TNAG-0783-FCO40-987-Employment-of-children-In-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 21

heat, dust and strain caused by stooping and lifting, but

damages from machinery such as harvesters, threshers,

reapers and tractors are obviously far greater for children;

agricultural poisons are an additional danger. Minimum age regulations have made little progress in agriculture, and

the permitted legal age is often hard to determine. Even

in countries that do have minimum age laws, children can be

legally employed without much difficulty, because of the

exclusions and exemptions provided for in national and

international laws.

CASES

There is no published summary of child labour around the

world other than the 1972 ILO report, and information is scarce.

since many undertakings employing children exist on the edge

of the law or are clandestine. From time to time specific

cases are reported as a result of government investigation,

or in the press. In this section some recent reports of

this sort are summarised. Their quality is uneven: as a

whole the reports do not amount to a balanced description of

child labour since many activities in which children work in

many countries are not reported. However, they do give an

idea of the scale of child labour in the world today.

(a) Asia

In India, the ILO estimated that in 1970 there were over

10 million children working in agriculture, industry, ●ɔn-

struction, as well as most trades and services. Child labour is particularly common in the textile industry. For example, in Kashmir, children of seven to nine weave carpets and rugs in factories which pay them less than 20p a day. In textile

factories in Panipat, large numbers of small girls operate hand looms, producing tapestries, bed covers, sheets, curtains, upholstery, rugs, carpets and cushion covers. The looms are stretched out in long lines on the floors of sheds, where

children squat in semi-darkness for long hours. One of the

main products of the hand loom weavers is a thin woollen

carpeting known as "durrie" which is very fashionable in the US and in great demand.

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