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“WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S3809-S3810 on June 15, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I have come to the floor today to acknowledge and celebrate the World Day Against Child Labor, which was commemorated earlier this week.
An estimated 215 million children across the world are still trapped in the worst forms of child labor. A report issued by the International Labor Organization, ILO, in May 2010 offered some good news in the fight against child labor. There is a decline in the number of girls trapped in child labor. There are fewer children doing hazardous work. We are closer than ever to universal ratification of ILO Convention 182, which prohibits the worst forms of child labor. Mr. President, 173 out of 192 participating nations have ratified this convention.
However, due to the economic crisis, there also have been setbacks. Child labor has been increasing among boys and in young people between the ages of 15 and 17. Progress in reducing child labor in Sub-Saharan Africa has stalled. While some people may point to the global economic crisis as a cause of these setbacks, we cannot use this as an excuse for complacency.
One can look at the country of Uzbekistan to see the dire need for more action. According to School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, over 2 million children are forcibly pulled from school by government officials to work in cotton fields. Uzbek cotton is listed as a good produced by forced labor and child labor by the Department of Labor. It is listed on the Tier 2 Watch List in the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report. Yet despite this clear, compelling, and thoroughly documented evidence of Uzbekistan's abject failure to live up to its international commitments under ILO Convention 182, business goes on as usual. Uzbekistan has received no sanction and continues to receive trade benefits from the United States under the Generalized System of Preference.
The work performed by these children, stooped over to pick cotton under a hot Sun, also falls under the category of hazardous work. Hazardous work is by its very nature likely to harm the health and safety of children. Hazardous work exposes children to physical, emotional, or even sexual abuse. It includes children working underground in mines, underwater, at dangerous heights, or in confined spaces. Children work with dangerous machinery, equipment, and tools. They may work in in unhealthy environments, exposed to hazardous substances like nicotine in tobacco fields or to extreme temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations that can damage growing bodies. Some children are even forced to work such long hours that they are up for entire nights or are not allowed to return to their own home at the end of the day.
The ILO estimates that 115 million children perform hazardous work. Forty-one million of these are girls and 74 million are boys. Sixty-two million are between the ages of 15 and 17, and 53 million are 14 years old or younger.
It is vitally important to get children out of the worst forms of child labor, including hazardous work, so they may attend school, do well in their studies, and gain the knowledge and skills necessary to build a decent life. To this end, the U.S. Government needs to approach the scourge of child labor in a holistic manner. We need to address the underlying poverty that forces so many children to forgo schooling in order to meet even their most basic needs.
Fortunately, through the Department of Labor, the United States has undertaken projects to do just that. In Ghana, DOL is working with the ILO and the Government of Ghana to implement a new, holistic program to reduce child labor in the cocoa sector by 70 percent by 2020. This effort has gone hand-in-hand with a renewed effort by the international cocoa industry, which has pledged $7 million in new funding to this fight. I have been personally involved in this effort with my good friend and colleague in the House of Representatives, Congressman Eliot Engel of New York.
In fact, this unified effort of the U.S. Government, the Ghanaian Government, and the cocoa industry recently reviewed innovative programs proposed by the cocoa industry in support of its $7 million pledge. It is my hope that this approach, governments working hand-in-
hand with industry and implementing partners, can become a model to combat the worst forms of child labor worldwide.
This is just one example of many Department of Labor programs that are in progress all over the world. Another such program, in Guatemala, takes at-risk children and provides them afterschool activities that reinforce their education, giving them an opportunity for recreation and personal growth in stark contrast to the stunted prospects that follow from being forced to work long hours. Another program, in Lahore, Pakistan, has redesigned the looms people use to weave carpets, eliminating hazards such as back injuries and bone deformities that have plagued children. These and other Department of Labor projects form the backbone of U.S. efforts to combat the worst forms of child labor.
It is not enough to do this just at the Department of Labor though. In Afghanistan, a 2006 UNICEF report estimated that one in four children between the ages of 7 and 14 is subject to the worst forms of child labor. As the Department of Defense and other departments are spending huge amounts of U.S. taxpayer dollars in Afghanistan, it is vitally important to require child labor protections in our various programs and contracts in that country.
Starting this year, a Department of Defense contract to provide market access to Afghan carpet makers will work hand-in-hand with the proven GoodWeave certification system to assure that the carpets made under this taxpayer-funded program are not made with the worst forms of child labor.
So while there has been much progress made, and our efforts abroad are continuing to build success, we must remain vigilant, even here at home. Regrettably, there are some States here in the United States that are trying to undermine the fundamental protections we have afforded to children for generations. For example, the Republican-controlled legislature of Maine decided to pass a bill stripping State-level child labor protections. Maine's Republican Governor decided it would be better for his State to take a step backward because he personally went to work at age 11, and, as he put it, ``It's not a big deal. Work doesn't hurt anybody.''
Well, I would like to tell you how putting a job before children's education can set them back. At a time when it seems that most new jobs require high skill levels, great harm is done by denying these children a chance to acquire these skills. We need to be educating the next generation of doctors, engineers, and scientists. However, the OECD shows that the United States has slipped to the 23rd best country at science education and 31st at math.
We are not going to catch up to other countries if our children are spending too much time working at McDonald's or Burger King. I agree that having a part-time job after school or on weekends can be beneficial. However, studies have shown that teenagers working more than 20 hours a week have a greater tendency toward academic and behavioral problems, as well as higher dropout rates. The United States should aspire to being the country that outbuilds, outeducates and outinnovates. If we continue undermining our child labor laws and neglecting education, we will be the country that outgrills, outflips and outfries!
There are even some Members of the Senate who have questioned whether child labor laws are constitutional. Apparently the protection of our most vulnerable children from exploitation isn't part of protecting the general welfare. Apparently the Supreme Court was incorrect when it unanimously upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act 70 years ago.
It is for all of these reasons that I continue the fight against the worst forms of child labor. It is also why I have come to the floor today to salute the World Day Against Child Labor. But 1 day is not enough. We should be focused on the needs of these children not only on June 12 each year but 365 days a year.
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