Newsletter September 2008

The Amsterdam-based foundation for International Research on Working Children (IREWOC) looks at the issue of child labour from a child rights perspective and with a focus on the socio-cultural and economic environment. In order to understand child labour situations, it is necessary to look at the wider context of the living conditions of children and their families. Our focus is therefore not only on studying the specific situation of child labourers, but also the general situation of children living in adverse conditions.

IREWOC research collects data on child labourers specifically, and on the conditions of disadvantaged children in general. This is done by means of anthropological research, publications, workshops, consultancy and conferences. IREWOC takes a child-centred approach to research, which puts the opinions and experiences of children centre stage.

IREWOC’s aims are to enhance in-depth knowledge on child-centred development through local level fieldwork, to broaden and exchange knowledge through the establishment of global partnerships and develop joint projects accordingly, and to promote policy interventions.

Website: www.irewoc.nl; Contact: info@irewoc.nl, +31 (0)20 4651763

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Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin-America

September 2006–August 2008; Marten van den Berge, Anna Ensing, Laura Baas, Luisa Quiroz

This research project carried out in-depth studies in three Latin American countries on specific sectors which are labelled as a worst form according to ILO Convention 182. This Convention explicitly calls for immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of those forms of child labour that pose a direct threat to the physical and moral health of children.

The IREWOC Worst Forms of Child labour research project began by documenting the specific worst forms sectors in three Latin American countries (Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru) and also identified which GOs and NGOs are working in the field of child labour in these countries and what their specific projects are. This part of the project was conducted from October 2006 to January 2007.

Secondly, in-depth anthropological fieldwork was carried out in specific worst form sectors in the research countries. In Guatemala research was carried out in the coffee sector and in the stone quarries. In Peru the mining sector, garbage dumps and markets were studied; and in Bolivia child labour was explored in the mining sector and on sugar cane plantations. The specific aim of the anthropological fieldwork was to document the reality of child labourers in the worst forms of child labour, to discover the reasons why children are (still) working under these conditions and to identify best practices of governmental and non-governmental organisations to eradicate these worst forms.

Upon completion of the research feedback workshops were organised in the three research countries at both local and national levels. In these workshops the research results were discussed with local governmental and non-governmental actors working on child labour as well as with the children and their parents. A final presentation of the findings was conducted in The Netherlands at the end of May.

This project was implemented by the IREWOC Foundation, and jointly supported by Kerk in Actie, ICCO, Edukans, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, Plan Netherlands, Stichting Kinderpostzegels and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. In addition, the project was endorsed by the international ILO/IPEC office in Geneva.

Worst Forms of Child Labour in Asia

January 2008 – November 2009 (projected completion date); Afke de Groot, Anna Ensing, Kristoffel Lieten

After completing the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin-America project, IREWOC initiated the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Asia study in February 2008. This research is taking place in three countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Nepal.

From February to July 2008, IREWOC researcher Afke de Groot conducted the first fieldwork phase in Nepal. She studied children working in the brick kiln sector and as (short-route) porters at vegetable markets in the Kathmandu Valley. The second phase of fieldwork in Nepal will continue in October 2008. The focus will then be on the rural areas from where many children migrate to cities in search of work.

IREWOC researcher Anna Ensing conducted fieldwork in Bangladesh. For three months she focussed on children working in the production chain of leather and leather products. Anna will continue the research and start her second fieldwork period at the beginning of 2009. 

The findings of both the Bangladesh and Nepal studies will be published in the course of 2009.

Child Labour Research Capacity Training Workshop

From 13-27^th August IREWOC organised a successful Child Labour Research Capacity Training Workshop in Bogor, Indonesia in cooperation with Plan International, Dr. Gerben Nooteboom of the University of Amsterdam and Prof. Pujo Semedi of the University of Yogyakarta. During this two-week-workshop fourteen enthusiastic participants were introduced to the theoretical insights in the child rights and child labour discussion, and the practice of doing research on and with children. All participants formulated a research proposal of which ten were accepted for implementation. These individual research projects are currently being carried out. Their research findings will be presented at a national workshop towards the end of 2009 after which publications in English and local languages will soon follow. For more information: read the workshop report

Rural Child Labour in Andean Countries

June 2008 – June 2009 (projected completion date); Marten van den Berge and Laura Baas.

According to its global report The End of Child Labour: Within Reach, the ILO estimates that 218 million children in the world work, of which 126 million in hazardous working conditions. SIMPOC/ILO estimates that 69% percent of all working children work in agriculture. In Latin-America 5.7 million children are involved in child labour, and again, the majority work in rural areas (70%). Although rural child labour in many Latin-American countries has been the subject of research and policy measures, the Andean region, which is one of the poorest regions of Latin-America, has been mostly overlooked. Currently ILO/IPEC Latin America, together with the National Institute for Statistics of Peru (INEI), is undertaking a Peruvian national census on child labour; in previous meetings with ILO/IPEC Latin-America it was suggested that IREWOC’s research would supplement the statistical national census with specific qualitative information on child labour in rural areas in the Andes region.

IREWOC is therefore presently conducting a research project in two Andean counties, Bolivia and Peru. In Bolivia, research has already been conducted towards children working on large-scale corn plantations and those participating on their family’s fields, in the eastern department of Santa Cruz. A preliminary report has been drafted. A second research period in Bolivia, starting in October 2008, will focus on the children and adolescents working on large-scale sugarcane plantations, and compare their labour situation with findings from a 2002 ILO investigation. In Peru rural communities in Ica and Cusco were visited to compare child labour within the family context with children working on asparagus plantations. The comparison between children participating in the family realm and those working in commercial agriculture is an important focus of the research; detailed exploration of the aspects of children’s work further contributes to determining which sectors might be categorised as the worst forms of child labour.

The main research population includes the children engaged in rural forms of child labour, their parents and (N)GO staff working with this target group. The research will produce knowledge on rural child labour informed by ground reality that looks beyond quantitative numbers, and which identifies the (context) specific needs of the children and their caretakers. The research will explore the different forms of rural child labour and document the opinions of the children, caretakers and development workers on the possible solutions to the problems.

Baas, L (2008) Child Labour in the Mining Sector of Bolivia. The IREWOC Research Project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Baas, L (2008) Child Labour in the Sugar Cane Harvest in Bolivia. The IREWOC Research Project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Ensing, A (2008) Child Labour in the Mining Sector of Peru. The IREWOC Research Project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Ensing, A (2008) Child Labour in the Urban Sectors of Peru. The IREWOC Research Project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. Amsterdam: IREWOC

G.K. Lieten (2008) Children, Structure and Agency. Field Reality Across the World. New York: Routledge. more information>>>

Van den Berge, M (2008) Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying in Cajamarca, Peru. An Appendage to: Child Labour in the Mining Sector of Peru The IREWOC Research Project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Van den Berge, M et al. (2008) The Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America: Identification and Policy Options. Main findings from Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Van den Berge et al. (2008) Las Peores Formas de Trabajo Infantil en America Latina: Identificacion y Opciones Estrategicas. Los resultados principales de Guatemala, Bolivia y Peru. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Quiroz, L (2008) Child Labour in the Coffee Sector of Guatemala. The IREWOC Research Project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Quiroz, L (2008) Child Labour in the Quarrying Sector of Guatemala. The IREWOC Research Project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. Amsterdam: IREWOC

Laura Baas - Published on the VersPers website (Dutch language), May 6 2008

Afke de Groot - An article on her research work for the Deprived Children and Education project in Pakistan and Nepal, published in the summer issue of the Dutch Himalaya Magazine. For more information: http://www.himal.nl/.

Ensing, A - Published on the UPDAID website (Dutch language), September 9 2008

New publication in preparation

A new publication, Child Labours’ Global Past, is in its last stages of preparation. The book will be completed in the first half of 2009 and will comprise approximately 30 articles on the history of child labour in various countries across the world, from China to Columbia and from Sweden to South Africa and Australia. It has been jointly edited by Kristoffel Lieten and Elise van Nederveen-Meerkerk and will be published by Peter Lang in Berne, Switzerland.
 

GO TO THE IREWOC PUBLICATIONS PAGE

In May 2008 IREWOC participated in the international conference “Child and Youth Research in the 21st Century: A Critical Appraisal”, organised by the International Childhood and Youth Research Network, in Nicosia, Cyprus. Two papers were presented: “Children, Structure and Agency” by K. Lieten, and “Hazardous Child Labour in Latin America” by Anna Ensing.

In September 2008 IREWOC participated in the “Seminar on child labour, education and youth employment: a challenge for growth”, organised by the UCW project and the Universidad Carlos III, in Madrid. IREWOC presented the paper “Hazardous Child Labour in Peru: Lessons from Research”.

Professor Lieten has been elected to join the ICYRNet standing committee, which further consists of Allison James (chair), Spyrous Spyrou (secretary), Madeline Leonard and Rebecca Budde. The ICYRNet (www.icyrnet.net) aims to bring together organizations which produce research on children and childhood and to encourage the production and dissemination of research that allows the voices of children and young people to be clearly heard and understood and to be shared with child-focussed organizations.

In June 2008 the European Union called for a study of child labour related imports and the appropriateness of using trade related measures to fight child labour. The decision followed an initiative by the Dutch government. In radio interviews and in NRC Next, IREWOC director Kristoffel Lieten questioned the advisability of such measures, precisely because it may hinder the dialogue on an entire range of other measures, which has led to noticeable improvements. Earlier, in NRC Handelsblad (04-04-08) Kristoffel Lieten presented a number of reasons why it would be bad policy: it relates to only a very small percentage of child labourers, it operates in a vacuum and leads the focus away from poverty measures and education, it may leave the dismissed child labourers and their families in worse conditions, it attracts the accusation of opting for a protective trade policy and it circumvents the non-trade related efforts of the ILO. In his reply (08-04-08), minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Maxime Verhagen reiterated the moral compulsion to act with trade-restrictive measures, at least in cases of products made by child slaves.