In this lesson we will be exploring children’s rights and how they are sometimes abused.

If you had been born two centuries ago, you may have had to work in the mines

Or in the mills, where you might have had a job cleaning the machinery.

You might have started working at the age of four or five.

You would have seen little fresh air, and had no time to play.

The work would probably have been dangerous, and you would have been harshly treated by your overseer.

You would have earned scarcely enough money to pay for your food.

Now, in the 21st Century, children expect a happier childhood.

They have the right to education, and the right to play …….

Sadly, an estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labour - one in six children in the world.

In West Africa children are sold into slavery as domestic servants, for as little as $15, very often to help pay off the family’s debts.

This trafficker is exploiting nine slave children

The parents are told that their child will receive wages, but these are usually taken by the trafficker.

The children often suffer abuse at the hand of their masters.

In South East Asia parents are tricked into believing that their child will be given training and a good job.

They are led to believe that their child is being given an opportunity to escape poverty.

However, it is only the factory owners who profit.

They use the free labour to make cheap goods for people in countries like Britain and America.

In South Asia, 44 million are engaged in child labour.

Many children work for 21 hours, seven days a week, sometimes in silence.

They often eat, sleep and work in the same room.

All doors are guarded, and the windows are barred to prevent escape.

Children often lose their eyesight in the poorly lit sweatshops, or damage their lungs in work places which are full of dust and fumes ……

.

Sometimes child workers are kidnapped, or lured away with presents.

They are not strong enough to stand up to their bosses.

These children are used as free labour by the fishermen of Lake Volta in Ghana. They have to survive on cassava, they aren’t allowed to eat any of the fish they catch.

Child slaves are sometimes recruited to work in stone quarries and mines, and suffer terrible injuries as a result of the back breaking work ………

Many of these children have lost their parents to Aids.

Very small children are taken to countries far from their homes, to perform for the amusement of adults. This little boy is a camel jockey.

These boys are working as soldiers by order of their government, which is putting their lives in peril.

Did you know that children as young as 6 are brought to Britain by traffickers from Eastern Europe, China and Africa, and sent out to beg, work in restaurants and sweatshops?

Anti-slavery International collects information so that people will support them in putting pressure on the governments of the countries where slavery and slave trafficking is taking place, to STOP them.

UNICEF is a world organisation which is dedicated to protecting children from violence, abuse, exploitation.

Robbie Williams is helping them with their campaign against child slavery.

Celebrities are often used to draw attention to important issues.

Save the Children and Comic Relief recognise that the underlying problem is

They have funded projects in Africa involving boys and girls aged 11-18 years in sheep rearing and market gardening.

Children involved in sheep rearing are given a lamb to fatten, along with feed and training in animal care.

Once the sheep has been sold, children are allowed to keep the profit and, if they wish, to reinvest it in another animal.

Children are given a plot of land, gardening tools, seeds, basic gardening skills training, and water pumps. Once the vegetables have been harvested, they are eaten by children’s families or sold for a profit at local markets.

All of the children involved in these activities receive literacy training.

On March 25th 1807 the Slave Trade was abolished in the

British Colonies

200 years later activists, inspired by the courage of men like Olaudah Equiano, are urging world leaders to free all children from bondage and make slavery a thing of the past.

So what rights do you think all children should have?

Surely all children have the right to:• be cared for, if possible by their family• health care• clean water• nutritious food• clean environment• protection from violence• education• relax and play• express their views about what should

happen to them• think and believe what they want• privacy

Glossary

• exploit – make use of• abuse – treat badly• profit – gain (usually money)• slave – someone owned, and forced to

work, for the benefit of another.• trafficker – someone who sells things

(usually illegally)• survive – stay alive• recruit – to take on or hire

Activities to complete this lesson include:

Rate this lesson here.

Click on the image above to view and/or download learning activities.

• a homework activity

• map work• background information on employment

law for children

Useful Web Links• Free lesson plans on child labour

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/teachers/citizenship_11_14/subject_areas/human_rights/newsid_1794000/1794309.stm

• A short film presentation about child labour by the ILO (UN International Labour Organisation) - http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/wdacl/english.htm

• Free teaching resources and info on child mining in Victorian Britain http://www.primaryhistory.org/lessons/children-in-victorian-britain-down-the-mine,30,RSC.html

• http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/Q/qca/victorians/

• The story of children freed from child slavery in Nigeria http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4280000/newsid_4283100/4283107.stm

• Robbie Williams begs for an end to child labour http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3018000/3018802.stm

More Useful Web Links• UNICEF Youth Voice – a website for children and young people promoting

children's rights http://www.unicef.org.uk/youthvoice/

• A UNICEF download for children and young people listing the UN Rights of the Child http://www.unicef.org.uk/youthvoice/pdfs/uncrc.pdf

• SOS: Children in Conflict – SOS Children’s Villages presents learning resources based on examples of their work rehabilitating child soldiers http://www.child-soldier.org/child-soldier-resources

• Teachers and children's resources on child soldiers http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/childsoldiers/whatsgoingon/

• Resources for teachers and children about refugees http://www.refugeeeducation.co.uk/

• Classroom resources on child slavery http://www.antislavery.org

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In 1842, Parliament published a report about the state of coal mining, The Mines Report, and what it said, shocked the nation.

The report informed the public that children under five years of age worked underground as trappers for 12 hours a day and for 2 pennies a day. Older girls carried baskets of dug coal which were far too heavy for them and which caused deformities. 

Ellison Jack, a girl aged 11, claimed to the Commission of Enquiry that she had to do twenty journeys a shift pushing a tub which weighed over 200 kilos. If she showed signs of slacking, she would be whipped. She told them that children had to work in water that came up to their thighs while underground.

The shocking report lead to the Mines Act of 1842.

The youngest children in the textile factories were usually employed as scavengers and piecers. Scavengers had to pick up the loose cotton from under the machinery. This was extremely dangerous as the children were expected to carry out the task while the machine was still working.

Many parents were unwilling to allow their children to work in the factories, so factory owners had to find other ways of getting workers. One solution was to buy children from orphanages and workhouses. These children, who became known as pauper apprentices, were, in effect, the property of the factory owner.

The Factory Extension Act, 1867 limited the hours during which children, young people and women are permitted to work in any manufacturing process.

Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745. His father was a Nigerian chief. When Equiano was 11, he was kidnapped and forced into slavery. He was taken to the West Indies and sold to a Royal Navy officer, Michael Pascal.

Pascal took Equiano to London where, unusually, he was allowed to learn how to read and write, which most slaves were not allowed to do. When he had the opportunity to sell goods, he was able to save up and eventually, in 1766, buy his own freedom.

In 1789, he wrote and published his autobiography. This was the first account of slavery written by a former slave. His book made people realise that the idea that Africans were happy and led better lives as slaves was a lie.

People began to admire Equiano for his courage, creativity and culture.

Through his public appearances across the country between 1789 and 1794, Equiano showed people how cruel the slave trade was, and helped to overcome many of the prejudices about Africans that had helped excuse it.

Equiano organised other black men to write letters against slavery, and regularly lobbied MPs. His campaigning helped bring about the first laws leading to the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.

If you enjoyed this lesson, why not try:

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How the welfare state provides a basic level of care for all citizens. The role of the Chancellor. Democracy.