Hello readers! This week’s blog is going to follow the same topic as last week, child labor, but this time we’re
going to focus specifically on an article recently released by CNN, written based on an extensive interview with Siddharth Kara, a Harvard fellow and human trafficking expert.
Kara is currently traveling the world reporting back on issues related to human trafficking and child labor. Kara told CNN that he documented 32 cases of forced labor and 14 cases of child labor occurring in construction related to the Commonwealth Games to be held next month in New Delhi. He told CNN that the use of child labor was a widespread and well known issue within New Delhi. As mentioned in last week’s blog, child labor occurs as a result of numerous factors including poverty, lack of opportunities and a supply of vulnerable populations such as young children living in India’s slums.
Kara noted that “children were working, picking up hammers, banging stones, paving entry ways and planting grass along the raods to beautify them, hours at a time…(he) documented children aged seven, eight, nine, ten years old working alongside their families in a mad rush to get the construction completed.” Additionally, these families were living in sub-human conditions. Kara reported that he tried to contact Indian government officials to report what he had found but had no response. Ironically, the Commonwealth Games, this year to be held in New Dehli come with the mission of creating a suitable enviroment and opportunities for the involvement of Indian citizens in the Games as well as a core value of transparency.
While we cannot say for sure that the Indian Government was aware of the use of child labor in preparation for the Games, what can be gleamed from this article is that when there is a demand for cheap labor, and a supply of vulnerable workers, more often than not these will be exploited. Further, many people, including government officials, will turn a blind eye to these abuses. As shown in Kara’s case, these workers often include children as young as six and the effects of their labor, both physically and psychologically can last for the rest of their lives.
The children who are to benefit from the work of the Kullu Valley Bike Project live at an orphanage in Kullu Valley. They are a prime example of a vulnerable population which often fills the ranks of child laborers. Fortunately, through the work of those around them, they are being shielded from this monstrosity. Though these children live in conditions that many of us in the United States may consider unbearable: 16 children sharing two rooms and one bathroom, the children are able, through the support of local shop owners in their town and outside volunteers, to attend school and have a home. Without the donations of those in the village and the support of volunteers and organizations like the Kullu Valley Bike Project, these children would most likely end up working as child labors in back breaking jobs such as stone crushing or weaving.
The Kullu Valley Bike Project strives to improve the lives of the orphanages at Kullu Orphanage, in addition to that of others in the region, through the development of a bike co-op and advenure biking eco-tourism program.
When Grady arrives in India he will teach these children the joy of bike riding as well as how to maintain bikes and lead tours, all of which will contribute to a sustainable form of income and local industry which will keep them from the clutches of child labor and unscrupulous employers who wish to exploit them.
KVBP's Carly Reed Talks About the Commonwealth Games, Child Labor, & KVBP - Pittsburgh Human Rights Network\\
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