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CHILDHOOD IN CHAINS
Presented by a class of thirteen year olds as a shadow play at the Hear the Children Day Celebration in Milan, Italy September 16, 1997 presented by the International Children’s Peace Council-Italy .The drama illustrates why the Convention on the Rights of the Child needs to be fully and promptly implemented. The focus is on Convention Article 32 and child labour.
INTRODUCTION
(A large backdrop is shown with the title “Childhood in Chains.”)
Narrator:
The abuse of children fills the news reports daily. Fifty thousand children ask for help on the blue phone line. Four million children are mutilated by war.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child says:
(A different voice speaks each phrase )
I have the right to have a name.
I have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
I have the right to seek information needed for my well being.
I have the right to be protected from any form of violence.
I have the right to receive assistance in case of need.
I have the right to education.
I have the right to leisure, recreation and relaxation.
I have the right to be protected from any exploitation.
ACT I
Narrator:
No child should be forced to do heavy labour dangerous to his or her health. Convention States Parties should approve and enforce laws which establish at what age one can work, how many hours one can work and in under what conditions. Whoever does not observe these laws must be punished.
The International Organization of Labour informs us that one hundred and fifty million children are compelled to work under conditions detrimental to their health. For example, from July to October on the Nile Delta children are used to harvest jasmine flowers because their hands are small. The essence from these flowers is used to make precious perfumes in France. The harvest has to take place just before dawn when the perfume is most intense and the plants are bathed in dew.
Child’s Voice (Speaks as actors portray a day in the life of a jasmine labourer)
I have been sleeping only a few hours and again I have to get up so soon !
For three months I have awakened at one thirty in the morning, put on my working clothes and hurried out to go to work.
They point bright lights in my face and push me on to a truck with crowded with other sleepy, hungry children.
The road is full of holes. The driver goes too fast. I am frightened ! Last week a truck turned over and my friend Fatima landed in the hospital. No more jasmine harvesting for her !
I hurry to the field. It is dark ! My hands have to move quickly. Dew is bathing my clothes. I am cold ! I am shivering ! My basket always seems empty. The jasmine flowers play hide-and-seek with me. They drop from my hands which are numb with cold and have no feeling.
I am a small child and I don’t want to spoil the plants. I move quickly, but I don’t use perfume. I am a child. I am tired. I would like to sleep at night and have some play during the day.
The boss is telling me to hurry up. Time never seems to pass. Fill the baskets !
Oh, jasmine, why are you so small ? It is finally eleven o’clock and my day is finished !
Narrator:
Egyptian children work ten hours a day for four months at a time. Their wages for this work are equivalent to the cost of one bottle of perfume.
ACT II
Narrator:
Bad news has also arrived from China. The climate of freedom given to foreign businessmen has been translated into the freedom to exploit workers- and most of all, children !
Scene 1. - The Doll Factory Backdrop
Hung Bid Yun works in a toy factory owned by a big multi-national concern with its head office in Hong Kong. For fourteen hours a day she puts pieces of dolls together.
Hung Bid Yun:
My work is hard and monotonous. I have no time to go to school. Fortunately there are many children to joke with in the factory.
Scene 2. - Christmas Window Display Backdrop
Narrator:
At Christmas there are many orders coming in from the United States and the girls work 24 hours at a time and are only allowed two breaks for meals.
Scene 3. - Girls Finishing the Dolls Backdrop
The authorities have asked the heads of the toy factory to respect the law regarding child labour.
Adult Man’s Voice:
Things must stay the way they are in the toy factory or we will not have enough profits. If you do not let us handle our affairs in our own way, we will move our business to Thailand or the Philippines !”
Scene 4. - Red Light Makes Hand Shadows Backdrop
Narrator:
The hands of children are all the same... or is it that only the hands of the children in the poorest countries that are all the same ??????
ACT III
Narrator:
In India and Pakistan millions of children are sold as slaves to pay off the family debts. As slaves they are used to make knots on very tight threads. They sit on benches for fifteen hours a day holding their arms up. The watchmen take care of the children only when they get hurt by the knives used to fray the knots. They put the heads of burnt matches into a wound so the child can continue to work without soiling the carpets with blood. A boy named Iqbal has been chained to a loom. This is his story....
Scene 1. (children, including Iqbal, sing and play Ring-around -a-Rosie.)
In his early childhood, Iqbal played happily with his friends.
Scene 2. (The kidnapping of Iqbal is acted out )
When he was only four years old he was sold as a slave to a carpet factory.
Scene 3. (Iqbal is seen being chained to a loom)
He becomes chained to a loom like hundreds of other children in Pakistan. With their small hands they must continuously make knots in coarse woolen threads. They are ill treated, insulted and beaten.
Scene 4. (Iqbal is shown breaking his chains)
He regains his freedom, but it costs him an incredible sacrifice. With his words he encourages other children to break the chains that bind them to their masters.
Scene 5. (Children are seen demonstrating at a meeting.)
Iqbal takes part in a big demonstration of protest. He starts his work as a trade union promoter and reports on the atrocious conditions of the many child slaves. He wins an international prize and with that money decides to pay for his education. He wants to become a lawyer and fight for justice for child labourers.
Scene 6. (Iqbal is seen riding a bicycle)
He returns to his village on his bicycle. He thinks about the childhood which was denied him by others ...and he dreams.....
Scene 7 (A man with a gun is shown shooting Iqbal)
He is killed by a bullet at the tender age of twelve. It happened on April 16, 1994.
Scene 8 (A funeral procession is seen)
However, a bullet cannot kill a dream !
PROLOGUE
Narrator:
Today the dream of Iqbal has become the dream of young people throughout the world. If many children join together, then the adults will start to listen to them.” WE have decided to join the campaign and to be listened to. Won’t you join us ??
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