[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9251-9252]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I have come to the floor today to 
acknowledge and celebrate the World Day Against Child Labor, which was 
commemorated earlier this week.
  An estimated 215 million children across the world are still trapped 
in the worst forms of child labor. A report issued by the International 
Labor Organization, ILO, in May 2010 offered some good news in the 
fight against child labor. There is a decline in the number of girls 
trapped in child labor. There are fewer children doing hazardous work. 
We are closer than ever to universal ratification of ILO Convention 
182, which prohibits the worst forms of child labor. Mr. President, 173 
out of 192 participating nations have ratified this convention.
  However, due to the economic crisis, there also have been setbacks. 
Child labor has been increasing among boys and in young people between 
the ages of 15 and 17. Progress in reducing child labor in Sub-Saharan 
Africa has stalled. While some people may point to the global economic 
crisis as a cause of these setbacks, we cannot use this as an excuse 
for complacency.
  One can look at the country of Uzbekistan to see the dire need for 
more action. According to School of Oriental and African Studies at the 
University of London, over 2 million children are forcibly pulled from 
school by government officials to work in cotton fields. Uzbek cotton 
is listed as a good produced by forced labor and child labor by the 
Department of Labor. It is listed on the Tier 2 Watch List in the State 
Department's Trafficking in Persons Report. Yet despite this clear, 
compelling, and thoroughly documented evidence of Uzbekistan's abject 
failure to live up to its international commitments under ILO 
Convention 182, business goes on as usual. Uzbekistan has received no 
sanction and continues to receive trade benefits from the United States 
under the Generalized System of Preference.
  The work performed by these children, stooped over to pick cotton 
under a hot Sun, also falls under the category of hazardous work. 
Hazardous work is by its very nature likely to harm the health and 
safety of children. Hazardous work exposes children to physical, 
emotional, or even sexual abuse. It includes children working 
underground in mines, underwater, at dangerous heights, or in confined 
spaces. Children work with dangerous machinery, equipment, and tools. 
They may work in in unhealthy environments, exposed to hazardous 
substances like nicotine in tobacco fields or to extreme temperatures, 
noise levels, or vibrations that can damage growing bodies. Some 
children are even forced to work such long hours that they are up for 
entire nights or are not allowed to return to their own home at the end 
of the day.
  The ILO estimates that 115 million children perform hazardous work. 
Forty-one million of these are girls and 74 million are boys. Sixty-two 
million are between the ages of 15 and 17, and 53 million are 14 years 
old or younger.

[[Page 9252]]

  It is vitally important to get children out of the worst forms of 
child labor, including hazardous work, so they may attend school, do 
well in their studies, and gain the knowledge and skills necessary to 
build a decent life. To this end, the U.S. Government needs to approach 
the scourge of child labor in a holistic manner. We need to address the 
underlying poverty that forces so many children to forgo schooling in 
order to meet even their most basic needs.
  Fortunately, through the Department of Labor, the United States has 
undertaken projects to do just that. In Ghana, DOL is working with the 
ILO and the Government of Ghana to implement a new, holistic program to 
reduce child labor in the cocoa sector by 70 percent by 2020. This 
effort has gone hand-in-hand with a renewed effort by the international 
cocoa industry, which has pledged $7 million in new funding to this 
fight. I have been personally involved in this effort with my good 
friend and colleague in the House of Representatives, Congressman Eliot 
Engel of New York.
  In fact, this unified effort of the U.S. Government, the Ghanaian 
Government, and the cocoa industry recently reviewed innovative 
programs proposed by the cocoa industry in support of its $7 million 
pledge. It is my hope that this approach, governments working hand-in-
hand with industry and implementing partners, can become a model to 
combat the worst forms of child labor worldwide.
  This is just one example of many Department of Labor programs that 
are in progress all over the world. Another such program, in Guatemala, 
takes at-risk children and provides them afterschool activities that 
reinforce their education, giving them an opportunity for recreation 
and personal growth in stark contrast to the stunted prospects that 
follow from being forced to work long hours. Another program, in 
Lahore, Pakistan, has redesigned the looms people use to weave carpets, 
eliminating hazards such as back injuries and bone deformities that 
have plagued children. These and other Department of Labor projects 
form the backbone of U.S. efforts to combat the worst forms of child 
labor.
  It is not enough to do this just at the Department of Labor though. 
In Afghanistan, a 2006 UNICEF report estimated that one in four 
children between the ages of 7 and 14 is subject to the worst forms of 
child labor. As the Department of Defense and other departments are 
spending huge amounts of U.S. taxpayer dollars in Afghanistan, it is 
vitally important to require child labor protections in our various 
programs and contracts in that country.
  Starting this year, a Department of Defense contract to provide 
market access to Afghan carpet makers will work hand-in-hand with the 
proven GoodWeave certification system to assure that the carpets made 
under this taxpayer-funded program are not made with the worst forms of 
child labor.
  So while there has been much progress made, and our efforts abroad 
are continuing to build success, we must remain vigilant, even here at 
home. Regrettably, there are some States here in the United States that 
are trying to undermine the fundamental protections we have afforded to 
children for generations. For example, the Republican-controlled 
legislature of Maine decided to pass a bill stripping State-level child 
labor protections. Maine's Republican Governor decided it would be 
better for his State to take a step backward because he personally went 
to work at age 11, and, as he put it, ``It's not a big deal. Work 
doesn't hurt anybody.''
  Well, I would like to tell you how putting a job before children's 
education can set them back. At a time when it seems that most new jobs 
require high skill levels, great harm is done by denying these children 
a chance to acquire these skills. We need to be educating the next 
generation of doctors, engineers, and scientists. However, the OECD 
shows that the United States has slipped to the 23rd best country at 
science education and 31st at math.
  We are not going to catch up to other countries if our children are 
spending too much time working at McDonald's or Burger King. I agree 
that having a part-time job after school or on weekends can be 
beneficial. However, studies have shown that teenagers working more 
than 20 hours a week have a greater tendency toward academic and 
behavioral problems, as well as higher dropout rates. The United States 
should aspire to being the country that outbuilds, outeducates and 
outinnovates. If we continue undermining our child labor laws and 
neglecting education, we will be the country that outgrills, outflips 
and outfries!
  There are even some Members of the Senate who have questioned whether 
child labor laws are constitutional. Apparently the protection of our 
most vulnerable children from exploitation isn't part of protecting the 
general welfare. Apparently the Supreme Court was incorrect when it 
unanimously upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act 70 years ago.
  It is for all of these reasons that I continue the fight against the 
worst forms of child labor. It is also why I have come to the floor 
today to salute the World Day Against Child Labor. But 1 day is not 
enough. We should be focused on the needs of these children not only on 
June 12 each year but 365 days a year.

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