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Child Labour STUDY GUIDE FOR GENERAL PAPER BY JIT SHARMA
Child Labour
STUDY GUIDE FOR GENERAL PAPER
BY JIT SHARMA
Dedicated to the Child Workers we never see
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This short guide for General Paper studies seeks to facilitate the learning and understanding of a complex subject such as Child Labour.
The links and information are valid as of November 2012.
Questions, Comments and Suggestions welcomed. Kindly email them to:
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Creative Commons 2012.
Jit Sharma
www.thegptutor.com
www.thegpportal.com
Child LabourThe employment of children at regular and sustained labour is considered exploitative by many international organisations and is illegal in most countries. (Facts and figures of Child Labour, World Bank 2009)
Child labour is a pervasive problem throughout the world, especially in developing countries. Africa and Asia together account for over 90 percent of total child employment. Child labour is especially prevalent in rural areas where the capacity to enforce minimum age requirements for schooling and work is lacking. Children work for a variety of reasons, the most important being poverty and that induced pressure upon them to escape from this plight. Though children are not well paid, they still serve as major contributors to family income in developing countries. Schooling problems also contribute to child labour, whether it be the inaccessibility of schools or the lack of quality education which spurs parents to enter their children in more profitable pursuits.
Traditional factors such as rigid cultural and social roles in certain countries further limit educational attainment and increase child labour. Working children are the objects of extreme exploitation in terms of toiling for long hours for minimal pay. Their work conditions are especially severe, often not providing the stimulation for proper physical and mental development. Many of these children endure lives of pure deprivation. However, there are problems with the intuitive solution of immediately abolishing child labor to prevent such abuse. First, there is no international agreement defining child labour, making it hard to isolate cases of abuse, let alone abolish them. Second, many children may have to work in order to attend school so abolishing child labour may only hinder their education. Any plan of abolishment depends on schooling. The state could help by making it worthwhile for a child to attend school,whether it be by providing students with nutritional supplements or increasing the quality and usefulness of obtaining an education. There must be an economic change in the condition of a struggling family to free a child from the responsibility of working.
AgricultureAn estimated 60% of child labour occurs in agriculture, fishing, hunting and forestry. Children have been found harvesting:
• bananas in Ecuador• cotton in Egypt and Benin• cut flowers in Colombia• oranges in Brazil• cocoa in the Ivory Coast• tea in Argentina, India and Sri Lanka• fruits and vegetables in USA
Mining and Quarrying
Child labourers suffer extremely high illness and injury rates in underground mines, opencast mines and quarries. Young children break up rocks, wash, sieve and carry ore. Many work in underground mines setting explosives and carrying loads. Children work in a range of mining operations, including:
• Coal in Brazil and El Salvador• Chrome in Zimbabwe• Diamonds in Ivory Coast• Emeralds in Colombia
Section 1
Prevalent Industries
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Manufacturing
About 14 million children are estimated to be directly involved in manufacturing goods, including:
• carpets from India and Egypt• clothing sewn in Bangladesh• soccer balls sewn in Pakistan• fireworks made in China, Guatemala and Peru• surgical tools made in Pakistan• footware made in Philippines
Darkest regions indicate highest prevalence.
• Poorly funded, trained and equipped education systems and teachers: There are not enough schools and many schools are not well-equipped in many countries. While the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommends that governments spend at least six percent of their National Income on education annually, many governments do not ensure education systems with nutritional amenities for certain children so that they can excel in school.
• School fees: At least 101 countries are still charging fees for primary education. Even when education is "free," sometimes families are required to cover related costs, such as transportation and school supplies. This makes it difficult for children to stay in school. Children who drop out of school are vulnerable to people use their extreme poverty as an excuse to work.
• Very limited access to education institutions, for example, lack of facilities in rural sub-Saharan Africa: In rural areas, education is often not equally accessible and the quality of available education is low. Rural areas lack educational
Section 2
Causes of Child Labour
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RAMIFICATIONS• Poverty and high unemployment levels
• Access to compulsory education is limited
• Absence of enforcement
• Corruption
• Workers rights repressed or non existent
• Global economy intensifying some factors
• Family debt
★Exemptions★ Nepal: minimum age of 14 for most work
plantations and brick kilns are exempt.
★ Kenya: prohibits children under 16 from industrial work but excludes agriculture.
★ Bangladesh: specifies a minimum age for work but sets no regulations on domestic work or agricultural work.
infrastructure (schools and teachers) more often than urban areas. Children are less likely to enroll in school and more likely to drop out before completing school in rural areas.
• Local-political issues:
◦ Ethnicity and lower castes: The school enrollment, attendance, and completion rates of children belonging to marginalized ethnic groups (like indigenous peoples) or lower castes are often more affected by inadequate educational infrastructure and less access to education as a result of discrimination, attitudes about education, and/or living in remote areas.
◦ Gender: Girls face traditional attitudes about female roles and fewer female teachers. Girls are often expected to contribute to household work and childcare. Many girls do not attend school because of low social status or domestic responsibilities. Often these girls end up doing domestic work. When gender and ethnicity are combined, educational inequalities are even greater. For example, in India nearly all upper-caste Hindu children are enrolled in and attend school. However, there is a strong tendency for girls of "backward" castes and tribes, low-caste Hindus, and Muslims not to attend school.
◦ Long-standing, entrenched and inflexible cultural and/or traditional attitudes and/or practices in certain places or among certain people, for example, among migrant workers, indigenous populations and lower castes: In some cultures, children are traditionally regarded, first, as family members. Family considerations take precedence over children's individual rights. Sometimes, education is considered unnecessary, or even wasteful, especially for girls. Child labour is accepted or tolerated by some large segments societies, which accept it as normal. For instance, household help is an integral part of Philippine society. In India, some consider hazardous work to "belong" to ethnic minorities and disadvantaged lower classes. Children traditionally follow in their parents' footsteps. For example, if the family tans leather (a hazardous occupation) then the children will likely become leather tanners. The perpetuation of caste distinctions is deeply rooted in Indian society.
• Lack of acknowledgement of the problem by some governments, other socio-economic and political actors and even the public at large, and a failure to deal with the issue as a priority.
• Employment practices where small businesses may prefer to employ children as they can pay them less than adults
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and children are young, defenseless and docile and may be bullied into doing work they should not or work long hours;
• Lack of law enforcement: Refusal to recognize certain kinds of work, such as child domestic work, as hazardous and prohibited for children, poses serious difficulties in implementing laws and monitoring work places. Corruption and a weak judicial system remain serious impediments to the effective punishment and prosecution of child employers and traffickers. Sometimes the very government officials who are responsible for enforcing the law are friends of wealthy child employers and overlook infractions.
• The death of parents or guardians from HIV/AIDS, creating a new generation of child-headed households;
• Armed conflict and children being forced to take up arms or give support in other forms of labour;
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Question 1: Why is a teenager working in McDonalds at $3.50
per hour not considered engaged in child labour?
Question 2: Why has the issue of child labour been neglected for so long?
Section 3
LOREM IPSUM
Impact of Child Labour
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RAMIFICATIONS
1. Crime
2. Health Issues
3. Psychological Issues
4. Inadequate training and Supervision
LEADING TO BIGGER ISSUES
• Child Slavery
• Child Soldiers
• Child Marriage
• Child Sexual Exploitation
Section 4
Debates & Controversies
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• Children learn skills from an early age.
• Education would serve no use to a poor country
whose soul means of survival is agriculture, mining or
fishing.
• Eradicating child labour costs more than
implementing laws and policies to strengthen the
practice
• We cannot assume that every child wants to study.
• Child labour supplements the income of the family.
• Many children do not learn any skill but are
employed in hard or menial labour.
• Education helps to alleviate poverty and improve
economic progress.
• Child labour encourages exploitation by domestic
and foreign companies.
• By making child labour illegal and not providing
alternatives, they are in fact being forced to resort
to prostitution and joining the army so as to
survive.
It is Ok It is NOT Ok
What does it cost?
the child the society
the industry
Section 5
Case Studies
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In Ecuador, child labour is prevalent in the banana and flower sectors, although it has at times been difficult for companies in these sectors to acknowledge this. The Social Forum for the Banana Production Sector, set up in 2003, was the banana industry’s response to a 2002 report by the human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch, about child labour and obstacles to trade union membership in Ecuador’s banana plantations. The report resulted in international pressure for banana certification, particularly for the American and European markets, to guarantee that bananas are produced without child labour and labour rights are respected. The following initiatives are in place to ensure compliance:
• carrying out a series of awareness-raising activities on child labour for trade unions, entrepreneurs, families and children;
• setting up a child labour inspection and monitoring system in the provinces of Guayas, El Oro and Los Rios, where the main banana producers are located;
• playing an important role in getting banana companies to agree to labour inspections on their farms and plantations.
Similar initiatives were implemented for the cut flower industry.
Read
Watch
1. Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour in Global Supply Chains: The Soccer Ball Industry in Pakistan - CSR Case Study
2. Private Sector Contributions to Combating Child Labour in the Sugarcane Industry in El Salvador - CSR Case Study
1. Child Labour in USA 1908-1920. A photo documentary produced in 2007 about child labour in USA
2. Fingers to the Bone: Child Labour in US farms produced by Human Rights Watch.
Section 6
Unwitting Employers ?
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Firestone Tire and Rubber CompanyWorkers on their metal plantation in Liberia required to meet a high production quota or their wages will be halved so many workers brought their children to work.
H&M and Zara Used cotton picked by children in Uzbekistan to make their clothes.
AppleChild labour has been found in factories that make iDevices. 11 children under 15 had been hired by three different suppliers. The suppliers did not disclose to Apple their use of child labour.
Wal-MartWALMART, the world’s largest retailer, was embroiled in a child labour scandal in the US in 2007, after children as young as five were found working on a farm that supplies blueberries to the company.
Victoria SecretIn Dec 2011, Victoria Secret was charged that malnourished, underaged West African children picked the cotton used in some of its undergarments, including a number labeled as fair trade and organic.
Philip MorrisIn 2010, Philip Morris was “forced to admit” that at least 72 children were working on tobacco farms that sold to PM, some of which as young as ten
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Question 3: How does a company address the presence of child labour in its supply chain, particularly in locations where child labour is
relatively common and where there is evidence that removing income generating opportunities will push children into deeper poverty or other forms of exploitation.
Employment Law in Singapore.
The legal age to work in Singapore is 17 years old and above. The retirement age is 62 years. Some worker class and groups are excluded from the act. There are other acts that cover domestic workers, seaman and managers.
Take a look at the following resources on employment practices in Singapore, and ascertain if there is a loop-hole that allows for child labour to be utilised.
1. Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices
2. The Employment Act - Ministry of Manpower (Singapore)
3. The Law Society of Singapore
Children Hard at Work
• A BBC video from 2006 outlining the issues of child labour and how the toils of children end up in our homes and pockets.
• Where Children Must Work - Tropic Of Cancer: April 2010 BBC Two documentary
A Convention is an international agreement between countries. These are usually developed by the United Nations or other international organizations. Governments that ratify Conventions are obliged to incorporate them into their own laws and to make sure that these laws are applied and respected.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child was the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the complete range of human rights for children, including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. The Convention defines a child as anyone below the age of 18 years and spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere should have, including the right to protection from economic exploitation (Article 32) and the right to education (Article 28). It is the most endorsed human rights treaty in the world, ratified by all but two countries.
The two main Conventions focusing specifically on child labour, on minimum age for admission to employment and on the worst forms of child labour, were developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO). It is important that countries both ratify the Conventions, and take positive action to both end child labour and support the rehabilitation and education of former child labourers.
Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, 1973
As mentioned previously, child labour is work that children should not be doing because they are too young to work, or – if they have reached the minimum age – because it is dangerous or otherwise unsuitable for them. Countries that ratify this Convention undertake a legal promise to stop child labour and make sure that children below a certain “minimum age” are not employed. At the end of 2010, this Convention had been ratified by 156 of the 183 member States of the ILO.
Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999
This Convention covers all boys and girls under the age of 18 in line with the definition of the child under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It calls for ‘immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency.’ At the end of 2010, this Convention had been ratified by 173 of the 183 member States of the ILO.
Section 7
International Conventions
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The Convention defines these worst forms, to be prohibited to all persons under 18 years, as:
1. all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced of compulsory labour, including forced of compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
2. the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or pornographic performances;
3. the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
4. work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
The term ‘worst forms of child labour’ encompasses both hazardous work (d) and other worst forms (a) to (c). The difference is that while hazardous work, through changes in the work environment and the work itself, can sometimes be modified to remove the hazardous aspects, the other worst forms can under no circumstance be considered acceptable.
As to the exact types of work to be prohibited as hazardous work under item (d) above, the Convention leaves the matter to national determination after consultation with employers’ and workers’
organisations and taking into consideration relevant international standards.
Convention No. 182 complements Convention No. 138, which in its turn provides the basic framework for national and international action for the elimination of child labour. Convention No. 182 focuses on the worst forms as a priority target, while Convention No. 138 sets forth the ultimate long term objective of the effective abolition of child labour, and also clarifies what should be targeted as child labour by providing for the minimum age standards.
As specified in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), the ILO Conventions No. 182 and No. 138 on child labour are considered as “core” Conventions. This means that all ILO Member States, even if they have not ratified the Conventions, have an obligation arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization to respect, to promote and to realize the principles concerning such fundamental rights. The four areas covered by the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work are:
1. freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
2. the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;
3. the effective abolition of child labour; and
4. the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
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1. International Labour Organisation has a dedicated channel on Youtube and has several interesting video’s on child labour.http://www.youtube.com/user/ILOTV
2. UNICEF Website on Child Protection from Violence, Exploitation and Abuse.http://www.unicef.org/protection/index.html
3. UNESCO site on Child Workershttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/inclusive-education/child-workers/
4. United Nations Global Compacthttp://www.unglobalcompact.org/news/228-06-12-2012
5. Guardian Newspaper article: UN unveils plans to eliminate child labour by 2020http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/29/un-eliminate-child-labour-2020
6. Globalisation and Child Labour A report to UNICEF www.unicef-irc.org/research/ESP/globalization/chapter6.pdf
Section 8
Resources
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Section 9
Vocabulary
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Key Terms and Vocabulary
• Worker’s Rights• Children’s Rights• Exploitative• School hours• Minimum age convention• Children’s Act for Responsible Employment• Apprenticeship• Convention on the Rights of a Child• International Labour Organisation• Sustained Labour• Sweatshops• Supplement family income• Parental poverty• Cost of coercion
• poverty• oppression• bonded labour• child trafficking• child soldiers• UNICEF• disease• fatalities• immunization• orphans• malnourishment
1. World Bank http://www.worldbank.org
2. UNICEF http://www.unicef.org
3. BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk
4. International Labour Organisation http://www.ilo.org
5. UNESCO http://www.UNESCO.org
6. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights http://www.ohchr.org
7. Law Society of Singapore http://www.lawsociety.org.sg
8. Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org
9. Kids can free the Children http://www.freethechildren.com
10.Amnesty International http://www.amnestyusa.org
11.Sweatshop Watch http://www.sweatshopwatch.org
Section 10
References
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