The topic of child labor is sadly one of those that is always at the top of my list. However we have had some significant strides recently, especially regarding the release of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) list of goods produced by forced labor and child labor! The long pending release was nothing less than overdue, and was in a great deal thanks to a large public outcry from organizations and citizens alike.  Change.org’s petition alone had over 6,000 supporters.

We have wIn 2005, Congress mandated the DOL to compile a list of goods produced by forced labor or child labor. Its release will now enable consumers and shareholders to apply leverage to fight slavery worldwide. The analysis conducted by the DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)

The full report contains over 194 pages, which higlights the most commonly used consumer goods, containing large instances of forced and/or child labor. The products I have often brought to your attention in previous posts on child labor and fair trade products, such as cotton, sugarcane, coffee, and cocoa, as well as tobacco, and rice were on the list. The industries which most commonly found their way on the list unsurprisingly included; brick, garment, carpet, and footwear manufacturing. As well mined minerals such as gold and coal, as well as other quarried goods made the list.

In brief summary of the report, some 122 goods in 58 countries are shown to be produced with a substantial rates of child labor, forced labor, or both. What may shock one more is that the level of child labor found used to manufacture the goods listed in the report, outweighed that of forced labor.

In addition to the list of goods produced by child or forced labor, ILAB released two additional reports: 1) the DOL’s 2008 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor under the Trade and Development Act and 2) a proposed update to Executive Order 13126 which mandates that the DOL, in conjunction with the Departments of State and Homeland Security, publish a list of products which were produced or manufactured by forced or child labor to ensure that federal agencies enforce laws related to these types of labor.

This is indeed a major battle won for the anti-trafficking field and concerned citizens/consumers, however as we celebrate one victory we still have a long battle ahead to end child slavery. As the school year takes off with full flight here in the US, children across the globe are continuing to toil in various forms of child labor, like those in Uzbekistan who are heading back to the fields. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), published the following article earlier this week, The Hard Truth About Uzbek Cotton, reminding us that while progress is being made we have a long road ahead. Harkin is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a longtime leader in the fight to end abusive child labor around the globe. you can also see my previous posts; A Call for a Boycott on Child Picked Uzbek Cotton and Child Picked Cotton…Central Asia’s Child Labor, for more information. You can also sign the following petition to protest to the Uzbek government here!

The battle against the sugarcane plantations who feed off the backs of enslaved and impoverish Haitians, including children, continues. You can see more on the fight against one of the largest, Grupo Vicini, led by Father Christopher Hartley, who has continued to risk his life in pursuit of their freedom here. UNICEF estimates that some 2,000 children are trafficked each year to the Dominican Republic.

Don’t let this opportunity to become a more empowered consumer and citizen, take this opportunity and information to not only become a more conscious shopper, but to also pressure companies to remove slave labor from their supply chains once and for all.

For more information and to see previous posts on Child Labor, please click Here

This past weekend communities across the country literally took to the streets to combat child trafficking. The flagship walk in New York City had some 1,284 registered walker with $124,687 in donations raised.

New York in true NYC style added their own unique style with the Stiletto Run, which raised over $10,000 and had over 300 participants, for which they not only brought awareness for the cause, but they did it in style and broke the Guinness World Record. To see a great video showing the sheer jubilation and spirit of some of the classiest runners you’ve ever seen see this great video taken by one of the days biggest runners and activists:

Following in NYC’s fabulous footsteps, our Nation’s Capital’s walk was a record breaker all it’s own, as the city’s largest ever event to combat modern slavery. With $32,996 raised in DC alone, the Walk to end Child Trafficking was a sure-fired success. I was part of the event and I can say that it was truly a remarkable occasion as walkers and supporters of all ages rallying around the fight for millions of children right here at home and across the globe.

To see more great coverage on the DC Walk, please see Amanda Koler’s Human Trafficking blog on Change.org here. Amanda also captured some amazing video, which will leave you nothing less than awe inspired!

Washington DC

These events where not just about walking and showing a unified public stand, but that they did well, they were also about bringing awareness and giving individuals an opportunity to connect with local and national organizations and see how they can take a stand. The organizational booths were flooded with eager volunteers and minds hungry to learn more on how they can continue the fight against child trafficking and all forms of modern slavery.

The walk culminated with a who’s who’s list of amazing speakers, who have all taken to the streets in various forms and dedicated their lives to combating this crime against children and all of humanity. The day continued with some star studded local musical performers and even more awareness. In DC the rain held until the end of the day…but even when the sky’s began to turn gray the crowds of walkers and supporters continued the fight against child trafficking with ambitious smiles and full of empowerment and hope!

Now is the time for action to end human trafficking in our nation’s capital, said DC Council MemberPhil Mendelson, chair of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. While I am working within the DC Council to advance legislation, outreach efforts and community awareness about trafficking are imperative to end this brutal crime. Mendelson introduced the “Prohibition Against Human Trafficking Act” this year in response to reports indicating the unacceptable level of human trafficking in Washington DC.

As September comes to an end our Nation’s Capital, wraps up a successful Human Trafficking Awareness Month.  DC has united to bring the face of modern slavery and human trafficking to the forefront.  In just a few days the city is truly going to take the fight against child trafficking to the streets, as citizen politicians, musicians and activists unite for the first ever Walk Against Child Trafficking.

Join the entire anti-trafficking community for this ground breaking event, which will be the largest anti-trafficking event in DC history!  So far more than 600 have already signed up to walk against child trafficking, this September 26, 2009 at Meridian Hill Park from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.  The walk will be the largest anti-human trafficking event in the District’s history and walkers nationwide have already raised more than $200,000 to combat trafficking.

When:
Saturday, September 26, 2009.

Time:
Registration opens at 9:00 am and the Walk begins at 10:00 am

Walk Starts at:
Meridian Hill Park
15th St NW and Euclid St NW
Washington DC

Join:
To register for the walk click here!

Joining Mendelson to speak at the walk will be: Dr. Mark Lagon, former Ambassador-at-Large and director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department and current Executive Director and CEO of Polaris Project; former U.S. Representative Linda Smith (R-WA) and current president of Shared Hope International; and Dr. Laura Lederer, former Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons at the State Department. Prominent non-profit officials will also be well-represented at the walk. Non-profit luminaries will include Sarah Symons, executive director of the Emancipation Network; Andrea Powell, co-founder and executive director of Fair Fund; and Ray Lian, lead organizer of the citizen activist group DC Stop Modern Slavery.  Prominent authors Aaron Cohen, author of Slave Hunter and Ben Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous will also speak following the walk.

Following the walk and speakers, all will be entertained by the delights of performers including: DC-based progressive rock band Army of Me, Virgina based country singer Marthia Sides, local hip hop group LPF, and DC institutions the Walidane DrumGroup and Carol and Brock.

The DC walk is just one of many taking place across the nation, the effort of which is being coordinated by Stop Child Trafficking Now, a non-profit working to curb the demand for sex trafficking.

Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing illicit industries in the world. According to UNICEF, an estimated 2.5 million children, primarily girls, are sexually exploited in the multi-billion dollar commercial sex industry. Nearly 60 percent of those enslaved are children while more than 80 percent of people living in slavery are used as sex slaves.

The amazing efforts of the Capital’s walk is being spearheaded by DC Stop Modern Slavery, a citizen activist group which set it’s roots in the district in 2004 with a small group of concerned citizens.  The group which began in a church where they met to discuss the , issue of human trafficking, now only five years, the group has grown to an action-oriented all-volunteer grassroots organization with more than 670 members devoted to combating modern-day slavery in all forms. Leveraging the unique strengths of its diverse and growing membership, DC SMS is at the forefront of the anti-trafficking movement in the DC Metro area.

Apologies for the lack in articles over the last two weeks, as I have been on international travel, most of which was to attend and speak at the Aspen Institute’s Cultural Diplomacy Forum in Avilies, Spain. The theme of the conference was: Culture and Security. The Forum featured a combination of keynote addresses, plenary panels, and in-depth open discussions in small groups. Attendees and speakers came from a diverse range of disciplines, all to bring their experiences to the table to look at various information, networks, and case studies, and look for actionable solutions to increase cultural diplomacy. The theme of Culture and Security was focused around two sub-themes.

I. Cultural Dimensions of Human and global Security
Under this sub-theme, the Forum will focus on the culture of peace and address the mainstreaming of culture as a political priority for sustainable security. Participants will discuss not only the general failure to recognize the important part culture can play in ensuring human security for stability on all levels, but will also revisit the myths and realities of culture wars and modern taboos as they relate to political, ideological, religious, generational, and socioeconomic tensions that fuel a wide range of conflicts - including armed ones - within and across societies.

II. Security of Arts and Culture
This sub-theme will focus on the protection and promotion of cultural assets for sustainable livelihoods and on peace building. Participants will tackle a set of urgent issues, including the relationship between culture and economy, which will be illustrated by looking at the role of cultural and social entrepreneurs, the state of arts markets and their impact on income generation and financial security. A further emphasis will be on how cultural property continues to be threatened with destruction in arenas of armed conflict or falls prey to looting and illicit traffic, and how technological prowess and globalization both accentuate these threats and simultaneously build global awareness and a shared determination to combat them.

You can see the opening session here, featuring World renowned Musician, Youssou N’Dour; Manolo Díaz, Composer, Former President of Grammy Latino, CBS Records, and EMI Music. Sadly presenter Quincy Jones, Music Composer and Producer, was unable to attend at the last moment due health restrictions. The session was moderated by Cynthia Schneider, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Brookings Institution, and Former US Ambassador to the Netherlands. See they discussed; Culture of Peace: Economic Crisis, Modern Taboos, and Emotional Tensions.  Sadly the question for which I addressed the panel on the negative uses of music in culture and society are used and how they foresaw best to address the violence, especially of women, and increase the positivity and empowerment in music to promote peace, social inclusion, awareness.

I will bring you more on the conference panels, including my lecture on Socio-Cultural Barriers to Countering Human Trafficking, to follow later this week.  During my session I used the example of our global, but focused primarily on the United States, over sexualization of society and how it fuels human trafficking.  In the lecture I touched on child prostitution, child porn and the influences of Hip Hop and the increasing Pimp culture.

For more information on the session and topics discussed you can download the 2009 Aspen Cultural Diplomacy Forum Program Book, featuring presenter bios and program information.

The conference ended with the 2009 Aspen Cultural Diplomacy Award, which was awarded to both Quincy Jones and Youssou N’Dour.

Chinese babies stolen by officials for foreign adoption
Though conventional wisdom says many of the thousands of Chinese babies who have been adopted since the early 1990s were abandoned by their parents because of Chinese family-size restrictions and the traditional preference for boys, harrowing stories of coercion are emerging among parents whose children were forcefully taken to adoption services. Parents say Chinese officials were motivated by the $3,000 that adoption services pay orphanages per child.

Somali rebels tell schools to scrap U.N. textbooks
Somali rebel leaders warned parents to keep their children away from schools using textbooks supplied by UN agencies, saying the books contained un-Islamic content. The warning came days after the extremist al Shabaab group carried out a bold suicide attack on African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu that left 17 dead.

Yemen fighting spreads, civilians living under bridges-UN
The condition of civilians impacted by the latest in a series of conflicts between rebels and the Yemen government has reached “alarming and unprecedented levels,” while an appeal for aid to help them has gone unheeded, according to a report by UNHCR, the UN relief agency. The civilians, most of whom are women and children, are in extreme need of food, water and shelter because of high daily temperatures and heavy nightly rains.

New approach could stop 6 mln African malaria cases
As many as 6 million cases of malaria could be prevented in African infants by administering a continuous course of antimalarial medication to prevent infection and enhance immunity, according to a study of 8,000 African children and babies published in The Lancet. “International policymakers and heads of national malaria control programs should consider its immediate adoption and integration into existing program,” one researcher said.

Kenya begins huge slum clearance
Kenyan officials are preparing to undertake a massive effort to clear out the continent’s largest slum: the Kibera settlement in Nairobi. Authorities plan to move some 1 million people into nearby apartments, hoping to alleviate drastic overcrowding and the attendant crime rates and sanitation shortfalls. Some residents and slumlords are resisting the plan, citing legal claims to the land.

Polio defeats Canada’s pet project
Canada’s humanitarian goal of eliminating polio in Afghanistan by the end of the year appears to be out of reach because of escalating violence in the war-torn nation.

Polio makes a return to remote, destitute Afghanistan
Teams of UNICEF volunteers are going house to house to immunize children in Afghanistan’s impoverished Ghor region, where polio has seen a resurgence. The effort is the latest of four nationwide campaigns aimed at immunizing some 7.5 million children who received inadequate care while Taliban insurgents were in control of the country.
Lord’s Resistance Army terrorises Congo after Ugandan crackdown
Forced out of Uganda by a military force acting in cooperation with Congo and Sudan, the Lord’s Resistance Army has fled Uganda and spread into areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo in which it has not previously operated — terrorizing once relatively peaceful regions. In the past year, the LRA has killed more than 1,200 Congolese civilians, and more than 2,000 Congolese — many of them children — are reported missing.

Indonesian rights groups condemn new stoning law
The legislature in Indonesia’s Aceh province unanimously has approved an Islamic law that makes adultery punishable by stoning and permits 400 lashes for child rape and 100 lashes for homosexuality. The law replaces sections of the Indonesian criminal code only weeks before a new, less fundamentalist provincial assembly is scheduled to be seated. “The laws that have been approved in Aceh are cruel and degrading to humanity,” said Ifdhal Kasim of the National Commission on Human Rights.

Zimbabwe deal leads to few changes for pupils
UNICEF unveiled a $70 million program in Zimbabwe designed to repair the nation’s failed school system. One textbook might be shared by as many as 10 students, if they have access to textbooks at all. Nearly 50% of students don’t go on to high school.

Guatemalan soldiers sold children in war
Guatemalan soldiers forcibly abducted and sold hundreds of children for foreign adoption during the country’s prolonged civil war, a Guatemalan government report charges. When Guatemala’s war ended in 1996, the country was second only to China in the number of international adoptions.

Obama Unshackles Global AIDS Work
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has eased restrictions for the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or Pepfar, to include cooperation on family planning and the general strengthening of health systems in the developing world. The United States is the world’s largest donor to HIV/AIDS relief.

Economic crisis may boost human trafficking
UN Human Rights Council human trafficking investigator Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said the global economic crisis has increased all the major factors that lead to global human trafficking, including poverty, unemployment among young people and the need for cheap labor. Nations that experience high rates of human trafficking routinely do not do enough to assist the young men, women and children who are exploited for sex and cheap labor, according to Ezeilo’s report.

Vaccines could halve sickle-cell deaths in Africa
Vaccination against bacterial infections using vaccines readily available in developed countries could save the lives of thousands of children with sickle-cell anaemia in Africa, researchers said on Thursday. Tom Williams, an expert in tropical diseases from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), said 90 percent of children born with sickle-cell anaemia in Africa die before they are diagnosed and can get treatment, and half of those lives could be saved if sufferers were protected from bacterial infections.

Somalia fighting continues to take toll on children
The violence that has destabilized Somalia has taken its most severe toll on the nation’s children, who are largely malnourished and uneducated. Boys often are conscripted as soldiers at a young age, whereas girls have babies at puberty. Burns, shrapnel, gunshot wounds and other conflict-related injuries have replaced malaria, tuberculosis, fistula and other diseases as rising threats against the safety and well-being of Somali children.

UNICEF-Child deaths fall, but “grossly insufficient”
The global mortality rate for children younger than 5 years old has dropped to the lowest level on record thanks to better technology and distribution associated with malaria, measles and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, UNICEF says. Even with the decreasing numbers, UNICEF warns the Millennium Development Goal of cutting the rate by two-thirds remains a major challenge, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Vietnam birth trend may fuel sex work, trafficking-UN
The ratio of boys born in Vietnam compared with girls has grown at an unusually rapid pace in recent years and could lead to a rise in sex work and trafficking, the United Nations said. The sex ratio at birth was 112.1 male births per 100 female births in 2008, up from an estimated 106.2 in 2000, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a report.

A Move to Register Sex Offenders Globally
Efforts to pass a law that would alert foreign officials when registered U.S. sex offenders travel are gaining support in the wake of recent arrests of three Americans, themselves convicted sex offenders, in Cambodia on child molestation charges.

U.N. rights chief sees possible war crimes in Congo
Two United Nations reports point to widespread human-rights violations by government and rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo during hostilities there last year. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says incidences of arbitrary killings and sexual violence “could well amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity and are part of a self-perpetuating pattern of brutality in eastern DRC which continues to go largely unpunished.”

Africa: 700 Million Bednets to Help Continent Sleep Better
The World Health Organization is spearheading a campaign to build bed net factories and distribute 700 million bed nets across sub-Saharan Africa to curb malaria-related deaths in the region by 2015. The campaign also will enlist football stars and religious leaders to help raise public awareness.

Pakistan resumes polio vaccinations in Swat
Polio vaccinations in Pakistan’s Swat Valley have resumed after a four-month campaign against Taliban insurgents who had controlled the area.

Sudan Court Fines Woman for Wearing Trousers
A Khartoum court sentenced Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein about $200 for breaching the country’s decency laws by wearing pants in public. The charges carried a possible penalty of up to 40 lashes. Hussein, who has publicly challenged the case, says she will not pay the fine.

I wanted tp cross-post today, DC takes on Human Trafficking and wins!, as the event is such a great example on how cities and communities across the country can really take a stand against Human Trafficking/Modern Slavery and make it a fun event for all ages!

As the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies prepared to go head to head on the field and battle it out for the win, the fan’s were gearing up for another battle.  Last night the DC Human Trafficking Task Force hosted the first ever Anti-Human Trafficking Night at Nationals Park, A Night at the Park: Freedom for All!

The crowd looked like any other at fist glance, as happy faces and hoots and hollers were heard all around the stadium.  Fans were waving to fellow teammates, grabbing their Jerseys and waving as if they were old friends.  But the distinct difference was that this team jersey wasn’t the National’s or the Phillies, the yellow and blue jerseys flooding the stadium belonged to the DC Human Trafficking Task Force, the front of the jerseys read “Stop Human Trafficking”, and the back “27 Million” and gave the number for the National Human Trafficking Task Force.

The special themed Game Day was geared around the fact this month is Human Trafficking Awareness Month in Washington D.C.  The awareness month was established thanks to the efforts of the DC Task Force on Human Trafficking, which was was established in 2004.  The Task Force is comprised of membership from the DC police department, DC US Attorney’s office, a number of D.C. metropolitan area law enforcement agency and non-governmental organizations involved in anti-trafficking activities. The Task Force truly pulled together to show that this is a cause that not only has a passion behind it but true team work, and it is the team work that get us closer and closer each day to seeing an end modern slavery once and for all!

It was truly a team spirit one has never seen at any sports event; the spirits were high, the crowd cheered like never before!  However the happy smiling faces and cheers at the game where out to raise awareness to a deep and dark crime the blights not only our city and our nation, but claims some 27 million lives every year across the globe.

In the end the Nat’s brought it home for the win at the bottom of the 9th, but the real winner was the fight to combat human trafficking.  DC truly stole home like All Stars over Human Trafficking/Modern Slavery, with 674 special tickets sold!  Thanks to everyone who came out, it was a fantastic night and the “Stop Human Trafficking Team” really made an impact and raised a lot of awareness!  Let’s hope other cities and teams will take a cue from DC, that while the fight to combat modern slavery is not going to be won in one game, its well worth joining the team and playing out the season, for this is one World Series that will truly be a win for the men, women and children the world over!

The US-Mexican boarder is nearly 2,000 miles long and is the worlds most crossed border, with some 250 million people crossings every year. Every year it is estimated that some 400,000 and 1 million people attempt to illegally cross US borders, all are in search of the promised land and a chance for a better life.

Mexican guides known as “coyotes” smuggle people across the border in any means possible, some may actually deliver as promised, other prey on the vulnerable, and few are trustworthy.  Many “coyotes” lure one with the promise of a big job in the US, however that big job can often turn into nothing less than a situation of slavery.  However many take great risk and their journey’s are far from safe regardless of their guide, many of those who place it all on the line are mere children, many who make the treacherous journey alone.  It is estimated that there are some 100,000 unaccompanied minors crossing the border each year.

Risking the harsh and unpredictable elements is not all that one has to fear as they make the journey for a dream, for often they are the least of ones concern.  Smugglers often turn into traffickers, Board Patrols often turn into rapists… as do many others along the way.  Forced to trust strangers int he dark children are at risk for sexual and physical abuse, abandonment, and death.

In 2007, more than 90,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended along the southern border of the United States. Most were returned to Mexico (the country of nationality of the majority of these children), some were reunited with family and approximately 8,000 children were placed in immigration proceedings and in U.S. custody. (U.S. Faces Challenges in the Protection of Unaccompanied Children - Women’s Refugee Committee, February 2009)

The report The Lost Dream: Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Victims of Human Trafficking
on the US/Mexico Border, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), October 2006, goes in depth to look at the long term consequences of children seeking to cross the border.  The report not only looks at their vulnerability, those who prey on them, but also the effects on both the economics of the areas they are leaving and the United States need to increase effective policies and services to assist and care for such children.  In many areas the number of school-aged children who are seeking to migrate in search of work, versus those who continue to pursue an education, has increased and local leaders fear an entire generation could be lost, leaving the entire community facing increased economic hardship as they struggle to find workers and maintain a stable local economy.  While economics seems the clear reason for children to go willingly in search of a better life, it is not always the case, as many have been victims of abuse and sever poverty, which leaves them even more vulnerable and exposed to exploitation, regardless of where they find their final destination to be.

The migrant children in Altar (Mexico) described horrific experiences, including sexual and physical assaults, being abandoned by family members and traveling companions and unable to find food and shelter throughout their travels. Girls as young as 12 years of age described being drugged, groped and raped by law enforcement officials and other migrants. Some children were forced to resort to prostitution because it was the only way to finance their housing, food, and journey.

The effects and risk of unaccompanied minors are high and it is clear that much needs to be done on all sides to ensure that an entire generation, or generations, of children are not lost.

A groundbreaking new documentary, Which Way Home, takes you into the lives some some of the youngest and most vulnerable, who risk exploitation, abuse and their lives for a life in the United States.  See the review on the Foreign Policy Associations, Global Film blog, by Sean Patrick Murphy here

Last year the documentary, No Mans Land, took you face to face with some of the children crossing the Mexican boarder with Arizona.  The film shows the harsh reality that the children have faced by the time hey reach the US, which it is averaged that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can have up to 700 in custody at any one time.

Photo by GMB Akash from his series 'Born to Work' in Bangladesh

When one thinks of child labor in the context of our American Labor Day Holiday or the International Day of Labor, otherwise known as May Day, the mind drifts back to images of the Industrial revolution of the 18th Century to children toiling in factories and mines in the UK and US. However the roots of child labor go much deeper and their reach spreads far and wide across the globe. Nonetheless despite outrage, laws and social advancements child labor continues to plague our global society, as the face of child labor often looks sickeningly similar to the haunting images of the past. Children as young as six were widely employed and were subjected to merciless exploitation under working conditions that amounted to virtual slavery in its most oppressive forms. They were not only worked to exhaustion, they were beaten, ill-fed and paid a pittance. Many were driven to early alcoholism and other degradations, and in not insignificant numbers even driven to early death.”

Photo & caption by Lewis W. Hine; 'Wheaton Glass Works. Boy is Howard Lee. His mother showed me the family record in Bible which gave his birth as July 15, 1894. 15 years old now, but has been in glass works two years and some nights. Millville, N.J.'

According to historian, Roger Butterfield in The American Past, more than 1,752,000 children under 16 years of age where part of the American labor force by the 1900’s. One-fourth, some 20,000, of the laborers in the Souths cotton mills were children (boys and girls) under 12years of age,who were often forced to work 13 hour days. By the mid 20th Century America saw a significant decrease in the number of child laborers, the decline was directly correlated to the increase of access to education, as well as a decrease in demand due to better laws and labor standard and technological advances.

However America has not been left untainted by child labor, as we wield our dollars to demand cheap products, we often fail to see that while the price to pay for such consumer products is not ours, their is a high price to pay and it often comes at the hands of children. These products tainted with child and slave labor flood our market place and our homes. However one does not have to look beyond out borders to see grave violations, as children are also engaged in child labor right here at home. Child peddling rings are active in most states, such as many who go door to door selling s of chocolate or magazines. Other children, especially immigrant and illegal residents, are held in sweatshops in our large cities. Domestic and foreign national children are forced to work in the commercial sex industry, children are held to work as domestic servants, and much more, including our fields.

While the complete eradication of child labor has been placed as a priority in many countries, the goals are a long way off from being achieved, and many countries are not looking at short-term solutions and programs. It is essential that those forms of child labor, which pose the highest safety and health risks, be immediately addressed. The majority of child labors, some three-fourths, are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, including; child soldiers, sexual exploitation and hazardous work in industries such as brick manufacturing.

This photograph was taken after the Civil War, probably in the 1870s. It is from a stereoview card.

While the images of children picking cotton in the deep south seem to have faded from American fields, children in Uzbekistan have taking over in mirror images in cotton fields across the country. Children forced from school to provide cheap or free labor, may have very well worked to ensure your new tee-shirt came a a cost you could resist as you trudging through the racks of endless options on your last shopping trip.

But while the images of black American slave children picking cotton in the deep south may have faded from the view and minds of many children are still toiling away in our fields. You can see more in the report by the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (FOP) in the Children in the Fields Report 2007

. According to Heather Anderson the Children in the Fields Project Director, FOP…”has documented children working in onions in Texas and Colorado, sugar beets in North Dakota and Minnesota, cherries in Washington, blueberries in North Carolina, and peaches in California, as well as heard reports about many other crops in other states.”

While labor Day was established on September 5, 1882 in New York City, following the deaths of a number of workers by the US military and US Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike. Then President Grover Cleveland ensured that Labor Day was a high priority, so much so that Congress unanimously and signed the Holiday on into law only a mere six days after the strike ended. Thus the day while founded for the sacrifices of many men, women and children in the United States, in many ways gives us the need for a moment to look and see that in reality the face of child labor hasn’t changed as much as one would think and that much needs to be done to ensure that across the globe children are both protected and allowed to be children.

U.N. Guide for Sex Ed Generates Opposition
Conservative groups have reacted angrily to a UNESCO-proposed set of guidelines on sex education as being age inappropriate and supportive of access to abortion as a right. The guidelines, aimed at curbing HIV/AIDS transmission, were to be distributed to government, school systems and teachers around the globe but have been withdrawn from UNESCO’s Web site in the wake of the controversy, and the release of the final document has been postponed. “The main effort is to try to empower young people with knowledge that could actually save their lives,” UNESCO’s HIV/AIDS coordinator Mark Richmond said. “We want to give them the opportunity for more informed choices than currently exist.”

Hamas Objects to Possible Lessons on Holocaust in U.N.-Run Schools in Gaza
Hamas leaders are moving quickly to oppose potential changes in the curriculum for UN-administered schools that could include teaching the history of the Holocaust — which Hamas says runs contrary to its culture. The UN Relief and Works Agency typically defers to local officials on the particulars of school curriculum and does not include any lessons about the Holocaust but hopes to introduce a program on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — which was adopted after World War II in recognition of Nazi atrocities.

UNICEF chief sees funding falling in 2010-11
The ongoing global recession might lead to a decrease of 10% of UNICEF’s income during the next two years, UNICEF chief Ann Veneman says. UNICEF’s operating funds are comprised of voluntary donations, with about two-thirds coming from government donors.

US fares poorly in child welfare survey
America has some of the industrial world’s worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates. The OECD, a Paris-based watchdog of industrialized nations, urged the United States to shift more of its public spending to its youngest children, under the age of six, to improve their health and educational performance.

U.N. delivers food aid to 1 mln in north Uganda
The World Food Programme is delivering urgent aid to more than 1 million people in northern Uganda, where drought is adversely affecting those who have returned to the area after the end of hostilities between government forces and the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Birth drugs ‘cut breastfeeding’
Drugs commonly used to treat bleeding after birth may hamper a woman’s ability to breastfeed her baby, research suggests. The study, which appears in the journal BJOG, suggests the drugs may impede milk production. The Swansea University team also confirmed high doses of painkilling drugs have a similar effect.