Taylor’s Lakeside Campus Model United Nations 2010| I Annual Session

Forum: Special Political and Decolonization Committee

Issue: Child Labour in South East Asia

Student Officer: Rick Harting and Oh Yea Ji

Position: Chair of SPECPOL

Introduction

In South East Asia, child domestic labour (CDL) is culturally accepted and commonly practised.
CDL refers to situations where children are engaged to perform domestic tasks in the home of a third
party or employer. Where child domestic labour is exploitative and includes trafficking, slavery, or
practices similar to slavery, or work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is
hazardous and likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of the child, it constitutes a worst form of child
labour as defined in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
(No. 182), 1999. [below: http://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/regions/asro/newdelhi/ipec/responses/index.htm]

Country Known CDL (Child Domestic Labour) Population

Bangladesh (Dhaka) 300,000

India 20% of all children under 14 years working outside the family home are in domestic service

Nepal (Kathmandu) 62,000 children under 14 years

Pakistan 264,000 children working in 'personal and social services'

Sri Lanka 19,000

Country Working Children (5-14 years)

Bangladesh 5.05 million

India 12.6 million

Nepal 1.660 million

Pakistan 3.3 million

Sri Lanka 0.475 million

Country Total number of children (5-14 years)

Bangladesh 35.06 million

India 253 million

Nepal 6.225 million

Pakistan 40 million

Sri Lanka 3.18 million

 Taylor’s Lakeside Campus Model United Nations 2010| I Annual Session

Definition of Key Terms

Child Labour

Refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children;
and interferes with their schooling: by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, by obliging
them to leave school prematurely; or by requiring them to attempt to combine school and work together
thus hindering development. [www.epaw.co.uk/csr/glossary.html]

South East Asia

is a sub-region of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of
India and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic
and volcanic activity.

Southeast Asia consists of two geographic regions: the Asian mainland and island arcs and
archipelagos to the east and southeast. The mainland section consists of Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia,
Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia while the maritime section consists of Brunei, East
Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore. Papua New Guinea is an observer in
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as East Timor does. [www.brisanon.com/]

General Overview

Child labor is a mass phenomenon, confined mostly to less-developed countries. The

International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that in 1990, over 78 million children in the world
did regular work. A recent study by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimates that in
1995 about 11 million Pakistani children worked; half of which were below the age of 10. A 1983
national sample survey in India estimates that over 17 million children work while another study by the
Operations Research Group of India estimates the number to be closer to 44 million. The International
Labour Organization also found that for children ages 10-14, Africa has the highest work participation
rates -- almost one third of the children ages 10-14 in Eastern Africa; and 25% in Western Africa. By
sheer numbers, Asia has the most working children. The majority of working children in developing
countries work in agriculture, mainly because these countries are mostly agrarian, but they also work
in many manufacturing industries such as brick making, textiles, carpets, match-making and just about
any industry that uses unskilled labor; and those who have traveled to third world countries have
seen children in the service industry, selling cigarettes, shining shoes, or selling newspaper. [http://
www.einaudi.cornell.edu/southeastAsia/outreach/resources/childlabor/labor2.html]
 Taylor’s Lakeside Campus Model United Nations 2010| I Annual Session

UN involvement, Relevant Resolutions, Treaties and Events

The International Labour Organization’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child

Labour (IPEC) was created in 1992 with the overall goal of the progressive elimination of child labour,
which was to be achieved through strengthening the capacity of countries to deal with the problem and
promoting a worldwide movement to combat child labour. IPEC currently has operations in 88 countries,
with an annual expenditure on technical cooperation projects that reached over US$61 million in 2008.
It is the largest programme of its kind globally and the biggest single operational programme of the ILO.
[http://www.oit.org/ipec/programme/lang--en/index.htm]

This just one of the involvements shown via the UN, some others shown below.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people
under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The Convention sets out
these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children
everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences,
abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. [http://www.unicef.org/crc/]

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on
December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and health care to children in countries that had been
devastated by World War II. [http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Bo-Ch/Child-Labor-in-Developing-Countries.html]

European Union and NAFTA

Regionally, under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) there is a mechanism to
monitor labor rights within member countries. The United States has a long tradition of unilaterally
applying certain labor standards, encompassing prohibition of child labor, to trade agreements. In the
early 2000s, both the United States and the European Union (EU) have a so-called General System of
Preferences granting trade benefits to countries that live up to certain labor standards. While the U.S.
system focuses solely on import goods, the EU system, installed in 1998, also focuses on applicant state
policy to abolish child labor more broadly. [http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Bo-Ch/Child-Labor-in-Developing-Countries.html]
 Taylor’s Lakeside Campus Model United Nations 2010| I Annual Session

“Towards the Elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour” Programme

(TECL) is a programme on child labour and related issues that is run in all the countries of the
Southern African Customs Union (SACU), namely Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and
Swaziland. [www.ituc-csi.org/.../20091103101840-Microsoft_Word_-_SACU-final_.pdf ]

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999

The Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour, known in short as the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, was adopted by
the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1999 as ILO Convention No 182. [www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/
download.do?type=document&id=10210]

Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue

Labour often interferes with children’s education. Ensuring that all children go to school and that their
education is of good quality are keys to preventing child labour. [UNICEF.org]

IPEC's work to eliminate child labour is an important facet of the ILO's Decent Work
Agenda. Child labour not only prevents children from acquiring the skills and education
they need for a better future, it also perpetuates poverty and affects national economies
through losses in competitiveness, productivity and potential income. Withdrawing
children from child labour, providing them with education and assisting their families with
training and employment opportunities contribute directly to creating decent work for
adults. http://www.ilo.org/ipec/programme/lang--en/index.htm]

Possible Solutions

● Better access to education (Primary School)

● Increase employment for the uneducated people (that were part of child labour)
● Increasing role of National Governments
● Governments implementing “national minimum income” programmes
● Incentive Programs
● Local Officials regarding Child Labour

Bibliography

Please see though out the report for citations.