Dr. Rajkumar Singh
Modern slavery is not defined in law and it is used as an umbrella term to refer to ‘situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.’ This definition can encompass forced labour in the private economy (including child labour), state-imposed forced labour, forced marriage, forced sexual exploitation of adults and commercial sexual exploitation of children. The Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic and labour market shock are having a huge impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. This is the worst global crisis since the Second World War and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that nearly half of global workforce is at risk. Workers in the informal sector have been the worst hard-hit, suffering ‘massive damage to their capacity to earn a living.’ These factors have increased people’s vulnerability to exploitation. Migrant workers, children and women are, particularly, at risk. Thus, in this period of pandemic the most vulnerable in society will feel the worst impacts of COVID-19. Children, especially those from poor communities, are at particular risk of exploitation as parents fall deeper into poverty during the ensuing economic crisis and face appalling choices about how to sustain their families. Some may feel forced to send their children into the labor market while others seeking employment risk being trafficked for forced labor.
Global status of child labour
Worldwide 152 million children are in child labour; the majority of them, 108 million, work in agriculture. The agricultural sector includes fishing, forestry, livestock herding and aquaculture in both subsistence and commercial farming. How will COVID-19 impact efforts to end child labour in the sector. We see COVID-19 impacting child labour in three ways : (1) increasing the involvement of children in work ; (2) increasing the risk of involvement or relapse for those removed from child labour ; (3) increasing working poverty among youth (15-17 years) in decent work. In addition to the threat to public health, the COVID-19 is causing economic and social disruption which threatens the long-term livelihoods and wellbeing of millions of farmers, informal rural food market traders, vendors and their children. In many countries in the Global South, the virus-induced restrictions to movement and gatherings are taking place during harvesting and marketing time. In the majority of cases, governments have not had the time to put in place measures to ensure that marketing can take place, least of all propose an economic bailout package for them. The seasonal nature of smallholder production and perishability of most agricultural products exacerbates the situation, as there is a small time-frame in which families can sell and get the bulk of their annual income. We see economic distress for smallholder farmers increasing with each day of coronavirus-induced restrictions, creating situations that may lead to child labour. Furthermore, as adults face higher risk of coronavirus infection than children, children may also end up assuming greater responsibilities for family survival. Secondly, Governments around the world have shut down educational institutions in an effort to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. UNESCO estimates that these closures are impacting over 89% of the world’s student population in 188 countries. While necessary, these measures can have a disproportionate impact on children in agricultural communities in two ways.
First, experience shows that increasing access to education reduces child labour. However, since children in rural areas are now at home all the time and not learning, they are likely to be involved in child labour longer than if they were attending school. Also, children who had been removed from child labour are at heightened risk of relapsing. Second, without access to radio, internet, or electricity, children in rural communities cannot continue their education through remote learning like their urban counterparts. Thus, the COVID-19 will also increase education inequality. And third, the fall in economic activity due to the quarantine measures will disproportionately impact legal working youths (15-17 years) in agriculture because they are already close to or below the poverty line, are relatively inexperienced, have low savings and are involved in low-skilled jobs. While there may be increased demand for workers in the agricultural sector, wages are likely to be suppressed due to the high supply of low-skilled workers.
Means of child labour exploitation
The main channels through which the current pandemic can influence child labour, including fall in living standards; deteriorating employment opportunities; rise in informality; reduction in remittances and migration; contraction of trade and foreign direct investment; temporary school closures; health shocks; pressure on public budgets and international aid flows. Millions more children risk being pushed into child labour as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, which could lead to the first rise in child labour after 20 years of progress, according to a new brief from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF. Children already in child labour may be working longer hours or under worsening conditions, the report says. More of them may be forced into the worst forms of labour, which causes significant harm to their health and safety. “As the pandemic wreaks havoc on family incomes, without support, many could resort to child labour,” said ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder. “Social protection is vital in times of crisis, as it provides assistance to those who are most vulnerable. Integrating child labour concerns across broader policies for education, social protection, justice, labour markets, and international human and labour rights makes a critical difference.” According to the brief, COVID-19 could result in a rise in poverty and therefore to an increase in child labour as households use every available means to survive. “As poverty rises, schools close and the availability of social services decreases, more children are pushed into the workforce. As we re-imagine the world post-COVID, we need to make sure that children and their families have the tools they need to weather similar storms in the future.
Prospects in pandemic
Evidence is gradually mounting that child labour is rising as schools close during the pandemic. Temporary school closures are currently affecting more than 1 billion learners in over 130 countries. Even when classes restart, some parents may no longer be able to afford to send their children to school. As a result, more children could be forced into exploitative and hazardous jobs. Gender inequalities may grow more acute, with girls particularly vulnerable to exploitation in agriculture and domestic work, the brief says. The brief proposes a number of measures to counter the threat of increased child labour, including more comprehensive social protection, easier access to credit for poor households, the promotion of decent work for adults, measures to get children back into school, including the elimination of school fees, and more resources for labour inspections and law enforcement. The ILO and UNICEF are developing a simulation model to look at the impact of COVID-19 on child labour globally. New global estimates on child labour will be released in 2021. |
