Children of Bal Ashram Study Guide

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Children of Bal Ashram STUDY GUIDE

Contributors

STUDY GUIDE WRITTEN BY

Abby Remer L AY O U T B Y

Melissa Knowles PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Umberto Roberto Romano ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Melissa Knowles F O O TA G E B Y

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Contributors

Contributors

Galen Films

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Children of Bal Ashram Study Guide: From Slave Labor to Activists on the Forefront of Change

This interactive study guide takes teachers and students into the world of child labor and related exploitations of slave labor, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and the journey from trafficking and rescue to the sanctuary they find in Bal Ashram and other child-friendly villages, to become advocates for political change.

Good Laws: A Necessary Precondition Learner Outcomes For enforcement to be adequate, a country first Students will: needs laws on the books that align with international

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• • • •

standards. A solid legal framework demonstrates a government’sChild commitment to protecting its citizens, Understand Labor lays out the rights and the respective responsibilities what it is of the different actors, prescribes punishments for itsviolators, extent and provides legal redress for victims. To itssum impact onlaws children up, good provide specific, much-needed and lay the groundwork for (poverty, redress and theprotections role of socio-economic issues accountability. caste, creed, religion) While most countries have ratified the relevant international conventions—including ILO C. 182,

prohibiting child labor in its worst forms—much work needs to be done before we can feel confident that in every country enjoy full labor protections 2. children Explore child-friendly villages under the law.

• what they are and how they operate sign has been theSatyarthi continued and • An encouraging their founders Kailash momentum of more countries developing or expanding Sumedha Kailash hazardous work prohibitions in line with international • the nurturing of youth voice and standards (see Figure 1). Over the past 2 years, for empowerment example, 19 countries evaluated in ILAB’s reporting 3. developed Consider ways to make a difference or expanded their hazardous work lists.by At the end of 2018, more than 75 percent of the countries developing a campaign of their own assessed had hazardous work lists that included the sectors of work in which there is evidence of child labor under dangerous and unhealthy conditions.

Figure 1

What is Hazardous Child Labor?

ILO Recommendation 1901 calls on governments to consider the following when determining work that is prohibited for children.

Work which exposes children to physical, psychological, or sexual abuse AFGHA N

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Work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads

“If all of us promise that whatever we use, we should first question, ‘Is this made by children?’. If every start loving each and every child. No child will be treated differently.”

— Sumedha Kailash

Work in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations damaging to their health

Teacher’s Notes

Teacher’s Notes

person starts asking this question, and everyone understands the gravity of this, I believe we will all ;SVO YRHIV TEVXMGYPEVP] HMǽGYPX GSRHMXMSRW WYGL EW [SVO for long hours or during the night or work where the child MW YRVIEWSREFP] GSRǻRIH XS XLI TVIQMWIW SJ XLI IQTPS]IV

1 International Labor Organization. Recommendation 190. Geneva: June 1999. https://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/com-chir.htm.

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Watch this short introduction to “Children of Bal Ashram” to get a quick taste of the documentary:

STUDY GUIDE

THERE

ARE

152 .1

MI LLION

CH ILD

L ABOR E R S

WOR LDWIDE

“We believe that all children must live freely with dignity and have the fundamental right to be safe, healthy, and educated in order to realize their potential.”

- Kailash Satyarthi Introduction to the Teacher In terms of absolute numbers, we have more slaves today than we had in the 18th and 19th century.

It’s sobering to realize that there are an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide (10 million children) forced into what we call 'modern slavery' or 'human trafficking'.

Sadly, there are 152.1 million child laborers worldwide. This includes slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, serfdom, organized beggary, illicit activities, sexual exploitation, children in armed conflict, and other work which is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.1 Now imagine being a 5-year-old rescued from child labor or modern slavery and nestled in a haven where you are for the first time safe, nurtured, and loved by those who care for you as well as your friends with whom you share all aspects of your life. This is exactly what the documentary “Children of Bal Ashram” opens up for us — the children’s journey from bondage to Bal Ashram to being activists on the political front speaking up for their peers without the power to do so. You will get to know the two people at the forefront of Bal Ashram — Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and his wife Sumedha Kailash, who since 1980 have rescued more than 90,000 children from unimaginable conditions.

The couple built Bal Ashram in 1998 as a model rehabilitation center for the healing, education, and empowerment of the once enslaved children.

Teacher’s Notes

The Documentary This study guide uses “Children of Bal Ashram” as its primary resource, whether you watch the entire documentary, or the shorter clips provided here. You will journey with the children from their forced labor to healing in Bal Ashram, through their evolution into political activists with strong voices speaking up for their peers who lack the power to do so.

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In the climax of the film, a group of core marchers from Bal Ashram join Kailash and Sumedha on the 100 Million March that ran 11,000 kilometers across the entire expanse of India to protest child sexual exploitation and trafficking. The journey touched 5.5 million people, ending up at the Presidential Palace in Delhi. From slaves to the shock troops of the war against child labor, the children of Bal Ashram are indomitable.

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The documentary points to the basic tools to combat the dire circumstances of child labor related issues through a three-part lens: 1. Empowerment of the child in leading an international movement to end child labor, slavery, trafficking, or sexual exploitation (Bachpan Bachao Andolan Children’s Rights Movement) 2. Empowerment of young girls to receive an education, which affects their economic viability to acquire skills work and make money, instilling in them a sense of status to speak out politically 3. Child-Friendly Villages as models to eliminate child labor and restore youth The Guide This study guide combines various media — video clips, online photography exhibitions, websites, and text. You will find questions for discussion and reflection that will help students think more deeply. The guide is meant as a jumping off place to examine issues related to child labor rather than an exhaustive study of the issue. Resources and links at the end of the guide offer additional information to explore the issues raised in the guide more extensively.

Before You Begin You are about to enter a sensitive topic with your students. The issue of child slavery and child labor of all sorts is challenging. Review the guide and watch the various video clips, peruse the “Deeper Dive” activities that further students’ learning and customize the material to best suit your needs. Likewise, the best way to prepare your students is to let them know ahead of time both that the they will be learning about some harsh realities, but that they will also see great strides for individual children who were rescued and who become strong advocates working together for real change.

Pedagogical Approach There is no faster way to lose our students than talking at them, rather than putting them at the center of their own learning. As the teacher, you are the expert on how to best engage your youth — whether that be through group work, teaming them up with another classmate, doing research on their own, presenting to one another, etc. The guide is not broken up into lesson plans but rather particular focuses, which together provide both background for and also highlights of “The Children of Bal Ashram.”

The “Take a Deeper Dive” sections lead to a more in-depth look at the issues and introduces new information.

After reading through the guide, you might wish to select only the sections that connect to your existing curriculum. Given that Bal Ashram and the movement it has spawned is all about change, it is important to spend the time though with the final section “Every Voice Matters — Student Action” to digest all that they have learned and translate it into another form. Regardless however, build flexibility in your plans to, whenever possible, take your cues from student’s interest.

Teacher’s Notes

Children of Bal Ashram

WATCH: Children of Bal Ashram Introduction

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Table of Contents A N

I

OVERVI EW

OF

MO D E RN

THI S

STUDY

SL AVE RY :

GUI D E

STO LE N

CHILD HOO D S

PAGE

1

In this section you learn about child slavery in all its forms as well as watch video footage that brings it up close and personal.

II

THE

RE SCU E

PAGE

16

PAGE

20

PAGE

26

PAGE

29

PAGE

3 1

PAGE

3 3

Here you follow a nerve-wracking rescue of enslaved children, come to understand the role poverty plays in the phenomenon, and meet Kailash Satyarthi and his wife Sumedha, the founders of Bal Ashram.

III

BAL TO

ASHRAM: BE

A

”E VE RY

CHILD

SHO U LD

BE

F RE E

CHILD ”

In this section you enter into the heart of the child-centered, nurturing world of Bal Ashram and discover how it is changing the lives of countless youth.

IV

E MPOW E RIN G

&

E D U CATIN G

GIRLS

Here you see the importance Kailash and Sumedha put on educating girls to empower them to make choices throughout their lives to break the cycle of poverty that lends itself to child slavery.

V

YO U TH TOW N

VO ICE :

CHILD RE N ’S

CO U N CILS

IN

GOVE RN ME N T

In this section you learn how the influence of Bal Ashram radiates out into the countryside through “Child-Friendly Villages” in which children’s councils participate in town government and prevent child marriages and trafficking in their area.

V I

BHARAT

YATRA:

CHILD RE N ’S

YO U TH

RIGHTS

F IGHTIN G

O N E

STE P

F O R

AT

A

TIME

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V II

P REC IO US

P RIM A RY

S CH OO L

&

CH I L D R E N ’ S

H OME ,

TA N Z A N I A

PO ST

F ILM:

STU D E N T

E VE RY

VO ICE

MATTE RS

—

ACTIO N

Here is where your students can use what they have learned and take it to the next step through any of a variety of activities that support students in taking action themselves.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

This joyous section is about the Bharat Yatra, a march in 2017 where children who came out of great hardship marched together with others, covering some 11,000 km to make a powerful politcal statement demanding an end to child sexual abuse and trafficking.

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I. Modern Slavery & Child Labor STOLE N

CH ILDH OODS

“Those who think slavery has been abolished, they are wrong...” 1

WORLDW IDE

M ODE RN

S L AV E RY

Trafficked Construction, Domestic Work, Agriculture Child Slavery Forced Labor (State Imposed)

NU M B ER S

Forced Labor (Non-State Imposed) Forced Marriage Forced Sexual Exploitation Child Commerical Sexual Exploitation

— Kailash Satyarthi 1.2 Million

Furthermore, enslaved the children have no access to money or phones or any other means of communicating with others. They literally just physically disappear... as does any hope of a childhood.

Human trafficking and modern slavery are considered interchangeable umbrella terms that refer to both sex and labor trafficking, sometimes called forced labor and including debt bondage and forced marriage. Although most people assume sexual exploitation to be the most common reason for trafficking people, it is in fact for forced labor that most commonly gives rise to human trafficking. 1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children, with women and girls disproportionately affected by forced labor, accounting for 99% of victimes in the commercial sex industry, and 58% in other sectors.

I. Modern Slavery

Under the Palermo Protocol, "trafficking in persons" is defined as: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. 2

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I. Modern Slavery

Can you imagine simply disappearing? A key element of modern slavery, as opposed to colonial slavery, is organized crime in which traffickers confiscate children’s passports, official papers, or IDs leaving them without an identity... or personhood.

Without any official identification, they are powerless to go to the police—even if they had the courage to do so, thus making them wholly vulnerable and invisible.

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At least ten countries use children as soldiers in armed conflict including Afghanistan, Burma, DNC, Iraq, Iran, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria.

Some Leading Countries Exporting Slaves: Mexico Pakistan China India Cambodia Nepal

Common Routes for Transnational Trafficking: Honduras to U.S. Pakistan to Australia Cambodia to China Romania to Germany India to the U.K. Venezuela to Spain

In the Middle East, Western and Central Europe, and East Asia, organized crime engages in transnational trafficking for the commercial sex industry. Global industries with trafficked slaves include markets, brothels, massage parlors, street prostitution, hotel service, hospitality, agriculture, manufacturing, domestic service. In the United States trafficked slaves are forced into the following, although not limited to, industries including agriculuture, domestic labor such as maids, nannies, and cooks, and the commercial sex trade in massage parlors and escort services.

The situation gets worse. In a world with 663 million children living in poverty, and lacking at least one of the elements for a decent life, a trafficker has an endless supply of recruits. They can use up and re-sell an enslaved child or discard them to the streets to easily get another. And the cycle goes on.

Shockingly, the profit margin is greater in modern slavery than colonial slavery, because you can always get another child. During colonial times, the enslaved person had value to the owner. They were bought and sold openly with that value reflected in their prices they brought at auction in the slave markets.

Activity: Orient students to the issues they are about to explore by asking when slavery was abolished in the United States and why.

Then share that slavery is not a thing of the past but rather that there are more slaves today than in the 18th and 19th century. There are more people now who don’t have a choice whether or not to work and don’t get paid for it than during the height of the slave trade.

Modern Slavery is less about people literally owning other people - although that still exists - but more about being exploited and completely controlled by someone else and without the ability to leave.

Child Slavery includes: 2 • • • •

Children used by others for profit, often through violence, abuse and threats, in prostitution or pornography, forced begging, petty crime, and the drug trade Forced child labor, for example in agriculture, factories, construction, brick kilns, mines, bars, the tourist industry or domestic work Children forced to take part in armed conflicts Children forced to marry

The terms around exploitation of children can be quite confusing so here is a short guide to review with students. Have them try to define the term before looking at the definition here to hone their thinking about what each one means.

Figure 1

The List in Numbers

148 76 418 goods

countries

line items

Number of Goods Produced Globally by Child Labor or Forced Labor,

by Production Sector

I. Modern Slavery

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated the total profits obtained from the use of forced labor in the private economy worldwide amount to $150 billion per year. A majority of the profits are generated in Asia, with two-thirds in this region originating from forced sexual exploitation, generating about $99 billion per year. 3 Every country in the world engages in human trafficking, and as a result, children are denied schooling, risk their lives and are deprived of what every child deserves – a future.

1. Setting the Stage: Slavery is Not a Thing of the Past and What it is Today

Agriculture

74

Manufacturing

42

Mining/Quarrying

31

Pornography

I. Modern Slavery

Trafficking occurs in every country in the world, but traffickers exploit 77% of their victims in their own countries. The United States is among the top three consumers of sex worldwide. 88% of abused children are from here, many formerly in the foster care system. In the U.K and Ireland, gangs force children to deliver drugs.

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Goods with Most Child Labor and Forced Labor Listings

by Number of Countries 3

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CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICTS

Child labor is not slavery, but nevertheless hinders children’s education and development, and tends to be undertaken when the child is in the care of their parents. 151.2 million are estimated to be in child labor and 114 million child laborers are below the age of 14 (ILO). The United States Department of Health and Human Service explains that the most vulnerable children, particularly refugees and migrants, are often preyed upon because of their hopes for an education, a better job or a better life in a new country.

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Each year, 1.2 million children are trafficked for forced labor, including working in the sex trade. 4

Forced labor is different from sub-standard or exploitative working conditions.

Various indicators can be used to ascertain when a situation amounts to forced labour, such as restrictions on workers’ freedom of movement, withholding of wages or identity documents, physical or sexual violence, threats and intimidation or fraudulent debt from which workers cannot escape. In addition to being a serious violation of fundamental human rights and labour rights, the exaction of forced labour is a criminal offence.

Many marriages involving children will not amount to slavery, particularly between couples aged 16 to 18 years. But when a child didn’t give their consent to a marriage, is exploited within it or is not able to leave, that child is in slavery. More than 700 million women alive today were married before thier 18th birthday. More than one in three girls (about 250 million) entered into union before age 15 (UNICEF). And ten million children are trapped in forced labor and marriage.

Children forced to take part in armed conflicts don’t only include child soldiers but also porters or girls taken as “wives” for soldiers and militia members. Children involved in conflict are severely affected by their experiences and can suffer from long-term trauma.

Some 300,000 children are estimated to serve as child soldiers, some even younger than 10 years old (UNICEF).

DEBT BONDAGE

D E S C E N T - B A S E D S L AV E R Y

Also, known as bonded labor, the world’s most widespread form of slavery, when people borrow money they cannot repay and then forced to work to pay off a debt and given little or no money to do so.

Where people are born into slavery because their ancestors were captured and enslaved; they remain in slavery by descent.

HAZARDOUS WORK

C H I L D S L AV E R Y

The worst form of child labor as it ir- Child slavery is the enforced exploitatireversibly damages children’s health on of a child for their labor for someone and development through, for example, else’s gain. exposure to dangerous machinery or toxic substances, and may even endanger their lives. 72 million children are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development (ILO).

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* Photograph courtesy of World Vision.

I. Modern Slavery

T ERM S

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Help students grasp the severity of the problem by comparing it to their own experience with work.

Start with a short raising of hands, asking students if they or a friend or sibling has ever worked a job?

What kind of jobs did they have (or might students apply for if they did not work)? Did they, their friends and/or siblings go to school at the same time?

Activity: Share that they are about to delve into a world where children’s lives are very different than their own.

Prepare them by explaining that some of what they see might be disturbing, but that they will learn at the end how they themselves can help make a difference to this situation.

WATCH: Child Labor in Rajasthan

I. Modern Slavery

After viewing the clip, have students identify the various industries they saw in which children were working. Then examine the complete list below and then look at ILAB’s Sweat & Toil app to discover which countries have the largest number of child laborers in each sector:

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• • • • • •

Agriculture and fishing Domestic work Construction, mining, quarrying and brick kilns Manufacturing, processing and packaging Prostitution and sexual exploitation Market trading and illegal activities

W H AT D O E S “ D A L I T ” M E A N ?

Dalits, also known as “Untouchables,” are members of the lowest social group in the Hindu caste system. The word “Dalit” means “oppressed” or “broken” and is the name members of this group gave themselves in the 1930s.

Discuss the nuances of which children are most at risk: Forced labor often affects the most vulnerable and excluded groups, for example tribal groups and Dalits in India. Women and girls are more at risk than boys and men, and children make up a quarter of people in forced labor. Migrant workers are targeted because they often don’t speak the language, have few friends, have limited rights and depend on their employers. Forced labor happens in the context of poverty, lack of sustainable jobs and education, as well as a weak rule of law, corruption and an economy dependent on cheap labor.

“Children are employed because they are the cheapest source of labor. They are sometimes a free labor force. They are physically and mentally vulnerable. They could be taken to work for 15-20 hours a day in some cases. They could easily be sexually, mentally, physically exploited, besides economic exploitation. So unfortunately, this makes children more vulnerable for child labor and slavery.”

— Kailash Satyarthi, “Children of Bal Ashram”

Activity: Follow up with the next video segment: View the short trailer for this moving documentary and then have students complete each of the three reflection stems to think deeply about what they have seen.

WATCH “Stolen Childhoods” » What strikes me most about these two video clips about children whose childhoods are stolen is... » Because... » This makes me wonder...

I. Modern Slavery

2. Modern Child Labor and Slavery Up Close

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Activity: Statistics don’t have faces. To give students a sense of the enormity of the problem of child labor and bondage, have them compare the statistics below with the number of children in their town, state, and the country (see Take a Deeper Dive) as a whole. Discuss how the reality of these numbers make them feel about the issue.

On any given day in 2016 children aged 5-17 years METRICS

The Data According to the ILO, 152 million children, or almost one out of ten children worldwide, are engaged in child labor as of 2017. Of these, 73 million are 5 to 11 years old.

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Take a Deeper Dive Perspective on the Numbers in Child Labor: Have students investigate the number of children in the United States by visiting the United States Census Bureau to calculate the number of children in the country and then compare that to the numbers listed in each of the categories of child labor and slavery.

(Note: an estimated total 2019 United States population of 328, 239, 523 divided by children under the age of 18 at 22% equals an estimated 72, 213, 00 5 thus making the number 152.1 million child laborers worldwide, double the number of the entire population of children in the United States.)

I. Modern Slavery

4. Making It Real: Photographs of Children Working in Slavery So pervasive is the use of child labor in so many industries that it would be hard for each and every one of us to not have come into contact with a good that had a child involved. Delve into the nearly pervasive/invasive nature of the problem through the powerful photography exhibition Beneath the Barcode.

Move in up close and personal through the portraits of children in each sector from Beneath the Barcode photographs.

Activity: Visit Beneath the Barcode and after discussing the page’s content, scroll down to “Explore the Exhibit.” Initiate a conversation by posing questions that aim to bring immediacy to the issues: » What do you see about the children and surroundings? » What clues can you see about the kind of life they lead?

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Likewise, of the 152 million child laborers, 73 million, or almost half the total, are engaged in what the ILO deems “hazardous” work. Children are commonly working in brick kilns, mining mica, coal, and other minerals, and in factories that make garments, carpets, toys, matches and hand-rolled cigarettes.

The exhibition speaks about how hopes and dreams are not visible on a barcode. The price the scanner reads when you check out your shopping does not include the childhoods lost by the 152 million children who labor to produce the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the electronics we buy. A barcode can’t calibrate the inquality depriving these children of the basics for a decent life; food, medical care, shelter, education, personal safety, dignity, and love.

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Note: After solely looking for clues in the photographs, scroll down to the lower part of each photograph to view accompanying panels to further the discussion.

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The following are issues facing these children, that you can share with students:

• • • • • • •

OF THE 152 MILLION CHILDREN IN CHILD LABOUR AGE PROFILE

48% 28% 24%

GENDER

70.9%

15-17 years-olds

Have students complete the following reflection: » If I could speak to these children, I would say... » Because... » This makes me think...

Agriculture

5-11 years-olds

12-14 years-olds

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Fields soaked in pesticides Dust in mines Disappearing into sinkholes at dumpsites Chained to carpet looms Trafficked to work in the sex trade Street children living hand to mouth Young girls who aren’t allowed to go to school

58%

88 million

42%

64 million

11.9%

I. Modern Slavery

3. A Closer Look at the Numbers: Child Labor Statistics

Industry

17.2% Services

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Activity: Ethical Choices for the Clothes We Wear, The Foods We Eat Living in a wealthy country, we have expectations about products that should be available for us to use. Cheap and abundant foods and goods often have child labor somewhere along the chain from their origin along a complicated trip that often involves exploiting others.

Then divide the class into small groups to create a day’s worth of meals with ethical food choices.

Activity: Two of Life’s Pleasures and Fair Trade Student Initiative Although not purely focused on child labor, chocolate and coffee are industries in which child labor is ubiquitous, as seen in the Beneath the Barcode exhibition. Fortunately, there are companies concerned about fair trade, which is an important concept for students to understand when they and the adults around them buy these products. After sharing the short introduction to fair trade and various certifications below, have students stroll the aisles of the local supermarket to find out which brands to support and then determine how they will pass this information on to their peers and elders.

“There are quite a few fair trade certifcations and labels in the marketplace. Organizations that grant these certifications vary in their economic, social, governance and environmental standards as well as their inspecting, certifying and auditing policies. However, as a whole, fair trade certifications indicate that producers are paid a fair price for their goods; workers receive fair wages and work in good conditions; and there are no instances of forced, bonded or child labor throughout their supply chains. Third-party auditors conduct inspections to ensure that members of these fair trade organizations are in compliance. Though a food product may be fair trade certified, there are still ingredients such as milk, vegetable fat, emulsifiers and flavorings in them that can’t be sourced through fair trade. Some of our product suggestions only have one certified ingredient. Products from companies and brands in our Best category have a higher total percentage of fair trade sourced ingredients.” 6 I. Modern Slavery

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Activity: Child Labor in the United States — Then and Now and a Dip into Lewis Hine Part 1. Have students prepare by examining the website Women’s Voices for Change, which offers a sobering perspective of child labor in the United States at the turn of the 20th century.

Background The 1900 census counted more than 1.7 million children under the age of 16 at work in the United States. Strikingly, over 18 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 15 were working (and this figure excludes those who worked less than half time.)

These children worked in many settings: cigar factories, glass factories, textile mills, and canneries. Nine and ten year old boys worked in mines as “breaker boys,” taking pieces of slate out of the coal for ten hours a day. Five and six year olds worked in East Coast canneries processing seafood during high season.

More than half of all child laborers worked in agriculture, many of them uncounted by the census. A 1935 study of families of sugar-beet workers found that 38 percent of their 12 year olds and 22 percent of 11 year olds were at work in the fields. Other children worked in home-based shops. Children as young as 4 years of age pulled basting threads from the cheap garments being sewed by their parents, or sorted beads, or pasted petals into articifical flowers. A reformer who visited the cigar factories observed hundreds of child workers between the ages of 10 and 12 and discovered that in the home tenement factories producing cheap cigars, the workday for children stretched to 14 or 16 hours.

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I. Modern Slavery

Have students research if any of the items they regularly use or consume are connected to child labor using ILAB’s List of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor and List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor and the End Slavery Now Shopping Guide they download to their phones for reference when shopping. You can start with the rather ubiquitous banana to discover that those coming from Belize, Ecuador, Nicaragua, or the Phillippines all involve child labor.

Historical Look at Child Labor in America

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Part II. Next ask students to read about the photographer Lewis Hine who was hired by the National Child Labor Committee to record child labor conditions and examine his images of the appalling conditions of exploited children that helped instigate laws meant to end these abusive practices. 7 Have students learn how he surreptiously went about this imperative project and then discuss what he meant when he said that since he used subterfuge to take the photographs to be “double-sure that my photo data was 100% pure - no retouching or fakery of any kind.” Hine defined a good photograph as “a reproduction of impressions made upon the photographer which he desires to repeat to others.” 8 Although the impact was not immediate, his work, the images of the appalling scenes he captured with his camera succeeded in drawing attention to the plight of children in the workforce.

I. Modern Slavery 13

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Next have students view the images on the website and then think about them more deeply by addressing the following: 1. What exactly do you see? Who is in the photography? Where is the child (children)?

What does the child’s (children’s) surroundings tell you?

2. How do you think the child (or children) feels? What exactly do you see specifically in the photograph that makes you say this?

3. What do you think the child/children would say to the child slaves in the film segments of the photographic exhibition “Beneath the Barcode”?

I. Modern Slavery

P HOTOG R A P H Y POTAWOTA M IE

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RESCUE

Have students complete the following reflection stems to deepen their learning: » What surprised me about child labor in the early part of the century the United States was...

That20th is why ILAB’sinlatest reporting includes more upholding and their national laws designed to protect »than Because...

470 country-specific suggested actions that children from labor exploitation. »governments What thiscan makes me think about child labor and slavery take to address gaps in their existing Capacity-Building: the world today3).is... legalaround framework (see Figure It also is why ILAB has devoted resources in its programming to helping countries strengthen their legal protections. The ILABfunded CLEAR projects, for example, have worked in 18 countries to increase the capacity of governments to reduce child labor, including by strengthening legal frameworks. For example, in Liberia, a hazardous work list and light work list were recently validated in accordance with international labor standards. In Suriname, CLEAR led work on revising the National Action Plan on Child Labor that was announced by the Minister of Labor as one of the main guiding documents that will help support the prevention and elimination of child labor in that country.

Additional work is also needed to improve laws and policies related to workplace inspections. While some steps are incremental, continued progress in this area will rely on individual country governments stepping up and enacting legislation that closes the gap between the international standards they have committed to

Fuel For On-The-Ground Change

While improved legislation is important, laws mean little if not enforced. For countries that have solid laws on the books, adequate monitoring and enforcement of these laws is the next hurdle. Labor inspectorates and criminal law enforcement agencies need the resources, capacity, and authority to do their jobs.

Moreover, additional progress is needed to ensure that governments hold those who perpetrate child labor abuses accountable.

ILAB’s research reveals that workplace inspection systems remain generally weak around the world because of capacity and resource constraints, such as inadequate budgets, shortages in personnel, lack of H OTOG R A P H Y B Y L E WIS HIN E . vehicles and fuel,Pand insufficient training.

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Global Gaps in Laws and Regulations

I. Modern Slavery

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Countries’ prohibitions SJ GLMPH XVEǽGOMRK HS not meet international standards

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Countries’ prohibitions of commercial sexual exploitation of children do not meet international standards

II. The Rescue

Countries’ prohibitions of the use of children in illicit activities do not meet international . standards

Rescue operations are planned secretly — sometimes with the help of the local police and sometimes not. As you will see, they can be dangerous for the children — many of whom are younger than your students.

*Out of 131 countries

II. The Rescue

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Countries’ prohibitions of forced labor do not meet international standards

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1. Kailash Satyarthi: Fighting for Children’s Rights, One Step at a Time Activity: Before watching the raid, have students read the following portion of an interview with Kailash about how be became involved in fighting child labor and all its permutations.

Where and how did your impulse to fight for children’s rights start?

When I was five. The very first day of my schooling, I saw a boy, around the same age as me, sitting outside the school and looking at my shoes. He had a shoe-polishing box in front of him. I was very disturbed. My first-ever question to the teacher was: Why was the boy outside and not inside at school? The teacher said it was very common for poor children to have to work.

When I got older, I saved my old schoolbooks and collected my pocket money to pay the fees for poor children. I trained as an electrical engineer, but the feeling that I should do something for these children never left me. I left my job to become truly involved.

Afterwards, have students complete the following reflection:

What would you say were your first major achievements?

From the very start - when I used to write and print thousands of leaflets to be distributed in the market for our first campaign - I have believed that education and liberation are two sides of the same coin. When I first tried to bring the issue of child labor into the public domain, there was nothing being done about it. India did not have a law against child labor till 1986. I fought for six years for this law and it is still not perfect, so the fight goes on.

» What strikes me most about this clip is... » Because... » What I would like to say to these children is...

When I freed children from slavery and asked for them to attend school, I was humiliated so many times. I was told they are dirty, uncared for, we can’t have them here.

After watching the video segment about a rescue, it is important to step back and examine how children become enslaved.

We believe that all children must live freely with dignity and have the fundamental right to be safe, healthy and educated in order to realize their potential. 9

Activity: Begin by asking students to think about how the children they have been seeing became enslaved to begin with. What factors might contribute to the situation?

Now watch the clip from the documentary “The Price of Freedom” that follows Satyarthi and his team of activists on a secret raid and rescue mission as they hunt for missing children and work to reunite them with their families. Ask students to notice what the enslaved children’s reaction is to the rescue and afterwards discuss why they think they might have behaved like this?

Afterwards, share that poverty is the driving force of child slavery and trafficking, and they will see an example of this in the next video segment. Traffickers come into villages and seek out families who can’t support their children on the crop yield that they have. With too many mouths to feed they are easy targets for the lies traffickers sell them. They deceive the parents, telling them that they will pay them a fee to take their children to the city to be educated and work so the son or daughter can send money home.

II. The Rescue

WATCH: “The Price of Freedom”

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Ask students what they think the children seem to be feeling and why this might be so?

Share that the children are fearful of retribution by their owners and they likewise don’t know that Kailash and his team are coming to save them.

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2. How the Children Become Enslaved: The Role of Poverty and Deception

II. The Rescue

One day I asked the boy’s father about this and he said his father and grandfather had also been shoe-shiners. Then he said: “Sir, don’t you know that people like you are born to go to school and people like us are born to work?” That question really stayed with me, but I had no answer as a child.

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III. Bal Ashram

Children who are trafficked are often eager to leave their village and get a job to send money back to help their family. But what happens is the child disappears into the city and all forms of communication is cut off. Maybe the family gets some payment, but not always. The child is never paid and so can’t send any money home. Instead, the child ends up in a dark and dirty fifth story walk-up for 14 hours a day putting sequins on clothing or junk that tourists buy.

Although poverty is the driver, trafficking is part of a larger criminal syndicate system. As long as we have this kind of driving poverty, sadly, there will always be another family that unwittingly will have their child enslaved.

When children arrive at Bal Ashram, staff try to locate their parents to reunite them and educate them about the dangers of the system, as you will see in the following segment.

WATCH: Speaking to a Father about Trafficking Ask students in pairs or individually to write an imaginary letter to the father of the boy in the video asking him to teach other parents in his village about what happened to his own son after he learned the truth from Kailash. The letter should urge him to warn other families of the danger of sending their own children off with a stranger who promises to pay them in exchange for their son or daughter coming to work in order to send money home.

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“When I met Bhabhiji and Bhai Sahab (Kailash and Sumedha) I understood that now I am in the right place. They asked my name, mine and the others who were with me. And they asked me about my birthday. I didn't know about birthdays - what they are and why you celebrate them. They celebrated mine. All the friends I have here gathered and threw flowers on me. I was very happy."

—A student at Bal Ashram, rescued from child labor So, what is this safe haven to which the rescued children come? The rest of the guide looks at Bal Ashram and its transformative powers.

1. Bal Ashram Activity: Look for how the newly arrived child laborers are welcomed into the community of their fellows, their nightmarish pasts receding amid the rough and tumble play, under the careful eye of Sumedha.

Discuss what reactions they notice from the various children and the approach of the adults. And likewise, what they notice about the children’s lives in Bal Ashram. In what ways do they tend to the rehabilitation of the whole child?

WATCH: New Arrivals Embraced by the Bal Ashram Family of Caring Adults and Children 2. The Child Friendly Village Activity: Divide students into small groups and conjecture what, given all they have learned and seen so far, might the term “Child-Friendly Village” mean.

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Background Kailash and Sumedha realized that rescuing the children was not enough, so they provided a home and sense of family. They founded Bal Ashram in 1998 in Rajasthan as a rehabilitation and training center of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement, the largest child rights organization in India) catering for the special needs of victims of child labor. The home is a place for these children to recover from physical and emotional abuse — and to blossom through the growth of the sense of freedom, building of trust, and restoring their sense of dignity — mentally, physically, spiritually.

III. Bal Ashram

II. The Rescue

Then proceed with this section and afterwards have the class reflect on the similarities and differences between their definitions and that within the context of Bal Ashram.

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III. Bal Ashram

The Child-Friendly Village is a unique preventative model of youth empowerment and village development that protects children from trafficking, child labor, and child marriages by ensuring their rights, wellbeing, and that their voices are central to the village community. This is done successfully by involving the local community and the participation of children themselves through the creation and forming of a children’s council (Bal Panchayat) through which they educate the town’s politicians, parents and, other children.

The uniqueness of the Child-Friendly Village initiative lies in the active participation by village children and in creating a legitimate democratic space for children in the village governance structure (panchayats), communities, schools and families. It helps to address deep-rooted problems of child labor and other social issues in the village such as child marriage and alcoholism through activities initiated by children and creates a culture that values education. The model builds village infrastructure through access to central and state government programs while ensuring a long-term sustainable future.

WATCH: Child Friendly Villages (Bal Mitra Gram)

III. Bal Ashram

Bal Ashram is a model for what is termed a Child-Friendly Village where there is no child labor, there is no early marriage, all children attend school, they have voice in town government, and are encouraged to speak out.

“Whatever we are doing, it’s empowering children and young people, and transforming them to [become] leaders and change-makers. So eventually we wanted to ensure that these young people should become their own leaders and liberators.”

— Kailash Satyarthi

Next have students read Kailash’s quote on the following page, and identify how what they saw in the video section supports his comment.

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“I know that once we free children from slavery and child marriages, we see a ripple effect.

4. Nurturing the Whole Child

Education brings empowerment, dignity and identity to the most deprived and marginalized

Activity: Begin by watching the next two segments and then reading Kailash’s statement below them.

Have students explain why and how it relates to this part of the documentary. What specifically did they see that supports their interpretation?

people, particularly children and girls. Once they are educated about their rights, and acquire reading and writing skills, they gain tremendous self-confidence.” 10 — Kailash Satyarthi

WATCH: Building Dignity and Sense of Self While education is central to becoming empowered members of society, this is not all they do. Before watching the clip, ask students what they think might help build the rescued children’s self-steem? Then afterwards, discuss the different ways the young people are nurtured as well as Kailash’s comment:

3. The Role of Education at Bal Ashram Background The underlying objective of Bal Ashram is to impart formal education along with vocational education to those children who had been caged in the age-old evil of child labor. No single remedy for child labor is more powerful than education. A child in school is a child unavailable for child labor.

Bal Ashram is a place of restoration of childhood and freedom, not only physically, but also mentally and especially in the lives of the children, who have been enslaved, who have been sold and bought like animals, some of them worked for 15-20 hours a day, without any dream! Without any aspiration. Most of them have never thought they can ever be [brought] back to their childhood.

Life in Bal Ashram is communal. Children and adults create a nurturing community. About 70 boys reside at Bal Ashram. Younger children attend literacy and numeracy classes while children over 14 are given vocational training in computers, tailoring, carpentry, painting, electrical and welding skills, as well as social and environmental education. Bal Ashram also offers vocational training to adolescent girls of nearby villages in computers, tailoring, embroidery, and beautician skills.

WATCH: The Importance of Music Bal Ashram cares about restoring the whole child and uses sports, dance parties and music lessons, theater and skits. These are not considered extras or frills. They are an important component of daily life as it relaxes the child... and lifts their spirit.

Activity: Ask students why they think the right to education is a basic child right? In what way would their lives be restricted if they didn’t know how to read or write? How would their lives be hampered?

Take a Deeper Dive Kailash does not act alone. His wife and partner Sumedha has been intimately involved in their work. Learn more about this remarkable woman: https://www.rediff.com/news/report/everything-wasnt-smooth-in-the-lives-of-mr-and-mrs-kailash-nobel-peace/20141011. htm. Afterwards, have students visit Women’s Voices for Change to explore Women’s Fight Against Child Labor: Then and Now to see her efforts in a larger context. Here they will discover that the “1900 census counted more than 1.7 million children under the age of 16 at work in the United States. Strikingly, over 18 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 15 were working (and this figure excludes those who worked less than half time).” 11 Have students compare the industries children worked in, from the early 20th century in the United States (textile mills, canneries, cigar factories, and coal mines) to those today.

To deepen thinking have students write a dinner conversation between Sumedha and the women who fought child labor in the past. What do you think they would discuss? What advice might the earlier warriors against child labor give her?

Have students consider how the children at Bal Ashram might feel about going to school for the first time as they watch the following clip.

WATCH: Going to School Now have students complete the following reflection

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III. Bal Ashram

III. Bal Ashram

» What occurs to me about me going to school after watching this clip is... » Because... » Which makes me realize...

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IV. Educating and Empowering Girls Here you will explore how Bal Ashram makes a major difference in the lives of the girls it touches.

Traditionally, in their villages a girl receives little to no education and can be married off as young as 1 years old, which has major consequences for the rest of her life. In Bal Ashram girls learn about their rights and are instilled with a sense of self.

Activity Tell students that they will be watching a segment about how girls from Bal Ashram are breaking the mold of their expected roles. While they watch have them list the challenges they hear girls face in many poor rural villages.

WATCH: Breaking the Social Norm — Empowering Girls Segment 1, Segment 2 & Segment 3

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EMPOWERING GIRLS

IV. E & E Girls

III. Bal Ashram

After watching the film segments ask students to share what they noticed about the role of the young girls. Then deepen the conversation by discussing that girls in poor families are often disempowered.

They frequently are not regarded as highly as boys as Sumedha points out in the clip when speaking about the difference in the way the birth of a boy versus the birth of a girl is announced. Throughout she stresses girls’ and boys’ equality and women’s importance in festivals as well as their work at home.

She warns about the dangers of early child marriage, including bearing babies at too young an age, and stresses the need for education. Despite the laws increasing the legal age of marriage to 18 for girls, there are strong cultural pressures on parents to marry daughters early. Child brides are frequently compelled into early childbearing and social isolation. They are caught in the cycle of early marriage, repeated pregnancy, and poverty. 12 Similarly, girls aren’t necessarily sent to school or receive nothing but an elementary education — and can be pulled out if a marriage is arranged. One of the reasons for marrying a daughter off early is the belief that this will prevent her from getting into trouble and, likewise, parents may not be able to imagine what else is she going to do with her life.

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Women and girls accounted for 71 per cent of modern slavery victims.

71%

One of the best ways to make a difference is to educate the girls. Poor girls are at risk for child labor and early marriage.

Kailash and Sumedha are not against marriage eventually, but their message to girls is first to get some education and acquire some skills so you can stretch your mind and also help support your family.

There is no economic advantage to the family to marry off their daughters. Rather it is a poverty of the DEBT BONDAGE CHILDREN imagination. Thinking about what a young girl from a poor family could be capable of is not within their mindset.

Debt bondage affected half of all victims One in four victims of modern slavery were

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children.

Take a Deeper Dive Help students understand that slave labor is most definitely not exclusively male by exploring the following link that carries the statistics above. There are more females (71%) than males (29%) in modern slavery. Ask what they notice about the areas in which female or male percentages dominate.

Ask students they think there are more girls or boys involved inFORM child labor?

Then discuss “Girls IN THE PAST whether FIVE YEARS, 89 MILLION PEOPLE EXPERIENCED SOME OF MODERN theRANGING 100 Million Campaign in ‘Hidden’FOR Child Labor” 13 SLAVERY PERIODS OFfrom TIME FROM A FEW report: DAYS TO THE WHOLE FIVE YEARS. The data provided by the International Labor Organization Bureau (ILAB) in the child labor estimates often belies the scale of the challenge faced by girls. This is because there is either too little data, or no data is collected, on certain forms of child labor. While the reported figures show that there are 23 million more boys than girls in child labor, the kind of work girls are subjected to can be less visible and under-reported, such as domestic service 5 in private homes, or performing household chores in their family homes. Importantly, this latter form of work – conducted either by children in their parents’ homes or by children in forced marriages – is not included in the child labor estimates. It is useful to note too that work within the family unit, such as laboring in family enterprises like farming – is included in estimates and is more likely to be done by boys. Even using the data, which is collected, the challenges faced by girls are persistent: despite an overall reduction in the reported number of child laborers in the last period (2012-2016), the decline in child labor among girls was only half that among boys.

“All the children who stay in Bal Ashram were to a certain extent prey to some or other social adversity. They have seen different sorts of persecution in life - be it IV. E & E Girls

violence, labor or even sexual. We have come to know of such experiences that we can't even think about it - that a child has to undergo such experiences in his or her childhood. Either you cry or you give your anger a postive channel to let it out.”

Common wisdom is that the preference for sons is motivated by economic, religious, social and emotional desires and norms that favor males and make females less desirable. Parents expect sons — but not daughters — to provide financial and emotional care, especially in their old age. Sons add to family wealth and property while daughters drain it through dowries. Sons continue the family lineage while daughters are married away to another household. Sons perform important religious roles. Sons defend or exercise the family’s power while daughters have to be defended and protected, creating a perceived burden on the household.

A question with relevance to the millions of living girls in India is how they are treated by their families given the culture of strong son preference. Do all living daughters suffer discrimination as a result of a family’s desire to sustain sons or are some more vulnerable than others? The research summary that follows provides some answers to these questions...

Key Findings (1) In India, son preference is strong but not universal. Many mothers want a balance of sons and daughters, and so, at least some girls are wanted.

(2) Mothers’ education is the single most significant factor in reducing son preference. Access to media also significantly reduces son preference.

(3) Wealth and economic development do not reduce son preference.

(4) Living girls face discrimination but all girls are not equally vulnerable. Girls with older sisters are most likely to suffer in terms of health and nutrition.

(See Why Indians Prefer Sons Over Daughters and The Indian “Girl” Psychology: A perspective for further information.)

IV. E & E Girls

GENDER

Take a Deeper Dive Girls’ place in Indian society compared to boys is a complex subject. Certainly, Indian society today is not uniform.

There are differences in the lifestyles of people from different regions, communities, cultural backgrounds, urban-rural habitats. The International Center for Research on Women report “Son Preference and Daughter Neglect in India” provides great insight into the situation:

— Sumedha Kailash

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As the children play and learn at Bal Ashram, their education is more than simply academic. They learn their rights, and they learn to assert their humanity. The influence of Bal Ashram radiates out into the countryside, in “Child-Friendly Villages” in which children’s councils participate in town government and prevent child marriages and child trafficking in their area. There are 241 villages in which they are actively involved.

Activity: Share the quote below with students and ask them to think about how it applies to the accompanying video segment: “Whatever we are doing, it’s transforming children and maker them leaders and change makers” — Kailash Satyarthi

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» In my life, what I would want to see changed is... » Because... » My first step would be...

V. Youth Voice

V. Youth Voice

WATCH: Advocates for Change Afterwards, have students complete the following written reflection:

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After watching the section, ask students what they believe Kailash meant by the following: “The most powerful voice is the voice of a victim, a survivor, a child. The most powerful face is not my face. It is the face of a child who has gone through these agonies and atrocities and slavery. When she or he speaks out about herself and demands to the people that, look, you can change the situation, then the people cannot ignore it.”

— Kailash Satyarthi

Take a Deeper Dive Interview with Kailash Satyarthi Have students learn more about the Bharat Yatra in this excerpt of an interview with Kailash: In September 2017, there was a Bharat Yatra march to end child sexual abuse and trafficking. What made you organize these marches?

Bharat Yatra, a nationwide mobilization covering 11,000 kilometers over 36 days, was a clarion call to “Make India Safe Again for Children.” Child sexual abuse is a growing problem worldwide, but in India it has become a modern epidemic – with young children abused, raped or trafficked on a daily basis.

A child is sold every two minutes and sexually abused every half hour. In most cases, the perpetrators are school bus drivers, teachers, tutors. While they roam free and fearless, the victims keep quiet out of feelings of shame.

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“This is the most ambitious social mobilization in the history of mankind. And this is the time that the youth should take the reins in their hands. They should be in the driving seat. Hundred million young people should be the spokespersons, voices and heroes for their hundred million left-out sisters and brothers. Those who took part, they will become ambassadors forever. ”

VI. Bharat Yatra

— Kailash Satyarthi Activity: This joyous section is about the Bharat Yatra, a march in 2017 where children who came out of great hardship marched together with others to make a powerful political statement demanding an end to child sexual abuse and trafficking. It covered 11,000 km from the southernmost tip of India at Kanyakumari to Delhi, with several different legs converging on the capital city. It brought about policy changes...

The first thing that has to change is the taboo associated with child abuse. That requires a mass movement, so we used the time-tested strategy of marching. Based on our previous successful experiences, we have tackled the problem of violence against children – this time including child marriage and exploitation, which remain huge obstacles to education.

How successful was this journey and what will happen now that awareness has been raised?

To have 1.4 million people join the Bharat Yatra march was unprecedented, particularly as the topic of child sexual abuse is taboo. Wherever we went, young people from the crowd stood up, even came to the stage, and spoke for the very first time about what was happening to them.

While there have been advances, there’s more work to do in India as it is the fifth Worst Countries for Child Labor. India, the world’s second most populated country, has as many as 33 million child laborers. Some of the places that children in India work include in mines, on farms, and in garment factories. Unfortunately, although the economy has grown over the past several decades, not everyone in the population has benefited evenly. Despite legislative efforts, the number of child workers has increased over recent years, particularly in the country’s major cities, where many children move to for work.

VI. Bharat Yatra

YOU TH

I realized I had been fighting all this time for every child to be in school, but in fact children are not always safe there.

WATCH: Children’s March to Eradicate Child Sexual Abuse and Human Trafficking

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ST UDE NT

CAMPAIGNS

“If you see the abuse of any child anywhere. Break the silence. We cannot end child labor unless we all demand it. March with me.”

— Kailash Satyarthi Special Note to Teachers: Pulling It All Together The Children of Bal Ashram study guide delves into the issue of child labor and child slavery in all its forms and the amazing refuge of Bal Ashram and the two people who founded it. But hopefully, students will be moved to take action themselves. Whether large or small, the important thing is that they add their own voice to helping children who cannot help themselves. Taking action is one way to help build a better future in a meaningful way.

1. The 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: What it Means to You Activity: a. Help students learn about their own rights as well as those around the world. But before looking at the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, have students identify what they believe the inalienable rights of all children should be and explain their reasoning. Afterwards, compare their list to those from the Convention: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

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A convention is an international agreement, a contract between countries. The convention applies to you and all other children under 18.

In 1990, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of a Child, which became the most widely and rapidly ratified international treaty. To date, 196 countries have signed it. Although the United States has signed the treaty, they have not ratified (pledged to follow) it.

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Basic principles of the Convention: • All children are equal and have the same rights.

• Every child has the right to have his or her basic needs fulfilled.

• Every child has the right to protection from abuse and exploitation.

• Every child has the right to express his or her opinion and to be respected. * USA has signed the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child but that is not legally binding until it's ratified.

Articles 12–15 You have the right to say what you think. You are to be consulted and your opinions respected in all matters concerning you – at home, at school and by the authorities and the courts.

Article 19 You have the right to protection against all forms of violence, neglect, abuse and maltreatment. You should not be exploited by your parents or other guardians.

Article 22 If you have been forced to leave your country you have the same rights as all the other children in your new country. If you are alone, you have the right to special protection and help. If possible, you should be reunited with your family.

Articles 28–29 You have the right to attend school and to learn important things such as respect for other people’s rights and respect for other cultures.

Article 30 The thoughts and beliefs of every child should be respected. If you belong to a minority you have the right to your own language, your own culture and your own religion.

Article 32 You should not be forced to perform hazardous work which interrupts or prevents your schooling and which could be harmful to your health.

Article 34 No one should subject you to abuse or force you into prostitution. If you are treated badly you are entitled to receive protection and help.

Article 35 No one is allowed to kidnap or sell you.

Article 37 No one should punish you in a cruel and harmful manner.

Article 38 You never have to be a soldier or take part in an armed conflict.

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Article 2 All children are of equal worth.

All children have the same rights and should not be discriminated against.

Nobody should treat you badly because of your appearance, your color, your gender, your religion or your opinions.

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“258 million children still do not have access to education,1 with hundreds of millions more learning little in schools and lacking trained teachers. Instead of waking up and going to school, millions wake up for a day of hard labor – in fields, in factories, with many in hazardous conditions: 152 million children are victims of child labor, and almost half of them aged 5-11 years.2 142 million children live in areas with high intensity conflicts they had no part in creating – all of whom spend their childhoods with the ever- present threat of violence and exploitation.”

Take a Deeper Dive Ask students to research whether the rights in the Articles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child have come about in the United States.

Countries in the 2020 TIP Report that are not Party to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking In Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Marshall Islands Nepal* Pakistan Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Somalia

Bhutan Comoros Congo, Republic of the Iran Korea, North

South Sudan Tonga Uganda Vanuatu Yemen

2. Take Action!

Explore Media Voices for Children, as well as the resources listed below, and discover how they run campaigns to bring an end to injustices children face all over the world. Divide the class into small groups and assign each to explore what each one is about and how they help children caught in the web of child slavery and child labor as well as actions individuals can take. As a class or in small groups have students follow through on at least one action..

3. Look Close to Home — Child Labor and Agriculture: What You Can Do to Help One of the areas students might want to first examine and take action on is the food that shows up in our grocery stores and daily on our plates. According to the ELCT website, modern slavery affects children and rural communities around the world. Agriculture remains by far the sector where most child laborers can be found (108 million, or 70% according to the ILO). Most children work on farms that produce consumer products such as cocoa, coffee, cotton, rubber and other crops. This is split between subsistence and commercial farming in addition to livestock.

Activity Have students watch Children in the Fields to view interviews with child migrant farmworkers laboring in US agriculture, courtesy of a loophole in the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, exempting agriculture from child labor laws and Made in the USA: Child Labor and Tobacco to learn about in child labor in this sector in the United States. Afterwards have them explore where abuses occur through Children in the Field Campaign resources, what else is happening within the country, and how that might relate to products they or people they know currently buy. (See more resources regarding domestic child labor in agriculture in the Additional Resources Section).

Share the following resources with students to help them with their own initiatives: • 100 Million Campaign Activism Resources For a Student Campaign Have students use the very helpful actionable resources designed to help everyone understand the issues, connect with allies, raise awareness in your communities, and effect change with decision-makers to develop and implement their own campaign as individuals, small groups, or the class as a whole. The 100 Million Campaign calls for action “for a world where all young people are free, safe and educated. 100 Million support young people on every continent to mobilize to end violence against children, eradicate child labor, and ensure education, breaking the cycles of illiteracy, poverty and violence for good. Through supporting and empowering youth to youth mobilization, 100 Million works to increase global compassion and understanding, and support young. The 100 Million campaign’s report identifies key actions needed to realize a world where every child is included, and enjoys their rights to freedom, safety, and education. It identifies who the world’s most marginalized children are and uses case studies to show that youth and community mobilization can effect lasting change.”

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• Fight for Child Rights The World’s Children’s Prize program is the world’s largest annual rights and democracy education initiative for children, educating and empowering children as changemakers.

Between April 2019 and March 2020, Bangladesh, Brunei, and Palau became States Parties to the Protocol.

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b. Inspire students to take action themselves by having them learn about the where things stand two decades after the Convention on the Rights of the Child at “Every Child, Every Community: Youth activism to end child exclusion and marginalization” 14

*Nepal acceded to the Palermo Protocol on June 16, 2020.

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A DDIT ION A L

4. Child Marriage in the United States Ask students what they believe is the youngest age girls can marry in the United States.

Then have them read “Child Marriage is Still Happening in the United States and Around the World,” which includes the following information: “Between 2000 and 2010, an estimated 248,000 children as young as 12 were legally married in the U.S. Almost all of them were girls married to adult men.” Afterwards, have them visit the website Unchained and look through the “Take Action” menu to learn how they can join them and the newly formed National Coalition to End Child Marriage in the U.S. to show leaders across the U.S. that they are serious about ending this human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.

R ES OU R CES /S OU R CES

OF

IN F O RMAT I O N

Child Action & Engagement • 100 Million Campaign • Global March Against Child Labor Child Labor in U.S. Agriculture The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) estimates as many as 500,000 children are currently working in U.S. agriculture. Children of migrant and seasonal farmworker families are among the least protected of all working children, despite agricultural work being consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous occupation in the U.S., and the most dangerous industry for children, according to Department of Labor statistics.15

WHAT CAN

YOU

• • •

DO TO HELP ADDRESS CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR?

Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) “Sowing the Seeds of Change: A Snapshot of Child Labor in America” Human Rights Watch US: Tobacco Farms No Place for Teens Representative Roybal-Allard’s press release: CARE Act to Strengthen Protections for Child Farmworkers

ASK QUESTIONS.

Child Labor • Be Slavery Free • Child Labor Coalition • Free the Slaves

TAKE ACTION.

Trafficking • Offical trailer (2017) for TRAFFICKED starring Ashley Judd • Polaris Project • SOLD feature film and website, including resources to take action • International Justice Mission • USA's Dept. of State 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report

Could some of the goods I buy be made by child labor or forced labor?

Do workers have a voice to speak out against labor abuses?

What are companies doing to end child labor and forced labor in global supply chains?

What are governments doing to combat child labor and forced labor?

Empower yourself with knowledge and download USDOL’s Sweat & Toil and Comply Chain apps.

Make your voice heard by spreading the word among friends, family, and the companies you buy from and invest in.

Labor Standards • The International Labour Organization

Show your support for organizations that are working to end these abuses.

DEMAND CHANGE.

Early Child Marriage • Unchained At Last • Girls Not Brides • Vow to End Child Marriage

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Workers everywhere can raise their voices against child labor, forced labor, and other abuses.

Companies make serious commitments to ensure that global supply chains are free of products made by child labor and forced labor, especially those on USDOL’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.

Your investments have a positive social impact by promoting responsible labor practices.

Governments work vigorously XS EHSTX XLI GSYRXV] WTIGMǻG WYKKIWXIH EGXMSRW MR 9 )41ƶW Findings on the Worst 8ŅųĵŸƤŅüƤ ĘĜĬÚ X±ÆŅų.

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Advocate for a world in which:

Learn more: dol.gov/EndChildLabor To contact us, please email GlobalKids@dol.gov

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A D D ITIO NAL

R E SO URCES/SOURCES

OF

Child Poverty • Global Coalition to End Child Poverty Human Rights & Corporate Accountability • Terry Collingsworth's International Rights Advocates Migrant Women • Justice for Migrant Women

INFORM ATION

For More Information Contact: Media Voices for Children 110 Daggett Avenue • Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 (508) 693-0752

Fair Trade • Fair Trade Certified • Fair Trade International

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Sustainable, Ethical Shopping • The Good Trade • Done Good • TOMS • Cotopaxi

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