:10
Contents
Figure 22. Trends in the composition of children’s employment, base year
and most recent, by country, Asia region  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 23. Trends in child activity status, 7–14 years age group, by country  . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 24. School attendance disadvantage of children in employment,
7–14 years age group, selected countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 25. School attendance and children’s employment, children aged 7–14 years,
selected countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 26. School attendance, production type (employment or household chores),
and work setting (family or non-family), children aged 7–14 years,
selected countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 27. Gross school intake and children’s employment, children aged 7–14 years,
by sex, multiple countries  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 28. Net school intake and children’s employment, children aged 7–14 years,
by sex, multiple countries  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 29. School drop-out and children’s employment, children aged 7–14 years,
by sex, multiple countries  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 30. School life expectancy and children’s employment, children
aged 7–14 years, by sex, multiple countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 31. Grade repetition and children’s employment, children aged 7–14 years,
by sex  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 32. Child labour and the transition to working life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 33. Occupational type and level of education, 15–24 year olds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 34. Child labour and decent work over the lifecycle  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 35. Ratio of youth to adult unemployment rates, SSA countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 36. Unemployment rates, 20–24 age group, by level of education attainment  . . . 52
Figure 37. Distribution of unemployment duration, 15–24 years  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 38. Employment and school attendance of children, by migration status.
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) age 7–14 and Bamako (Mali) 10–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Figure 39. Work-related ill-health and working hours, evidence from Cambodia
and Bangladesh  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Figure 40. Key determinants of child labour and schooling and policy pillars
to address them  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 41. Public expenditure on primary education per pupil
vs. children in employment  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Figure 42. Pupil- teacher ratio and child involvement in employment, by sex  . . . . . . . . . 85
Figure 43. Presence of female teachers and child involvement in employment, by sex  . . 85
Figure 44. Percentage children’s involvement in employment, by exposure to
and type of shock, Cambodia  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Figure 45. Children requiring remedial education, age group 9–17 years  . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 46. Variation in estimates of children in employment and school attendance,
10–14 years age group  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
ix
Hague_Report_EN.indd ix 01.09.10 12:10
Hague_Report_EN.indd x 01.09.10 12:10