いつものことながら、今回も記事のアップが大幅に遅れてしまいました。
でも、今回のは個人的に興味深いと思う内容になってますので、少々長いんですが、読んで何か感想を頂けるとうれしく思います。^ ^

Letter from India: New ban on child labor - Who will clean houses?

Amelia Gentleman, International Herald Tribune, September 6, 2006.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/06/news/letter.php

A ban on child domestic workers will come into force next month, making it illegal to hire children under 14 in the home - with punishment of up to two years' imprisonment for employers found breaking the law.

（中略）

Human rights activists have been campaigning for decades for an amendment of India's Child Labor Act, first passed in 1986. The campaigners wanted domestic work, and serving in roadside restaurants and hotels, to be added to a list of 57 professions classified "hazardous" and therefore unsuitable for children.

But when the government finally made a change in early August, children's charities then complained that it was mere tweaking, rather than an outright ban. At best, they said, little would change; at worst, life could even get harder for the children.

Children over 14, some noted, would still receive no protection under the law.

"Who are we kidding?" asked The Hindustan Times in an editorial, arguing that the ban would just give police officers a new chance to collect bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to abuses.

"What worries me is that it is very easy to ban things. What happens next is much more difficult," said Rita Panicker, director of a rehabilitation center for child workers in New Delhi.

"Unscrupulous middle-class employers will start throwing out their child workers because they're scared the police may come, and God only knows what will happen to the children. As usual, the employer will get off scot-free."

There is uncertainty over how the government proposes to enforce the ban.

No one knows how many children work as badly paid domestic servants, although it is clear that the phenomenon has been growing fast in urban India, as extended family structures dissolve and working women look for extra help at home.

The government estimates that, overall, India has 12.6 million child workers (although nongovernmental organizations believe the figures is closer to 40 million), of whom somewhere around a million may be employed in homes and restaurants.

（中略）

The harshest criticism leveled at the government is that its actions are cosmetic, with no parallel attempt to address the root problems that prompt children to take up work in India - acute poverty and lousy educational opportunities.

There is no point freeing children from employment if their families have no viable alternative source of income, campaigners say, because they will simply find themselves new work. If the ban is to be effective, then the government must intensify its schemes to reduce rural poverty, and offer better opportunities to convince parents and children that it really is worth staying in school.

（中略）

Harjot Kaur, director of child labor within the Ministry of Labor and Employment, pleaded for patience: "Child labor is not a problem that you can resolve overnight. It is not that today you come up with an act and tomorrow it is eradicated. This is a gradual process."

ちのの感想：

働く子どもたちの人権を守り、彼らに明るい未来を与えるにはどうすれば良いのか。
法的な保護はもちろん大切なことではあるのですが、それ以上に、政府は児童労働現象の根底にある社会問題を解決していく役割を担わなければならないのではないでしょうか。

以前、NHKの番組で見たのですが、インド政府に対して児童労働を禁止するよう圧力をかける欧米の人権団体に反発して、インドの子どもたちが "Child Killer" などと書いたプラカードを掲げてデモ行進したことがありました。正直、とても胸が痛かったです。

病を根本的に治療せずに痛み止めだけ飲んで知らん顔をするのは、百害あって一利無し。。。

↑この記事にもありましたように、インドに限らず、途上国の児童労働の問題を解決するには、歪んだ社会構造と貧困問題に直面しなければならないのです。

ところで、そのNHKの番組では、とあるNGOの面白い取り組みが紹介されていました。
そこでは、子どもたちに働くなと呼びかける代わりに、地域の働く子どもたちに組合を作らせ、団結して今まで自分たちを搾取して来た雇用主に対して集団交渉させるようにしているんだそうです。
組合員の一人に賃金の未払いがあると、みんなでその子の雇い主のところに行って、約束を守るよう交渉をしにいきます。もちろん、うまくいくこともあれば、一蹴されることもしばしばですが、それでも、子どもたちにとっては大変心強いことなのです。
そして、組合の子どもたち、自分たちで事業を立ち上げて搾取する大人たちから解放されるために、協力して資金を積み立て、計画を練り、そして片手間で勉強にも励んでいるのです。

児童労働をなくすことは、確かにとっても長いプロセスなのかも知れません。
でも、その時間を縮め、道のりを少しでも平坦にしてあげることはできるのだと私は思います。