Transcript Indigenous children and child labour: Towards a rights

Indigenous children and child
labour: Towards a rightsbased approach
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
• “Although indigenous children are
disproportionately affected by specific
challenges such as institutionalization,
urbanization, drug and alcohol abuse,
trafficking, armed conflict, sexual
exploitation and child labour … [they] are
not sufficiently taken into consideration in
the development and implementation of
policies and programmes for children.”
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
Indigenous children:
Special rights and special needs
• Deprivation of fundamental human rights
• Discrimination and non-recognition of their
lifestyles, cultures, languages and
traditional knowledge
• Lack of recognition of collective rights to
lands and natural resources
• Gender-related discrimination of
indigenous women and girls
• Inadequacy of existing services - in
particular education - for indigenous
children
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
Indigenous child labour:
The extent of the challenge
• Still prevails in rural areas but also
increasing in urban areas
• Children of female-headed households
and orphans most vulnerable
• Occurs in formal and informal
economies, but more widespread in the
latter
• Indigenous children increasingly
represented among migrant workers
• Affects boys and girls differently
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
What is child labour?
We want to stop work that:
• Is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous
and harmful to children; and
• Interferes with their schooling
• In its most extreme forms, it involves children being
enslaved together with, or separated from their
families, exposed to serious dangers and illnesses at
work, or dire forms of exploitation such as
prostitution, or used in crimes – all of this often at a
very early age.
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
Relevant international instruments
Taken together, these Conventions provide a
normative framework for addressing indigenous
peoples’ rights, and for addressing the specific
question of indigenous child labour:
• ILO Convention No. 169
• ILO Convention on Minimum Age (No. 138)
• ILO Convention on the Elimination of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour (No. 182)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
Convention No. 169
Indigenous children:
•
•
•
Shall have the opportunity to acquire education on an
equal footing
Shall be taught to read and write in their own languages
Shall have the opportunity to attain fluency in the
national language(s)
Education programmes and services:
•
•
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Shall be developed and implemented in cooperation with
indigenous peoples, and shall incorporate their histories,
knowledge, technologies and value systems
Shall impart general knowledge and skills that help
indigenous children to participate fully and on an equal
footing in their own and in the national community
Shall contribute to eliminating prejudices against
indigenous peoples
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
Convention No. 138
Framework for setting minimum ages for work
Categories
General
For developing
countries
General minimum age
(Article 2)
Not less than the end of
compulsory schooling (15
years or more)
14 years
Light work (Article 7)
13 years
12 years
Dangerous work (Article 3)
18 years (16 years under
certain conditions)
18 years
(16 years under
certain conditions)
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
Convention No. 182
The worst forms of child labour are:
• Slavery and forced labour, including child trafficking
and forced recruitment for armed conflict
• Using a child in prostitution or pornography
• Using a child in illicit activities like drug trafficking
• Work likely to harm the health, safety or morals of
children
Convention No. 182 calls for "immediate and effective
measures to secure the prohibition and elimination
of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of
urgency.”
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org
A rights-based approach to combating
indigenous child labour
Elements of a rights based approach could
include:
• Using indigenous children’s individual and
collective rights as an overall framework for a
situational analysis
• Identifying violations and gaps in the provision
of such rights and their causes
• Strengthening dialogue between rights-holders
and duty-bearers
• Establishing mechanisms for ensuring adequate
consultation and participation of indigenous
peoples in defining strategies to combat
indigenous child labour
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples | www.ilo.org/indigenous | www.pro169.org