violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“We have reduced the heavy work that we used to do. We can now say to our family andemployers that this is too much for a child and that it is an adult’s job.We now can negotiate what is and isn’t acceptable.”Teen-aged worker, West and Central Africa, 2004 XIII262Violence against children in places of workChildren and Adolescents (NATRAS) beganin 2003 to work on preventing sexual abuse ofchildren and adolescents, especially of workingchildren. Eighteen of NATRAS’ memberorganisations have participated in a variety ofactivities – from carrying out surveys to directlobbying with municipal officials – aimed atreducing sexual abuse in 13 targeted municipalitiesand at increasing awareness of the issuewithin the society and the State. In all of theseorganisations’ activities, the role of adults islimited to being facilitators and companionsto the young members. 158The opportunities created by children’s organisationsallow participants to gain confidence,self-esteem, leadership and social skills, abroader view of the world and a sense of theirown potential within it. These attributes areessential in overcoming the self-denigrationand deep sense of inferiority felt by many childrenin violent and abusive situations. Theseand other community groups provide a vehiclefor changes in attitudes by children, familiesand communities that enable the children toleave work and go to school instead. In somesettings, ‘poverty’ as a blanket reason for sendingchildren to work melts away when the alternativeof going to school is socially endorsedand backed by community support. 159AdvocacyThe role of advocacy in relation to workplaceviolence against children is two-fold. Onthe one hand, it is necessary to draw policymakers’attention to the abuse children endureand set in motion the development and implementationof appropriate policies, laws, programmesand services; on the other, it is asimportant to challenge the social acceptanceof damaging child work by influencing popularopinion. A transformation in the attitudesand behaviours which condone the presence ofchildren in the workplace is a pre-condition ofchildren’s departure from it on a sustainablebasis. Governments have been loathe to intervenein child labour issues unless confident ofpublic and political support.Children and young people are often their ownbest advocates and should be given a prominentrole as spokespersons on their own behalf,to policy makers, employers, communities,legislators, media and the society at large. Theparticipation of children in the Technical Sub-Council on Child Work in Honduras led tochanges in the National Plan of Action, notablyto include deep-sea fishing as a ‘worst form’ oflabour, because of the possible harm associatedwith it. 160 Many opportunities exist to engagechildren, even those in invisible occupationssuch as domestic labour or child prostitution,in advocacy campaigns. Children can be moreeffective than organisational intermediaries inaddressing police, administration or justice.Theatre, drama and role plays performed bychildren have been used with great success asvehicles for advocacy. 161 Messages can be putacross in a non-blaming way, and actors canfeel free to show incidents of abuse which theywould be unlikely to mention in an interview.Similarly, parents and community memberswho may have not understood the abuse theirchildren are likely to experience if they send