Children - Terre des Hommes

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Bearing in mind that many of the workers in the mining
sector are migrant labourers, women also commonly migrate
with their families and therefore provide a family unit of
labour, which includes children. The lack of child-care and
schools in mining areas is another factor which explains the
presence of high numbers of children at mines and quarries
across in India. Women as new migrants move into small
mines of quarries with little or no support for looking after
children, so they are forced to take their children with them
to the workplace.
The continued abuse of bonded labour in the mining sector
also pushes children into the mines. In Rajasthan, the high
incidence of injuries and illnesses amongst mineworkers, and
the lack of any health care or insurance, means that adult
workers frequently get into debt, as they have to borrow
from the contractors during difficult times. They are then
forced to provide free labour whilst they pay off these debts.
This form of bondage often becomes inter-generational,
with children working to pay off the debts of their parents
when they are unable to do so.
Child labour perpetuates the cycle of poverty within
families. Forcing children to work below a subsistence
wage, in the unsustainable work that small-scale mining
and quarrying provides, greatly reduces the chance that
these children will ever be able to pull themselves out of
the poverty into which they were born. The risks are even
Shristhi (name changed) is 16 years old and works in
a mine site. Her father, who was a mineworker, died of
an illness nearly 5 years back. She has one older sister
(married), a younger sister who is at home, three brothers
at school and one brother older than her who also works
as a mine worker. Her mother too works in the mines.
Shristhi earns about Rs. 100/- a day working from 9.00
am to 5.00 pm. She said that she had been working for
nearly 4 years now as they needed the money to run the
house. Around two to three days in a month she does not
go to work as she rests at home. She suffers from leg and
backache. Shristhi has never been to school.
greater for girls, as these sub-standard wages often force
young girls into much more severe forms of exploitation,
such as prostitution.
Again and again, research shows that where children are
given viable options, they wish to attend school – and
parents equally want their children educated to give them
the opportunity of a better future. Mining is not viewed
as a “desirable” form of livelihood and children working in
mines are there as a last resort in terms of survival.
As well as working in the mines and quarries, there is a
high incidence of other forms of child labour in the mining
areas across India — in all likelihood, due to low wages
and high rates of illness amongst adult mine workers. Field
observations in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan confirmed that
although some children are employed in paid work — in
mines, agriculture or restaurants — a far greater number
are involved in adult-releasing tasks or supplement adult
labour. Such activities include herding goats, fetching
water and firewood, looking after younger siblings and other
domestic tasks.
An accurate analysis of child labour in the mining areas also
needs to take these kinds of activities into account, as these
children are still missing out on their right to education and
the opportunity to attend school.
Working conditions
The ILO classifies mining as one of the “worst forms of
labour” because of the extent and severity of the hazards, and
the risks of death, injury and disease. Children work long
hours without any form of protective equipment, clothing or
training. They are exposed to extreme temperatures with no
protection from the sun. As well as lung diseases caused by
inhaling dusts and gases, child miners often suffer physical
strain, fatigue and muscular-skeletal disorders due to the
heavy work involved. As their bodies are still growing and
developing, they face greater dangers and risk of damage
than adult labour in this sector. Many of the injuries and
health problems may result in permanent disability — and
these health problems may not become apparent until the
child worker is an adult. 150
145. K. Lahiri-Dutt, Digging to Survive: Women's Livelihoods in South Asia's Small Mines and Quarries, 2008.
146. Gravis, Tales of Woe: A Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Jodhpur and Makrana, March 2004, p. 16.
147. Ibid; and field interviews in mining-affected communities across India, 2009.
148. MLPC, Broken Hard, http://www.indianet.nl/steengroeven/factsheet/Brokenhard.pdf, uploaded: 11 February 2010.
149. ILO, Eliminating Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying, 2005.
150. Ibid.