Interview: Leading Child Labor Activist Suman

Earlier this week I had the great honor of interviewing Suman, a leading children's rights and anti-trafficking activist in India.  She has been a pioneer in the struggle to end child labor and trafficking in India, tackling all aspects of the issue including: prevention, awareness, intervention, and rehabilitation, and has especially focused on developing methods for children to recover from trafficking.

Amanda: How did you get started as a child rights' advocate?

Suman: I started off because I was getting a lot of complaints from mothers who had lost their children to the carpet industry.  And once we found a few children, we just kept finding more.  I've now been doing this for two decades.  Really what we focus on are the basic human rights of the child: the right to education, the right to food, their fundamental rights.

Amanda: I can see how the issue of education directly affects a child being vulnerable to exploitation in slavery, but how does food access influence child labor in India?

Suman: In India, slavery of children is often based on the poverty of the parents.  It's not the case most often that these parents are unemployed, but rather that they're under-employed.  They work, but are not receiving a proper wage, the minimum wage.  These families have food insecurity, and that food crisis makes it more likely their children will go off and work.  If the parents die, food insecurity is worse.  There is no government safety net, and kids end up either trafficked or on the street.

Amanda: There are no government programs in India that feed children?

Suman: There are programs, but they don't feed all the children, the children at most risk.  One program feeds children ages six and up as long as they are in school.  But not all children are attending school, and there is no food security for [those not in school].  And the school only offers one meal a day.  The traffickers will offer [parents] three meals a day for their child.  But [the traffickers] don't ever give that.    

Amanda: What are the industries in India most children are trafficked into?

Suman: There are many: carpet, child bride, agriculture, brick making, stone cutting, domestic servitude, glass bangles, bidis (Editors Note: bidis are small, hand-rolled cigarettes).

Amanda: Are any of these industries worse than the others? Are the conditions in any of these especially heinous?

Suman: Wherever a child labors, it prohibits that child from getting access to education and health care, so all industries are bad for child labor.  But some have extra health problems, like making glass bangles and bidis.  Agriculture is dangerous because of the pesticides.

Amanda: So what does it take for a child to recover from being enslaved in such hard, dangerous situation?  Are the kids you work with ever able to move on with their lives?     

Suman: Yes.  One boy who came to us in 1992 who was in slavery is now back living in his village.  He is a leader there, an elected official.  He's also an activist against child labor and has helped to educate the families in his village.  You must first care for a child's immediate needs- food, medical care, and such.  Then we work to build skills and self-esteem in both parents and children.  Many of these children come from the lower castes and have been beaten down their whole lives.  We must build their self-esteem.    

Amanda: Speaking of the caste system, I understand that one of the reasons you don't use a last name is that you are hoping to live in a caste-free world.

Suman: In India, the last name is based on your caste, the part of the country you are from, and even your religion.  You can know all these things about a person based on their last name.  We don't use last names with our children, since it builds confidence for them and prevents prejudice. 

Amanda: If you had one wish for the anti-child labor movement in India, what would it be?

Suman: That all the children be in school, be playing, and be enjoying childhood!  The foundation of a society is child rights.  These children tell us the past and the future of society, because they reflect society.