A qualitative case study of child protection issues in the Indian construction industry: investigating the security, health, and interrelated rights of migrant families

Abstract

BackgroundMany of India’s estimated 40 million migrant workers in the construction industry migrate with their children. Though India is undergoing rapid economic growth, numerous child protection issues remain. Migrant workers and their children face serious threats to their health, safety, and well-being. We examined risk and protective factors influencing the basic rights and protections of children and families living and working at a construction site outside Delhi.MethodsUsing case study methods and a rights-based model of child protection, the SAFE model, we triangulated data from in-depth interviews with stakeholders on and near the site (including employees, middlemen, and managers); 14 participants, interviews with child protection and corporate policy experts in greater Delhi (8 participants), and focus group discussions (FGD) with workers (4 FGDs, 25 members) and their children (2 FGDs, 9 members).ResultsAnalyses illuminated complex and interrelated stressors characterizing the health and well-being of migrant workers and their children in urban settings. These included limited access to healthcare, few educational opportunities, piecemeal wages, and unsafe or unsanitary living and working conditions. Analyses also identified both protective and potentially dangerous survival strategies, such as child labor, undertaken by migrant families in the face of these challenges.ConclusionsBy exploring the risks faced by migrant workers and their children in the urban construction industry in India, we illustrate the alarming implications for their health, safety, livelihoods, and development. Our findings, illuminated through the SAFE model, call attention to the need for enhanced systems of corporate and government accountability as well as the implementation of holistic child-focused and child-friendly policies and programs in order to ensure the rights and protection of this hyper-mobile, and often invisible, population.

Nutrition among children of migrant construction workers in Ahmedabad, India

“…Families also reported lack of familiarity with health systems in urban areas especially when they had to locate services at a new location each time. These findings reflect similar experiences elsewhere, where households delay seeking healthcare for sick children because of distance or high out of pocket expenditure contributing further to morbidity and mortality [4, 62, 63].…”

“…In the city, migrant households mostly engage in temporary work that are characterized by low wages, insecure jobs, harsh recruitment regimes and economic vulnerability, which are known to be typical of informal work environments [2, 3]. A crucial aspect of labour migration in India is that many migrant households move with their entire families including children2 [4, 5]. Previous research in India has shown that even though migration provides economic opportunities to households, migrant children face several disadvantages in the destination region.…”

“…Several studies have also documented that the uptake of immunization is low among migrants [9] because of lack of awareness, time constraints, high costs incurred for vaccination and difficulty in traveling to health centres in urban areas [10–13]. As children stay unattended at their parents worksites, exposed to unhygienic living conditions and unsafe environment there are large concerns about their safety, and overall health and wellbeing [4, 14]. While these studies provide critical insights on the experiences of migrant children in the city, an in-depth analysis of the link between migration, parents’ informal work environment and nutritional wellbeing remains underexplored.…”

‘Haven of safety’ and ‘secure base’: a qualitative inquiry into factors affecting child attachment security in Nairobi, Kenya

“…Poverty creates multiple stressors for families, including unemployment, substandard housing and schooling, exposure to violence, substance abuse, inadequate health care and parental absence (Staveteig & Wigton, 2005; Betancourt et al, 2013) leading to impoverishment in different aspects of child caregiving (De Wolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997; Walker et al, 2007). Attachment security in late childhood and adolescence is recognized as an important protective factor for different type of psychopathology later in life (Moretti & Peled, 2004).…”

Research on the Influence of Migrant Workers on Rural Construction and Economic Development

“…For children, school teachers are required to implement "one to one, one to one" approach to child care, to care for and help children grow; for the elderly, the elderly can arrange regular visits to families, regularly arrange doctors' physical examination [10]. Especially in the rural township government should increase investment in rural public health, accelerate the construction and transformation of township hospitals and village clinics; the construction of urban and rural social security system, improve the medical security level of farmer participation, to further promote the new rural endowment insurance policy; improve the rural elderly, left behind children, elderly people living alone and other special survival in the crowd, to create a good social atmosphere for the whole society to care for the people left behind.…”