• Worst forms of child labour

Worst forms of child labour

This paper aims to increase the body of knowledge about child domestic work in India in order to present the reality to the mainstream population, and to question myths and perceptions on the issue.

The authors highlight the prevalence of child abuse (physical, emotional and sexual) among children working as domestic workers in certain districts of West Bengal. They explain the dynamics of child abuse among these children and contribute toward empowering child stakeholders through information and skills to address potentially abusive situations. The appendix includes four case studies on child domestic workers and ex-child domestic workers, information on personal safety and child abuse and law.

Recommendations and findings include:

• the term ‘abuse’, especially ‘child sexual abuse’ should be clearly defined, so that it is made distinguishable from ‘commercial sexual exploitation of children’; this is important for further programming and action
• lobbying at the governmental and non-governmental level, andinformation dissemination at the public level should be done about the harmful aspects of domestic child labour; this is important, as domestic child labour is popularly perceived as a ‘harmless’ and even ‘safe’ occupation for children
• domestic work by children is not considered hazardous labourby the Indian law; in order to protect the interests of the childrengiven their abusive circumstances, it is of paramount significancethat this form of labour is also classified as hazardous and relevantlegalprotectionisextendedtothese children
• there is also a lack of comprehensive legal and policy measureson child abuse in India; concerted efforts should be made toinfluencelawtoofferprotectiontoall children against violenceand abuse
  

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