ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997 TAG: 9702270040
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
SOURCE: WILLIAM J. KOLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE is meeting to begin work on a global ban of the practice.
Ten-year-old farm workers inhaling poisonous pesticides. Twelve-year-olds toiling in sweatshops and rickety mine shafts. Pre-teen girls forced to sell their bodies in brothels.
Denouncing child labor as a shameful legacy of the 19th century, leaders from 30 nations opened a two-day conference Wednesday to lay the groundwork for an international convention to outlaw the practice.
As many as 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 work in jobs that pay little or nothing, and leave many physically and emotionally scarred for life, the International Labor Organization said.
``At work, we suffer maltreatment, hunger and illness and are in danger of being raped. We do not get any type of protection from society,'' said Anna Maria Catin Torrentes, a 17-year-old Nicaraguan who became a street vendor at 8 and was among the former child laborers who testified.
Just as the Geneva Convention outlawed chemical weapons, a global treaty is needed to ban child labor, said cabinet ministers and children's advocates from Asia, Africa and Latin America who attended the conference.
The United Nations enacted a convention in 1973 calling on nations to set 15 as the basic minimum work age, with 13 the minimum for light work and 18 the minimum for hazardous work.
Most countries have ratified at least some aspects of that agreement. But the reforms haven't taken hold in some developing nations, where low living standards force many children to help their families make ends meet.
``I am from a village, and most of my family are, or have been, working children,'' said Romaine Dieng, 21, a former child laborer from Senegal who went to work at 11 cleaning houses. ``It is unthinkable that one could prohibit child work without abolishing poverty.''
The new child labor convention, to be enacted at the International Labor Conference in 1999 and ratified by individual nations beginning in 2000, would set strict penalties for those who employ the young.
Asia has the greatest number of underage workers, with 44.6 million children 10 to 14 on the job, the Geneva-based agency said. Africa has 23.6 million workers in that age group, Latin America 5.1 million.
In the Philippines, more than 60 percent of all child workers are exposed to chemical hazards such as fertilizers, and 40 percent suffer serious illnesses or mutilating injuries. Others are forced to carry spine-twisting heavy loads for little or no pay.
``There is no protection, the food is bad, and we have to work all day breaking stones to look for minerals,'' said Vidal Ccoa Mamani, a 17-year-old Peruvian who began working as a miner at 12.
``If you are lucky, you find gold and you earn money,'' he said. ``If not, they simply do not pay you.''
Working children often cannot attend school, and at least 130 million go uneducated, said the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, citing a recent study.
``Although the 21st century is imminent, we have not yet left the 19th century behind us,'' said Ad Melkert, the Dutch social affairs minister. ``It is high time we get rid of this inheritance.''
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Sawai Langlah, 17, of Thailand (right) listens toby CNBforum member Basrur Lakshmi. color.