By IANS,
New Delhi : Concerned with the growing incidence of child labour in the country, the commission for children Thursday directed export promotion councils to issue certificates affirming that the products being sold abroad were not made by children at any stage of their preparation.
Asking the export councils to set up self-regulatory mechanism to prevent child labour from the supply to export stage, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said they should initiate social auditing to ensure this.
In a communication to the various export promotion councils and the chief secretaries of the states, commission chairperson Shanta Sinha said: “NCPCR has been deeply concerned about the growing incidence of child labour.”
She said the export promotion councils should put up self-regulatory systems to certify non-engagement of child labour from the supply to export stage of the sectors they are engaged in.
“Children are being employed by many informal and household sectors. Newer forms of child labour are being discovered every day by media and social activists. Many children are recruited as bonded labour,” she said.
She said the commission has taken cognisance of reports of trafficking in children and being employed in BT-cotton fields, zari and embroidery making, and many other industries.
“In spite of the notification prohibiting employment of children in domestic shops and establishments, there are millions of children still being engaged as help in this sector,” she said.
The directive was also sent to the states to strengthen enforcement of laws related to child labour.
The commission directed the states to put in place a task force for social audit to make sure there was no child labour in the processes and occupations as listed in the Schedule – Part A and B of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
It emphasized the inclusion of auditing residential complexes by the task force team to ascertain if children were being engaged as domestic helps.