THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            191
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  URGING THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO
    PASS LAWS TO PROHIBIT AMERICAN COMPANIES FROM
    MANUFACTURING GOODS USING CHILD LABOR OR FROM PURCHASING
    GOODS FROM FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS THAT USE CHILD LABOR.


 1        WHEREAS, many children in developing countries, or in
 2   countries that are in transition to a market economy, are
 3   employed in the export sector, especially plantations and the
 4   textile, garment, footwear, and sporting goods industries; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, many of these child workers are subject to
 7   inhumane and hazardous working conditions, including slavery,
 8   debt bondage, child prostitution, and sexual abuse and are
 9   usually badly paid, if at all; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, the International Labor Organization has
12   developed and tested a survey methodology which estimates that
13   a total of 250 million children worldwide are working:  half of
14   these children between the ages of five and fourteen are
15   working full time and at least one-third are performing
16   dangerous work; and
17   
18        WHEREAS, according to International Labor Organization
19   statistics, 61 per cent of all working children or nearly 153
20   million are found in Asia, 32 per cent or 80 million are in
21   Africa, and 7 per cent or 17.5 million live in Latin America;
22   and
23   
24        WHEREAS, even though Asia has the largest total number of
25   child workers, Africa has the highest proportion of its minors
26   working -- 40 per cent of the children between 5 and 14 years
27   old; and
28   
29        WHEREAS, although poverty is the most important reason for
30   child labor, followed by lack of schooling and illiteracy,
31   oftentimes social traditions explain the persistence of child
32   labor; and
33   
34        WHEREAS, furthermore, because of different cultural and
35   economic traditions among nations, there is not a generally
36   accepted minimum age for work, and even the concept of "work"

 
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 1   is defined or interpreted differently among countries; and
 2   
 3        WHEREAS, for example, not all work done by children can be
 4   defined as child labor:  in many societies, children who work
 5   along with their parents are viewed as learning to live in
 6   society; and apprenticeships are seen as part of a young
 7   person's education and preparation for a livelihood; and
 8   
 9        WHEREAS, work by children clearly becomes child labor,
10   however, if the work being performed is "harmful to [a child's]
11   physical or mental health, safety, and development"; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, several international organizations have made
14   eradication of child labor a priority; and
15   
16        WHEREAS, in 1989, the United Nations approved the
17   Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely
18   subscribed international convention in history, which includes
19   general restrictions on child labor; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, Article 32 of the Convention recognized "the
22   right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation
23   and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or
24   to interfere with the child's education or to be harmful to the
25   child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social
26   development"; and
27   
28        WHEREAS, the International Labor Organization, has adopted
29   a number of conventions restricting the work of minors,
30   including Convention No. 138 (1973), entitled "Minimum Age for
31   Admission to Employment," which sets the following minimum age
32   requirements:  age 15 or not less than the age of completion of
33   compulsory schooling, if higher than 15, for admission to
34   employment or work; and age 18 for hazardous work; and
35   
36        WHEREAS, these age limits are written into the national
37   legislation of countries that formally agree on the Minimum Age
38   Convention; and
39   
40        WHEREAS, despite these efforts, the problem of child labor
41   persists; and
42   
43        WHEREAS, more needs to be done to fight child labor,
44   including a firm expression of political will at the highest
45   level; now, therefore,
46   

 
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 1        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
 2   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
 3   Representatives concurring, that the President and the Congress
 4   of the United States are urged to enact laws to prohibit
 5   American companies from manufacturing goods using child labor
 6   or from purchasing goods from manufacturers in foreign
 7   countries that exploit child labor; and
 8   
 9        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
10   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
11   United States, the President of the United States Senate, the
12   Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the
13   members of Hawaii's delegation to the Congress of the United
14   States.
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18                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________