violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

‘We all come from the same village in the south. We came to the city to work and have not seen ourfamilies since we left. We pay rent and live together as a group to defend ourselves from thieves.’Shoeshine boys, Eastern and Southern Africa, 2003 IIHuman rights INSTRUMENTSinternational legal developments: the Palermo Protocol on the trafficking of persons,especially women and children (2000); and an optional protocol to the CRC on thesale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2000). These protocolsare directly relevant to the likelihood of violence against children in situations ofeconomic activity where there is international unanimity that children should not beemployed.238Violence against children in places of workBackground andcontextChildren have always worked. Many formsof child work are a natural part of growingup; traditionally, the child assumed domesticworking responsibilities – carrying water,minding siblings, herding goats, helping parentsat the loom or spindle – at the earliestpracticable age. These activities fused with‘work’ in its economic sense as the child grewolder. Many children in the world today stillwork in family-based activities as part of theinformal economy. Some of this work containsrisk of violence. It may involve childrentaking animals to pasture far from home andbeing exposed to marauders; it may be associatedwith seasonal migration for agriculturalwork, when children accompany their familiesand work in settings where conditions areextremely tough. It may involve them leavinghome for a precarious and unsafe life in town.In some places and among certain classes, castesor ethnic groups, parents place greater value onchildren being employed in economic activitiesthan going to school; 12 this attitude is particularlylikely where the quality and relevance ofthe available schooling is low. In settings witha strong social hierarchy, it may be normal forchildren from a disadvantaged background tobe assigned to work for better-off families at anearly age. Children in such societies are at thevery bottom of the pecking order. They are seenas the property of the family or employer, anddo what they are told. 13The emergence of childlabour as a policy concernThe issue of child labour has had a particulargenesis as a public policy concern. Until theindustrial revolution of the 19th century, workwas seen as being the lot of poor children froman early age. As in much of the developingworld today, children made a working contributionto the family economy. Child labourbecame a public issue when large numbers ofchildren left the relatively protected environmentof the family or family workshop, andbecame exposed to hazardous conditions infactories and mines.