Child labour. What comes to mind when you hear these two words? Torture? Injustice? Prostitution? Today I will try my best to present to you both sides of this controversial topic. Should child labour be allowed? What should organizations like the Canadian International Development Agency do about these kinds of things? Should they impose bans or step back and let life take its course? Before we begin, lets state some facts. Child labour is:
- The employment of children of children under an age determined by the country through a law or custom.
- Considered exploitative and uncivilized by most modern countries
- Widespread; over 200 million children aged 5 to 7 in this type of labour worldwide
But let's consider. Is it right? Well to be honest, there are lots of opinions on this topic. In general, most people when asked will respond that it is unethical and that it "violates the rights of the child". This statement is not totally true. In some cases, the child is forced to work, whether by physical or emotional threat, or by sheer need (to pay off debts is one example). However, there are also times when the labour is voluntary (in an instance where the child is earning money to pay for school supplies). Both cases are child labour but they are very different in nature. So the real answer is; it depends. Without a doubt, children should not be forced to work for 12 horus straight, chained to a loom, weavings sweaters for rich citizens in America for pennies a day. However it can, as previously mentioned, be a plausible and practical way to sustain one's education. Let's see what the UN's stance on this is.
"Child labour has serious consequences that stay with the individual and with society for far longer than the years of childhood. Young workers not only face dangerous working conditions. They face long-term physical, intellectual and emotional stress. They face an adulthood of unemployment and illiteracy."
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
This brings us to our second point of contest; is it safe for children to work? Most people will answer immediately "No! Do you know how many children lose limbs working with machines in a hot factory each day???". In this, they are right; certain work places can be very dangerous. Exposure to hazardous chemicals is widespread in dye factories and machines in sweatshops all contribute the the yearly work injuries statistic. However, people do err in their assumptions that all child labour is detrimental to the childrens' health. Remember that child labour is simply defined as employment of children under a certain age. And of course, employment is not confined to back breaking labour for hours on end. Employment in a family business or even a self-run business selling fruits, for example, is considered child labour. Viewed in this light, child labour is not all bad. It can be a good way to earn money to support the family and also to purchase school supplies. So, child labour can be good or bad. It is simply that the situation determines the state of the child.
Thirdly, what is the effect of child labour on the child's education and his chances at getting future jobs? Obviously, working in a coal mine for 10 hours a day will have a serious detrimental effect on both his health and his chances of getting an education. Assuming that he survives the years of coal dust building up on this inside of his lungs, he will probably be turned down from many job opportunities because he never had a chance to go to school. However, other child labour like family employment or weekend jobs do not conflict with morning or afternoon classes during the week, and are a plausible course of action for a child in need of money.
Now, what are developed countries like Canada doing about child labour, and is what they are doing having a positive effect on the situation? As previously mentioned, child labour can be either beneficial or detrimental to a child's economic and financial status. However, what should always be protected are the children's rights. The CIDA (A CanGov agency) protects children's rights through its Action Plan on Child Protection. Because of the number of children who work around the world and the effects that work can have on children's development, helping child labourers is one of CIDA's priorities. Protecting the children's rights and respecting their decisions to work is key to preventing black market deals that include selling children into the slave trade and the prostitution business. First hand experiences have shown that imposing strict bans on child labour does not work in most cases, and in fact will worsen the situation. However, working together with local governments is a good course of action and may lead to a sound, plausible compromise.
So now that you (hopefully) know a little more about this widespread phenomenon, think before you immediately shout "CHILD LABOUR? YOU BARBARIAN!" to your neighbour the next time he mentions it =P
kamster
leave comments please!
7 comments:
A bit of constructive criticism:
It's a little blurry whether you are saying child labour is a bad or a good thing here. You differentiate between child labour occuring in developing countries and kids/teens simply working weekend jobs/helping family businesses, which is good, but ultimately you're not really presenting the "good" and "bad" of the issue (e.g the bad would, obviously, be the millions of children suffering. Talk about the inhumane conditions in which they have to work. The good (although it's hard to think of it as a "good" thing) would be that people like us can buy things like clothing and shoes for much cheaper compared to items made with fair labour). Your final statement also makes the whole entry a little weaker, because it's not really summarizing what you've just said (plus, I don't think people cry out "CHILD LABOR? YOU BARARIAN!" much anyway?).
I don't want you to think I'm imposing my ideas on you or that I'm preaching about the issue. Anyways, good job with the effort. If you actually care about these issues you should definitely write more about them.
Hey, thanks for the critque! I will keep that in mind when I write in the future.
I don't really know honestly if it's a good or bad thing myself... obviously, lots of children WANT to do it to make some money in their free time. But yes, on the other hand there are lots of children that are oppressed and without a voice.
Oh yeah... and I gotta remember to stay away from known companies that employ children in third world companies... Nike much?
You bring up interesting points. This is the stuff we're learning (and talking) about in my Politics of Childhood class this term. It's my favourite :) Anyway, some other points to chew on...what constitutes a child? Should we have different moral judgments for children? For example, why is it inherently "bad" for a child to work, when an adult is capable of this?
In one of our seminar discussions a week or so ago, a girl brought up how she'd grown up on a farm and children were expected to contribute to the family by doing work on the farm. Is this farm labour? What's the difference between this and working in an urban industrial setting?
It definitely is a tough subject to talk about, but keep in mind that bad labour conditions (see: China) apply to all kinds of people - not just children. Think about what emotions even the term "child labour" induces - disgust, horror, anxiety, panic. Really makes you think about how we construct the image of the child, eh?
Good for you for blogging about this. Definitely better reading material than I've found from people my age. Proud of you!
Haha =D. Ok well a child is like... anyone that is not "allowed" to work by law you know??? Like here, the working age is like... 14?? Or something like that? So I guess it can still be classifed as "child labour", although most people think of sweatshops and back breaking labour when the term child labour comes to bear.
cool. it's like an essay online lol. but you brought up many interesting points that most people would never have thought of.
But the age of majority is different in all different countries. There isn't a definitive, authoritative age when a child becomes and adult...
Yeah, the age where child labour is no longer considered child labour is, in most cases defined by the country or by tradition. Did I not bring that up? My mistake sorry heh.
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