'Monitor agencies supplying domestic labour'
PTI[ SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2005 07:04:24 PM ]
NEW DELHI: Observing that child domestic work is the "most hazardous
form" of child labour, a Britain-based NGO working in India has asked the
government to establish a statutory body to monitor the working of placement
agencies supplying domestic labour.
"Child Domestic Workers (CDW) are forced into work by their parents who
were lured by professional agencies. We are recommending the establishment of a
statutory body to monitor the work of these bodies as most of the times these
agencies refuse to entertain the complaints of such workers," India
Programme Director of 'Save the Children' Brian Heidel told reporters here.
Launching the National Campaign against Child Domestic Work on the fourth World
Day Against Child Labour, Heidel said, "parental consensus for domestic
work is in anticipation of a home, food and clothes for their children and money
for the family."
"Domestic servitude is not a voluntary vocation, it is forced upon
children," he added.
Heidel said poverty and lack of money at "crucial points of time in the
family" was the prime reason for increase in this menace.
Pointing out that CDW was not just a child labour issue, he said that it
involved gender and development issues.
"Majority of the CDWs are girls and they were paid less. Most of them are
subjected to verbal abuse and in many cases even physical torture," he
said.
"Boys are opting for comparitevely better skilled jobs with opportunity to
travel while girls end up as domestic help," he said.