인도 아동노동법: 관련 법규의 결함과 집행의 문제점을 중심으로

While according to the 2001 Census of the Government of India there are 12.6 million children under the age of 14 engaged in child labour, this number in 2010 is estimated as being closer to 40 million. The Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 of India prohibits the employment of children in 'hazardous' works and regulates the conditions of work of children engaged in other 'unhazardous' employment. By enacting the Right of Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 of India, child labour, whether it be engaged in 'hazardous' employment or not, is itself unlawful as an offence against the right of children to free and compulsory education. The complaints relating to this offence shall be inquired into by the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights and shall be tried by Children's Courts for punishment. The Child Labour Act should abolish the distinction between hazardous child labour and unhazardous one, and should be amended to prohibit the employment of children up to the age of 14 in all sectors, including employment in agriculture and allied works or informal industrial sectors, and employment carried on with the aid of the family. The Central Government of India and the State Governments should immediately undertake to find out all the violations of employment of banned child labour as well as work conditions of unbanned child labour, which are punishable even under the present Child Labour Act, and should refer them to Children's Courts for speedy trial. Compulsory primary education is the most effective policy instrument by which the Government of India may substantially reduce and finally eradicate child labour in India. The Central Government of India and the State Governments should provide infrastructure for effective free and compulsory primary education to every child and should actively carry out the task of identifying children between 6 and 14 years of age still out of schools and enrolling them in schools.