Definition and Facts of Child Labor - Report Example

? Child Labor Child Labor Introduction The right to freedom is known to be possessed by all living things, whether humans or animals. In spite of being the smartest of the living things on the planet, humans tend to fail and cease to understand the relevance of this aspect of life. Freedom does not only refer to the liberty of moving around in the world without physical captivation, it also relates to the right to express true feelings and pursuing whichever direction they want in life. It becomes even more severe and dreadful when children are deprived of such freedom and made to work when they are rightfully supposed to develop their mental capabilities with academics. Child labor is such an epidemic that has taken its toll in almost every society of the world with varying degrees of severity and figures. 2. Child Labor International Trade Union Confederation defined child labor as any work that hinders in the development of the true potential, acquisition of dignity and that may obscure the physical and mental growth of a child (1). There exist many types of child labors across the world; agricultural work, industrial work, lifting goods etc. International Labor Office Geneva provided the figures that around 211 million children were known to be employed in full time child labor jobs in the year 2000. According to International Trade Union Confederation, every individual under the age of 18 is considered to be a child, however the age bracket of the children included in this statistic were from 5 to 14 years of age (1). This figure does not even include the children who might be working on shifts basis for lesser durations in a day. This appalling figure serves to make one realize the severity of this situation. 3. Causes and Solutions of Child Labor According to this publication by International Labor Office Geneva, the presence of child labor is lesser in developed countries as compared to the developing ones since developed countries have been recorded to have 2% of child labor and developing nations possess as much as 30% of child labor. One factor that can explain the extensive differentiation between these figures is poverty. Udry agrees with this factor and stated that many economists believe that poverty is a major aspect that compels the parents to send their children to participate in earning for the household (2). However, the eradication of poverty cannot simple be the solution of child labor; it must be accompanied with the creation of awareness of the hazardous causes of undermining the value of education and development of mental growth of the child. It is often witnessed that uneducated parents do not consider child labor as any wrong conduct and impose the decision of work upon their children. It seems as a natural process in their lives since their ancestors have been following the same direction since ages. This causes the poor children to grow up to be uneducated and poor adults who cannot break the vicious cycle and earn a better place and respect in the society. Vandenberg stated that the cost of education tends to become a hindrance in its acquisition and ends up making the children resort to child labor as the choice other than education (15). He also provided a useful figure that pointed out that Kenya took a positive step against the eradication of child labor in 2003 and abolished the fees from primary schools (18). This step proved to get 1.5 million children off from the streets and their work and starting acquiring education. Free education is a good approach to reduce child labor but the shortage of earnings in a family may prove to incline the parents to send the children in the world to earn again. A good strategy to avoid such relapses of poverty can be to regulate effective implementation of the minimal wages to ensure that every adult is able to afford a comfortable living without depending on his children to participate in making ends meet. The people or organizations that promote and encourage child labor often present different arguments to support child labor. Apart from preconceived ideas of individuals about the natural process of children working and poverty, business owners play a major role in promoting child labor. It is often seen that employers tend to hire the children of the workers to fill in the gaps of their employment count. The avenue for extra income in the family provokes the parents to make their children work with their employers. Vandenberg pointed out that children are paid less than the adults thereby enabling them to cut their production costs and increase their profits (22). Children are dependent on the adults in their surroundings for their rights and privileges. The employers can handle the children better than the adults since children are unaware of the concept of unions and not even aware of the health issues that might become apparent by working in dangerous working environments. Brown, Deardorff and Stern mentioned an aspect of child labor that has been argued since many years that children are preferred for certain jobs like carpet making and mosaic tiling etc (24). The preference for such work can be minimized by the government agencies demanding automation of work by machines, rather than small and delicate fingers of children. 4. Conclusion Child labor exists in almost every society of the world with varying severities since it ranges from full time work routines to captivity and forced nature of work as well. Poverty is counted as one of the most apparent causes of child labor since a poor family is compelled to have more earning members than just the parents. Less wages and labor rights lead to such appalling conditions and exploitation of employees. Free schools and good standard of education at public schools can facilitate the development and mental growth of the children to ensure the breakage of the cycle of poverty in their family. Appropriate laws and regulations should be implemented such that organizations get charged upon the usage of child labor for their business processes. Child labor is a menace of the world that needs serious attention for its eradication. Works Cited Brown, Drusilla. Deardorff, Alan. and Stern, Robert. “The Determinants of Child Labor: Theory and Evidence”, Research Seminar in International Economics, Discussion Paper No. 486, 2002. International Trade Union Confederation, Child labor, 2008, Print. International Labor Office Geneva, Every Child Counts, 2002, Print. Udry, Christopher. “Child Labor”, Center Discussion paper No. 85, 2003. Vandenberg, Paul. “Eliminating Child Labor Guides for Employers”, ILO, 2007. Read More