Due to the efforts of children like Geeta, the world was treated to a football feast dished up by Ronaldo and the Brazilian team over the past month, ending with Brazil's World Cup triumph Sunday in Yokohama, Japan.

But Geeta, who is unsure of her age — maybe 10 years, maybe 12 — was not able to revel in the World Cup party in Japan and South Korea. Her fingers tell why — they are scarred, with cuts and bruises, with peeling skin.

They are the fingers of a child employed to stitch footballs used in the playing fields of the world, says Global March Against Child Labour, a New Delhi-based child rights lobby.

''There are children like her who spend long hours in a corner of a dark room to complete orders for footballs exported to Europe and Asia,'' adds this non-governmental organisation (NGO), which highlighted Geeta's plight in a statement released Sunday.

''I have to stitch footballs everyday for long hours,'' Geeta, who lives in Jalandhar, in the Indian state of Punjab, was quoted as saying in the Global March statement. ''I never played with the balls I stitch.''

Respect labour rights

Global March was hoping to use the month-long football extravaganza in Japan and South Korea, the co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup, to drive home its case that the use of child labour in the football production line should be ended, and that ''all standard labour rights are respected''.

Part of that involved the support of Japan's youth, who took to the streets in a demonstration spearheaded by Global March on Jun. 22. They chanted, ''Red card to child labour!''

Prior to that, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched the first ''World Day Against Child Labour,'' on Jun. 12.

The ILO says that abusive forms of child labour remain ''a serious problem'' globally. Ten years after a worldwide campaign against it was launched, about 246 million children aged 5 to 17 worldwide are involved in child labour.

In addition, one in every eight children in the world — some 179 million children aged 5 to 17 — is still being exposed to ''the worst forms of child labour which endanger the child's physical, mental or moral well-being'', according to the ILO report 'A Future Without Child Labour' released early May.

Slavery trafficking

The ILO classifies the worst forms of child labour as slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities.

The Asia-Pacific region ranks as the harshest on its children, with as many as 127 million children between the ages 5 to 14 years, or the bulk of the world total, working, according to the ILO report.

Children like Geeta are among these millions. In Punjab, her state, Global March estimates that some 10,000 children are working to stitch footballs, and the ILO estimates there to be more than 15,000 children doing the same in Pakistan.

Currently, India and Pakistan and, to a lesser extent China, are the major suppliers of footballs, states Global March. ''India and Pakistan account for approximately 80 percent of football productions in the world.'' China, it adds, is ''a rapidly emerging sporting goods market.''

Global March investigators reveal that they have found children in Pakistan putting in 14 hours work a day to produce footballs destined for the sport's governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

In India, such children are paid anywhere between eight to 10 Indian rupees (16 - 20 US cents) for stitching one football, according to Global March. FIFA sells footballs with its logo for US$91 a piece.

Since 1996, FIFA has been pursuing efforts to rid the game of this abuse, including its signing of a 1998 agreement to uphold and promote the ILO's 'Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work'.

To protect children

The sporting goods industry has also backed this drive to protect children. The World Federation of Sports Goods Industry launched the Sports Goods Foundation India, an effort endorsed by FIFA. ''These efforts havecontributed to improving the working conditions of adults and removing some children from work,'' states the Global March statement.

The just concluded World Cup also mirrored FIFA's commitment to this campaign. In November 2001, FIFA told the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that the 2002 World Cup would be dedicated to children as part of UNICEF's 'Say Yes, Campaign'.

''This is the first World Cup dedicated to a cause,'' says Mark Thomas, spokesman at UNICEF's East Asia and Pacific office here. ''We have asked people globally to make a pledge to help children as part of the campaign, help improve their situation.''

The presence of children accompanying all the players as they entered the field during the World Cup was also part of the message FIFA was conveying.

However, Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of the Global March, says there are cracks in the system meant to monitor the production of footballs with the aim of ridding it of child labour. ''We call on FIFA to play a leadership role in bringing all parties together to finally eradicate child labour in the sporting goods industry,'' states Satyarthi. — IPS