dependent on such income they become easy targets for exploitation. Fifteen-yearold Nurullah F., who unloaded heavy cargo from trucks in a factory, told us, At the beginning the owner told me if I got a work permit I would get 29 Euros a day. After 20 days [he said] 400 Euros was sufficient and that I should leave. Because I worked overtime he owed me 300 Euros more. When I asked about overtime the owner told me if I needed more time to do [the same job] it was my choice.275 Exploitation of children at their workplace in some cases may reach the level of forced labor. Wali N. arrived to Greece in 2004 at the age of 14. He traveled to Athens on his own, trusted in a stranger he managed to communicate with and was put to work for seven months: [In Athens] I recognized a person… who spoke Bangla… so I made friends with that person. He said we would go to a factory to sew clothes, to work and stay there. I worked in that place and slept in that place. I worked for 12 hours a day and I slept on a table there. I worked every day and I never went outside. I had the red card but the guy told me that this paper was not good and that the police would arrest me. He told me for my own safety I should stay inside.… I stayed there for about 7 months. The boss told me that he deducted from my salary the fees for sleeping and for food. For one month I received 50 Euros.276 Legal Standards Governing Child Labor International law does not prohibit all work carried out by children. However, International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions prohibit work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their schooling, their potential, their dignity, and is harmful for their physical, mental, and social development.277 275 Human Rights Watch interview with Nurullah F., Athens, May 27, 2008. 276 Human Rights Watch interview with Noorzai A., Athens, June 3, 2008. 277 “Child Labour and IPEC: An overview,” ILO, http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/manila/ipec/about/overview.htm (accessed August 21, 2008). 83 Human Rights Watch December 2008