Child Labour
"The change starts within each one of us, and ends only when all children are free to be children.” – Craig KielburgerIn the normal lives of families with steady and adequate incomes, parents go to work every day and children are left to play with friends and go to school. However, such is not the case for the 218 million child labourers1 the world over who daily find themselves working long hours under harsh, dangerous and exploitative conditions. |
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Children who work are subsequently subject to abuse, both physical and sexual, from their employers and often work under conditions that are both unhealthy and potentially fatal. This scenario cannot continue.
• Why should we care?
• Definitions: Child labour
• What is bonded labour?
• Quick facts
Improving access to education and attacking poverty head-on would go a long way to solving the challenges children face. We must help them in their struggle. Child labour is an issue is closely connected with poverty, education, the distribution of world resources, socio-economic structures and gender/fertility related issues.
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Most people agree that when we speak about child labour, we mean labour which is intolerable or harmful to children, or which denies them their right to fully develop, to play or to go to school.
Child labour includes:
• Work performed by children under the age of 15
• Long hours of work on a regular or full-time basis
• Abusive treatment by the employer
• No access, or poor access, to education
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In all of these cases, the debt is consistently increased, through interest, to a sum beyond the capacity of the worker to repay. Expenses and interest consume all wages and also cause the debt to grow.
Essentially, the child labourer becomes the property of the debt collector.
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Quick facts• Globally, 218 million children are child labourers1 |
• The highest proportion of working children is in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one third of the children aged 14 and under (48 million children) are in the labour force6
• 8.4 million children are trapped in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities7
The number of children involved in armed conflicts has increased to about 300,000 over the past decade.8
Between 40 and 50 per cent of all forced labourers are chidren9
• 1.2 million of these children have been trafficked (bought and/or sold)10
Where do children work?11
• Nearly 70% are in agriculture (rural children, especially girls, usually start working in this industry when they are very young, often between 5 and 7 years of age)
• 22% are in services, including wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels, transport, personal services, etc
• 9% are in industry, including mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction
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What you need to know!
Background information
"It was like a prison, we were locked inside. We worked from 5 a.m. until midnight making carpets and we slept among the machines." - Kumar, child labourer
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• Causes of child labour |
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They are expected to purchase books, school supplies and uniforms, and sometimes even pay teachers' wages. Many poor families weigh the cost of sending their children to school against the cost of the income lost by sending their children to work.
Inadequate school facilities
Many children live in areas that do not have adequate school facilities, so they work. Many countries do not have free compulsory education for all, which is an obstacle to sending working children to school.
Family size
Poor households tend to have more children, and with large families there is a greater likelihood that children will work and have lower school attendance and completion.
Immoral employers
Some employers hire children because they can pay them less money. They also offer poor working conditions because children are less likely to complain.
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In addition to this, the vast majority of countries around the world have national laws regulating children's work and prohibiting exploitative and hazardous child labour.
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What needs to be done?
The international community has the funds to provide free primary education-a necessary tool to combat child labour. It is merely a question of budgeting priorities. In fact, according to the World Watch Institute, the annual expenditure on perfume is $15 billion while achieving universal literacy would only need an annual investment of $5 billion.12
In papers prepared for the 1997 International Conference on Child Labour, it was revealed that child labour can best be combated through:
• Better access to education
• Social awareness and activism
• The rehabilitation of child labourers
• Legislation and proper enforcement child labour laws
In turn, governments need to devote resources to education so that:
• Schooling is compulsory, of good quality and relevance, and is of little or no cost to poor families.
Success Story: In 1994, Malawi made primary education free. From one academic year to the next, enrolment increased by roughly 50 percent, and more of the new students were female than male.
Some initiatives that can be effective in combating child labour:
Improving child labour legislation and laws
Many countries have national child labour laws that establish a minimum age for work and regulate working conditions. These laws tend to be effective in combating child labour abuses in the formal sector (the sector of the economy which lawfully employs people and pays taxes) in urban areas. However legal protection for child labourers does not extend beyond the formal sector to the kinds of work children are most involved in, such as agriculture and domestic service.
In addition, labour laws in many countries do not cover factories employing less than ten people. The carpet industry in Pakistan, for example, is largely a cottage industry, deliberately organized in this way to avoid labour laws. It is, therefore, important to extend protection so that laws cover the main places where children work.
Enforcement of child labour legislation and laws
Lack of enforcement is the key obstacle to combating child labour. Laws cannot be effective if they are not enforced.Increasing quality, relevance and access to education
Education is the key to ending the exploitation of children. If an education system is to attract and retain children, its quality and relevance must be improved as well. Children who attend school are less likely to be involved in hazardous or exploitative work. They are also more likely to break out of cycles of poverty. According to UNICEF, for every year of quality education that a child receives, their adult earning potential increases by a worldwide average of 10 per cent.13The main obstacle to achieving universal primary education is the inability and/or the unwillingness of governments to provide quality educational facilities for poor children in rural areas and in city shantytowns.
Evidence from around the world has shown that poor families are willing to make sacrifices to send their children to school when it is economically and physically accessible. With children in school, their unemployed adult relatives may take their places in the workforce.
The focus should not just be on education of children. Emphasis should also be on education programs for adults, especially women. Evidence shows that there is an inverse relationship between adult literacy rates and the incidence of child labour in the long run. Educated adults have fewer and better-educated children.
Vocational training
Vocational education and training for older child labourers plays an important role in combating child labour by giving them the skills to make better decisions.
Equality for women and girls
The social welfare of children is strongly linked to the social and economic position of women. A commitment to women's equality must be part of the commitment to end child labour because when a woman's income improves, so too does the situation of her children. Women need access to decent jobs and good childcare.
Women invest in their children's food, water, housing, clothing, and schooling. This is why the campaign to abolish child labour cannot be separated from women's struggles for recognition, decision-making power, autonomy, equality with men, a fair division of paid and unpaid work, and other measures to end poverty and domestic violence.
Replace child workers with adults
Because so many families depend on their children's income to survive, long term solutions are needed that will not plunge families further into poverty. Replacing child workers with their parents (who may be unemployed) would actually increase a family's income because adults are more highly paid.
Research carried out in the hand-made carpet industry shows that the cost of replacing children with adults in factories only adds about 4% to the price of a carpet.
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Am I wearing a child’s work?
How do you know if what you are buying was made using child labour?
Consumers can keep their eyes open for labels stating that the product is union made, or watch for the labels of campaigns such as Rugmark and Fairtrade Mark. These types of labels provide a guarantee that children were not involved in the production of the item. Also, if you don't know (which is often the case)...ask! The sales staff may be able to provide you with the information you need. Then contact the company explaining your concern.
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The good news
In 2006, the International Labour Organization published a report called The End of Child Labour:Within Reach. There was one very special fact noted in this report: today, there are 28 million fewer child labourers than there were four years ago! This means that the work you are doing-we are all doing-to stop child labour is truly creating positive change. But there is still much more to be done.
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How you can help
Speak out!
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
Here are some ideas of how you can help meet the challenge and tackle the issue of child labour.
• What you can do to help
• What you are already doing
What can you do to help?
How to help your working peers
• Learn more about child labour and the laws affecting children. See resources.
• Start a Free The Children Youth in Action Group in your community and get the word out.
• Say no to work that is harmful and degrading to you.
• Organize classroom debates and activities on the topic of child labour, basic education and the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
• Speak with your friends and people in your community about the causes of child labour and what can be done about it. Form a group and unite against the problem.
• Volunteer your time with organizations working to protect children.
• Observe World Day Against Child Labour every year on June 12. Don't forget that it's important to think and talk about these issues every day, not just once a year.
• Participate in campaigns, such as: our Adopt a Village campaign and especially its Brick by Brick schoolbuilding component ; a Sweat-Free Schools campaign; our Alternative Income projects that enable parents to send their children to school; or a campaign to build rehabilitation and vocational centers for freed child labourers.
• Write to companies that use child labour and demand that they stop.
• Ask your government to ratify and implement the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
• Contact your Foreign Affairs, Industry, Trade and Labour Ministers to demand that trade be tied to human, children and labour rights.
• Lobby your government to make education for all children a top priority.
• Pledge to continue your efforts until every child enjoys the right to a childhood.
What you are already doing
You are involved if you are helping to address these challenges
• Reducing poverty so there is less need for children to work.
• Increasing adults' wages so there is less need for children to work.
• Improving working conditions so that children's health and safety are ensured.
• Reducing children's working hours so they can attend school.
• Banning hazardous and exploitative work such as bonded labour, child prostitution, military conscription, mining and all work that exposes children to toxic substances or extreme temperatures.
• Making education more attractive and relevant to children's needs.
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Great resources
Useful resources
The following organizations are active in combating child labour and have many important documents and helpful research materials.
Websites
Child
Labor Coalition
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)
The History Place - Child Labor in America (photo essays by Lewis W. Hine)
The International Labour Organization
Global March
Maquila Solidarity Network
UNICEF
UNICEF
– Child Protection
The United
States Department of Labor
Documents (online and print) and videos
ILO Child Labour Video:
The end of child labour: Within reach:
Kuklin, Susan. Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Agains Child Slavery.Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1998. Deitz Shea, Pegi. The Carpet Boy's Gift. Tilbury House Publishers, Maine, 2003.
Defining child labour
Read
the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention
138 on the Minimum Age for Work
The
ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour
Article
32 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Sources
1 International Labour Organization, "The end of child labour: Within reach", 2006,
2 International Labour Organization, "The end of child labour: Within reach", 2006,
3 International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, "Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates on Child Labour," April 2002,
4 International Labour Organization, "Facts on Child Labour," June 2005,
5 International Labour Organization, "The end of child labour: Within reach", 2006,
6 International Labour Organization, "Media Advisory", Friday, December 13, 2002,
7 International Labour Organization, "Media Advisory", Friday, December 13, 2002,
8 International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, "Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates on Child Labour," April 2002,
9 International Labour Organization, "A global alliance against forced labour," Global Report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Report I(B), International Labour Conference, 93rd Session, Geneva, 2005
10 International Labour Organization, "2002 Global Report on Child Labour", 2002,
11 International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, "IPEC Action Against Child Labour: Highlights 2006," October 2006,
12 2004. The World Watch Institute Special Focus: The Consumer Society.
13 Ibid
Videos
