Children work at twisting rope at a shop in Bangladesh.
The message I came away with is that child labor, rather than a means to help families fend off poverty, perpetuates poverty and is a violation of human rights.
In its most recent report (PDF, 4MB), the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that there are 215 million laborers under the age of 18 worldwide, and 115 million of them are doing hazardous work. But one of its saddest findings is that only one in five working children is in paid employment. The overwhelming majority are unpaid family workers.
Apparently there are plenty of people willing to defend the use of child labor – if the comments to my colleague’s blog post last September are any indication. But the experts at the conference contend that putting children to work has many destructive, and, perhaps, unintended consequences. Education is the only way out of poverty, the experts said, and keeping children out of school not only undercuts the child’s own personal future but that of his or her society.
According to Luis CdeBaca, the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for global anti-trafficking efforts, child labor dehumanizes children as well as the employers who exploit them. But he didn’t blame parents. He used as an example impoverished Haitian parents who sent their children away for work as domestic servants. The parents had hoped the employers would offer their children better lives; they could not anticipate the possibility that their children would be brutalized, he said.
Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, called upon the world community to find “real alternatives” for desperate parents. But what those “real alternatives” might be is hotly debated and vary from country to country. What are your ideas?
Genial brief and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Gratefulness you for your information.
ur question is “can we find better alternative to child labour”. what exactly is on ur mind ? u want a solution to the problem or alternate problem ?!! Human being is a most selfish animal. They can kill millions of chicken, cows, pigs etc for doubts about spread of viral flue or other diseases, but HIV +ve humans ? how can u even suggest of eliminating problem ?!!!
Solution to child labour is is “Compulsory Family Planning” so that value of children does not go bellow adult labour. Alternative to problem … there can be many & many… with further problems to be solved, no to find alternatives….
It is not a question of getting out of poverty. It is a given that studying is the only way out of poverty but, studying needs money. Aside from studying you still have to worry about food. The basic commodities is hard to find so in the end the children ends up working just to survive.
Sad but the reality is, unless there is a solid plan for the welfare of the children, this will be a continuous occurrence.
I think child labor inhibits the society growth. your future leaders are bound up in low to no paying jobs–most menial and many dangerous. The changes won’t occur unless it comes from a corporate level. Since corporations are for producing products at the lowest cost and marking up their prices for profit and shareholders I don’t see any solution to the problem of child labor.
yuo are indeed a wonderfull scholar. im really interested in one of write ups on child labour. i wish you can meet you in person or text for obvious reasons. thanks alot