Nearly 200 child labourers rescued from brick kiln in India

Indian聽police rescued nearly 200 children –聽most of them under the age聽of 14 –聽who had been found working in a brick kiln in the聽southern state of Telangana in one of the聽biggest operations in聽the region, officials said.

The children were rescued from a brick kiln in Yadadiri聽district, 25 miles聽from state capital Hyderabad,聽as part of “Operation Smile”, a national campaign to tackle聽child labour and missing children.

The rescued children had moved from the eastern state of聽Odisha and were living and working with adults presumed to be聽their parents in the brick kiln, police said.

“We are not sure if the parents are genuine and there is a聽possibility that some of the children were trafficked,” Mahesh聽Bhagwat, a police commissioner, told the Thomson Reuters聽Foundation.

“The rescue teams spotted girls as young as seven and eight聽carrying bricks on their head. Some of the children were as聽young as four.”

In 2015, the International Labour Organization (ILO) put the聽number of Indian child workers aged between five and 17 at 5.7聽million, out of 168 million globally.

More than half work in agriculture and over a quarter work聽in the manufacturing sector, the ILO said.

P. Achyuta Rao, member of a local state body that has the聽task of protecting child rights, said Telangana and neighbouring聽Andhra Pradesh had become hubs for child trafficking and child聽labour.聽

“Last year more than 3000 children were rescued, many from聽brick kilns and others from domestic servitude. In all cases,聽the children were from eastern India,” said Rao of the Telangana聽State Commission.

Many migrant children end up working alongside their parents聽because of a lack of schools and teachers who can provide聽lessons in their local language, campaigners say.

Local officials said they would investigate why the rescued聽children had not been enrolled in a nearby primary school.