Introduction Child labour is a very real problem in the world today, and although it is declining, progress is happening at a slow and unequal pace. Child labour by the International Labour Organization is defined as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development (Diallo, Etienne, & Mehran, 2013, p. 2).” In the most extreme forms of child labour it could account for child enslavement, separation from their families, exposure to serious hazards and illnesses and being left to fend for themselves on the streets (Dinopoulos & Zhao, 2007). In order for certain types of work to be included as “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type of work, …show more content…
To further my argument I will use Ethiopia as a case study to show how globalization has provided the push for countries to acknowledge the problem of child labour and create actions to fix it. This paper will be divided as follows: firstly I will provide a brief background on child labour in the world; secondly I will provide the situation in Ethiopia; thirdly I will present the actions that the government has placed to combat child labour in accordance with my argument; lastly, I will give my recommendations regarding the implications of the actions of the Ethiopian government. Child Labour in the World Today In 2008, there were approximately 215 million child labourers, aged 5-17, in the world. According to the International Labour Organization, the number of child labourers globally fell by 3% from the years of 2004-2008 which is slower in comparison to the 2000-2004 period that had an 11% decrease (Diallo, Etienne, & Mehran, 2013).There has also been a 15% decrease in the number of girls in child labour in contrast to boys who are having their work increase (United Nations, 2013). Among them, 115 million children were in hazardous work which includes: prostitution, agriculture, mining, militia, construction, manufacturing, service industries, hotels, bars, and domestic service (Cigno, Rosati, & Guarcello, 2002). The terms “hazard” and “risk” are often used with this type of child
Child labour is much worse than it is portrayed by the media. Child labour includes the employment of children in the business, food, clothing industries that is considered to be illicit or exploitative (Bonnet, 2017). It denies children their basic rights such as protection and freedom from exploitation. Children, instead of going to school, work in dangerous and physically damaging work due to limited access to resources. Reliable statistics are scare as child labour continues to grow each day in third world countries such as Africa. An abundance of evidence supports the idea that child slavery still exists in modern societies, where an estimation of 218 million children between 5 and 17 years are affected by slavery around the world (ILO,
The problem of child labor has become an ever-increasing concern among many nations. Many of the worst child labor offenses take place in Third World countries. Throughout these nations, children are being forced to work long hours in terrible conditions for little or no money. To fully understand child labor, one needs to address the reasons for supporting and opposing child labor, its effect on underdeveloped countries’ economies and the child laborers, and what is being done to combat child labor.
In addition to that, one of the most important side effects is that working children may experience physical harm in a number of ways. These include an increased risk of accidents; children and young people often work in unregulated environments where little attention is paid to safety. Working children often experience violence in the workplace from adult staff and managers. Children and young people working in the street are also at risk of physical violence from police officers and other authority figures. Risk of illness from poor hygiene and exposure to bad weather can also be witnessed. Therefore, child labor involves the following characteristics: it violates a nation’s minimum age laws, involves intolerable abuse, such as child slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, or illicit activities, prevents children from going to school, and uses children to undermine labor standards (December, 2007). Child labor can also be developmentally, emotionally, and physically abusive. Child workers are more vulnerable than adult workers, leaving them at risk for exploitation, dangerous and abusive conditions. In many parts of the world, it too often involves confinement, bondage, and forced labor; it frequently involves dangerous and unhealthy working conditions. Children work longer hours have lower pays than adults. Some children are sold into labor
Child labor is the use of children in industry or business, that can deprive them from their childhood, keep them away from attending school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. This practice have numerous occurrences all through history and is one of the worst forms of child exploitation, particularly, with during the industrial revolution. Over the years it has grown to become one of the many serious social issues around the world. According to statistics provided by UNICEF, there are an estimated 250 million children aged 5 to 14 years employed in child labor worldwide and this figure is continuously increasing. Even with the standardized federal labor laws in effect in 1938 not a lot has changed. Child labor not only causes damage to a child’s physical and mental health but also keep him deprive them from their basic rights to education, childhood, and freedom. Child labor has very bad effects on the society that can result to consequences that can exploit the future generation.
“ Worldwide, there are an estimated 246 million children engaged in child labour. Some 180 million children aged 5–17 (or 73 percent of all child labourers) are believed to be engaged in the worst forms of child labour, including working in hazardous conditions such as in mines and with dangerous machinery. Of these children, 5.7 million are forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery, 1.8 million are forced into prostitution or pornography and 600,000 are engaged in other illicit activities.”
One of the major issues faced between third world countries and with western civilization is the question of having child labor laws. Most of the westernization would all agree to get rid of the young under aged children from working in these dark, tight, ill ventilated factories or workshops. However, Chita Divakaruni explains how if the child labor law was to be passed then the children will have no other way to survive and result into being a robber or even worse and lose all their pride that they carry. Divakaruni explains how the passing of the child labor law in the United States, which will prohibit the import of goods from factories that has under aged children working in, would affect the children’s life as a whole and these children will have to result in a worse way of living to survive. On the other hand, Americans see an under aged child working long hard hours in a factory as a huge problem that needs to be stopped. These
Alberto’s example is not the only example of child labor. There are 196 countries in the world today, and 46 countries don’t protect children under the age of 18 from performing hazardous work. Globally 168 million children between ages 5-17 are child laborers. Many kids never go to school or drop out limiting future options and forcing children to accept low wage work as adults and to raise their own children in poverty. Children work because work is perceived as the best use of their time in contributing to the needs of the family and preparing them for the life they are expected to
As of 2013, 168 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor. The Sub-Saharan Africa region has the second highest number of child laborers in the world; about 59 million as of 2012 (borenproject.org). Child labor refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend school, and is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful (ilo.org). Children work in dangerous conditions, harming their mental and physical state. More than half of these children are exposed to the worst forms of child labor. More should be done to end child labor. These children experience unfair treatment, hazardous living conditions, and
Today I want to describe to you one of the biggest obstacles to human rights today. I am sure that most of you don’t know that over 100 million children around the world work in hazardous conditions. Children in Africa, Asia, and Latin America work in extreme heat and are exposed to toxic pesticides that risk their health conditions. Statistics from the International Labor Organization show that ‘’there are about 73 million children between ages 10 and 14, and 218 million children between the ages of 5 and 17, working worldwide’’. I am here today to convince you that the worst forms of child labor, including child trafficking, commercial and sexual exploitation, child domestic work, and hazardous child labor are still a concern today, and poverty, the lack of social protection, and the lack of decent work for adults are some of the reasons why child labor hasn’t been eradicated yet.
“Over 100 million children around the world work in hazardous conditions in agriculture, mining, domestic labor, and other sectors.” Child in developing countries are risking their lives for a breadcrumb amount of money just to eat dinner that night.
All over the world the utilization of child labor robs young children from their desires and aspirations. Meet 12 year old Pakistani Aziz. Instead of living a normal childhood by attending school and playing with others, he is employed at a brick kiln. Each day Aziz works from the first light of day until midnight, while his boss harshly beats him with a cane. Aziz put in these long hours in order to help his impoverished family survive and pay off his dead father’s debts. For example, employers all across the world are hiring children between the ages of 5 and 16 and working them in the same situation as Aziz to work long hours in hazardous conditions. By doing this, employers are depriving children of a healthy childhood stocked with oodles
It’s hard to believe that in our modern world today there are 168 million kids who are child laborers. Child labor is a serious problem happening worldwide, it takes kids under the age of seventeen and force them to work. This is a problem since it damages kids' health physically and mentally, in addition it is damaging their future from such an early start. Child labor should be illegal worldwide because of the hazardous conditions, long working hours, and the low pay. It is unfair that these children have no choice in working as well as having their childhood taken away from them.
This shows that 13% of children are not receiving an education and that a lot of countries still using child labor. Also, children faces health and safety risk because they are working in dirty environments. Also, children lift heavy equipments that they have to use in order to work and children aren’t strong enough to be carrying heavy equipments.
In the first place, the global economy, or otherwise know as world economy, is considered as an international exchange of goods and services. The global economy mostly get the goods and services from child labor from the west because they demand for cheap, readily-available goods. There are many factors that lead to child labor on a global scale. These factors include global competition, free trade rules, and the structural adjustment policies. With these factors, the global economy promotes child labor.International competition sometimes slows child labor reforms by encouraging corporations and governments to seek low labor costs by resisting enforceable international standards and repressing trade union activism, (Child Labor Public..).
There are children that suffer through child labor daily. Child labor is the use of children in a business or industry, usually illegal. “3 billion people around the world survive on $2.50 a day or less. And 2 billion people do not hold a bank account or have access to essential financial services” (“Living in Poverty”1). Children that are normally in labor come from a poor family that’s in need of money so badly that it comes down to selling their own children or putting them up for jobs. Child labor is happening right now, all around our world. There are children being forced into labor and not knowing anything different. Therefore, some parents and families may rely on child labor in order to have lives basic