CALCUTTA, March 9: A global march of children from around the world reached here today, rallying against the bondage of about 25 crore children, demanding in unison equal rights for their underprivileged peers so they too could enjoy the gift of childhood.Traversing 82 countries and involving about 800 organisations, the Indian participants of the march organised by an international organisation, ``Free The Children'', was in protest against countless crushed childhoods.
Secretary of the Indian chapter of Free The Children, Swapan Mukherjee, told media persons today that the rallying youngsters, who would gather here formally on Wednesday, would express solidarity with the efforts being made in the country to end child labour and their inhuman plight in hazardous industries. Fifteen year old Craig Kielburger, founder of Free The Child exhorted the need to fight against the alarming condition of children under servitude.
He along with several other chapter leaders, spoke of their interaction withchildren across the globe. ``It is sad and shameful to see so many of us living in abject misery,'' opined Angela Goulet of Montreal.
The march would reach Geneva on June one to present a draft of their resolutions to the International Labour Organisation and seek an end to the global enslavement of the child.
Speaking on the occasion, chairperson of movement against child slavery of India, Dilip Sevarthi reiterated the demand for setting up of a national commission under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to inquire into the issue of child slavery, its causes and results.
The Commission, he said, should comprise an IAS officer, an IPS officer, two experienced social workers and four guardians of victims of child slavery.A memorandum has already been sent to President K R Narayanan.
He said in his state, Uttar Pradesh, about 60,000 children served as bonded labour in glass, carpet and brass industries in Bhadoi, Mirzapur, Banaras and Agra.
About 80 per cent of these childrenwere afflicted by tuberculosis and asthma as they were compelled to work for 12 to 16 hours a day for a measly rupees five to Rs 10, Sevarthy revealed.
Stating that even though the Constitution prohibited employment of children in factories backed by the National Human Rights Commission forbidding any government employee from employing any child below fourteen years as a domestic help, the violations continued unabated.
Tamil Nadu was the only state to have implemented the NHRC directive, he said.
