3071-The political economy of new slavery

8 Introduction
of this system. It then assesses existing legislation in all three countries
and identifies lacunae in the law, especially in providing successful
implementation mechanisms. This is followed by a discussion of the
major components of programmatic actions taken against this system
by various governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental
organizations. The chapter ends with conclusions and recommendations
both in terms of reinterpreting the system and reorienting actions.
The author suggests a rights-based approach to the understanding of
the problem and programme-planning as a way forward. An example
of rights-based analysis will be presented to contribute to the understanding
of the problem.
Chapter 8 discusses the occurrence of the worst forms of child labour
in Honduras as an example of a contemporary form of slavery. The
author questions Western conceptions of childhood with regard to their
applicability in non-Western countries and reviews the shift in perceptions
of child labour in the context of Honduras. The question is asked
as to what is wrong with children working and a sensitive position is
developed to recommend that international law should combat the
worst forms of child labour in the first instance. A recurrent theme is
the distinctions between child work, child labour and child slavery.
Child work is more benign and usually takes place in the home; child
labour is outside the home and more harmful and detrimental to the
child; child slavery is child work for no pay and under the threat of
violence. Although not perfect, these distinctions do help to recognize
that not all child work is harmful. Child labour increased as a result
of the debt crisis in Honduras. Another major factor is the Aids epidemic;
Honduras has 57 per cent of all Latin American cases. The author
appraises Honduras’ policy on combating the worst forms of child
labour in the light of recent international legislation. The chapter ends
with an assessment of the possibilities for success in combating the
worst forms of child labour in Honduras. The way forward, it is argued,
is to prioritize the implementation of ILO Convention 182. Longer term,
all causes for exploitative child labour should be addressed. This means
eradicating poverty.
In Chapter 9 the author presents her recent work on child labour
in the cocoa industry in Ghana. She points out that Ghana is not
representative, since the government has only recently been forced
to partially liberalize the cocoa industry; they have long been the sole
trading channel for cocoa exports and still set the minimum price to be
paid to farmers. They have also limited the power of foreign buying
companies, hence cocoa is being grown on small family farms rather
than on big multinational-owned plantations. Cocoa grows better in