The Hindu : 'Joint efforts needed to end child labour'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 16, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

'Joint efforts needed to end child labour'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE March 15. Effective implementation of labour laws and laws pertaining to the rights of the child can go a long way in the abolition of child labour, Justice N.K. Jain, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and Patron-in-Chief, Karnataka Judicial Academy, said here today.

Speaking after inaugurating a one-day workshop on `Eradication of Child Labour System in Karnataka', organised by the Karnataka Judicial Academy in collaboration with the Department of Labour and Norad-Unicef, Mr. Justice Jain said there was a need for eradication of the child labour menace through a concerted effort by judicial officials, Labour Department officials, and voluntary organisations.

In Karnataka, around 40,000 child labourers had been identified and efforts were on at the State level to rehabilitate them and grant them their rights. There was a need to create awareness among various sections of society, as there was still confusion about various aspects of child labour, including what constitutes hazardous occupation, he said.

He stressed that rehabilitation efforts would be successful only if preventive measures were taken against child labour. The public could refuse to buy products made by child labourers, thus discouraging factories and industries that employ children, Mr. Justice Jain said.

Susan Bissel, Chief, Child Protection, Unicef, New Delhi, said India had the largest child labour elimination programme in the world and, Unicef, along with other government and voluntary agencies, was working towards preserving the rights of the child, as per the UN Convention of 1989. "Child labour is a complex problem and needs a joint effort from people from various sections in society," Dr. Bissel said.

Justice B. Padmaraj, judge, Karnataka High Court, and President, Karnataka Judicial Academy, felt that poverty was one of the main reasons for the rampant child labour in the country.

Parents, especially from underprivileged backgrounds, had the wrong notion that more the number of children, more the income. For eradication of child labour, poverty alleviation was imperative.

Judicial officers, officials from the departments of Labour and Women and Child Development, and representatives of non-government organisations are taking part in the workshop.

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