Child Laborers Rescued in India

A joint raid was conducted on Thursday in the Garhi area in south Delhi by the labor department, police officials and the child rights organization Save Childhood Campaign.

[Om Prakash, Indian Labor Department Official]:
"Today, during surveillance, we have rescued 57 children from the Garhi area, who were working in hazardous factories."

Most of the children were trafficked from Nepal, and India's eastern Bihar and West Bengal states.

They were rescued from an embroidery unit where they were working 12-13 hours per day and paid about a dollar or two a week.

[Om Prakash, Indian Labor Department Official]:
"For the rehabilitation of these children, they'll be produced before CWC (Concerned for Working Children) officials, and they will send them to Women and Child Development homes. After that, they'll be handed over to their families. And from the government's side they'll be given 5,000 rupees (about $107) and 20,000 rupees (almost $430) fine, which would be recovered from their employers.”

A law prohibiting employing children in homes and in the hospitality industry went into effect in October 2006.

However, there have only been around 1,700 prosecutions and not a single conviction during the three years.

The law is an extension of a previous ban dating from 1986, which prohibited children from working in jobs deemed "too hazardous" for minors, such as in factories, quarries and mines.

Child rights campaigners say that like the previous ban, the 2006 law has neither been properly implemented nor enforced.