全球粮食安全与营养论坛 (FSN论坛)

意见征集

行动号召:在农业利益相关者的帮助下消除农业领域童工现象

有鉴于可持续发展目标关于力求到2025年消除所有形式童工现象的具体目标8.7,联合国大会宣布20201年为消除童工现象国际年。

        全世界仍有1.52亿男童和女童身陷童工劳动,其中有71%、即1.08亿人从事农业领域劳动[1]。当前新冠病毒疫情对农业-粮食体系的影响加剧了农村贫困,导致儿童贫困、辍学和粮食不安全情况增加[2] [3]。为填补劳动力缺口及粮食和农业生产收入的损失,儿童正越来越多地被牵涉到劳动活动当中[4]。这一状况很可能将造成在消除农村贫困(可持续发展目标1)、实现零饥饿(可持续发展目标2)和消除童工现象(可持续发展目标8.7)方面的进展逆转和努力遇阻。

        联合国粮食及农业组织(粮农组织)总干事屈冬玉承诺加大消除农业领域童工现象的工作力度:“今年我们将加大力度,增强一系列农业主体的能力,把预防童工现象和青年就业纳入他们的工作当中”[5]

        2020年,粮农组织发布了 《粮农组织消除农业领域童工现象框架》 [6],支持和推行各农业利益相关者[7]消除农业领域童工现象的举措。此外,粮农组织在全球粮食安全与营养论坛启动了一次在线磋商,题为 :“ 农业政策和战略能够以何种方式帮助消除农业领域童工现象?[8]。来自41个国家的业内人士提交了90条意见和建议,点评了农业领域童工现象的各种问题,并分享了来自各农业利益相关者的经验教训和良好实践。此次磋商展现了采取多领域方法消除农业领域童工现象的重要意义,包括通过学校供膳计划、适当资源管理、妇女赋权、现金转移和数字化等等。本《行动号召》以这些意见建议和粮农组织《框架》为基础,是粮农组织为“国际年”做出贡献的又一步骤。

        本《行动号召》的目的是收集和确认各农业利益相关者在应对农业领域童工现象方面的承诺、责任和努力,并营造在地方、国家和全球层面采取更协调行动的势头。这将使农业利益相关者有机会指出他们或他们所在的组织能够采取何种举措加大消除农业领域童工现象的行动力度,以及他们拟向农业和其他利益相关者提出何种建议。本《号召》意在为一系列农业利益相关者提供发表意见的机会,尤其是把侧重点放在农村社区最基层的形势和动态。

        收到的行动思路将供9月举办的“国际年”粮农组织区域磋商以及2021年11月2-3日的粮农组织消除农业领域童工现象高级别全球活动所用。这些意见还将用于在国家层面着眼农业和粮食体系各子领域开展针对童工问题的大规模计划、项目和投资的设计。

        响应本《行动号召》而提出的最有影响力、最创新和最具相关性的意见以及2020年举办的磋商会收到的意见,将在全球活动上展示并将请参加者给予介绍。

        请使用提交表格提出你的意见建议。你可以在填写完成表格后进行上传或发送至[email protected]

        欢迎各位以联合国所有语言(英文、法文、西文、俄文、阿拉伯文和中文)提交意见建议。本号召截止日期为2021年6月14日。

        衷心感谢各位的宝贵意见和建议。

Bernd Seiffert

体面农村就业官员

粮农组织包容性农村转型及性别平等司

[1] 劳工组织,2017。全球童工问题估算。可用文本 英文法文西文

[2] 联合国,2020。政策简报:新冠病毒疫情对儿童的影响。可用文本英文

[3] 世界银行,2021。粮食安全与新冠病毒疫情。可用文本 英文

[4] 劳工组织和儿基会。新冠病毒疫情与童工问题:危机之时,时不我待。可用文本英文法文西文

[5] 消除童工现象国际年在线启动活动2021。由国际劳工组织(劳工组织)举办。

[6] 粮农组织消除农业领域童工现象框架(2020),可用文本中文英文法文俄文西文

[7] 农业利益相关者:农业归口部委、科研院所、业主和生产者组织、农民组织、私营部门、青年组织、开发银行等。

[8] 粮食安全与营养论坛磋商会概要,可用文本阿文中文英文法文俄文西文

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Dear FAO colleagues,

Greetings from Vehari, Pakistan

Please find attached the FIDA contribution to the Call for action “ending child labor in agriculture with the help of agricultural stakeholders” by FAO. It was a very interesting and learning opportunity for us.

Wonderful FAO!

Regards,

Abdul Rasheed Abbasi

Farmers’ Integrated Development Association (FIDA), Pakistan

女士 Uzooba Hureem

Punjab Economic Research Institute (PERI), Planning and Development Board
巴基斯坦

Pakistan is predominantly characterized by small agricultural landholdings, where farmers are dependent on hired labourers or pooling labourers, as opposed to mechanized agriculture. More often than not, small farm operations are carried out with the help of the family unit instead of hiring agriculture labour from outside (who have to be paid). Thus, the small farm owner or landless farmer (sharecropper/tenant) mostly depends on his/her family to save labour costs and increase profits. The whole family, including children, contribute to this enterprise for their livelihood and income. Limited income/poverty leads households to be economically dependent on child work/labour for their livelihoods and food security.

Children (irrespective of attending school or not) are engaged in farm work with their parents who are either small landowners, share-croppers or tenants. They start helping their parents from an early age in all domestic and farm chores especially at harvest time when adults are busier. However, this work is assigned according to capacity consideration by the parents.  Moreover, parents/adults work in hazardous working conditions due to lack of safety measures adopted for pesticide spray. Children are not involved in this but are exposed to it, because of their involvement in other farm work.

Everyone has a role to play in ending child labour in agriculture. This includes different ministries in charge of agriculture and rural development, labour and health, agricultural extension workers, pesticide control boards, researchers, producers’ organizations, farmers, etc.

Child labour is defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or interferes with their schooling. Hazardous child labour is work that is performed by children in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. Children below the age of 18 years must be protected from hazardous work. Handling and using pesticides is considered hazardous work and is not allowed below the age of 18. Children are particularly vulnerable and can be exposed to hazardous pesticides directly and indirectly.

The FAO Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention and the Child Labour in Agriculture Prevention team within the Decent Rural Employment team in ESP have established a long-term collaboration. Different approaches have been carried out in addressing hazardous child labour in agriculture and reduce the risks of pesticides at institutional and field level: a) by supporting knowledge generation, capacity development as well as livelihood enhancement schemes to allow families to be less economically dependent on the labour of their children and prioritize education and safe, age-appropriate tasks; b) by raising awareness among various stakeholders on the issue; c) by collecting data on pesticide poisoning and improving the legal framework on pesticide management.

Two publications on occupational safety and health, child labour reduction and pesticide exposure were published in March 2021 providing an array of information, useful tools and case studies:

First the rural farmer lacks knowledge about any legal instrument and committment to the definition of child labour, mostly children are engaged to support the Agriculture, in cultivation, for older children, and planting for younger children. Also in harvesting and processing usually is left for women and girls. Most of the farmers that engage children in Agricuture start with their children, and in some cases, children of relatives either staying with them or visiting. It is mostly believed that this is a form of traing and grooming, since agriculture is an age long tradition, and largely transmitted through inheritance to the next generation.

Sadly, these children should be in school, except that the parents don’t seem to understand the need for education, or the children are able to support production which in-turn translates to more money and food available to avert hunger and poverty. But that is one sided in the sense that if the children acquires and education, they can improve production, using less energy and more machines to produce food.

In especially conflict contexts, where children are either separated from their parents or are orphaned by the conflict, the older children takes responsibilities for catering for the younger ones who depend of agriculture for livelihood.

Here are the following recommendations to reduce child labour in Agriculture:

1- Raise awareness on the issue of child labour are national and community level, leveraging on the traditional and religious leaders to deliver greater outreach at grassroots.

2- Support basic education, and promote school enrollment of underserved and marginalized population

3- Put in place stronger more people centered monitoring system, that not just collect data but seeks to learn real challenges and proffer solutions to support small holding farmer,

4- Design a reward system that support increase school enrollment and completion of underserved children.

5- Design bottom up programs that capture the peoples input, through focused group discussion, with traditional, religious leaders, farmers groups, women’s groups, to criminalize and bring to book violators of the enjoyment to the full right of the child.

6- Promote the domestication of the child rights act at national level. In Nigeria for instance, most of the states in the North have not domesticated the law. (Making it fluid to manage, already a challenge then exasperated by Covid-19 pandemic, it is reported that out of school enrollment jumped to around 13 Million in Nigeria, with the greater portion in the north, regrettably, the recent abduction of school children, will push that figure higher.)

7- Increase outreach to non-sates armed groups on IHL, and international law, to promote protection of children in armed conflict.