labor9

Child Labor in Agriculture

Of nearly 250 million children engaged in child labor around the world, the vast
majority- 70 percent, or some 170 million-are working in agriculture. Child
agricultural workers frequently work for long hours in scorching heat, haul heavy
loads of produce, are exposed to toxic pesticides, and suffer high rates of injury
from sharp knives and other dangerous tools. Their work is grueling and harsh,
and violates their rights to health, education, and protection from work that is
hazardous or exploitative.
According to the International Labor Organization's new report on child labor, the
number of children working in agriculture is nearly ten times that of children
involved in factory work such as garment manufacturing, carpet-weaving, or
soccer-ball stitching. Yet despite their numbers and the difficult nature of their
work, children working in agriculture have received little attention compared to
child labor in manufacturing for export or children involved in commercial sexual
exploitation. In investigations in Egypt, Ecuador, India, and the United States,
Human Rights Watch has found that the children working in agriculture are
endangered and exploited on a daily basis. Human Rights Watch found that
despite the vast differences among these four countries, many of the risks and
abuses faced by child agricultural workers were strikingly similar. In Egypt, Human
Rights Watch examined the cotton industry, Egypt's major cash crop, where over
one million children work each year to manually remove pests from cotton plants.
In Ecuador, where nearly 600,000 children work in the rural sector, the
organization investigated conditions for children working in banana fields and
packing plants. In the United States, Human Rights Watch examined conditions for
the estimated 300,000 children who work as hired laborers in large-scale
commercial agriculture, planting, weeding, and picking apples, cotton,
cantaloupe, lettuce, asparagus, watermelons, chilies, and other crops. In India,
Human Rights Watch looked at bonded child laborers working in agriculture as
part of a larger study of bonded child labor. There are as many as 15 million
bonded child laborers in India, most of whom are Dalits (untouchables) or lower
caste. More than half, and possibly as many as 87 percent of these bonded child
laborers work in agriculture, tending crops, herding cattle, and performing other
tasks for their "masters." The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) states, "Every child shall have . . . the right to such measures of
protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family,
society and the State." The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that
children-all persons under eighteen "unless under the law applicable to the
child, majority is attained earlier"-have a right "to be protected from performing
any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education,
or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social
development." All states parties to the Convention-every government in the
world except for the United States and Somalia-are required to "undertake all
appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the
implementation of the rights recognized in this Convention." Abuses of Child
Agricultural Workers: Ages and hours of work: Child agricultural workers often
begin work at early ages, and may work twelve or more hours a day. In India,
bonded child laborers as young as eleven often work sixteen or seventeen hours
a day, typically beginning at 5 or 6 a.m., and continuing until 9 or 10 at night. Some
are expected to work 365 days a year. In Ecuador, children working in the banana
sector typically start work at ages ten or eleven, though some begin as early as
age eight. Although some work only five hours a day, Human Rights Watch found
that the vast majority worked between nine and thirteen hours a day. In the
United States, children interviewed by Human Rights Watch began working in the
fields as early as age twelve. They routinely worked twelve-hour days, and during
peak harvest season, sometimes worked fourteen hours or more. Children may
begin working as early as 4 a.m., and may spend two hours or more each morning
and evening traveling to the fields where they work. Children working in cotton
pest control in Egypt are typically between the ages of seven and twelve. For
periods of up to ten weeks each year, they work eleven hours a day, seven days a
week. Pesticide exposure: One of the greatest threats to the health of child
agricultural workers is exposure to pesticides. In Ecuador, Egypt and the United
States, children reported working in freshly sprayed fields, and even working in
fields while they were being sprayed. Children interviewed reported symptoms of
exposure including headaches, fever, dizziness, nausea, rashes and diarrhea. In
severe cases, pesticide exposure can lead to convulsions, coma and death. Long
term effects also include cancer, brain damage, sterility or decreased fertility, and
birth defects. Child agricultural workers are often not told of the dangers of
pesticides, or how they can protect themselves. In the United States, not one of
the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch had received training about the
dangers of pesticides, safety measures, or what to do in case of exposure. Some
did not even know what pesticides were. "Pesticides? Was that the medicine they
put on [the crops]?" said one girl. "No, I don't know anything about that." In
Ecuador, 90 % of child banana workers interviewed by HRW stated that they
continued working while fungicides were sprayed from airplanes flying overhead.
They described trying to protect themselves by hiding under banana leaves,
covering their faces with their shirts, or placing banana cartons on their heads.
One boy said, "I went under the packing plant roof until the [fumigation] plane left-
less than an hour. I became intoxicated. My eyes were red. I was nauseous. I was
dizzy. I had a headache. I vomited." In all three countries, children may participate
in applying pesticides to crops. In Egypt, children sometimes operate motorized
pumps that saturate cotton plants with pesticides. Half a dozen children may help
carry the pump's long hose, becoming heavily contaminated with pesticides in the
process. In Ecuador, children frequently handle pesticide-treated plastics used to
protect banana stalks in the fields, and spray fungicides onto bananas being
prepared for shipment in packing plants. Many of the children reported to Human
Rights Watch that they did not use any protective equipment, even gloves, when
handling the chemicals. In Egypt, two of the five pesticides recommended for use
by the government are categorized as "highly hazardous" by the World Health
Organization. In Ecuador, one pesticide in common use is the subject of over one
hundred lawsuits from around the world, alleging that the chemical is responsible
for serious birth defects, including cleft palate and being born with no eyes.
Pesticide risks are particularly acute for children. Because their organs are still
developing, they are less able than adults to expel toxins from their body. Their
breathing rate is much higher than adults, and they have more skin surface per
unit of body weight than adults, allowing them to both breathe in and absorb
higher concentrations of toxic chemicals. Injuries and Disabilities: Children
working in agriculture suffer high rates of injuries. They frequently suffer cuts
from sharp knives and falls from ladders. They risk back injuries from hauling
heavy loads of produce. They may be crushed or maimed by tractors and other
heavy equipment. In the United States, agriculture is second only to mining for
occupational fatalities. Child farmworkers make up only 8% of children who work
in the United States, yet account for 40% of work-related fatalities among minors.
An estimated 100,000 children suffer agriculture-related injuries each year in the
United States. In Ecuador, children commonly use sharp knives and machetes to
cut yellow leaves off banana plants, and curvos-short, thick, crescent-shaped
blades with wooden handles-to cut bananas off their stalks, to cut plastic bags
used to cover banana stalks, and for other tasks. A quarter of the children
interviewed by Human Rights Watch had cut themselves with these sharp tools at
least once. In Ecuador, boys also haul heavy loads of bananas from the fields to
packing plants using a harness system attached to an iron pulley riding on cables.
One boy, now fourteen, reported that when he was ten years old, he would pull
twenty banana stalks (each weighing 50 to 100 pounds) at one time from the field
to the plant. The distance from the field to the plant was two kilometers; he would
make five or six trips per day, each trip taking about one hour. Dragging the
heavy fruit can cause back injuries to children. In addition, stalks of bananas or
wheels on the cables sometimes fall off and strike children, causing serious
injuries. Water and Sanitation: Child agricultural workers often must work in the
full sun in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 40 degrees
Celsius. Under such conditions, health experts recommend that workers drink
two to three gallons of water a day. Without adequate drinking water, workers run
the risk of devastating dehydration and heat illnesses that can cause death or
brain damage. However, many child agricultural workers do not have access to
water, or are provided with water contaminated with bacteria or pesticides. In
Egypt, some children worked from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m, but reported that only during
two breaks during the day did their foremen allow them to drink. In both the
United States and Ecuador, some children reported that a lack of potable water
forced them to drink from canals that drain excess water from the fields. These
canals are often contaminated with pesticides, fertilizers, bacteria and human
waste. Children may also be forced to use their earnings to purchase water, soda
or beer from their employers at inflated prices. One boy in the United States
reported, "We had to share water from one big jug. It wasn't enough. You couldn't
drink as much as you wanted…. An old man took us there [to the field] in the
morning, set us up, then would come back in the afternoon to pick us up. If you
ran out of water, if you passed out, tough." In the United States, agricultural
employers are required by law to provide toilet facilities, drinking water, and
water for handwashing. However, nearly all of the children interviewed by Human
Rights Watch reported working in fields or orchards where one or more of these
requirements were not met. Lack of toilet facilities contributes to the spread of
parasitic infection among workers. It is particularly dangerous and humiliating for
girls, who may be forced to choose between public urination-more obvious and
awkward for females-and urinary retention, which can cause severe discomfort
and urinary tract infections. Some workers also report limiting their fluid intake to
prevent urination, at severe risk to their health. Lack of water for handwashing
also is frequently unavailable. In addition to being unsanitary, unwashed hands
virtually guarantee that pesticides will be ingested when workers eat their lunch.
Ill-treatment and Sexual Harassment: In Egypt, Human Rights Watch found that
children working in cotton fields are routinely beaten. Children typically gauged
the leniency of a foreman by the severity and frequency of the beatings he
administered. One ten-year-old boy worked under two foremen. "One of them I
hate; the other one I like. The one I hate used to beat and kick me whenever I
missed a leaf. The other one beats and kicks me lightly." Severe maltreatment
caused some children to quit work entirely or seek employment under the
supervision of a different foreman. A nine-year-old Egyptian girl described a
steady process of attrition from her work group. "The last work group I was in
started with twenty-two [children], but you know, children don't like to be hit, so
they turn up in another foreman's group. Our group ended up with twelve."
Bonded child agricultural workers in India also frequently experience physical
abuse. An eleven-year old told Human Rights Watch, "I do not like work; it is hard
and there is no time limit. When I'm sick, the master won't let me stay home. If I try
to take time off he will scold me and beat me and take me back to the fields.
Sometimes he beats me because he says I am working slowly." A girl who began
working in bondage at age nine reported that her master beats her, and yells and
curses at her. In both the United States and Ecuador, girls working in the fields
reported sexual harassment by their supervisors. In Ecuador, a twelve-year-old
reported that when she bent down to pick up plastic bags, her boss would say,
"There is a good place to stick my balls." An adult packing plant worker in
Ecuador told Human Rights Watch that both supervisors and other male workers
grabbed the breasts and buttocks of girls. In the United States, girls are routinely
subjected to sexual advances by farm labor contractors and field supervisors. If
they refuse, they-and members of their family-face retaliation in the form of
discharge, blacklisting and even physical assault and rape. An eighteen-year old
said, "Everyone is scared to say anything because they threaten them. If they say
something they will lose their job." Impact on Education: In Egypt, cotton pest
control work usually takes place during the summer months when children are
not attending school. However, in other cases, agricultural work can have severe
consequences for children's education. Long hours of work cause children to
miss classes and leave them too tired to study. Eventually they fall behind and
frequently drop out completely. In Ecuador, the majority of children with whom
Human Rights Watch spoke had quit school before the age of fifteen. Of those
still in school, several explained that they often missed school to work. In the
United States, only 55 percent of farmworker children in the United States finish
high school. Of the dozens interviewed by Human Rights Watch, nearly every one
had dropped out of school for at least one extended period of time.

In India, many bonded child laborers working in agriculture have never been to
school. Once they are bonded-often at age eight or nine-their long hours of work
frequently make schooling impossible. One thirteen-year old boy who worked
from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. tending sheep and picking mulberry leaves was enrolled in a
non-formal school run at night, but told Human Rights Watch, "When I have a lot
of work, I am not allowed to come to the school. . . [t]he owners complain I am not
earning enough." Wages: Child agricultural workers work for very low wages, and
are often paid less than their adult counterparts. In Egypt, children working
harvesting cotton in one region earned US $1.08 per day, while men earned US
$1.63 per day and women earned US $1.36. Children working in cotton pest
control-a type of work typically not done by adults -earn between US $0.68 and US
$0.95 per day. In Ecuador, the legal minimum wage for a banana worker is US $5.85
per day. Adult workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch earned, on average,
approximately US $5.44 per day, while children averaged only US $3.50, 60 percent
of the legal minimum wage for banana workers. In the United States, the legal
minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. Approximately one-third of the child
farmworkers interviewed by Human Rights Watch earned significantly below
minimum wage, and some were paid as little as $2.00 per hour. Some children
were instructed by their supervisors what to say if they were approached by a
government inspector: "If they ask how much I pay you, say $5.50" or "say $6.00."
In India, children bonded into agricultural labor are working to pay off a debt.
Parents or other relatives promise the labor of the child to an employer in
exchange for a sum of money. The children then spend long hours over many
years in an attempt to pay off these debts. Due to high interest rates charged and
abysmally low wages, they are usually unsuccessful. Often the yearly or monthly
sum deducted from the loan is not even one-quarter or one-third of the prevalent
daily wages, let alone the legal minimum wage. One thirteen-year old Indian boy
was bonded for two years in exchange for a 7,000 rupee (US $143) advance given
his family in order to repay another loan. The boy told Human Rights Watch that
for each day of labor, a "wage" of 20 rupees (US $0.40) is applied against the loan.
At a rate of 20 rupees a day, the loan would be repaid in less than one year, but
inflated interest rates will ensure that the boy labors for at least twice that period
of time. Laws and their enforcement: In some countries, such as Egypt and
Ecuador, national laws set appropriate limits on both the ages and hours at which
children can work and, if enforced, would help to protect children from abusive
labor conditions. In other cases, like the United States, laws are clearly
inadequate and fail to protect children from violations of their rights. In both
Ecuador and Egypt, national law prohibits children from working before the age of
fourteen, but allows twelve and thirteen-year olds to work as apprentices as long
as the work does not threaten their health or education. Egyptian children and
Ecuadorian children under the age of fifteen are not allowed to work for more
than six hours a day. In Ecuador, children between fifteen and eighteen are
allowed to work for seven hours a day. Other regulations and legal provisions are
also intended to protect working children, and Ecuadorian law explicitly prohibits
hazardous work, including handling toxic substances and tasks that are
"considered dangerous or unhealthy." Unfortunately, both governments fail to
enforce these laws, placing hundreds of thousands of children at risk and
violating their rights to health and development. In the United States, child
agricultural workers receive fewer legal protections than other working children.
U.S. labor law allows children in agriculture to work at younger ages, for longer
hours and under more hazardous
conditions than children in other jobs. While the law allows children as young as
twelve to work unlimited hours in agriculture, children in other occupations
cannot work before age fourteen, and can only work three hours on a school day
until age sixteen. In addition, even limited protections in existing law are not
adequately enforced. Only a tiny fraction of child labor violations are ever
uncovered by the Department of Labor, and penalties are typically too weak to
discourage employers from using illegal child labor. Bonded labor, whether in
agriculture or any other area, is illegal under India law and by law, bonded
laborers are to be released and rehabilitated and their employers prosecuted.
The law also prohibits children under age fourteen from handling pesticides or
insecticides. However, Human Rights Watch has found that the Indian has failed
to adequately enforce its own laws; even where children are identified and
released from bondage, often through NGO's intervention, they often receive no
rehabilitation and their
employers not penalized. Egypt, Ecuador and the United States all are party to the
ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. The Convention prohibits
"work which, by its nature of the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely
to harm the health, safety or morals of children." Each country is expected to
determine what constitutes such work, although the ILO's Recommendation 190
recommends that such work include "a) work which exposes children to physical,
emotional or sexual abuse; b) work underground, under water, at dangerous
heights or in confined spaces; c) work with dangerous machinery, equipment and
tools, or which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; d) work
in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children to
hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels or
vibrations damaging to their health; or e) work under particularly difficult
conditions such as work for long hours or during the night or work which does
not allow for the possibility of returning home each day." Based on Human Rights
Watch's findings, child agricultural workers face many of the conditions outlined
by the ILO as work likely to harm their health and safety, in particular, work with
dangerous machinery, equipment and tools; work in an unhealthy environment,
including exposure to hazardous substances, notably pesticides; and work for
long hours. In addition, girls may also face the danger of sexual abuse. The
conditions for child agricultural workers also violate the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by every government except the
United States and Somalia. The Convention states that children have the right "to
be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is
likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful
to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."
(Article 32) Article 24 recognizes the right of all children to a high standard of
health, article 28 recognizes the right of all children to education, and article 34
states that children should be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation and
sexual abuse. Finally, article 3 of the Convention states that "In all actions
concerning children . . . the best interests of the child shall be a primary
consideration."