labor22

Child Labour guide
Children working in Pakistan © Manos Unidas
As consumers in affluent countries, we are appalled at the thought that the fruits and
vegetables we eat, the soccer balls we buy for our kids and the carpets we put in our
homes might be the products of child labour. Strong international human rights conventions
are therefore in place to outlaw the practice. But deep-set cultural traditions and delicate
local economies do not lend themselves to interference and, reinforced by the
demographic distortions created by HIV/AIDS, child labour shows no sign of becoming
history.
Supply and Demand
There is no universally accepted, precise definition of child labour. The issue is
differentiated by reference to the age of a child, the potential impairment of health, physical
development and education, and engagement in the “worst forms of child labour” such as
trafficking, and illegal
More than 10 per cent of the world’s 2.2 billion children are engaged in child labour, the
majority of them working in agriculture, often with hazardous chemicals or machinery. About
10 million are trapped in slavery, trafficking, prostitution, and armed conflict.

The problem of child labour is very substantially located in the developing world where poor
parents send their children to work for reasons of economic expediency, unable or
sometimes unwilling to perceive the long term value of education for the family’s prospects.
In this way poverty and child labour are mutually reinforcing and often passed on from
generation to generation.
Child labour in football
This supply of child labour is accommodated by the demand of employers for a cheap and
flexible workforce, including small-scale family enterprises that cannot afford adult paid
labour. The absence of regulations together with weak law enforcement often allows the
practice to flourish. And it is a mistake to think of globalisation as a force for improvement
in labour standards. Although large-scale manufacturing export industries may not directly
rely on child labour, the backward linkages to these industries through subcontracting to
labour-intensive segments of the product may be less compliant. For example, India's
sporting goods industry has strong backward linkages to suppliers of components using
child labour.
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HIV/AIDS
The HIV/AIDS pandemic has regenerated the supply side of the child labour equation.
Households where adult members suffer prolonged periods of illness with HIV and related
conditions suffer dramatic cuts in income and forced sales of assets. To make up for these
economic losses, children may be withdrawn from school and put to work.

Orphans in subSaharan Africa
Africa in particular has in the last decade seen a dramatic rise in the new phenomenon of
child-headed households, brought on by HIV/AIDS mortality. It is estimated that over 7% of
Zambian households are without any adult member; headed instead by a boy or a girl aged
14 or under. An estimated 10% of all children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Africa are heads of
households and caring for siblings.

Several African governments have instituted reductions in, or elimination of, school fees for
orphaned children. However, little has been done to implement and strengthen programs,
policies or legislation to reduce the risk of AIDS orphans being drawn into hazardous forms
of work.

Child labour © ILO / International Labour Organisation
Millions of girl children are put to work in unacceptable circumstances. The worst form of
exploitation of girls - commercial sexual exploitation or child prostitution - is being fought in
part by extra-territoriality laws that permit prosecution of citizens who sexually abuse
children in another country. For example nationals from many European countries and the
US can now be charged at home for engaging a child prostitute in Thailand. By contrast,
other forms of exploitation affecting girls have not been highlighted. Indeed, because girls
are often employed inside private houses rather than in factories or in public, their
exploitation tends to have been invisible, making them even more vulnerable. Unvalued as
human beings, girls are often treated as objects to be used and abused for domestic
labour or for sex.

Girls who escape work outside the home may instead be kept away from school in order to
work for their own families. Despite the large number of girls who are in employment,
parents and employers in many societies still consider that the most appropriate place of
work for them is at home.

The latest ILO Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labour lays special emphasis on the
plight of the girl child and, by making a pointed reference to her problems, it urges nations
to take a closer look at the not so visible circumstances of her work.

Children at war in DRC © Amnesty International
In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) that singly enshrines the full range of rights of children necessary to their
survival, development, and protection in society. Because of the connection between child
rights and survival and development, virtually all of the Convention's articles apply to the
distressing effects of child labour. In particular, Article 32 recognises the right of children to
be protected from work that threatens their health, education, or moral development. This
almost universally ratified human rights framework, together with the 1999 ILO Convention
for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, provides a consistent paradigm and
solid foundation for tackling child labour.

Universally recognised children's rights however are far from a sufficient means of
combating child labour. Although almost every country has laws prohibiting the employment
of children below a certain age, the legislation often exempts certain sectors - often the
very sectors where the highest numbers of working children are found. In other countries,
the penalties for violating child labour laws are inadequate. And probably the most common
obstacle to adequate legal protection for children is the fact that legislation is not enforced.

Empowering child labourers
Compulsory and accessible education reinforces child labour legislation. Every full-time
student is one less full-time child worker. Many developing countries have adopted
compulsory education laws but have not created the conditions in which schooling is a
viable option for all children. For example, schools may be inaccessible or the cost of
attending school is prohibitive.

The effective abolition of child labour remains one of the most urgent challenges of the
present times and should be a universal goal.
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Consumer Pressures
The concentrated use of child labour in certain highly visible industries has, in some cases,
attracted intense media attention and ultimately successful public campaigns for
governments to legislate to phase out the use of child labour. There is increasing
consensus that, to be effective, such targeted programs need to do more than remove
children from work. Removal alone, without ensuring children's access to education and
other services, could have harmful consequences for children and their families. Myriad
other social programs aimed at poverty alleviation, health and nutrition, and income
generation and employment creation for adults, can also help reduce and prevent child
labour. Such programs, which address underlying social and economic conditions that
contribute to child labour, are often long-term efforts that do not produce immediate results.

Trade sanctions have been frequently used as a tool to combat child labour. The
effectiveness of trade sanctions is however highly questionable in their priority for political
demonstration that “something is being done” ahead of addressing the root causes of child
labour. Child exploitation is not foremost a trade issue, and the eradication of abuse cannot
be accomplished through the trading system.

Another “solution” driven by external pressures is the voluntary labelling of goods judged to
be at risk of production involving child labour. Ethical labelling systems in general have
difficulty in establishing necessary credibility, and products sourced from developing
countries are no exception. Controversy can arise on the question of loss of family income
and viability of the producers in the face of cultural change imposed from outside.

Effective solutions to child labour must be based on the reduction of chronic poverty
through broad-based economic and social development, with a strong emphasis on human
resource development. Multifaceted and complex, managing the child labour issue requires
a wide-arranging multi-dimensional and multi-institutional approach.