Child Labour : the Facts

CHILD LABOUR : THE FACTS

How many? Estimates of the number of child workers worldwide are notoriously unreliable*. This is partly because the definition of child labour is unclear: at what point does helping out the family become work? But it is also because governments are not keen* to measure a phenomenon that is officially not supposed to exist. The best estimate of 250 million comes from the International Labour Organization. But this excludes children in the industrialized world and also does not measure the child workers hidden from the statistician's view, notably girls doing domestic work. Including these child workers would push the total up to 500 million.

LABUR - THE FACTS Isn't there a law against it? Most countries have laws against child labour. But those laws are routinely abused and the very definition of exploitative child work varies all over the world . The International Labour Organization's Minimum Age Convention sets a basic minimum age for employment of 15 years while allowing light work at 13 and prohibiting hazardous* work until 18. But only 49 countries have ratified the Convention and none of these are countries considered to have the highest incidence of hazardous child labour.

Where are they? Most child workers in the South are to be found in Asia. But these figures are slightly misleading*. Given that the population is much higher in Asia than elsewhere, the proportion of African children who work is twice as high as in Asia. While the most extreme examples of exploitative child labour tend to come from Asia, an African child is more likely to work. Official figures always tend to underestimate the numbers of children working. But an ILO study of child workers aged 10 to 14 indicates which countries have the highest incidence* of child labour. Notable by their absence from the top ten are the countries most readily* associated with child labour - India and Pakistan - whose respective percentages were 14.37% and 17.67%.

VOCABULARY:

unreliable: peu fiable slightly misleading: légèrement trompeur to be keen to : tenir à incidence: taux hazardous: dangereux readily associated: volontiers associés I- THE TEXT

A- Répondez en français aux questions suivantes.

1. Pourquoi les chiffres sur le travail des enfants sont-ils aussi peu fiables ? (2pts)

2. A combien le nombre d’enfants au travail est-il estimé ? Quel est probablement le véritable chiffre ? (1pt)

3. Que dit la Convention sur l’Age Minimum créée par l’Association International des Travailleurs? Combien de pays l’ont-ils ratifiée ? (2pts)

4. Sur quel continent retrouve-t-on le plus d’enfants qui travaillent ? (1pt)

B- Transformez les phrases du texte suivantes: (2pts)

- à la voix passive: 49 countries have ratified the Convention

- à la voix active: those laws are abused by many people

C- Expression écrite [les 5 points seront retirés à toute personne n’ayant pas essayé] (5pts)

What do you think about child labour? ( 6 to 8 lines )

II- THE LESSON

A- Complétez ce texte avec les mots ci-dessous (5pts)

must - leaves- poor – looks – long – basket – holding – field – in order to - working

This girl is ______in a ______. She’s ______a ______full of coffee or tea ______. She ______come from a ______family so she needs to work ______earn money. She ______very tired because she probably works all day ______without a break.

B- Mettez ces phrases au passif (avec le complément d’agent si nécessaire) (12pts)

1. We expect children to play not to work 2. This woman has killed our cat 3. Everybody should see this Indian film. 4. Jerome Bosch painted this wonderful picture. 5. Marilyn is writing a love letter 6. Someone always knocked on the door. 7. This shop sells excellent candies. 8. The police will fire at him if he doesn’t surrender. 9 A car has run them over. 10. She gave me a kiss as I was passing by. 11. Experienced craftsmen will teach him. 12. Tiffany loves me.