This morning I had the honor of standing with Senator Tom Harkin, a tireless advocate for the elimination of child labor, as I announced the release of three Labor Department reports on child labor and/or forced labor around the world.
These reports shed light on the work that has been done globally to halt these practices. Additionally, they highlight challenges that lie ahead in once and for all eliminating these forms of child labor. No child, anywhere in the world, should be forced to sacrifice their childhood to ensure that their families can make ends meet; especially in environments that are not only unhealthy but, in some cases, costly to their lives.
These reports also highlight each government's efforts to address the worst forms of child labor and provide recommendations to areas where improvement is needed -- including legislation, enforcement, policies and social programs to address the worst forms of child labor.
The reports also include 6 new goods from 12 new countries, for a total of 128 goods from 70 countries. These are goods that the Department of Labor has reason to believe are produced by forced labor and/or child labor in violation of international labor standards.
The Labor Department also maintains a list of products, by country of origin, which we believe might have been mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor.
The most significant change in the reports is the inclusion -- for the first time -- of a set of proposed actions for each government to consider. These actions would address the main areas of concern highlighted in the report and signal progress in fighting the worst forms of child labor.
Protecting children and vulnerable workers abroad is a part of our overall efforts here at the Department of Labor. Since I took office, one of my primary goals has been to step up enforcement efforts on behalf of all workers, including children, here at home.
The Department has added 350 new field investigators, issued regulations to keep young workers out of hazardous non-agricultural jobs; and instituted a tougher penalty structure for employers found illegally employing child workers. We are also exploring regulatory changes to further protect children in the agriculture sector.
And while we are focused on child workers here at home, we are also working in partnership with other countries to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.
Today, we also announced $40 million in grants to combat exploitive child labor in a dozen countries working with the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.
These programs will allow us to work with governments, the private sector and civil society to combat exploitive child labor in agriculture, including the West African cocoa sector; the Thai shrimp and seafood sector; the West African mining and quarrying sector; along with projects in Bolivia and El Salvador.
Now is the time for us to redouble our efforts, renew our commitments, and follow through.
No one has the right to threaten the health, education, and well-being of children by involving them in illegal or inappropriate work. No family should have to depend on the labor of its children to put food on the table and no person should be forced to work in captivity.
As a nation and as members of the global community, we reject the proposition that it is acceptable to pursue economic gain through the exploitation of human beings. No nation does, nor should get ahead, at the peril of its workers.
Follow Sec. Hilda Solis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HildaSolisDOL
Aaron Kisner: 'Kakenya' Short Film Depicts One Kenyan Girl's Journey To Become A Teacher (VIDEO)
There needs to be international bodies documenting and encouraging enforcement of laws designed to stop child labor.
The only organization capable of doing this right now is the 192 nation U.N. (United Nations) and they have written a treaty concerning stopping child labor. I think it's the "International U.N. Treaty on Childrens Rights". Many nations of the world have signed it and are making attempts to abide by it. (I'm not sure if the U.S. has signed it, last time I checked they had not).
The problem with the U.N. right now is that many on the far-right of the political and religious spectrum have been demonizing the U.N. as an organization which takes away the sovereignty of nations, but at the same time many of these pro-business political leaders will gladly send manufacturing to these nations to increase profits by utilizing powerless and impoverished work forces.
Many on the far-right also advocate taking away funding to the 192 nation U.N. body.
The 192 nation U.N. is one of the largest non-profit and democratic governmental bodies on earth, almost all the nations of the U.N. are democratic, and 115 of these nations, have a voting population which is over 50% Christian....so I'm not sure how right-wing religious leaders such as John Haggee can demonize the U.N. as bad or antichristian.
Yeah, so sayeth a Nation which got to the top of the economic heap doing just that - how convenient.
Actually, the USA is in many more ways exceedingly more abhorrent than these developing countries. We just hide our lack of principles under a bunch of stuff.
We have many labor laws that are broken and ignored even when the government has proof of violations. We have a government that aids and abets.
The person who aids and abets participates in the commission of a crime by performing some Overt Act or by giving advice or encouragement. He or she must share the criminal intent of the person who actually commits the crime, but it is not necessary for the aider and abettor to be physically present at the scene of the crime.
An aider and abettor is a party to a crime and may be criminally liable as a principal, an Accessory before the fact, or an accessory after the fact.
How many people are being discriminated against due to age or gender? It is especially apparent today. The government is complicit in this now.
Clearly, our government is not complicit in child labor.
I constantly attempt to persuade conservatives on this very board that it is ethical to care about other people. They constantly accuse me of having no brains, which is ridiculous since I get most of my ideas from classical education and intellectual scholars.
That you are different from your fellow conservatives makes you commendable.
I sometimes scold my fellow liberals for name-calling, but you refuse to do the same with your fellow conservatives when they subscribe to unethical ideas.
So, yes, I seriously believe that conservatives have no feelings for others.
The onus is on you to prove otherwise.
BTW, what hard work did GW Bush ever do? (other than violating his oath of office)
They are against setting up conditions that are hellish for people trying to make a living.
"What's good enough for me is good enough for anybody" is a selfish philosophy. You are primarily thinking of yourself. The goal should be to make life better for other people, not to make them all exactly like you.
Will we encourage other countries to adopt our own ludicrous child labor standards where officials of the Dept of Labor had a 14 year old bat boy fired from his job?
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/28/us/batboy-is-called-out-by-labor-officials-who-vow-a-review.html