Exploitation of child domestic labourers: The limits of the current law

International Journal of Discrimination and the Law

Volumn 8, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 169-189

  Mansoor, Farkhanda Zia ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HULL   (United Kingdom)

^b INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY   (Pakistan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33747828150     PISSN: 13582291     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/135822910600800303     Document Type: Review

References (109)

1. International Labour Office, Helping Hands or Shackled Lives?
2. Understanding Child Domestic Labour and Responses to It VII (2004) at, http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/pub 1/download/ cdl_2004_helpinghands_en.pdf (last visited 13 Sept. 05).
3. Id.
4. International Labour Office, Child Domestic Workers, available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/action/36actaga/domestic.htm (last visited 13 Sept. 05) [hereinafter Child Domestic Workers].
5. Id.
6. Timothy C., Janak, 'Haiti's "Restavec" slave children: Difficult choices, difficult lives ?? yet?? Lespwa fe Viv', (2000) Vol. 8, No. 4 (1) The International Journal of Children's Rights, pp. 321-331 at 324.
7. PAKISTAN: The State of Domestic Child Labour, 2 ACR Wkly. Newsl., (Sept. 24, 2003), at http://acr.hrschool.org/mainfile.php/0146/214/(last visited 13 Sept. 05).
8. Id.
9. Child Domestic Workers, op. cit.
10. Id.
11. Id.
12. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 28 I.L.M. 1456 (1989).
13. Id. at 1460.
14. ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights and Elimination of All Forms of Forced and Compulsory Labour, at http://www. ilo.org/dyn/declaris/ DECLARATIONWEB.static_jump?var_ language = EN&var-pagename = ISSUESFORCEDLABOUR (last visited 5 Mar. 06).
15. Id.
16. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 28 I.L.M. 1456 (1989 at 1468).
17. Id.
18. Id. at 1469.
19. Vitit Muntarbhorn, 'Child Rights and Social Clauses: Child Labour Elimination as a Social Cause', (1998) Vol. 6, No. 3, The International Journal of Children's Rights, pp. 255-311 at 260.
20. Id. at 257.
21. UN Doc. CRC/C/58 Nov. (1996); M. Santos Pais, The Convention on the Rights of the Child, in United Nations - Publications - HR PU, 393 (1997).
22. Id. 393-397
23. Id. 404-405.
24. The reports of the State Parties to the CRC Committee in the series UN Doc. CRC/C as for example UN Doc. CRC/C/58 Nov. (1996) Rule 1 (b) available, at http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CRC.C.58.En?Opendocument (last visited 15 Sept. 05).
25. Overview of the reporting procedures: 24/10/94 Committee On The Rights Of The Child, available at http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CRC.C.33.En? Opendocument (last visited 15 Sept. 05); UN Doc. CRC/C as for example UN Doc. CRC/C/58 Nov. (1996) Rule 152, op. cit.
26. Id.
27. Id.
28. UNICEF-Press centre, Efforts Against Child Labour Often Overlook Domestic Workers, at http://www.unicef.org/media/media_21576.html (last visited 2 Mar. 06).
29. Committee on the Rights of the Child Forty-first session Geneva, 9-27 January 2006, General Comment No. 7 (2005) Distr.GENER-ALCRC/C/GC/7, 1 November 2005, at, http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/comments.htm (last visited 11 Mar. 06).
30. Arts. 18 (1) & 27 (2).
31. Child Domestic Workers, op. cit.
32. Committee on the Rights of the Child Forty-first session Geneva, 9-27 January 2006, General Comment No. 7 (2005) Distr.GENERALCRC/C/GC/7, 1 November 2005, op. cit.
33. Id.
34. Art. 34.
35. Committee on the Rights of the Child Forty-first session Geneva, 9-27 January 2006, General Comment No. 7 (2005) Distr.GENERALCRC/C/GC/7, 1 November 2005, op. cit.
36. Id.
37. Convention on the Rights of the Child, op. cit at 1461.
38. Child Domestic Workers, op. cit.
39. Id. at 1460.
40. Id. at 1461.
41. Article 12 an Overview, at http://www.unicef.org/crc/bg008.htm (last visited 21 Mar. 05).
42. Id.
43. Id.
44. Id.
45. Report VI (1) Child Labour: Targeting the Intolerable, International Labour Conference 86th session, 1998, available, at http://www. ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/publ/policy/target/target.pdf (last visited Sep. 17, 2005).
46. ILO, Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age (1973) ILO Official Bulletin, Vol. LVI No. 1; 1015 UNTS. [hereinafter Minimum Age Convention].
47. ILO, Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at work, International Labour Conference, 86th Session, Geneva, June (1998), available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/support/lib/dblist.htm (last visited Sept. 12, 2005).
48. Elias Mendelievich, Children at Work, ILO, 1st edition, Geneva, 1979. pp. 13-14 [hereinafter Children at Work].
49. Minimum Age Convention, op. cit.
50. Id. Art. 1.
51. Id.
52. Children at Work, op. cit, at 14.
53. Id.
54. Minimum Age Convention, op. cit., Art. 3(1).
55. Vitit Muntarbhorn, Minimum Age Convention op. cit., at 393.
56. ILO Convention No. 33 concerning Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention, 1932, at http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdispl.htm (last visited 9 Mar. 06).
57. ILO - International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), The Relationship between Domestic Child Labor and ILO Conventions Nos. 138 and 182, at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/themes/domestic/ download/cdl_legalfactsheet_0504. pdf (last visited 4 Mar. 06).
58. Art. 4(1).
59. Art. 4(3).
60. Art. 32 (1) the CRC, 28 ILM 1468 (1989); Children at Work, op. cit., at 3.
61. The ILO recognises that work may form a part of a child's education. Article 6 of the Minimum Age Convention allows children to engage in work in schools. Article 7 allows children of thirteen to fifteen years of age to engage in 'light work' even outside the school, provided the work is not harmful to their health or development, ILO, Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age, Children at Work op. cit., at 1015 UNTS 297.
62. ILO, Child Labour Report of the Director General, International Labour Conference, 69th Session 1983,
63. cited in ILO, Governing Body Report, ILO Doc. Gb.265/2 para. 3 (1996);
64. Children at Work, op. cit., at 3
65. UNICEF, State of the World's Children Report for 1997, Reducing Exploitative Child Labor, at http://www.globalmarketplace.org/unicef. html#sowc1997 (last visited 21 Mar. 05).
66. Id.
67. Id.
68. ILO, Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age, op. cit., Art. 7(a) & (b).
69. ILO - International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), The Relationship between Domestic Child Labor and ILO Conventions Nos. 138 and 182, op. cit.
70. Id.
71. Id.
72. Id.
73. ILO, Convention No. 182 on Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, (1999) ILO Official Bulletin, Vol. LXXXII, Ser. A No. 2, reprinted in 38 ILM 1207.
74. Id. Art. 3(d).
75. Recommendation Concerning the Prohibition or Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, available, at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/com-chir.htm (last visited 30 Aug. 05).
76. United Nation Commission on Human Rights, The Relationship between Child Domestic Servitude and the Sexual Exploitation of Children, at http://www.antislavery.org/archive/submission/submission 2002-childlabour.htm (last visited 30 Aug. 05).
77. Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, Discrimination Behind Closed Doors: The Case and Responses to Child Domestic Workers in the Philippines, Visayan Forum Foundation, Philippines (Submitted to the UN Working Group, Geneva 2002 June, ILO Office), at http://www.visayanforum.org/article.php?mode_id= 171 (last visited 4 Mar. 06).
78. Child Workers in Asia, Behind Closed Doors: Child Domestic Workers, the situation and the response, at http://www.cwa.tnet.co.th/Publications/Books/ bcd_p11-13.html (last visited 4 Mar. 06).
79. Global March Against Child Labour, Convention Campaign, at http://www.globalmarch.org/campaigns/conventioncampaign/convention182.php (last visited 5 Sept. 05).
80. International Labour Office, Milestone in Campaign Against Worst Forms of Child Labour, at http://www.ilocarib.org.tt/news/2001/archive_2001/child- labour_milestone.htm (last visited 5 Sept. 05) (quoting ILO Director-General Jaun Somavia).
81. Convention Campaign, Milestone in Campaign Against Worst Forms of Child Labour op. cit.
82. Adedji Ajibade, Child Labour in Nigeria: a Battle for the Future (Sept. 2, 2004) at http://www.globalmarch.org/clna/clna-sep-2004-details.php (last visited 2 Sept. 05).
83. Child Labour Increasing: Laws not Being Enforced, DAILY TIMES, Nov. 16, 2003, available at http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp? page = story_16-11-2003_pg7_41 (last visited 5 Sept. 05) (quoting Arsahd Mehmood, Deputy National Coordinator of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child).
84. Adedji Ajibade, Child Labour Increasing: Laws Not Being Enforced op. cit.
85. 'restavec' is a French term whose literal meaning, 'staying with', is a disguise for children who grow up serving as a domestic slaves in wealthy families' homes. Often these children are considered to be simply staying with their host family despite conditions worse than slavery.
86. Timothy C. Jank 'Haiti's "Restavec" ', op. cit., at 325.
87. IRIN NEWS ORG.23 August 2004, PAKISTAN: Focus on exploitation of domestic workers at http://www.plusnews.org/report.asp? ReportID = 42506& SelectRegion = Central_Asia (last visited 18 Aug. 05).
88. Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, Discrimination Behind Closed Doors: The Case and Responses to Child Domestic Workers in the Philippines, Visayan Forum Foundation, Philippines (Submitted to the UN Working Group, Geneva 2002 June, ILO Office), at http://www.visayanforum. org/article.php?mode_id = 171 (last visited 4 Mar. 06).
89. IRIN NEWS ORG.23 August 2004, PAKISTAN: Focus on exploitation of domestic workers, Discrimination behind Closed Doors: the Case and Responses to Child Domestic Workers in the Philippines op. cit.
90. Id.
91. Art. 6 CRC; Art. 3, UDHR.
92. The same rights have been provided by Art. 7 ICCPR.
93. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institution and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956) 226 UNTS.
94. ILO, Convention No. 29 Forced or Compulsory Labour (1930) 39 UNTS.
95. ILO, Convention No. 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 320 UNTS.
96. Art 6(2).
97. IRIN NEWS ORG.23 August 2004, PAKISTAN, op. cit.
98. Art. 25(1) Constitution of Pakistan 1973.
99. IRIN NEWS ORG.23 August 2004, PAKISTAN, op. cit.; 'Call for Ban on Employing Children as Domestic Worker', Dawn 5 September 2003 http://www.dawn.com/2003/09/05/nat11.htm (last visited 24 Aug. 04). [hereinafter Call for Ban on Employing Children as Domestic Worker].
100. Art. 3.
101. Human Rights Watch, Backgrounders, (June 10 2004) Child Domestics: The World's Invisible Workers, at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/10/africa8789. htm (last visited 31 Dec. 04). [hereinafter Human Rights Watch, Backgrounders].
102. Id.
103. Id.
104. Human Rights News (Geneva, June 10, 2004) Governments Should Address the Dangers of Child Domestic Work at, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/10/ africa8790.htm (last visited 20 Oct. 04).
105. Call for ban on employing children as domestic workers, Human Rights News op. cit.
106. Human Rights Watch, Backgrounders, Human Rights News op.cit.
107. Human Rights Watch, (10.6.2004) Child Domestics: The World's Invisible Workers http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/10/africa8789. htm (last visited 16 Sept. 05).
108. Human Rights News (Geneva, June 10, 2004) Governments Should Address the Dangers of Child Domestic Work, at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/10/ africa8790.htm (last visited 20 Oct. 04).
109. Timothy C. Jank 'Haiti's "Restavec"', Governments Should Address the Dangers of Child Domestic Work op. cit., at 331.