Child gem worker exploitation exposed in video

By T. Sima Gunawan

OSLO (JP): An ugly and shocking facet of the diamond and gemstone trade was exposed yesterday in a video on the exploitation of child workers in the industry was shown here at the International Conference on Child Labor.

Representatives of 40 nations watched footage showing some of the thousands of children who cut and polish raw diamonds and other gems in sweatshops throughout the world.

Delegates saw how the diamond and gemstone industries make hundreds of millions of dollars profit around the world, but their workers -- many of them children -- receive low wages and work in poor conditions.

The video showing the dirty business of precious stones was presented by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Universal Alliance of Diamond Workers, and the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical and Professional Employees.

An accompanying report titled Precious Lives says India, one of the world's biggest diamond and gemstone cutting centers, polishes between 40 percent and 70 percent of the global diamond yield in terms of weight and value.

About 800,000 people are estimated to work in the diamond industry. The most conservative estimate of the number of children in the diamond processing industry is 20,000 but ICFTU representative Simon Stein said Monday that the number was more likely between 80,000 and 160,000.

"A child can handle 10 diamonds and earn about 5 Krone (70 US cents)," he said.

The industry operates a piece-rate pay system, so the average day can be as long as 12 hours to 14 hours, without overtime or weekly holidays.

"Workplace conditions are generally bad, being congested and poorly lit and ventilated, and over half of the industry's workforce suffer from work-related ailments," the report says.

ICFTU calls for both the government and multinational corporations involved in the diamond and gemstone industries to pay serious attention to the issue.

"These industries could make a far greater positive contribution to the development process, rather than exploiting children and paying poverty wages," the report says.

The general view of the conference, which yesterday was attended by some 350 people, is that children should go to school instead of to work, although many realize that there is a long way to go before child labor is abolished.

Child workers themselves have different ideas about the elimination of child labor.

In the Children's Forum, organized by Save the Children Alliance, some said they would prefer an education if they had the choice, some wanted to combine education and work, and some said they would prefer to work.

Arist Merdeka Sirait of the Jakarta-based Kompak, an organization of child workers, said the children enjoyed working. "What they want is a better wage."

The four-day Oslo Conference ends tomorrow with the adoption of an Agenda for Action, a basis for national and regional policies on child labor.

In the earlier sessions delegates discussed ways to solve child labor problems through practical action like legislation, education and social mobilization.

A political session is due to open today, with ministers and heads of delegations delivering statements.