World Day Against Child Labor
Drawing Attention to Millions of Exploited Working Children
Aug 8, 2008
The International Labor Organization (I.L.O.) estimates that 218 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 are exploited in the labor market, often under horrendous conditions, including 8.4 million in slavery. The fight against child labor worldwide is reminiscent of the battle to end the oppression of children in U.S. farms and factories 100 years ago, documented in haunting photographs by Lewis Hines among others, but it is not a relic of the past. Child labor garnered U.S. headlines in July, 2008, in the case of Agriprocessors, Inc., the Iowa kosher meatpacking plant, and child slavery is alive and well in west Africa, southeast Asia, and Haiti, among others.
What Is Child Labor?
According to Anti-slavery International, "child labor" is children working full-time, at an early age, often in a dangerous workplace. This doesn't include teenagers working for limited hours on a farm or in a shop after school, but children of all ages who work excessive hours for no or low pay. They are often unable to leave their environment and are particularly vulnerable to abuse and violence.They are out of school so lack the education, opportunities and resources necessary to escape the poverty that pushed them into the workplace. In war-torn countries, children are often forced to serve in armed conflicts. Whole families are sometimes trapped in debt bondage or enslaved in the brick-making industry in Pakistan and the charcoal industry in Brazil, investigated in Kevin Bales' book Disposable People.
Where in the World Is This Happening?
Seventy percent of these working children are in agriculture, according to the International Labor Organization. They are on cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast and in fishing villages on Lake Volta in Ghana. They work on tea, coffee, and tobacco plantations, and they pick fruits, vegetables and cut sugar cane just a short plane ride from the U.S. in Haiti. Girls work as domestic servants in many parts of the world, or as sex slaves, often given away by their unsuspecting families in Asia and Africa for a few dollars. Thousands of talibe boys in Senegal are caught in an arrangement with marabouts, or Koranic teachers, where they are forced to wander the streets and beg for money or face beatings, according to Irin.
Who Are These Children?
Child labor is driven by poverty. The World Bank defines extreme poverty in developing countries as those families living on less than $1/day, and those living in moderate poverty as those living on $1-2/day. Global Issues estimates this to be 3 billion people surviving on less than $2/day. For those living in moderate poverty, that wage meets their most basic food needs, but they can’t afford health care or school fees for their children. An illness or a funeral expense can devastate a family financially and they often need the income their children generate to help make ends meet. If there is a choice, families will educate their boys, but girls often end up working in domestic servitude.
What Can We Do?
The United Nations, the I.L.O., the ONE Campaign, and others concentrate on anti-poverty and pro-education initiatives in order to combat child labor. Become educated about the global impact of this issue, write your representatives in support of legislation to alleviate poverty, and become involved at the grassroots level to help end child slavery and servitude.
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