I started panning when I was six years old.
It was the only way to make a living and afford something to eat.
Today, there are 168 million children engaged in child labor worldwide.
In today's globalized economy, the food that we eat, the jewelry or the clothing that we wear
the products that we buy, often go through many steps to reach the global market.
Children may be involved at different stages
in making those products especially at the local level, in local farms,
in local factories. Multinational companies that sell these products
have a responsibility to make sure that
they do not use child labor at any stage of their supply chain.
When products are made with child labor, it also means that businesses are profiting
from the exploitation of children.
My name is Azizullah. I'm 12. I've been weaving carpets for about seven years.
There are 11 of us brothers and sisters
and we earn our living for our family through carpet weaving.
Now not all work by children is bad. But when children are too young,
when their work interferes with their schooling, or if they're working in conditions
that threaten their health and their safety, that needs to be prohibited.
The majority of child laborers in the world, 70% are working in agriculture.
Summer is the hardest because we go inside the hothouses and it's extremely hot.
We spray [pesticides] in there but they don't provide us masks or gloves to protect ourselves.
Children often work very long hours in extreme heat.
They often work with sharp tools or heavy machinery that can cause accidents and death.
One of the biggest concerns is that they're often exposed to toxic pesticides
that can cause cancer, respiratory difficulties, reproductive health problems
and neurological deficits.
When they spray, you can tell the chemical is very, very, very strong.
I couldn't work at all. I couldn't even stand. I was just laying in the bed.
In dozens of countries, children also work in tobacco fields and this adds an additional factor
that is quite dangerous for children which is the exposure to nicotine.
They can absorb nicotine through their skin and experience poisoning
that takes the form of dizziness, nausea ,vomiting and headaches.
About a million children world wide work in mining which is one of the most dangerous
forms of child labor.
One time, when we were down in the pit, my companions were bringing down lumber.
The rope around the wood loosened and the lumber fell down us.
Fortunately, we managed to evade it. If not, we would have died.
Children mining gold will often use mercury to separate the gold from the ore.
Mercury is incredibly dangerous for children. It can cause neurological problems
including irreversible brain damage. Some of the children that Human Rights Watch
interviewed reported spasms, tremors and other symptoms that are consistent with mercury poisoning.
When you are burning the gold, you inhale the mercury fumes.
Child labor creates a vicious cycle of poverty. Children will often go to work
because they're trying to help their families. But when they go to work at an early age,
they're more likely to drop out of school and they end up in dead end jobs
where they can never get ahead.
I don't like mining at all. I'd like to go to school full-time
but I can't afford to pay for my uniform or books. I mine so I am able to buy these things
but otherwise, I would never consider mining,.
Governments have a responsibility to ensure that children have access to education
and an adequate standard of living. But governments also have a responsibility
to regulate businesses that might exploit children.
Today's global standards on business and human rights are voluntary.
What that means is that some companies take them seriously
but many companies don't. What we need is for governments to step up
and ensure that there are mandatory rules so that all companies
regardless of where they operate, have to take steps
to ensure that they do not exploit children or any other worker in the production of their goods.