CHILD LABOUR

What is Child Labour

Child labor is done by any working child who is under the age specified by law. The word, “work”
means full time commercial work to sustain self or add to the family income. Child labor is a hazard to
a Child’s mental, physical, social, educational, emotional and spiritual development. Broadly any child
who is employed in activities to feed self and family is being subjected to “child labor’.

It is obligatory for all countries to set a minimum age for employment according to the rules of ILO
written in Convention 138(C.138). The stipulated age for employment should not be below the age for finishing
compulsory schooling, that is not below the age of 15. Developing countries are allowed to set the minimum age at
14 years in accordance with their socio- economic circumstances.

C-138 has also made provisions for flexibility for certain countries, setting the minimum age of 12 and
13 for their children - but only for partaking in light work. Light work can be defined as children’s
participation in only those economic activities which do not damage their health and development or
interfere with their education. Yes, work that does not obstruct with a child’s education is considered light work
and allowed from age 12 under the International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 138). It is because of
this that many children employed in part time work like learning craft or other skills of a hereditary nature are not
called child labors. The same work translates into child labor if a child is thrown into weaving carpets, working into
factories or some other employment to earn money to sustain self, or augment his family’s income - without being
given school education and allowed opportunities for normal social interactions. A child working part time (3-4
hours) to learn and earn for self and parents after school, is not considered ‘child labor’. The Industrial
revolution had ushered in the horrendous practice of employing children of 4 and 5 years in factories in
environmental conditions, which were risky for their health and well being, often proving fatal. Developed countries
have reacted sharply to this historical fact by equating “child labor” with human right violation. However poor
countries are more accepting about child labor as a living necessity.

The year 1990 witnessed all countries of the world except United States and Somalia become a
signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The strongest, most consistent language in
legal terminology prohibiting illegal child labor is provided by the CRC. However it does not establish the practice of
child labor as legally punishable.

Employment with others and self employment both come under the aegis of ‘child labor’. It has been seen that
children who are street sellers, street entertainers, rag pickers, child prostitutes or pornography models, beggers
etc - are mostly without natural guardians and exploited by underground gangsters and racketeers. These children
are mostly children of illegal migrants. They are the victim of abandonment, riots, wars or just sheer poverty and
homelessness. In poor countries some children are helping hands for their parents or are employed in factories,
commercial organizations or households with the consent of the parents. The most appalling form of child labor is
prostitution and modeling for child pornography. Some children are even sold to fiefs by their parents for money.
Child labour (U.S. child labor) refers to the employment of children at regular and
sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international
organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labour was utilized to varying
extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal
schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with
the emergence of the concepts of workers' and children's rights.

In many developed countries, it is considered inappropriate or exploitative if a child

below a certain age works (excluding household chores or school-related work).[2] An
employer is usually not permitted to hire a child below a certain minimum age. This
minimum age depends on the country and the type of work involved. States ratifying the
Minimum Age Convention adopted by the International Labour Organization in 1973,
have adopted minimum ages varying from 14 to 16. Child labour laws in the United
States set the minimum age to work in an establishment without restrictions and without
parents' consent at age 16.

The incidence of child labour in the world decreased from 25 to 10 percent between 1960
and 2003, according to the World Bank.[3]

Historical

Child labourer, New Jersey, 1910

During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as four were employed in production
factories with dangerous, and often fatal, working conditions.[4] Based on this
understanding of the use of children as labourers, it is now considered by wealthy
countries to be a human rights violation, and is outlawed, while some poorer countries
may allow or tolerate child labour.

The Victorian era became notorious for employing young children in factories and mines
and as chimney sweeps.[5] Child labour played an important role in the Industrial
Revolution from its outset, often brought about by economic hardship, Charles Dickens
for example worked at the age of 12 in a blacking factory, with his family in debtor's
prison. The children of the poor were expected to help towards the family budget, often
working long hours in dangerous jobs and low wages.[6]
Two girls protesting child labour (by calling it child slavery) in the 1909 New York City
Labor Day parade.

Agile boys were employed by the chimney sweeps; small children were employed to
scramble under machinery to retrieve cotton bobbins; and children were also employed to
work in coal mines to crawl through tunnels too narrow and low for adults. Children also
worked as errand boys, crossing sweepers, shoe blacks, or selling matches, flowers and
other cheap goods.[6] Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades,
such as building or as domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in
London in the mid 18th Century). Working hours were long: builders worked 64 hours a
week in summer and 52 in winter, while domestic servants worked 80 hour weeks.

Bertrand Russell wrote that:[7]

The industrial revolution caused unspeakable misery both on England and in America. ... In the
Lancashire cotton mills (from which Marx and Engels derived their livelihood), children worked
from 12 to 16 hours a day; they often began working at the age of six or seven. Children had to be
beaten to keep them from falling asleep while at work; in spite of this, many failed to keep awake
and were mutilated or killed. Parents had to submit to the infliction of these atrocities upon their
children, because they themselves were in a desperate plight. Craftsmen had been thrown out of
work by the machines; rural labourers were compelled to migrate to the towns by the Enclosure
Acts, which used Parliament to make landowners richer by making peasants destitute; trade
unions were illegal until 1824; the government employed agents provocateurs to try to get
revolutionary sentiments out of wage-earners, who were then deported or hanged. Such was the
first effect of machinery in England.

A high number of children also worked as prostitutes.[8] Children as young as three were
put to work. In coal mines children began work at the age of five and generally died
before the age of 25. Many children (and adults) worked 16 hour days. As early as 1802
and 1819 Factory Acts were passed to regulate the working hours of workhouse children
in factories and cotton mills to 12 hours per day. These acts were largely ineffective and
after radical agitation, by for example the "Short Time Committees" in 1831, a Royal
Commission recommended in 1833 that children aged 11-18 should work a maximum of
12 hours per day, children aged 9-11 a maximum of eight hours, and children under the
age of nine were no longer permitted to work. This act however only applied to the textile
industry, and further agitation led to another act in 1847 limiting both adults and children
to 10 hour working days. [8]
 By 1900, there were 1.7 million child labourers reported in American industry under the
age of fifteen.[9] The number of children under the age of 15 who worked in industrial
jobs for wages climbed to 2 million in 1910.[10]

Child Labour Today

Child labor is a very complicated development issue, effecting human society all over the world. It is a
matter of grave concern that children are not receiving the education and leisure which is important for
their growing years, because they are sucked into commercial and laborious activities which is meant
for people beyond their years. According to the statistics given by ILO and other official agencies 73
million children between 10 to 14 years of age re employed in economic activities all over the world.
The figure translates into 13.2 of all children between 10 to 14 being subjected to child labor.

Child labor is most rampant in Asia with 44.6 million or 13% percent of its children doing commercial
work followed by Africa at 23.6 million or 26.3% which is the highest rate and Latin America at 5.1
million that is 9.8%.

In India 14.4 % children between 10 and 14 years of age are employed in child labor. in Bangladesh
30.1%, in China 11.6%,in Pakistan 17.7%, in Turkey 24%, in Cote D’lvoire 20.5%, in Egypt 11.2%, in
Kenya 41.3% , in Nigeria 25.8%, in Senegal 31.4%, in Argentina 4.5%, in Brazil 16.1%, in Mexico
6.7%, in Italy 0.4% and in Portugal 1.8%. The above figures only give part of the picture. No reliable
figures of child workers below 10 years of age are available, though they comprise a significant
amount. The same is true of children in the former age group on whom no official data is available. If it
was possible to count the number of child workers properly, and the number of young girls occupied in
domestic labor taken into account - the figure will emerge as hundreds of million.

Child labour is also prevalent in rich and industrialized countries, although less compared to poor
nations. For example there are a large of children working for pay at home, in seasonal cycles, for
street trade and small workshops in Southern Europe. India is a glaring example of a nation hounded
by the evil of child labor. It is estimated that there are 60 to 115 million working children in India-
which was the highest in 1996 according to human rights watch.

The problems coming from a centrally planned to market economy has led to the creation of many child workers in
central and eastern Europe. Same is the case in America. The growth of the service sector, increasing provision of
part time jobs and the need for flexible work force has given birth to a big market for child workers here.

Historically the working force of child workers is more in rural areas compared to urban settings. Nine
out of ten village children are employed in agriculture or household industries and craftwork. In towns
and cities children are more absorbed in service and trading sectors rather that marketing. This is due
to the rapid urbanization of the modern world. Survey done by experimental statisticians of ILO in
India, Indonesia and Senegal have revealed that child labor under the age of fourteen takes place in
family enterprises mostly, with the exception of Latin America. Child labor is also found to be gender
specific, with more boys than girls employed in laborious activities. But this is also because it is
difficult to take a count of girls working in households.

Present day

A young boy recycling garbage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2006

See also: Children's rights

Child labour is still common in some parts of the world, it can be factory work, mining,[11]
prostitution, quarrying, agriculture, helping in the parents' business, having one's own
small business (for example selling food), or doing odd jobs. Some children work as
guides for tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in business for shops and
restaurants (where they may also work as waiters). Other children are forced to do
tedious and repetitive jobs such as: assembling boxes, polishing shoes, stocking a store's
products, or cleaning. However, rather than in factories and sweatshops, most child
labour occurs in the informal sector, "selling many things on the streets, at work in
agriculture or hidden away in houses—far from the reach of official labour inspectors and
from media scrutiny." And all the work that they did was done in all types of weather;
and was also done for minimal pay. As long as there is family poverty there will be child
labour. [12]

According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 158 million children aged 5 to 14 in child
labour worldwide, excluding child domestic labour.[13] The United Nations and the
International Labour Organization consider child labour exploitative,[14][15] with the UN
stipulating, in article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that:

...States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and
from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education,
or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
Although globally there is an estimated 250 milllion children working.[15]

In the 1990s every country in the world except for Somalia and the United States became
a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC. However according to
the United Nations Foundation Somalia signed the convention in 2002, the delay of the
signing was believed to been due to Somalia not having a government to sign the
convention. [16] The CRC provides the strongest,[citation needed] most consistent[citation needed]
international legal language prohibiting illegal child labour; however it does not make
child labour illegal.

A boy repairing a tire in Gambia

Poor families often rely on the labours of their children for survival, and sometimes it is
their only source of income. This type of work is often hidden away because it is not
always in the industrial sector. Child labour is employed in subsistence agriculture and in
the urban informal sector; child domestic work is also important. In order to benefit
children, child labour prohibition has to address the dual challenge of providing them
with both short-term income and long-term prospects. Some youth rights groups,
however, feel that prohibiting work below a certain age violates human rights, reducing
children's options and leaving them subject to the whims of those with money.[citation needed]

In a recent paper, Basu and Van (1998)[17] argue that the primary cause of child labour is
parental poverty. That being so, they caution against the use of a legislative ban against
child labour, and argue that should be used only when there is reason to believe that a ban
on child labour will cause adult wages to rise and so compensate adequately the
households of the poor children. Child labour is still widely used today in many
countries, including India and Bangladesh. CACL estimated that there are between 70
and 80 million child labourers in India.[18]
Child labour accounts for 22% of the workforce in Asia, 32% in Africa, 17% in Latin
America, 1% in US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations. The proportion of child
labourers varies a lot among countries and even regions inside those countries.

Recent child labour incidents

Young girl working on a loom in Aït Benhaddou, Morocco in May 2008.

BBC recently reported[19] on Primark using child labour in the manufacture of clothing. In
particular a £4.00 hand embroidered shirt was the starting point of a documentary
produced by BBC's Panorama (TV series) programme. The programme asks consumers
to ask themselves, "Why am I only paying £4 for a hand embroidered top? This item
looks handmade. Who made it for such little cost?", in addition to exposing the violent
side of the child labour industry in countries where child exploitation is prevalent. As a
result of the programme, Primark took action and sacked the relevant companies, and
reviewed their supplier procedures.

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company operate a metal plantation in Liberia which is
the focus of a global campaign called Stop Firestone. Workers on the plantation are
expected to fulfil a high production quota or their wages will be halved, so many workers
brought children to work. The International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against
Firestone (The International Labor Fund vs. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company) in
November 2005 on behalf of current child labourers and their parents who had also been
child labourers on the plantation. On June 26, 2007, the judge in this lawsuit in
Indianapolis, Indiana denied Firestone's motion to dismiss the case and allowed the
lawsuit to proceed on child labour claims.

On November 21, 2005, An Indian NGO activist Junned Khan, with the help of the
Labour Department and NGO Pratham mounted the country's biggest ever raid for child
labour rescue in the Eastern part of New Delhi, the capital of India. The process resulted
in rescue of 480 children from over 100 illegal embroidery factories operating in the
crowded slum area of Seelampur. For next few weeks, government, media and NGOs
were in a frenzy over the exuberant numbers of young boys, as young as 5-6 year olds,
released from bondage. This rescue operation opened the eyes of the world to the menace
of child labour operating right under the nose of the largest democracy in the whole
world.

After the news of child labourers working in embroidery industry was uncovered in the
Sunday Observer on 28 October 2007, BBA activists swung into action. The GAP Inc. in
a statement accepted that the child labourers were working in production of GAP Kids
blouses and has already made a statement to pull the products from the shelf. [20][21] In
spite of the documentation of the child labourers working in the high-street fashion and
admission by all concerned parties, only the SDM could not recognise these children as
working under conditions of slavery and bondage.

Distraught and desperate that these collusions by the custodians of justice, founder of
BBA Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour appealed to
the Honourable Chief Justice of Delhi High Court through a letter at 11.00 pm. [22] This
order by the Honourable Chief Justice comes when the government is taking an
extremely retrogressive stance on the issue of child labour in sweatshops in India and
threatening 'retaliatory measures' against child rights organisations. [23]

In a parallel development, Global March Against Child Labour and BBA are in dialogue
with the GAP Inc. and other stakeholders to work out a positive strategy to prevent the
entry of child labour in to sweatshops and device a mechanism of monitoring and
remedial action. GAP Inc. Senior Vice President, Dan Henkle in a statement said: "We
have been making steady progress, and the children are now under the care of the local
government. As our policy requires, the vendor with which our order was originally
placed will be required to provide the children with access to schooling and job training,
pay them an ongoing wage and guarantee them jobs as soon as they reach the legal
working age. We will now work with the local government and with Global March to
ensure that our vendor fulfils these obligations." [24] [25]

On October 28, Joe Eastman, president of Gap North America, responded, "We strictly
prohibit the use of child labor. This is non-negotiable for us – and we are deeply
concerned and upset by this allegation. As we've demonstrated in the past, Gap has a
history of addressing challenges like this head-on, and our approach to this situation will
be no exception. In 2006, Gap Inc. ceased business with 23 factories due to code
violations. We have 90 people located around the world whose job is to ensure
compliance with our Code of Vendor Conduct. As soon as we were alerted to this
situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in stores.
While violations of our strict prohibition on child labor in factories that produce product
for the company are extremely rare, we have called an urgent meeting with our suppliers
in the region to reinforce our policies."[26]

In early August 2008, Iowa Labor Commissioner David Neil announced that his
department had found that Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking company in Postville
which had recently been raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had employed
57 minors, some as young as 14, in violation of state law prohibiting anyone under 18
from working in a meatpacking plant. Neil announced that he was turning the case over
to the state Attorney General for prosecution, claiming that his department's inquiry had
discovered "egregious violations of virtually every aspect of Iowa's child labor laws." [27]
Agriprocessors claimed that it was at a loss to understand the allegations.

In 1997, research indicated that the number of child labourers in the silk-weaving
industry in the district of Kanchipuram in India exceeded 40,000. This included children
who were bonded labourers to loom owners. Rural Institute for Development Education
undertook many activities to improve the situation of child labourers. Working
collaboratively, RIDE brought down the number of child labourers to less than 4,000 by
2007

Child labour is also often used in the production of cocoa powder, used to make
chocolate. See Economics of cocoa.

Defense of child labour

Child workers on a farm in Maine, October 1940

Concerns have often been raised over the buying public's moral complicity in purchasing
products assembled or otherwise manufactured in developing countries with child labour.
However, others have raised concerns that boycotting products manufactured through
child labour may force these children to turn to more dangerous or strenuous professions,
such as prostitution or agriculture. For example, a UNICEF study found that after the
Child Labor Deterrence Act was introduced in the US, an estimated 50,000 children were
dismissed from their garment industry jobs in Bangladesh, leaving many to resort to jobs
such as "stone-crushing, street hustling, and prostitution", jobs that are "more hazardous
and exploitative than garment production". The study suggests that boycotts are "blunt
instruments with long-term consequences, that can actually harm rather than help the
children involved."[12]

According to Milton Friedman, before the Industrial Revolution virtually all children
worked in agriculture. During the Industrial Revolution many of these children moved
from farm work to factory work. Over time, as real wages rose, parents became able to
afford to send their children to school instead of work and as a result child labour
declined, both before and after legislation.[28]

Austrian school economist Murray Rothbard also defended child labour, stating that
British and American children of the pre- and post-Industrial Revolution lived and
suffered in infinitely worse conditions where jobs were not available for them and went
"voluntarily and gladly" to work in factories.[29]

However, the British historian and socialist E. P. Thompson in The Making of the
English Working Class draws a qualitative distinction between child domestic work and
participation in the wider (waged) labour market.[4] Further, the usefulness of the
experience of the industrial revolution in making predictions about current trends has
been disputed. Economic historian Hugh Cunningham, author of Children and Childhood
in Western Society Since 1500, notes that:

"Fifty years ago it might have been assumed that, just as child labour had
declined in the developed world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, so it would also, in a trickle-down fashion, in the rest of the world. Its
failure to do that, and its re-emergence in the developed world, raise questions
about its role in any economy, whether national or global."[28]

According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the University of Houston,

in an article published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank operating in
Washington D.C., "it is clear that technological and economic change are vital
ingredients in getting children out of the workplace and into schools. Then they can grow
to become productive adults and live longer, healthier lives. However, in poor countries
like Bangladesh, working children are essential for survival in many families, as they
were in our own heritage until the late 19th century. So, while the struggle to end child
labour is necessary, getting there often requires taking different routes -- and, sadly, there
are many political obstacles.[30]

Lawrence Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education contends that the
infamously brutal child labour conditions during the early industrial revolution were
those of "apprentice children" (who were forced to work, even actually sold as slaves, by
government-owned Workhouses) and not those of "free-work children" (those who
worked voluntarily). So, the government and State-managed institutions, and not Laissez-
faire capitalism, is to blame. He further contends that, although work conditions of free-
work children were far from ideal, those have been wildly exaggerated in such
"authoritative" sources as the Sadler report, a fact that even the anti-capitalist Friedrich
Engels acknowledged. [31]

Efforts against child labour

The International Labour Organization’s International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour (IPEC) was created in 1992 with the overall goal of the progressive
elimination of child labour, which was to be achieved through strengthening the capacity
of countries to deal with the problem and promoting a worldwide movement to combat
child labour. IPEC currently has operations in 88 countries, with an annual expenditure
on technical cooperation projects that reached over US$61 million in 2008. It is the
largest programme of its kind globally and the biggest single operational programme of
the ILO.

The number and range of IPEC’s partners have expanded over the years and now include
employers’ and workers’ organizations, other international and government agencies,
private businesses, community-based organizations, NGOs, the media, parliamentarians,
the judiciary, universities, religious groups and, of course, children and their families.

IPEC's work to eliminate child labour is an important facet of the ILO's Decent Work
Agenda. Child labour not only prevents children from acquiring the skills and education
they need for a better future, it also perpetuates poverty and affects national economies
through losses in competitiveness, productivity and potential income. Withdrawing
children from child labour, providing them with education and assisting their families
with training and employment opportunities contribute directly to creating decent work

Child Labour in India

Child labor in India is a human right issue for the whole world. It is a serious and
extensive problem, with many children under the age of fourteen working in carpet
making factories, glass blowing units and making fireworks with bare little hands.
According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child
laborers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million.

In Northern India the exploitation of little children for labor is an accepted practice
and perceived by the local population as a necessity to alleviate poverty. Carpet
weaving industries pay very low wages to child laborers and make them work for
long hours in unhygienic conditions. Children working in such units are mainly
migrant workers from Northern India, who are shunted here by their families to
earn some money and send it to them. Their families dependence on their income,
forces them to endure the onerous work conditions in the carpet factories. The
situation of child laborers in India is desperate. Children work for eight hours at a stretch
with only a small break for meals. The meals are also frugal and the children are ill
nourished. Most of the migrant children who cannot go home, sleep at their work place,
which is very bad for their health and development. Seventy five percent of Indian
population still resides in rural areas and are very poor. Children in rural families who are
ailing with poverty perceive their children as an income generating resource to
supplement the family income. Parents sacrifice their children’s education to the growing
needs of their younger siblings in such families and view them as wage earners for the
entire clan.

The Indian government has tried to take some steps to alleviate the problem of child
labor in recent years by invoking a law that makes the employment of children
below 14 illegal, except in family owned enterprises. However this law is rarely
 adhered to due to practical difficulties. Factories usually find loopholes and
circumvent the law by declaring that the child laborer is a distant family member.
Also in villages there is no law implementing mechanism, and any punitive actions
for commercial enterprises violating these laws is almost non existent.

Child labor is a conspicuous problem in India. Its prevalence is evident in the child
work participation rate, which is more than that of other developing countries.
Poverty is the reason for child labor in India. The meager income of child laborers is
also absorbed by their families. The paucity of organized banking in the rural areas
creates a void in taking facilities, forcing poor families to push their children in
harsh labor, the harshest being bonded labor.

Bonded labor traps the growing child in a hostage like condition for years. The
importance of formal education is also not realized, as the child can be absorbed in
economically beneficial activities at a young age. Moreover there is no access to proper
education in the remote areas of rural India for most people, which leaves the children
with no choice

Causes of Child Labour

Some common causes of child labor are poverty, parental illiteracy, social apathy, ignorance, lack of
education and exposure, exploitation of cheap and unorganized labor. The family practice to inculcate
traditional skills in children also pulls little ones inexorably in the trap of child labor, as they never get
the opportunity to learn anything else.

Absence of compulsory education at the primary level, parental ignorance regarding the bad effects of child labor,
the ineffictivity of child labor laws in terms of implementation, non availability and non accessibility of schools,
boring and unpractical school curriculum and cheap child labor are some other factors which encourages the
phenomenon of child labor. It is also very difficult for immature minds and undeveloped bodies to understand and
organize them selves against exploitation in the absence of adult guidance. Poverty and over population have been
identified as the two main causes of child labor. Parents are forced to send little children into hazardous jobs for
reasons of survival, even when they know it is wrong. Monetary constraints and the need for food, shelter and
clothing drives their children in the trap of premature labor. Over population in some regions creates paucity of
resources. When there are limited means and more mouths to feed children are driven to commercial activities and
not provided for their development needs. This is the case in most Asian and African countries.
Illiterate and ignorant parents do not understand the need for wholesome proper physical, cognitive and emotional
development of their child. They are themselves uneducated and unexposed, so they don’t realize the importance
of education for their children. Adult unemployment and urbanization also causes child labor. Adults often
find it difficult to find jobs because factory owners find it more beneficial to employ children at cheap
rates. This exploitation is particularly visible in garment factories of urban areas. Adult exploitation of
children is also seen in many places. Elders relax at home and live on the labor of poor helpless
children.

The industrial revolution has also had a negative effect by giving rise to circumstances which
 encourages child labor. Sometimes multinationals prefer to employ child workers in the developing
countries. This is so because they can be recruited for less pay, more work can be extracted from them
and there is no union problem with them. This attitude also makes it difficult for adults to find jobs in
factories, forcing them to drive their little ones to work to keep the fire burning their homes.

The incidence of child labor would diminish considerably even in the face of poverty, if there are no parties willing
to exploits them. Strict implementation of child labor laws and practical and healthy alternatives to replace this evil
can go a long way to solve the problem of child labor. Children who are born out of wedlock, orphaned or
abandoned are especially vulnerable to exploitation. They are forced to work for survival when there are no adults
and relatives to support them. Livelihood considerations can also drive a child into the dirtiest forms of child labor
like child prostitution and organized begging.

Stop Child Labor

The future of a community is in the well being of its children. The above fact is beautifully expressed by
Wordsworth in his famous lines “child is father of the man”. So it becomes imperative for the health of
a nation to protect its children from premature labor which is hazardous to their mental, physical,
educational and spiritual development needs. It is urgently required to save children from the
murderous clutches of social injustice and educational deprivation, and ensure that they are given
opportunities for healthy, normal and happy growth.

The venerable Indian poet Rabindranth Tagore has said time and again, that every country is absolutely bound by
its duty to provide free primary education to its children. It is important to remember that industrialization can
afford to wait but youth cannot be captured for long. It is imperative that the basic tenet made in article 24 of the
Indian constitution - prohibiting the employment of any child below fourteen years of age, in a factory, mine or any
other hazardous employment be stopped – be adhered to. There should be no ambiguity in ensuring the right of
every child to free basic education and the promise of the constitution should be fully implemented in the here and
now.

Projects related with human resource development, dedicated to the child welfare issues must be given
top priority by the central and state governments to stop the menace of child labor. Child labor laws
need to be strictly implemented at the central and state levels. Corruption and negligence in child labor
offices and employee circles should be dealt with very strictly by the judiciary and the police force.

The development needs of growing children can only be provided for, by stopping the onerous practice of child
labor in organized and non organized sectors with utmost sincerity. This is the only way a nation can train its
children to be wholesome future citizens, who are happy and prosperous. The provision of equal and proper
opportunities for the educational needs of growing children in accordance with constitutional directives will go a
long way in stopping the evil practice of child labor.

Concerned about the future of its children India has implemented a country- wide ban recently, on children below
fourteen working in the hospitality sector and as domestics. It is intended that those who are found to violate the
law will be fined with 430 dollars and sent into rigorous imprisonment for two years. Children in India are not
allowed to work in mines, factories and other hazardous jobs already. Two more professions have been
added in a list of fifty seven occupations which were considered hazardous for a child’s development needs in the
‘child labor act’ passed in 1986. Childs rights activists are waxing eloquent in high pitched voices about
the absolute importance of stopping child labor. But legislation in this regard is just like an intention. It
is more important to take development measures to ensure its practical application by eliminating the reasons of
child labor from our society. The reasons giving birth to child labor are poverty, illiteracy, scarcity of
schools, ignorance, socially regressive practices, blind customs and traditions, migration and last but
not the least corruption amongst employees and government labor organizations. People should not be
able to get away with employing and exploiting children.
 CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR
Poverty is undoubtedly a dominant factor in the use of child labour; families o
below the poverty line force their children into work to supplement their hous
meager income. Eradicating poverty, however, is only the first step on the roa
eliminating child labour.

There are many other factors that conspire to drive children into employment
which is unique to any one country or any one family's circumstances. Only w
fully understand these reasons can we begin to address the problems associa
© ILO/IPEC child labour:

• Cuts in social spending - particularly education and the health services - have a direct impact on poverty.
or no access to schooling, children are forced into employment at an early age in order to survive
• Child labour may not even be recognised when children work as part of the family unit. This is particularly
in agriculture, where an entire family may have to work to meet a particular quota or target and cannot a
employ outside help
• Children may also be expected to act as unpaid domestic servants in their own home, taking care of the f
needs while both parents work
• Parents may effectively "sell" their children in order to repay debts or secure a loan
• The prevalence of AIDS throughout many developing countries has resulted in an enormous number of or
who are forced to become their own breadwinners
• The demand for cheap labour by contractors means that children are often offered work in place of their p
With such narrow margins, contractors such as produce-growers and loom-owners know that children can
exploited and forced to work for much less than the minimum wage
• Children may also be sent into hazardous jobs in favour of parents, who can less afford the time or money
become ill or injured
• Child soldiers are forcibly enlisted into military service and operations
• Employers often justify the use of children by claiming that a child's small, nimble hands are vital to the p
of certain products such as hand-knotted carpets and delicate glassware -although evidence for this is lim
• The international sex trade places great value on child prostitutes. Girls -and to a lesser extent boys- are k
from their homes (or sold) to networks of child traffickers supplying overseas markets; poverty and sexua
racial discrimination also drive children into the tourist sex trade
• Young workers are unaware of their rights and less likely to complain or revolt. In many countries, the leg
simply not effective enough to support these workers

CONSEQUENCES FOR CHILDREN

Child labour does more than deprive children of their education and mental and physical development - their child
stolen.

Immature and inexperienced child labourers may be completely unaware of the short and long term risks involved
work.

Working long hours, child labourers are often denied a basic school education, normal social interaction, personal
development and emotional support from their family. Beside these problems, children face many physical dange
death - from forced labour:

• Physical injuries and mutilations are caused by badly maintained machinery on farms and in factories, ma
accidents in plantations, and any number of hazards encountered in industries such as mining, ceramics a
fireworks manufacture
• Pesticide poisoning is one of the biggest killers of child labourers. In Sri Lanka, pesticides kill more childre
diphtheria, malaria, polio and tetanus combined. The global death toll each year from pesticides is suppos
approximately 40'000
• Growth deficiency is prevalent among working children, who tend to be shorter and lighter than other chil
these deficiencies also impact on their adult life
• Long-term health problems, such as respiratory disease, asbestosis and a variety of cancers, are common
 Causes of Child Labour
OVER POPULATION: Most of the Asian and African countries are
overpopulated. Due to limited resourses and more mouths to
feed, Children are employed in various forms of work.

ILLITERACY:Illiterate parents do not realize the need for a

proper physical,emotional and cognitive development of a
child. As they are uneducated, they do not realize the
importance of education for their children.

POVERTY: Many a time poverty forces parents to send their

children to hazardous jobs. Although they know it is
wrong,they have no other alternative as they need the money.

URBANIZATION: The Industrial Revolution has its own negative

side. Many a time MNC's and export industries in the
developing world employ whild workers, particularly in the
garment industry.

UNEMPLOYMENT OF ELDERS: Elders often find it difficult to

get jobs. The industrialists and factory owners find it
profitable to employ children. This is so because they can
pay less and extract more work. They will also not create
union problem.

ORPHANS: Children born out of wedlock, children with no

parents and relatives, often do not find anyone to support
them. Thus they are forced to work for their own living.

WILLINGNESS TO EXPLOIT CHILDREN: This is at the root of the

problem Even if a family is very poor, the incidence of
child labour will be very low unless there are people
willing to exploit these children

Child Labor coclusion

According to Andrew W. Savitz’s book “The Triple Bottom Line”, “A

sustainable business ought to be able to measure, document, and
report a positive ROI on all three bottom lines - economic,
environmental, and social” (Savitz, 2006, p. 8). Child labor is
connected with all three. Child labor is a worldwide problem. It is
connected with economy, because, for children, they must earn money
for their livelihood in some third world country. Companies use child
labor in their factories, because children do not need high wages. So,
companies can get more profits. Also, in environment, most working
children are working in very dangerous workplaces, because for more
profits, companies do not try to improve working environments. I think
that some companies, including Nike, think just how they can make
more profits, so they are making these problems. Definitely, child
labor is a moral problem. I think that people should keep children from
workplaces for their own benefit. There are some solutions. First, we
need an international guard system for preventing child labor. Second,
we have to concentrate on children’s entire life situations. Finally,
every person has to lead in fixing this problem.

When I searched in the internet to decide on my writing topic, I found

child labor, and became interested in it. Child labor is “the gainful
employment of children below an age determined by law or custom”
(Child Labor, 2006, para. 1). Child labor has usually happened in the
third world. Big companies, such as Nike, use underage workers to
make more profits. Children are working in a very dangerous
environment. In Child Labour (n.d, p. 1), more than 250 million
children work in the companies. Also, most of all children work in the
third world such as Asia, Africa and Latin America. To prevent this
problem, in 1919, the International Labour Organizations, ILO, was
created. In 1966, the child labor problem was to be world’s issue, and
many associations were trying to protect children. In 1989, the UN
selected to help the rights of children. There is a lot of discussion over
whether child labor had to be prevented or not. Some people say that
making laws is not enough to prevent child labor (Child Labour, n.d, p.
4). However, other people say that if we stop labor violations, it is a
cause for unemployment and falling profits (Nike’s dilemma, 2006,
para. 4). Nowadays, most people agree that we should protect children
in workplaces.

Firstly, we have to make international guard systems. About ten years

ago, many soccer ball companies such as Nike, Puma, and Adidas
cooperated with ILO, International Labor Organization, for fixing this
problem. However, Mr. Dogar of IMAC, the Independent Monitoring
Association for Child labor, said that we are not able to do “24-hour
surveillance,” and cover “the whole area” (Montero, 2006). It means
that present organizations are not enough to solve the problem. So,
we make a new international association with nations, companies and
non-government organizations. That is because, according to “Child
Labour”, “Though the United Nations has already created a large
number of international conventions, setting legal standards to prohibit
the exploitation of child labour, the problem remains widespread”
(n.d., p. 4). I think that, for example, we make a big international
association. Every international company and country should join in it.
After that, we make international laws such as international labor
standard. If some companies do not obey those, countries do not allow
selling these companies’ products. If we can do that, we can make a
trend of obeying these rules. Also, if we make this association
successfully, we can prevent other problems effectively. It can help the
third world. For example, it can teach people, and train workers.
Moreover, making campaigns and books are very useful to help these
countries.

Secondly, we have to concentrate on children’s entire life situations.

Children’s working environment is very serious. We have to keep child
workers far away from hazardous environments. For example, in
factories, they work with hazardous chemical mixtures and glass
bangles, and matches. Moreover they work stepping on or handling
hot broken glass, stuffing cracker powder into fireworks, risking fire
and explosion and carrying excessive weights (Child Labour, 2006).
Although solving these problems may make third world people’s
livelihoods harder than now, after several years, it will be clear that
their lives are more comfortable. So, we have to support their
education for their future lives. For example, if their children study
hard, they will get higher knowledge and technology. These changes
would give a chance for their living conditions to be more improved. In
IKEA’s study, there were 22,000 children out of school in Andhra
Pradesh. So, IKEA donated 18,000 tables for use in schools
(International Partnership: IKEA, n.d.). For example, after war the in
Korea, our livelihood was very seriously endangered. For escaping this
situation, our parents concentrated on children’s education. So, in just
about fifty years, our GDP, Gross Domestic Product, is over 20
thousand dollars. In the long term, for their lives and their children’s
lives, they do not have to steal their children’s future.

Finally, people have to lead in fixing this problem. Nowadays, many

international organizations are trying to solve this problem. However,
there are still problems. It means that present effort is not enough to
fix it. For example, in China, there are about one hundred eighty
manufacturers and two hundreds ten thousand employees. Among
them, Nike’s factories are using children to work in assembly lines
(Nike finds problem in China, 2008). So, people have to do
movements such as a boycott. According to Joel D. Joseph (2008),
“Our purchases keep children in chains,” he said, “Don’t buy it. Tell
your Senator, Congressman and presidential candidates that we
should oppose the cruelest abuse of human rights: child labor” (para.
10). It is very important because if we buy these companies’ products,
we will leave this problem to take its own course. There are a lot of
works that we can do to solve this problem. For example, one is using
internet. It is very useful. Nowadays, most people use internet and get
information from it. So, we can advertise this problem and argue that
we should not buy products. An other is making a child labor day, such
as Independence day. Then, every year on that day, we do a boycott
demonstration. It will make people be concerned about this problem
continuously, and this movement can pressures companies. This
movement will not be complete without every person’s effort.

Some people have said that preventing child labor will have a bad
effect on children’s economic activities. They worried about
unemployment and falling profits. So, they argue that children have to
work for their livelihood. For example, in Sialkot, Pakistan, there were
5,000 children workers. If they lose their job, about 20,000 families
could be affected (Montero, 2006). However, if their problem
continues, their livelihood will be worse. Moreover their children will
work at childhood, and their children’s children will work at childhood.
According to John H. Cushman Jr., in “Nike Pledges to End Child
Labor,” “American companies pay workers in China and Vietnam less
than $2 a day and workers in Indonesia less than $1 a day” (1998,
para. 6). If they just earned one or two dollars per day, their countries
will remain in the third world, because they will not have economic
revival without money. In addition, they will not educate their children.
So, I think that we should apply a higher minimum age and pay more
wages. If the minimum age rises by about 2 years, and minimum
wage is raised, the effect on children worker’s families will be
minimized. If we can do that, we can solve the child labor problem
effectively.

In conclusion, these days, there are lots of child workers in

workplaces. Also, people are concerned about human rights. Child
labor is not only a problem of their lives, but also a problem of their
countries and whole nations. Therefore, people should try to protect
children in workplaces for their future lives. For doing that, at first, we
should make a system that is able to do a 24-hour watch, because it is
not possible to solve this problem without combination of
governments, companies and non-government organizations. In
addition, we have to concentrate on the future of children. Children are
very important to their nations because they will able to make their
nations powerful. In order to do that, people have to lead in fixing this
problem, because there are still problems. For example, people should
do movements such as a boycott. Moreover, if we can not fix this
problem, their livelihood will be worse. So, I think that we should
apply a higher minimum age and pay more wages. People should