The ICFTU report also notes that "while child labour is not widespread in Europe, unacceptable exploitation of children is occurring in most -- if not all -- countries to some degree, mainly in the informal sector and in agriculture." Although "confirmed incidents are steadily falling," in Portugal many children work between 10-14 hours a day in the tourism, textile, construction and clothing industries in particular. Some start at 7 am and return at 11 pm or midnight. They often work in illegally established enterprises and are fired when they get older. There are reports that some of these children are abused by employers and many suffer serious mental and psychological damage.
But child labour is far from limited to Portugal, and the ICFTU report draws attention to child labour in Spain, France, Greece and Italy. In the UK, a number of surveys carried out over the past ten years have found that around 40 per cent of children aged between 13-15 have some type of part-time employment which is usually unregistered, and often illegal. One study in North-east England by the Low Pay Unit found that 44% of children at work had suffered an accident during their employment, and that a quarter of the children at work were under 13. Child prostitution is also a major problem in the UK and a common source of income for homeless children.
Efforts to improve labour conditions through the monitoring and rehabilitation programs of FIFA, UNICEF, ILO and the sporting goods industry have thus far yielded only limited results, particularly in India and Pakistan, the key centres for football stitching. The hands of children are still employed to stitch footballs, even at the price of their education and often their health.
WASHINGTON -- The chocolate industry and its allies are mounting an intense lobbying campaign to fight off legislation to require "slave free" labels for their products.
The proposed legislation is a response to a Knight Ridder Newspapers investigation that found some boys as young as 11 are sold or tricked into slavery to harvest cocoa beans in Ivory Coast, a West African nation that supplies 43 percent of U.S. cocoa. The State Department estimates that as many as 15,000 child slaves work on Ivory Coast's cocoa, cotton and coffee farms. The House of Representatives passed the labeling initiative, 291-115, in late June, and the measure awaits Senate action.
NEW YORK -- The Defense Department and five companies, including Sharper Image Corp. and Kohl's Corp., sell goods produced at factories in Asia and Central America that exploit workers, a labor rights group claimed.
The National Labor Committee for Worker and Human Rights, the New York-based notnprofit organization that revealed that child labor was used to manufacture the clothing line of TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford, also cited Nike Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Farberware Products.
Spokesmen for Nike, Sharper Image, Farberware and Kohl's denied the allegations or said steps have been taken to improve factory conditions. The Defense Department and Wal-Mart did not return calls seeking comments.
