In the context of celebration of the World Day Against Child labour on June 12, our development columnist lalit Mohan Mishra met Yumi Bae, Chief of Unicef, Bhubaneswar office, to solicit her opinion. She is a senior development professional with international experience. Below are excerpts from the interview:
like every year, the global community shall observe June 12 as the World Day against Child labour. What is your general opinion on the dayIJ
We celebrate various days, like the World Water Day , the World Day against Child labour and so on. Such observations bring these issues to the awareness of the general public. In a sense, it is meaningful as it reminds the public of taking action for change. It reminds the duty- bearers of their responsibilities. Some people say that these are just events. It is true. But there is a purpose to these events which make them meaningful. One day in a year, we collectively reflect and reaffirm our commitment to take action.
This year’s World Day against Child labour’s theme is ‘Child labour in disasters and conflicts.’ What is your view in the context of India and OdishaIJ
In such situations like conflicts or disasters, the risk factor increases for the affected people. This is the greatest for the children. look at the current refugee scenario in Europe. The children suffer the worst. They migrate for safety, yet face acute risk of child labour, drugs and prostitution. In any disasters, the loss of livelihood and interruption of the basic services put the children in extra-ordinary risk. India, in particular, Odisha, has progressively strengthened safety nets for its people in disasters. Agencies like the Unicef pay close attention to the children’s vulnerabilities in such situations and supports the Governments to resume the basic services at the earliest. Odisha is often vulnerable to natural disasters like cyclone, flood and drought. The Odisha Government and the people of the affected areas have developed capacity so well that they acted promptly during Phailin cyclone in 2013. Community based disaster preparedness helped Odisha people to save their lives and property during Phailin. We have a new challenge in this regard, like the climate change which can seriously affect the children. last year’s prolonged drought-like situation may have pushed more families to migrate for work, while the State Government’s hostels for the children of the migrant families helped in reducing their vulnerability.
What is the effect of the Right To Education (RTE) Act and the new amendment to Child labour Prevention and Regulation Act in reducing child labour in IndiaIJ
The Right to Education Act has certainly helped tighten the perspective on child labour in India. The Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act 2016 has brought the normative framework against child labor in alignment with the RTE. The RTE Act has stipulated compulsory education for all children of 6-14 years of age. The Child labor Amendment Act 2016 prohibits employment of children under 14 years of age in all occupations. The Act also clarifies and strengthens the labor engagement of adolescents, between 15 and 18 years of age, by prohibiting adolescents’ employment in hazardous occupations. With the RTE Act, there has been increase in Government investment for infrastructure development of the schools and efforts to improve the quality of school education. The enrollment and retention of the students in the schools have gone up. However, we have a long way to go to achieve the desired quality education and the learning outcomes. Child labour has been declining in India and in Odisha. With law enforcement and citizen’s awareness building on the new Child labour Amendment Act of 2016, I am hopeful that we can eliminate child labour.
What is the gender dimension of child labourIJ
The gender dimension of child labour, especially of girls, involves greater risks of girls to sexual assault, sex trafficking and prostitution associated with labour. Also, we cannot overlook the hiring of girls as domestic help. Even some highly educated families in Bhubaneswar are reportedly keeping child domestic labour, violating the law. Public awareness and law enforcement can check such exploitation.
What is the role of the Unicef in the mitigation of child labour in OdishaIJ
The Unicef works globally to enhance the rights of the children. We work with Governments and civil society organizations. We support Governments to ensure that good programmes in child protection are implemented with greater effectiveness, while introducing new global standards and discourse to help the Government tackle emerging issues. We work with civil society organizations to remain relevant to the situation on the ground.
What are the key measures which you propose to mitigate child labourIJ Do you think a scheme for the child labourersIJ
Two basic pillars would be prevention and effective regulatory system. Strengthening the families and the communities is a core preventive measure against child labor. In this context, I feel that “education” and “families’ aspirations for education of their children” are critical elements. An impoverished family may decide that the way to overcome the present hardship is the additional income, its child brings from a workplace. We need to help families to decide that the pathway out of the present hardship is to send their children to school and get education, so that the child will not have to repeat the poverty his/her parent’s generation. We need to work together to allow these families to see education as an “aspiration” for their children. South Korea, where I come from, was the poorest in Asia in the 1960-70s.
The only way it crawled out of poverty was to fight it with education. So in a sense the best scheme against child labor can be good education, and helping even the poorest families to see education, not “child labor”, as the “pathway” to a better future.