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Children's Collectives
\ Child Workers Union / Bal Mazdoor
Union
 Street and working children tend to face insensitivities by many
people who interact with them at several levels. Their rights are
easily violated. Generally looked down upon by people at large, they
constantly face harassment by police and employers, beaten up on false
charges of theft and street brawls.
In order to fight for their rights, the street and working children
have been facilitated to collectively take action for themselves
through the Bal Mazdoor Union-(BMU) or Child Worker’s Union.
 Bal Sabha discussions have led to the emergence of the formation of
the Bal Mazdoor Union or Child Worker's Union. Started in 1991, Bal Mazdoor Union is a collective of street and working children, a
platform of and for children who are denied access to those very basic
rights that are granted to each and every child in India by the
Constitution of our country and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, ratified by the Government of India in 1991. It forms
relationship with children especially street and working children and
not only voices their concerns but also fights for the rights of each
and every child whose right has been violated. Bal Mazdoor Union keeps
abreast on the situation of children’s rights in not only Delhi but
also in the whole of India and the world, holds discussions on these
situations and if needed takes an action.
GOAL
● Strengthen the movement of
working children at national and international level so as to stop the
exploitation of children at all levels
● Provide opportunities for
their growth and development
● Give them their due right
to be consulted and participate in decisions concerning their lives
|
August 1991 INA market, Delhi: An incident catalytic in the formation
of the Bal Mazdoor Union. |
|
Vijay, a street child was beaten up mercilessly by his employer on
false charges of theft. Agitated by this aggression, Vijay slapped the
employer, and this action created a furore. In retaliation, the
shopkeepers and the police joined hands and bashed up all the coolie
boys. Facilitated by Butterflies, an emergency meeting was called in
the evening, wherein a resolution was passed to work in solidarity for
their own cause and take action to safeguard their rights. Thus was
born the Bal Mazdoor Union or the Child Worker's Union. |
What is the role of the BMU?
 The BMU seeks to
● Educate and conscientise
children regarding their rights both as children and as workers
● Negotiate for better
wages and working conditions for working children
● Mobilize public opinion to
redress conditions and pressures that forces the children to work,
including the
situation of poverty and unemployment of their families
BMU’s INVOLVEMENT
● BMU is
an active member of World Movement of Working Children and Adolescents
since its inception in
1996 and has participated in all its meetings
● BMU has
contributed to the identification of like minded children’s
organizations / initiatives in Asia for the
expansion and
strengthening of working children’s movement in
this continent
● At BMU’s
initiative, an Asia level meeting of working children’s organizations
was organized in Kathmandu in August 2005
● BMU
participated in the 2nd world meeting of working children and
adolescents held at Berlin from 19th April-2nd May 2004. The
participants were 30
delegates representing different children's
movement /initiatives from 3 continents viz Asia, Africa and Latin
America. The objective of the meeting was
to consolidate working
children's movement across the world and to challenge the agencies
that oppose child labour and want to eliminate/ban it
without understanding the root causes
● BMU members
also participated in the in the 3rd World Meeting of Working Children
at Siena (Italy) from 15-29 October 2006. 23 representatives of
working children’s forums/collectives from Asia, Africa and Latin
America participated in this meeting. Representatives of all the
movements discussed
their major concerns and came up with a do-able
plan of action along with the strategies for taking their movement
forward and also for making their
lives better. A formal structure of
the world movement of working children was also discussed and decided
during this meeting
Role of Children's forums/BMU to
end the exploitation of working Children Article 15 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
strengthens the children's right to form associations to secure their
rights.
Exercising this very right, the formation of BMU (a clear
expression of children's participation and empowerment) can be a
strategy towards elimination of child labour.
 The street and working children have a hard life to live
and are aware about the issues that confront their existence. Being
forced to work for their survival, and in many cases for the survival
of their families as well, they become aware about their hardships,
significant issues that they have to tackle and so on. BMU provides a
collective forum for such children to come together and fight for
their rights.
Given an insensitive environment around them, BMU helps the
children to organize themselves to protect their own rights.
Child labour has existed and will continue to exist because
of the neglect of the issue in the political decisions and economic
policies of the government, and it is appropriate for an informed
collective like BMU with a broad socio-political vision, to fight for
the rights of children as child workers.
This demand may have a spin off effect on employers, as
agreeing to the demands for equal wages, better working conditions and
additional facilities related to the development needs of children
(e.g. education, health etc.) will cost the employers much more and
child labour will not be an attractive proposition for their
employers.
The Bal Mazdoor Union's aim and commitment is not just to
negotiate for better wages or working conditions, but to mobilize
public opinion to redress conditions and pressures that force children
to work, including the situation of poverty and unemployment of their
parents.
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