Archive for July 3rd, 2015

03/07/2015

100 Million Boys and Girls Engaged in Child Labour in Farming, Livestock, Forestry, Fishing or Aquaculture

Human Wrongs Watch

Child labour is mostly found in agriculture. About 100 million boys and girls are engaged in child labour in farming, livestock, forestry, fishing or aquaculture, often working long hours and facing occupational hazards.*

Source: FAO

Source: FAO

Child labour violates children’s rights.

By endangering health and education of the young, it also forms an obstacle to sustainable agricultural development and food security.

Key facts:

  • 98 million boys and girls between 5 and 17 years are identified as child labourers in agriculture
  • Worldwide, nearly 60 percent of child labour is found in agriculture
  • Agriculture is one of the most dangerous sectors in terms of rates of work-related fatalities, non-fatal accidents and occupational diseases.
  • Most (70 percent) of all child labourers are unpaid family workers.
03/07/2015

As Global Temperatures Soar, UN Launches First-ever Heatwave Warning Guidelines

Human Wrongs Watch

Two United Nations agencies have on 1 July 2015 unveiled a series of new guidelines aimed at addressing the health risks posed by the increasing number and intensity of climate change-related heat waves affecting the planet, as warm weather alerts spread across Europe following soaring temperatures that killed hundreds of people in India and Pakistan last month.

Degraded dryland ecossystems put at risk the social and economic well-being of millions of people. Photo: Binh Thuan, Thien Anh Huynh/Vietnam/UNEP

The set of guidelines, jointly produced by the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and entitled Heatwaves and Health: Guidance on Warning-System Development, will seek to alert decision-makers, health services and the general public through the systematic development of so-called heatwave early warning systems which, in turn, will hope to trigger timely action in reducing the effects of hot-weather extremes on health.

read more »

03/07/2015

“Syria’s ‘Disastrous’ Conflict Fueling Child Labour, Exploitation Across Region”

Human Wrongs Watch

Much more needs to be done to reverse the trend of an ever increasing number of children forced to work as a result of the conflict in Syria often “carrying heavy loads, being exposed to pesticides and toxic chemicals, and working long hours,” according to a joint report released on 2 July 2015 by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children.

A boy in northern Syria uses a sponge to collect spilled fuel from an oil drum. Photo: Ahmad Baroudi/Save the Children | Source: UN

“Syria’s children are paying a heavy price for the world’s failure to put an end to the conflict”, says a joint press release issued on the report in Amman, Jordan.

“The report shows that inside Syria, children are now contributing to the family income in more than three quarters of surveyed households, In Jordan, close to half of all Syrian refugee children are now the joint or sole family breadwinners in surveyed households, while in some parts of Lebanon, children as young as six years old are reportedly working,” the agencies said.

read more »