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Published on November 23, 2007

  It is reassuring to know the Social Development and Human Security Ministry has taken an interest in the issue of child boxing, with a view to determining whether it is a form of exploitation or a sporting necessity to identify young talent at a tender age. The move is not a moment too soon. Boxing promoters, medical professionals and social workers still cannot agree on what is the most appropriate age at which children should take up boxing, or how to protect child boxers from possible long-term physical, emotional and mental damage.

A Child Watch Project survey carried out by the Ramjitti Institute found that many of the country's estimated 8,000 child boxers aged under 15 are engaged in competitive, semi-professional bouts. This is disturbing. According to the report, many are made to fight to supplement family income. Many suffer poor academic performance or drop out of school completely.

The survey released on Tuesday - Unicef's international day of children's rights -provides evidence that many child boxers suffer irreversible damage to their health, including stunted growth, brain damage, disability and, in extreme circumstances, have even died.

The Social Development and Human Security Ministry must now decide whether putting children in a boxing ring, voluntarily or otherwise, constitutes cruel treatment and a violation of their rights.

Even children in the poorest households have the right to grow up in a loving home, to be nurtured by their family, and to be educated in order to give them the best opportunity to become healthy, productive members of society.

The excuses made by people who either enjoy watching child boxing or who don't care about poor children missing out on education or opportunities are invariably the same: poor children don't really have any choice but to earn their keep, and many volunteer to take up boxing to show gratitude to their parents.

If the ministry really cares about the future of our children, it must come up with hard and fast rules to make it abundantly clear that poverty is no excuse for parents to deny their children a proper education and a decent upbringing. No young child should need to make a living in the boxing ring, hurting themselves and their opponents in order to earn money to help their families.

The Social Development and Human Security Ministry, the Education Ministry and other government agencies run a wide range of social welfare programmes designed to help the poorest and most destitute families. These programmes help to keep children in school, provide them with nutritious meals, and offer a head start in life that their parents never had.

Only when all needy children are properly cared for and protected from manipulation or abuse by adults, should we begin to discuss how to regulate boxing, particularly for child boxers. At the very least, children should be given the chance to decide which sport they want to participate in.

If boxing is the choice, then stringent measures based on child development, personal safety and medical consideration must apply. Every effort must be taken to protect young boxers from possible long-term damage to their health and well-being.

Given the fact that it is best to start any sport, including boxing, at a young age, well-designed protective gear, made to a high standard, must be made mandatory. In addition, the minimum age that a child is permitted to take up boxing should be fixed at 12, and trainers and parents made to adhere to strict rules regarding intensity and duration of training. Such training must not be too strenuous, must not adversely affect physical growth, must not disrupt schooling, and must be closely monitored by teachers, parents and doctors.

Different rules have to be drawn up for training and competitive boxing matches between underage boxers. These rules must be different from those that apply to boxers of legal age, those aged 15 and over. Perhaps most importantly, emphasis should be placed not upon the violence of the sport but upon the skill and technique: the accuracy in the delivery of punches or kicks; good footwork; and evasion and defensive skills, among other things.

The Nation