What kinds of work do children do?

Agriculture (plantations and farms): Nearly 70 percent of child laborers, or some 170 million, work in agriculture, fishing, forestry and hunting.¹⁰ Only 1 to 2 percent of child laborers work in export-oriented agriculture.¹¹ Children work as divers in the deep-sea fishing industry in Indonesia. They harvest bananas in Ecuador, cotton in Egypt, flowers in Colombia, tobacco in Mexico, oranges in Brazil, cocoa in the Ivory Coast, tea in Argentina and Bangladesh, and fruits and vegetables in the United States. 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.

Domestic work (in homes): Many children, especially girls, work as domestic/ household help in Asia. Many child domestic workers are victims of child trafficking, and are bonded by debts to their employers. They work long hours with very little opportunity for rest. They are exposed to hazards while working. Most child domestic workers are verbally, physically, and/or sexually abused. Child domestic work is one of the most hidden and hard to monitor forms of child labor, as these children work in the privacy of homes.

Manufacturing: Many children make bricks or work in glass factories in India. They work in clothing factories in Bangladesh and shoe factories in the Philippines and India. Children make surgical instruments in Pakistan. They work in the match and firework industries in China, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and India, and in many other jobs. While kids making products for export to other countries -such as weaving carpets in India or stitching soccer balls in Pakistan - get most of the media attention, only about 5 percent of child laborers work in the s manufacturing or mining sectors.¹²

Scavenger and street children: Street children are boys or girls for whom the street has become their regular home and/or source of livelihood, and who are inadequately protected or supervised by responsible adults.¹³ In the context of child labor, children work on the street, but may, or may not, live there. They do everything from shine shoes and sell cigarettes, gum or food, to wash car windows and juggle. Street children often mistrust authority, as they are subjected to intimidation, harassment, physical assault, and arbitrary arrest by the police.¹⁴ They make up a large part of the children who enter criminal justice systems and are committed to correctional facilities (prisons), often without due process. Some governments treat street children as a disgrace to be eliminated rather than children to be nurtured and protected.¹⁵ Street children have even been outright murdered. Though often the victims themselves, street children are regarded as irresponsible and lawless.¹⁶ Girls are sometimes sexually abused. Additionally, they confront great health risks due to lack of hygiene, poor nutrition, and air pollution.¹⁷

Mining and quarrying: Children work in stone quarries and mines, mining gold in Colombia, charcoal in Brazil and El Salvador, chrome in Zimbabwe, diamonds in Cote d'Ivoire, emeralds in Colombia and coal in Mongolia. In coal-mining, children work for long hours in the dark, damp mines, and have to carry coal on their backs. At small-scale gold mines in Peru, children have been seen working inside mine shafts where they inhale dust and toxic gases, or outside at the gold-washing installations inhaling highly toxic gaseous mercury from the mix that separates the gold particles.¹⁸ Only 1 percent of children work in the export industry of mining.

Children also work as scavengers in garbage dumps collecting cans, plastic bags, etc. in basket on their backs to sell. They and their families work and even live in the dumps in many countries - the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, India, and Vietnam.

Unconditional worst forms: Millions of children are trapped in forms of slavery and slavery-like practices, such as child trafficking, debt bondage, and forced labor. For example, both boys and girls are recruited as child soldiers in countries like Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, and Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Yemen, and Colombia. These children are not only sent to the front lines as combatants, but are also used as spies, servants, and camp helpers.¹⁹ Armed forces may exploit girls as sex slaves. Additionally, the tourism industry contributes to the prostitution of minors, for instance in Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, and the Philippines. In Cambodia, young girls work in cabarets and "karaokes" visited by Chinese and western visitors.²⁰ Many children are also used in pornography on the Internet, and for illicit activities, such as the production and trafficking of drugs.

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¹⁰ World Day Against Child Labor, June 12, 2002, Background information on child labor, ILO, available from http://www-ilo-mirror.cornell.edu/public/english/region/asro/beijing/childlab.htm; Internet accessed March 2005.
¹¹ Child Labor: Issues and Directions for the World Bank, available from http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/HDNet/HDdocs.nsf/0/8c90eecce060ad36852566b1000b4794?OpenDocument; Internet accessed March 2005.
¹² Child Labor: Issues and Directions for the World Bank, available from http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/HDNet/HDdocs.nsf/0/8c90eecce060ad36852566b1000b4794?OpenDocument; Internet accessed March 2005.
¹³ UN definition, Child Protection, Canadian International Development Agency, http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/childprotection; Internet accessed March 2005.
¹⁴ Richter L, A Physcological Study of Street Children in Johannesburg: An Investigation Requested by Street-Wise, Johannesburg, Report 89-01, Pretoria, Unisa.
¹⁵ Street Children, Human Rights Watch, available from http://www.hrw.org/children/street.htm; Internet accessed April 2005.
¹⁶ Swart J., Community and self-perceptions of the black South African street child. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Ethnography of Childhood, Cambride University, Cambridge.
¹⁷ Child Protection, Canadian International Development Agency, http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/childprotection; Internet accessed March 2005.
¹⁸ Mining Out Child Labor in Santa, Filomena, World of Work, ILO Magazine, articles online, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/magazine/52/peru.htm; Internet accessed March 2005.
¹⁹ Child Labor in Asia: A Review, HURIGHTS OSAKA, available from http://www.hurights.or.jp/asia-pacific/no_25/02childlabor.htm: Internet accessed March 2005.
²⁰ Seeking Socially Responsible Tourism, World of Work, No. 39, ILO, June 2001, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/magazine/39/tourism.htm; Internet accessed April 8, 2005.