"No society can afford to build its economy on the back of working children," UN coordinator in India Brenda Gael McSweeney said, and sought the media's help in raising public awareness on child labour and mobilising action to rehabilitate the children. She said child labour is often justified in the name of poverty. Yet, children who start working at a very young age tend to become unempowered, illiterate and unskilled adults perpetuating poverty.

Unless there is an expansion of schooling, the vicious cycle will not be broken and efforts to eliminate child labour or eradicate poverty will not make a dent, she said.

McSweeney noted that many poor have internalised a belief that education has no relevance in their lives. "To change this, there has to be a social mobilisation to convince the poor of the value of education for their children," she added. Johnson said that in 1998-99, the Indian government itself had identified that about 1.06 lakh children are employed in hazardous industries. The government claims that about four lakh children employed in non-hazardous industries have been brought into formal systems of education in a rehabilitation drive.

Some of the worst abuses of child labour include slavery, sale and trafficking of children for forced labour, debt bondage, recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, use of children in illegal activities like pornography, drug trafficking and dangerous vocations that compromise the health, safety or morals of children, the workshop was told. McSweeney urged India to ratify the ILO convention, which has been already ratified by 13 countries and applies to children under 18 and requires ratifying states to take action to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour.

The convention also requires signatories to put in place monitoring mechanisms, adopt action programmes, ensure effective enforcement, and take measures for the prevention, rehabilitation and social integration of child workers.

Unicef representative Alan Court said the media could, apart from raising awareness, also monitor commitments made and highlight the successes. Court added, "The challenge is in making visible the invisible child exploited in labour."

--IANS