Soccer’s world governing body stands accused of ignoring children who are exploited by the manufacturers of soccer balls.
”The biggest challenge facing the football world is to banish child labour from the work force engaged in producing balls and other equipment,” said Kailash Satyarti, chairman of Global March Against Child Labour.
”Children continue to be used for stitching balls and forfeit their right to education and recreation. The soccer world doesn’t seem to be showing any remorse,” Satyarti told reporters in New Delhi in the runup to the World Cup.
Fifa representative Keith Cooper said the balls in question were not used at soccer’ biggest tournament.
”Global March refers to balls that have no connection with Fifa or the World Cup whatsoever,” Cooper said. Global March Against Child Labor is a New Delhi-based international coalition of more than 2 000 non-governmental organisations, trade unions, teacher unions and social groups.
Its core partners are the International Confederation of Free Trade Union and Education International, a global alliance of teachers’ unions, whose collective membership is more than 20 million.
”As long as children continue to be exploited by manufacturers of football equipment, the game has no legitimate right to identify itself with fair play,” he said.
He said soccer fans need to spare a thought for these children who will probably never get a chance to kick a soccer ball.
Global March against Child Labour, releasing its investigation into the condition of workers in soccer industry in India, Pakistan and China, disclosed that child labour was rampant in manufacturing of sports equipment.
The study asserts says there were several thousand children engaged in stitching soccer balls, but finds it impossible to give an exact number.
Navdeep Singh, a representative of the industry-funded Sports Goods Foundation of India, acknowledged that ”child labour continued to exist” and that manufacturers were monitoring and rehabilitating child workers.
Satyarthi accused the International Football Federation of dragging its feet in monitoring licensed manufacturers despite signing up to the Code of Labor Practice for Production of Goods Licensed by Fifa in 1996.
Cooper denied the accusations, saying the game’s governing body had been working on the issue of child labour for six years.
”Fifa is one of the few sports organisations that have done anything about it,” Cooper said.
Satyarthi countered that soccer’s image continued to be tainted by the prevalence of child labour. He said several major clubs had agreed not to use balls that might have been stitched by children, but Fifa continued to collect license fees from manufacturers who exploit child labour.
”Our study group took photographs of several children stitching balls carrying Fifa?s stamp of approval,” said Phillippe Roy, who headed the study in Pakistan’s Sialkot town and produced a film of children engaged in stitching balls.
Satyarthi said more than 50% of the world’s soccer balls were made in the three countries covered by this study. He said several of these balls were ”promotional balls” being made for soccer’s sponsors, but these were licensed by Fifa.
He said Fifa had lost a chance to stem the prevalence of child labour when it ignored a plea to debar companies from using the 2002 World Cup logo if they did not cooperate in providing evidence of their operations.
”In the shadow of the World Cup’s festivity, thousands of children lose their precious childhood by stitching footballs and producing other merchandize,” Satyarthi said. ”They become the hidden victims of every football extravaganza.”
Highlighting the plight of exploited children, Global March Against Child Labour launched a campaign ”Kick Child Labor Out of the World” to coincide with the World Cup.
This campaign was launched by a 14-year-old Indian girl, Sonia Kumari, a former soccer ball stitcher, who appealed to the world to help her friends be able to go to school.
”Fair play should not be limited to players on the field, but also include the producers of sporting goods,” Kumari said. – Sapa-AP