Photograph by Wagner T. Cassimiro “Aranha" via Flickr
Children from the age of 11 have reported being exposed to potentially harmful pesticides and, in some cases, have to pay for any medical treatment they need as a result of work-related illness or injury. The organisation interviewed children who have experienced nausea, dizziness, vomiting and breathing difficulties as a result of their working conditions. The issue has been described by Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director for Human Rights Watch as a human rights abuse.
Many of the children exploited by Israeli farms have a common economic background. According to the report, they belong to communities that have suffered as a result of Israel’s settlement policies, and in many cases have left school to work on the farms in order to provide for their families. The children are paid low wages in return for their labor, and 21 of the 38 children interviewed by the organisation had not completed the 10 years of basic education compulsory under both Palestinian and Israeli laws.
Israel is not alone in exploiting children for cheap labour. Figures published by the International Labor Organisation show that 168 million children undertake exploitative work globally, with 85 million of them in conditions classified as hazardous. While 78 million of these incidences occur in Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest occurrence of child labor: 59 million children—which is more than 21% of their child population—undertake exploitative work.
Agriculture is the most prominent sector in employing child labour around the world. Competition between producers of global goods is so high that child labour is seen as an effective tool to lower costs and keep their prices competitive. This is certainly the case for the cocoa trade in Western Africa, where 60% of the Ivory Coast’s export revenue comes from cocoa, according to the Food Empowerment Project. Children on cocoa farms, like those working on Israeli settlements, are exposed to agricultural chemicals without protective clothing. The project also reports that the children use chainsaws and machetes as standard tools, which violate international labour laws and a UN convention on child labour.
Like the Palestinian children, too, some of the children working on the cocoa farms do so because they need work to help support their families. In some cases, they are sold to farm owners by their relatives. That families are willing to subject their children to child labour is reflective of the great financial need many face in some of the poorest countries in the world. Although in most cases, the children’s relatives are unaware of the dangers involved in farm work.
The Human Rights Watch report suggests that countries in Europe as well as the United States, should take responsibility in ensuring that they do not contribute to the human rights abuses against children by ending business relationships with settlements. Products produced under child labour are already monitored by the US in an attempt to address this issue, but they do not include Israeli settlement products among these. It is essential that countries around the world are aware of the extent of child labor and take action to ensure that they do not benefit from it: the Human Rights Watch report is a hopeful step towards this.
Originally published on The Global Panorama.
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