11 May 2005
A Load Too Heavy: Children in Mining and Quarrying
An estimated one million children work in small-scale mining and quarrying around the world. These children work in some of the worst conditions imaginable, where they face serious risk of injury, chronic illness, or death.
In surface and underground mines, children work long hours, carry heavy loads, set explosives, sieve sand and dirt, crawl through narrow tunnels, inhale harmful dust, and work in water — often in the presence of dangerous toxins such as lead and mercury. Children mine diamonds, gold, and precious metals in Africa; gems and rock in Asia; and gold, coal, emeralds, and tin in South America.
In rock quarries located in many parts of the world, children face safety and health risks from pulling and carrying heavy loads, inhaling hazardous dust and particles, and using dangerous tools and crushing equipment.
Pilot projects of the International Labor Organization (ILO) have demonstrated that it is possible to eliminate child labor by helping mining and quarrying communities organize cooperatives or other productive units; improve the health, safety, and productivity of adult workers; and secure essential services such as schools, clean water, and sanitation systems. The remote community of Santa Filomena, Peru, which in 2004 declared itself child labor free in its small-scale gold mining industry, provides just one example.
The Santa Filomena community was part of the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) in mining in South America, which covers Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. An estimated 200,000 children in these countries are involved in mining.
The mining community in Santa Filomena organized itself into a community-based mineworker's association in order to improve working conditions.
IPEC helped the community install an electric winch in a mine to haul minerals up the mine shaft. The winch eliminated the need for children to carry heavy loads from up to 200 meters below the surface.
Through this association and the nongovernmental organization CooperAcción, and with the cooperation of Peruvian authorities and support from the U.S. Department of Labor, IPEC in 2000 started its project to eliminate child labor in mining in Santa Filomena. It drew on the ILO model of preventing and eliminating child labor based on an integrated approach to sustainable development in the communities and families.
The Santa Filomena project also supported alternative income-generating activities. For instance, the project bought kneading machines and ovens for a local women's group, trained members of the group to use the machines, and helped them start a bakery. As a result, the members of the group prepare bread daily, supplementing their families' diets and, at the same time, increasing their incomes, thus having to rely less on income from their children.
In addition, the IPEC project organized awareness-raising activities in schools. Children in primary school painted pictures about the types of work they had done. The project also supported a photography exhibit dedicated to child labor issues and the health risks that children encounter in mines. These efforts were intended to raise community awareness about the dangers of child labor and the benefits of having children attend school.
Strengthening organizational capacities, improving social protections, creating income opportunities for women so their children don't have to mine, raising awareness of the social and economic benefits and costs of child labor, and developing better nutrition and health services enabled hundreds of boys and girls to leave the mines in Santa Filomena.
The removal of all child workers from small-scale mines and quarries is an achievable goal. On June 12, 2005, the fourth World Day Against Child Labor will be dedicated to finding a way to make it a reality.
Sources: ILO, U.S. Department of Labor.
From the May 2005 edition of eJournal USA
