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Sierra Leone: Child Labor in the Diamond Industry


A sparkling precious stone with couple carats is considered to be a thoughtful gift to a beloved one. But the story behind one such a stone might start with a little child working eight to ten hours a day to help his family get food and clothing. The four major diamond mining districts of Sierra Leone in the study of 2006 showed that 36 % of children involved in mining-related activities were between ages 16 and 17, 60 % were between 10 and 15 years old, and 4 % were under 10 years old. According to International Labor Organization, the term “child labor” is defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
Children are considered as a cheap labor and thus are regularly employed in the mining industry. Children working in the diamond mines of Sierra Leone face such problems as working under hazardous and unhealthy conditions, performing difficult work for a low pay, and missing the opportunity for education. Adult literacy rate for the year of 2009 was 41 %. Children work long days doing a physically hard job such as digging with heavy shovels, carrying full bags of gravel that hurt them and negatively influence their health condition.
Local and International Legislation Shortcomings
A country that possesses a highly valued mineral is poor itself. Reasons for that mainly lie in corrupt government and/or weak legislation system where various loopholes can be found. Many laws and regulations are being violated in Sierra Leone. The minimum age convention was adopted in 1973 (C138) at the General Conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO) where it says that the minimum age for admission to any type of employment or work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons shall not be less than 18 years. However, this convention was only ratified on 10/06/2011 in Sierra Leone. The convention 182 of Worst forms of child labor was adopted in 1999 at the 87th session of the Conference of the ILO in Geneva. It includes all forms of slavery, sale and trafficking of children, forced or compulsory labor, offering a child for prostitution, production of pornography, production and trafficking of drugs, work which is likely to harm the health, safety and morals of a kid. This convention was ratified in Sierra Leone on 10/06/2011. Working under hazardous and unhealthy conditions constitutes hazardous work and violate prohibitions on child labor. According to the interviews conducted by International Human Right Clinic (IHRC), children complained of body and headaches, worms, malaria and other disease; adult diggers described the dangers posed to child miners from collapsing mining pits.  Such health impacts violate children’s right to health under domestic and international law. Daily wages for childsminers range from Le 500 to Le 2,000s(approximately US$0.15-US$0.60); while those digging on contract (who do not receive any percentage of their diamond finds) reported being paid Le 7,000 (approximately US$2.10) per day.  Comparing to adults, children do not get their share of diamondsproceeds.
“Elders take away the big diamond finds and I do not get my share.”
This may result in low Self-Esteem and Self-Worth. IHRC interviewers indicated in children a little hope for the future. According to Harvard Clinic, the Government of Sierra Leone is in direct violation of its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure an environment that fosters self-respect and dignity of the child. Moreover, children’s right to education is violated due to the failure of the Sierra Leone government to ensure the universal provision of education. Sierra Leone’s Education Act of 2004 stipulates that every citizen has the right to a basic education, defined as six years of primary school and three years of junior secondary school.  The Act requires the government to provide basic education free of charge in government-assisted schools. Although, education in Sierra Leone is considered to be free, there are still certain fees on books, report cards, uniforms and other school related costs. The lack of affordable and accessible education builds constraints for the children to attend schools. All the above mentioned violations are the main drawbacks that lead to the existence of child labor, specifically in the diamond mining industry in Sierra Leone.
A way to move further
Different programs are being created and implemented to solve the problem of child labor. One of them is the ILO’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) which was created in 1992 with the overall goal of the progressive elimination of child labor. This program currently operates in 88 countries with annual expenditure of 61 million USD in 2008. IPEC is one of the largest single operational programs of the ILO of its kind globally. This program aims at withdrawing children from child labor providing them with education and assisting their families with training and employment opportunities that directly contribute to creating decent work for adults. Various other programs such as Kimberly Process, World Bank programs contribute to fighting the problem of “blood diamonds” and child labor particularly.
Sierra Leone is one of the countries that faces a problem of child labor in hazardous industry – diamond mining. Many regulations such as state laws and Child Rights Act are being violated, thus, letting the problem to exist. Unless the laws are not followed and corruption still exists, the problem will not disappear no matter how much effort people do. In a hope to find a big diamond and escape from hazardous work children and adults are keep doing the dirty work of finding little stones that are over-valued and bring billions of dollars to only a few people.



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