violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“At 4:00 a.m. I got up and did silk winding. I only went home once a week.I slept in the factory with two or three other children. We prepared the food there and slept in the spacebetween the machines. If I made a mistake – if I cut the thread – he would beat me.Sometimes [the owner] used vulgar language. Then he would give me more work.”Child, 11, bonded at around age 7 for Rs. 1,700 (US $35), South Asia, 2003 IX6panied by children who are expected to workfor free. 89 According to an ILO study of 19countries in the Latin American region, nearly10% of the total child and adolescent populationaged 5 to 17 is working in worst forms oflabour where violence is routine. 90Traditional forms of slaveryAfrica has the highest incidence of informalchild work, and there is evidence to suggestthat a higher proportion may be ‘forced’than in other regions. 91 However, coercionis mostly related to the importance attachedto kinship and client-ship in economic relations,and to the fact that most people, especiallyin rural areas, do not make their livingin an industrialised, monetised, or standardemployer–worker economy. Distance fromthe modern economy is furthest in mountain,desert or semi-desert environments. Lifeis hard, and coping mechanisms for times ofcalamity well-honed. Kin and client relationshipscan be invoked to demand services fromextended family members and those of lowerstatus; these arrangements may be considered‘natural’ and sanctioned by social and religiousbeliefs. 92Abuse within or perversions of customaryarrangements for the exploitation of childrenoccurs in a few countries of Eastern Africa,such as Ethiopia; but is more extensive inthe Sahelian countries where feudal forms ofgovernance persist. Mauritania and Niger arethe last countries in the world where regularslavery – direct ‘ownership’ of people, not bymeans of commercial trade, but by customaryarrangement – continues, though nominallybanned by law. 93,94 These people are usuallydescendants of slaves, and their degree ofactual ‘slavery’ is locally disputed and opento interpretation. However, a range of servicescan be required of slave descendants, includingchildren, both in the household and in thefields; and they suffer severe limitations ontheir behaviour, rights, and entitlements. 95Children in such families are the property oftheir masters and can be passed on from oneowner to another as ‘gifts’. Girls start workvery young and are at the beck and call of theirmasters, including sexually, and as bearers ofadditional slave children by designated partners.Slavery was only legislatively banned inNiger in 1999, and progress towards its eliminationis slow. A survey conducted in 2004 bya local organisation established that around43,000 men, women and children are stillenslaved. 96 Many of the 11,000 intervieweeshad been subjected to violence, rape, degradingtreatment and threats. Humiliating punishmentscontrolled every aspect of their lives,and prevented them from fleeing.In African countries which have seen a collapseof governance and the rule of law, conditionsarise in which forced labour can flourish,and children be abducted to provide workingservice of some kind. This has included sexualslavery to warlords. 97Illicit activitiesEvery Regional Desk Review undertaken forthe Study recorded the involvement of childrenin activities of a petty or serious criminalnature, mostly on the streets. The Caribbean249Violence against children in places of work