According to a common position paper adopted by 16 UN organisations, India has the largest number of child workers in the world. The paper was launched by the UN resident co-ordinator of India, Brenda Gael McSweeney and her counterpart at the International Labour Organisation, L P Passun. However, they recognised that the problem of child labour in India is very complex.

The paper states that the most exploitative forms of child labour include child prostitution and forced and bonded labour. The paper calls for special attention to the girl child labourer.

United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that 90 per cent of indus- trialised hazardous waste produced by the world is exported to developing countries. According to a consultant, most of the haz- ardous commodities are exported on the pretext that they will be recycled at their destination. This despite the fact that it is common knowledge that most of the importing nations do not have the facility to recycle such waste. The ban in trade for recycling took effect from January 1998, following a Convention on Global Trade in Toxic Wastes.