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Eradicating child labor
The advantages of child labour
Negative impacts of child labour
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Recommended: Eradicating child labor
Introduction
Child labor is an immense international issue in the world today and gives rise to other problems. Through several facts, articles, and stories this paper will dive into the problems that many face on a daily basis due to their situation in child labor. This problem will look at where it is hitting some groups of people the hardest and where it may not be as much of a problem and is considered to be over exaggerated, getting several different perspectives of the issue. The various factors contributing to the dilemma of child labor will be touched upon throughout as well. This topic starts with the children who have been brave enough to tell their stories and allow light to shine on the issue.
The involvement of immense corporations and how they make and distribute their products will also be explored. Certain companies will be discussed as to whether they are reliable and dependable sources of products or if they cut corners by getting their materials internationally. One will be able to grasp how a nation’s financial standing impacts other aspects of that country’s well-being. Child labor in America will be another subject matter touched on and if the degree that it occurs at in a more developed nation is much different from other undeveloped nations.
By the end one should be able to understand why child labor is in violation of human rights and should not be accepted and what is currently being done to put an end to it. Many people want to put an end to this plight, but they feel overwhelmed by the complications and the enormity of it that it becomes difficult to find a the right way to tackle it. There have been many implications that have succeeded in aiding this predicament and enabled progress to be ma...
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Furigay, J. (2014 jan 24). Bolivia: Don't Lower Age for Child Labor. Targeted News Service, N.p. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://sks.sirs.com
Necessary measures required to curb child labor. (2013, May 14). Daily Outlook Afghanistan. Retrieved from http://sks.sirs.com
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Srivastava, K. (2011, July 01). LAW AND CHILD LABOR. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3425238/ Stock S. and Paredes D. (2012, August 31). Child Labor: Young Hands Picking Our Food. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/series/children-in-the-field/
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The novel Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys does an excellent job illustrating the troubling issue of child labor. The extent of child labor in a country is directly linked by the nature and extent of poverty within it. Child labor deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity. It is detrimental to physical and mental development. Today, there are an estimated 246 million child laborers around the globe. This irritating social issue is not only violates a nation’s minimum age laws , it also involves intolerable abuse, such as child slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, and illicit activities. In Between Shades of Grey , Lina and her ten year old brother are unrightfully charged 25 years of labor at a work camp in Siberia. It prevented the children from going to school and used them to undermine labor standards. In the harsh winter and even worse living conditions, they watched their mother as she starved to death.
Shah, Anup. "Child Labor." - Global Issues. Anup Shah, 17 July 2005. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. .
All of my life I have considered myself as a person who loves children. I enjoy playing with them, helping them, and just being around them. So when I first agreed with corporations who use child labor I shocked myself completely. After examining two articles; one “The Case for Sweatshops”, by David R. Henderson, and two “Sweatshops or a Shot at a Better Life”, by Cathy Young, I came to the conclusion that in some cases when young children work under proper conditions it can keep them out of the streets and be helpful to them and their families.
Throughout time children have worked myriad hours in hazardous workplaces in order to make a few cents to a few dollars. This is known as child labor, where children are risking their lives daily for money. Today child labor continues to exist all over the world and even in the United States where children pick fruits and vegetables in difficult conditions. According to the article, “What is Child Labor”; it states that roughly 215 million children around the world are working between the ages of 5 and 17 in harmful workplaces. Child labor continues to exist because many families live in poverty and with more working hands there is an increase in income. Other families take their children to work in the fields because they have no access to childcare and extra money is beneficial to buy basic needs. Although there are laws and regulations that protect children from child labor, stronger enforcement is required because child labor not only exploits children but also has detrimental effects on a child’s health, education, and the people of the nation.
We are often unaware or pick to disregard the problem of child labor in sweatshops. However, even though most people are not conscious of this, it is a reality that many children are deprived of their childhood and are enforced to work. It has been estimated by the International Labor Organization (2013) that 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in emerging countries. More than half of these child laborers are hired in Asia, others work in Africa and Latin America mostly.
Child Labour In the past few years, a great deal of attention has been drawn to the global problem of child labour. Virtually everyone is guilty of participating in this abusive practice through the purchase of goods made in across the globe, usually in poor, developing nations. This issue has been around for a great length of time but has come to the forefront recently because of reports that link well known American companies like Wal-Mart and Nike to the exploitation of children. Prior to this media attention, many Americans and other people in developed nation were blind to the reality of the oppressive conditions that are reality to many.
Child maltreatment is still an issue today effecting thousands of children worldwide. Though there are laws protecting children against child labor and abuse, and a better understanding of why children are not supposed to be working instead of getting an education, there are still many cases of child labor and abuse. Over 158 million children are being exploited a...
Child Labor is not an isolated problem. The phenomenon of child labor is an effect of economic discrimination. In different parts of the world, at different stages of histories, laboring of child has been a part of economic life. More than 200 million children worldwide, some are as young as 4 and 5 years old, are slaves to the production line. These unfortunate children manufacture shoes, matches, clothing, rugs and countless other products that are flooding the American market and driving hard-working Americans out of jobs. These children worked long hours, were frequently beaten, and were paid a pittance. In 1979, a study shows more than 50 million children below the age of 16 were considered child labor (United Nation labors agency data). In 1998, according to the Campaign for Labor rights that is a NGO and United Nation Labor Agency, 250 million children around the world are working in farms, factories, and household. Some human rights experts indicate that there are as many as 400 million children under the age of 15 are performing forced labor either part or full-time under unsafe work environment. Based upon the needs of the situation, there are specific areas of the world where the practice of child labor is taking place. According to the journal written by Basu, Ashagrie gat...
Globalization of an idea or practice can be very beneficial worldwide, but globalization can also effect countries and people negatively. Child labor was once an immense issue in the United States; however, we now have laws protecting children from dangerous working conditions. Unfortunately, children in countries like India and Africa are still falling victim to harsh working conditions. These developing nations have the same problem that the United States had years ago; children are working long hours with little pay and are working in very dangerous environments. India and Africa have industries that are growing rapidly, but because these nations are so poor, they have to rely on children to do most of the work because it is the most cost effective option. Numerous activist groups worldwide have tried fighting child labor by starting workers unions and providing poor families with a source of income, but children are still being exploited. Child labor is unacceptable; instances of it can be minimized by enforcing labor laws more strictly, making children get an education, and moving the production of goods away from youth employment.
One of the major reasons for child labour is the growing gap between rich and poor because millions of young children are forced to work in order to support themselves and their families and thus prevent children from going to school. Child labour is a global phenomenon. Although the number of child labourers is declining, still 215 million children between ages of 5 and 17 caught in child labour. (International Labour Office, 2010, p. 5). Among them, 115 million child labourers are doing hazardous work (p. 5).
So I believe that the issue of child labour is not simple. As Unicef’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report argued, children’s work needs to be seen as having two extremes. On one hand, there is the destructive or exploitative work and, on the other hand, there is beneficial work - promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest. ‘And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development.’ My firm belief is that there is a difference between child labour and child work and that in both cases the issue is whether or not the child is deliberately being exploited.
In document UN/ CRC/ 531, analyzed through UNICEF, an estimated 25% of the world’s children (developing world) are in the web of child labor. To add to this, nearly 70% of all girl/female laborers go unregistered, often performing acts of prostitution and strenuous domestic housework. This form of unregistered work is dangerous to young girls because the employers often abuse their employees sexually and physically, as well as psychologically scarring them for years. This alarming fact can be attributed to the inequality of education given to young girls.
Millions of children in developing countries all over the world are being exploited daily. “Many have referred to child labor as a triangular circle” (Grimsrud,F. & Stokke, M., 1997), this is because children, who are being forced to work are being deprived of an education
Child labour is an issue that has plagued society since the earliest of times. Despite measures taken by NGOs as well as the UN, child labour is still a prevalent problem in today’s society. Article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of a Child gives all children the right 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.1 Child labour clearly violates this right as well as others found in the UDHR. When we fail to see this issue as a human rights violation children around the world are subjected to hard labour which interferes with education, reinforces
Source 17: International Labour Organization, “Effective abolition of child labour”, International Labour Organization, May 22, 2014, http://ilo.org/declaration/principles/abolitionofchildlabour/lang--en/index.htm