Free The Children - Child Labour

Free The Children - Child Labour

Child Labour

"The change starts within each one of us, and ends only when all children are free to be children.” – Craig Kielburger In the normal lives of families with steady and adequate incomes, parents go to work every day and children are left to play with friends and go to school. However, such is not the case for the 218 million child labourers1 the world over who daily find themselves working long hours under harsh, dangerous and exploitative conditions. Overview and quick facts Globally the majority of child labourers come from the poorer sections of society. Social exclusion and discrimination, a result of poverty and ethnic and gender biases, are important factors that keep children out of school and force them to work. Ending poverty and increasing access to education are therefore crucial tools in the fight against ending child labour. Children who work are subsequently subject to abuse, both physical and sexual, from their employers and often work under conditions that are both unhealthy and potentially fatal. This scenario cannot continue. Why we should care? "Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children." - Walt Disney Because of their unique and vulnerable position, children are denied the basic working rights and wages given to adults. Children are most often employed in the informal and unregulated sectors of the global economy, for example in agriculture, and as a result they find themselves easy targets for abuse, intimidation and sexual exploitation. Improving access to education and attacking poverty head-on would go a long way to solving the challenges children face. We must help them in their struggle. Child labour is an issue is closely connected with poverty, education, the distribution of world resources, socio-economic structures and gender/fertility related issues. Defining child labour Though definitions vary, child labour means work that is done by children under the age of 15 (14 in some developing countries) which restricts or damages a child's physical, emotional, intellectual, social and/or spiritual growth. Sometimes, work does not harm children. Work may even help them to learn new skills or to develop a sense of responsibility. Most people agree that when we speak about child labour, we mean labour which is intolerable or harmful to children, or which denies them their right to fully develop, to play or to go to school. Child labour includes: • Work performed by children under the age of 15 • Long hours of work on a regular or full-time basis • Abusive treatment by the employer • No access, or poor access, to education What is bonded labour? Three types of bonded labour exist in practice around the world. • The first is when a child inherits a debt carried by his or her parents. • Another form of bonded labour occurs when a child is used as collateral for a loan. For example, a parent facing an unusually large or urgent expense would use this method to obtain necessary money. • Finally, a child worker can enter into bondage to their employer by requesting an advance on future wages they expect to earn. In all of these cases, the debt is consistently increased, through interest, to a sum beyond the capacity of the worker to repay. Expenses and interest consume all wages and also cause the debt to grow. Essentially, the child labourer becomes the property of the debt collector. Quick facts • Globally, 218 million children are child labourers1 • 126 million of these children are engaged in hazardous work2 • 73 million working children are less than 10 years old3 • Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents4 • The largest number of working children-122 million-are in the Asia-Pacific region5 • The highest proportion of working children is in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one third of the children aged 14 and under (48 million children) are in the labour force6 • 8.4 million children are trapped in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities7 The number of children involved in armed conflicts has increased to about 300,000 over the past decade.8 Between 40 and 50 per cent of all forced labourers are chidren9 • 1.2 million of these children have been trafficked (bought and/or sold)10 Where do children work? • Nearly 70% are in agriculture (rural children, especially girls, usually start working in this industry when they are very young, often between 5 and 7 years of age) • 22% are in services, including wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels, transport, personal services, etc • 9% are in industry, including mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction