Archive/File: places/sudan/slavery/press/children-in-bondage
Last-Modified: 1997/01/29
Source: The Baltimore Sun, June 23, 1996 (Editorial, 3F)

Children in bondage: It's not only in Sudan
By Sara Engram


THE STONY expressions on the faces of Garang Deng Kuot and
Akok Deng Kuot were eloquent in their testimony to the toll bondage
takes on the human spirit. At an age when the eyes of other boys
would show sparks of curiosity at the mission of two foreigners in
their midst, these young boys evidently had no emotions to spare.

Bought and freed from slavery by two Sun reporters as a way of
proving the existence of slavery in Sudan, these Dinka boys were
fortunate to be reunited with their family. But six years of
servitude had robbed them of childhood and whatever innocence is
left for children in a war-torn, impoverished corner of the world.

The Sun's dramatic account of slavery in Sudan provides proof
that traditional slavery still stains parts of the globe. But the
bondage of children is not limited to Sudan, nor to traditional
slavery.

The International Labor Organization estimates that tens or
even hundreds of millions of children are exploited for cheap
labor. It defines "child labor" to cover all economic activities
carried out by persons younger than 15 years old. The term does not
include household work performed by children in their parents'
home, unless their duties prevent them from attending school.

The system that enslaved the Dinka boys has been fueled by
war, but the common thread to the forced labor of children is
poverty. Sometimes that poverty is simply the grinding routine of
subsistence living, in which families must eke out each day's
necessities from meager resources.

Sometimes, however, those conditions reflect misplaced
national priorities -- such as focusing on big, showy development
projects at the expense of funneling opportunities to the poorest;
or funding the military instead of making sure children get an
education.

Whatever the reasons for forced child labor, the harsh
conditions of these children's lives are tragic. A 1993 report of
child labor in Africa in the International Labor Review contained
this description of simply watering the herd:

"When the well is deep (40 to 50 meters), water must be drawn
up with the help of a team of animals. The child must lead the team
to the end of the pumping track and then lead it back to the well,
often at a run. Assuming a well depth of 40 meters and a container
averaging 30 liters, the child has to travel 27 kilometers back and
forth in order to water a herd of 200 camels."

As the report noted, one effect of this exhausting labor is to
drive young people into cities, where even crowded, unsanitary
conditions considered unacceptable by most people represent to them
a welcome improvement.

If the labor is often backbreaking, it can also break the spirit.

This is especially true for girls, who are forced into lives
as concubines for their masters or as captives in the sex trade.
The AIDS epidemic has driven up the demand for young girls, who are
considered less likely to be carrying the virus.

These children face a particularly sordid form of bondage --
one essentially sanctioned by national authorities and the
international tourism agents who specialize in fueling the sex
trade. Not surprisingly, in addition to the physical price they
pay, their isolation from their families and their confined
conditions often produce severe psychological disorders.

Throughout the world

Egregious forms of child labor are not limited to one or two
benighted places in the world. The ILO reports evidence of
traditional forms of child slavery, like that experienced by the
Dinka boys, in South Asia and the sub-Saharan strip of East Africa.
Instances have also been found in two Latin American countries.

Equally disturbing are more contemporary forms of bondage,
which the ILO says are evolving all over the world. These forms of
bondage may make an adult's work contract contingent on the
availability of a child. Or they may involve the actual exchange of
a child for a sum of money described as an advance on wages.

However the transaction occurs, the result is the same -- a
child robbed of opportunity for education and, often, of any chance
of growing into a healthy adult.

In many cases, poor children miss out on the chance for a
better life by the smallest of margins. A program designed to help
Mayan girls in Guatemala attend elementary school provides
"scholarships" of about $6 a month to pay for necessities like
pencils, notebooks and shoes.

In families where the breadwinner brings home about $2 a day
for working in the fields, that small amount, about the price of a
movie ticket, makes a big difference.

Study after study shows that education significantly raises a
family's living standards. In particular, a girl's education will
have a direct impact on the health and success of her own children.

Giving children access to education is one way to help end the
poverty that fuels child bondage. Another essential ingredient is
public awareness -- and outrage -- at every form of bondage.

The world now knows that this evil still thrives. Shall we
tolerate it? Or stamp it out?

Sara Engram is deputy editorial-page editor of The Sun.
Pub Date: 6/24/96

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