Child Labour
Ingrid Pinto
ABC School of Social Sciences
Child Labor
The 1990 World Summit for children was a landmark, which was attended
by 71 heads of state. It was a moment of great satisfaction and
encouragement for all the international bodies engaged in their
pursuit of making "A world fit for children", when 71
heads of state pledged to eradicate polio, reduce infant mortality
rate, eliminate the worst forms of child labor and promote vocational
training for adolescents.1
Complex Factors
There is a popular public opinion that the children should not
be exposed to labor tasks including employment at an age, which
demands their involvement in educational and recreational activities.
The activities undertaken at child age contribute to their growth
and development and undertaking labor task at this age is no less
than a crime. However, mostly people express this opinion based
on strong emotions and the complex factors contributing to this
dilemma are not understood in their real background. These factors
range from legal, social, political and economic aspects, which
extend far beyond the strong emotions. A detailed, careful and
empathetic analysis of these factors can lead us to understand
the problems of child labor on an international horizon. Powerful
legislation, its strict enforcement and the extent of its implementation
across the board on an international scale can serve as a foundation
in addressing this curse. International studies reveal the magnitude
of the grave problem of child labor. A systematic estimate, undertaken
in 1985, calculated around 31 million street children worldwide,
of whom 71 percent were child workers living at home, 23 percent
kept occasional family contact, and 8 percent were entirely separated.2
The contributing factors to the child labor are limitless, however,
the vital few factors are external debt, poverty, lack of appropriate
infrastructure, economic crisis, and social and cultural environment.
It is said that the information technology has greatly contributed
in globalization and transforming the world into a global village.
The irony of the situation is that everything in this world is
globalizing except wealth and development. The Brettonwoods institutions
i.e. IMF and the World Bank have to play a strong and unbiased
role in ensuring that the seeds of growth and development are
injected into the developing world. Although poverty is termed
to be the main causal factor for child labor in the developing
world, however, some studies have shown that some child workers
"are relatively from affluent families, and engage in the
business for excitement and pocket money."3 This leads us
to believe that merely addressing poverty in isolation will not
help us to effectively eradicate the issue.
Institutionalization of the Social Sector
Additionally, it has been noted that since the 1990 World Summit
for Children, there has been a relative decline in the child labor.
A sense of awareness and, apart from legislation, the international
pressure coupled with the ethical aspect has greatly contributed
in discouraging the child work scenario in many countries. Another
factor, which is of considerable importance in tackling the issue
of child labor, is the lack of education. In developing countries,
in particular, lack of institutionalization of the social sector,
primarily that of education has also contributed to an upsurge
in juvenile workers. One of the solutions is to initiate broad-based
programs on education for all and this can be an agenda item for
the international financial support and donors organizations.
It is regrettable that these institutions emphasize on liberal
economy with a lot of push on tariff structures, which are only
symptoms. The root cause lies in the social, cultural and political
areas, and very minimal emphasis, if not superficial, is laid
on the development of infrastructure in the basic development
fields.
Although, as discussed earlier, legislation exists in the international
arena which require commitment from the countries who are represented
on international forums, but strict enforcement and compliance
is missing across the board. The declarations of the World Summit
for Children in 1990 and the International Labor Organization's
Minimum Age Convention in 1973 require that most of the countries
are committed to eradicate child labor. The problem becomes complex
when viewed in the light of varying factors contributing to it.
The rate of unemployment is yet another factor, which effects
the child labor undesirably. It is not only unemployment, rather,
an apparently hidden factor of underemployment also aggravates
the issue.
Conclusion
To conclude, child labor is a complex issue which requires a deep
insight into the variety of problems and factors which include
partial instability, economic crisis, unemployment / underemployment,
lack of legislation & non-compliance with existing legal and
ethical requirements and a highly underdeveloped social and cultural
institutions / environment. Lots of efforts are required by the
international community to address this multi-dimensional issue
both on national and international front.
Endnotes
1. Mithere J. Sandrasagara, "Concrete action on children
rights." The Daily DAWN, Karachi, February 04, 2001, p. 7.
2. Maggie Black. In the twilight zone: Child Workers in the hotel,
tourism and catering industry. (Geneva: International Labor Organization,
1995), 9.
3. William E. Myers, ed. Protecting Working Children. (London:
Zed Books Ltd, 1991), 9.
