A Global Problem of Child Labor - Report Example

 Child labor To an adult the term “child labor” probably represents a child working under harsh and inhumane conditions trying to earn enough to help his/her family financially. However, this is just a small fraction of what child labor actually symbolizes or means. In reality child laborers are employed to do a wide variety of work ranging from slavery to prostitution. Most of the lower income countries are developing industrially and one prominent problem that accompanies this transition from agriculture to industry is that of child labor. There are several factors which contribute towards this phenomenon and is today a global problem which is barely being mitigated equally. New reforms must be made and enforced seriously to terminate the problem from the society. Introduction The definition of child labor is engagement of children below a certain age in any work which hampers the mental, educational and physical well being of the child. More than half the children in the world work almost 9 hours a day on minimal wage.It is a myth that child labor has been totally eradicated from the developed countries as well. In industrialized countries exists though it may be outlawed or tightly regulated when compared to the developing countries where even today it remains a way of life .According to the US l department of labor “more than 400 children were illegally employed in 1988” and the number has been growing ever since (Landrigan et al, 1995,p657).According to a report published by Maplecroft the top countries engaged in child labor include Eritrea, Somalia, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc (CNN, 2013). ILO has reported in the 3rd Global Conference on Child Labor 2013 that the number of child laborers has dropped from 246 million to 168 million however more emphasis must be made on reforms to ensure the planned child labor eradication by 2016. However, there are several truths and obstacles on the way to eradicate this evil from the society. Poverty and Child Labor One of the most decisive factors for child labor is dearth of financial stability. Poor families have no money to support the family or invest in schooling of their children. To ensure financial security these poor families are forced to make children work. In Bangladesh, the core issue is poverty and almost 50% of its population are below the poverty line prescribed by its national standards .Catastrophic natural calamities, widely spread corruption, lack of education are reasons that the State is ill-equipped to handle poverty which leads to “a significant proportion of child workers and child laborers (65.4%) are found in the agricultural sector, while the remaining portion (34.6%) is divided between the service sector (10.3%), manufacturing sector (8.2%)transport and communications sector (1.8%), and the informal domestic-work sector (14.3%)” (Ruwanpura & Roncolato, 2006, p361). In Africa and Sub-Saharan regions, poverty results into unequal access to opportunities and resources. 47% of the African population lives on $1 per day and the percentage of poor families is rising which compels younger children to work in worst forms of child labor which are sometimes hazardous. Some children are even forced into bonded labor, armed conflict, pornography, prostitution and other illegal activities.” In some of the poorest African countries such as the Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea-Bisseau, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo, for example, more than 50 percent of children are engaged in economic activity” (Ronald, 2005, p23). Immorality of Employers Many employers illegally hire children for work purposes since the latter provides them soft targets. Since children seldom are able to protest these immoral employers engage in paying the children less money for huge amounts of work. Family Size Large family size is mostly seen in the poor sectors of the society. This mostly happens owing to dearth of proper education, lack of family planning and poverty. Parents often see children as means of more employment and earnings and hence do not hesitate to expand the family. A study of a urban Nigerian population showed that there was weak but positive relation between the family size and child labor. Furthermore number of children present and the number of mouths to feed is co-related to the number of hours a child has to put in on a daily basis (Togunde & Richardson, 2006, p58). Utilizing data of the Indian population between 1969 and 1971 a study conducted by Rosenzweig and Wolpin demonstrated that high fertility within a family have lower level of schooling, per child investment and thereby leads to child labor (Rosenzweig & Wolpin,1980,p 227) Owing to large family sizes the parents are unable to bear the costs and fail to provide adequate investment to ensure quality life for each of the children. Therefore, the older children are often made to work from an extremely young age to add to the family income. A study based on Korean population studies showed that high parental fertility has negative consequences on the investment per child (Lee, 2008, p855). Many of these families produce a large number of children to fulfill their wish for a male child hence if the children borne are girls the parents keep on expanding the family to fulfill their desire. Schooling and Child Labor Often it has been seen that improper or inadequate access to schooling institutions and lack of formal education have forced the parents from the lower sectors of the society to make their children enter more profitable pursuits such as working under domestic or industrial conditions. In Tanzania, the distance of school from the house is an important factor for the children to attend schooling. This also contributes largely to the problem of child labor in Tanzania. Since the parents of these children feel that the time spent between travelling from home to school and back maybe used for money making purposes. Moreover, in places where the school is really far there is also a travelling cost involved. Thus these factors contribute towards low school enrolment and attendance and high child labor (Kondylis & Manacorda, 2012, p44). Studies conducted in Andhra Pradesh, India have shown that child labor leads to less school attendance and this entire thing runs in a cycle. Less attendance means less education and it has also been established that parent’s education is associated with child labor and schooling (Korosaki et al,2006, p440). Inadequate Laws and Reforms and Violation Child labor reformation has been theoretical for most parts of time. Laws or rules concerned with the evil are often not enforced properly. Some forms of child labor such as in agriculture or domestic work are allowed to persist in some countries. These slack on the part of the regulatory bodies contribute significantly to the growth of child labor in the world. From time to time regulatory bodies such as the National Child Labor Committee renew its campaigns against child labor. In most countries there are laws regarding children employment but many employers are involved in violating these rules. On a global scale violations of child labor laws are reported on a daily basis. In Nebraska, the compulsory education for child laborers is not met up by the employers. According to a report the Labor Committee is ill-equipped and fake and does not enforce laws adequately (Ryder, 1910, p.177). Link to Global Economy and Globalization Global economy contributes primarily to the employment of children and is a promoter of child labor in the industrial sector. With the multinational companies expanding constantly there is stiff competition between nations for investment, jobs and labor and one of the easiest ways to obtain low cost labor is to employ children thereby mitigating all social reforms associated with child labor. This is mostly seen in the developing countries since these countries are abundant in unskilled labor. The substitution effect of globalization on child labor increase child labor as an after effect of increased returns to child labor (Rahman e& Khanam, 2012, pg59). Conclusion The problem of child labor is not a recent phenomenon and it has been a part of our culture to exploit children and make them work under inhumane and unhealthy work conditions. Despite implementation of strategies and employment of reforms it has been impossible to eradicate this problem. Child labor practices does not only hamper the physical and mental growth of a child today but also has severed adverse impacts on his approaching future. Children hold the future to any nation’s advancement hence each of them must be nurtured with immense care and adequate protection. The main focus of every country must be to identify child labor as the basic violation of child rights. The need of the moment is great reform in the fields of education and health which requires a huge a large scale development of social infrastructure. It is solely through persistent involvement of the society as a whole and strong political will for social reform that the employment of children may be curbed and helps promote and ensure a healthy childhood for each of the children and therefore June 12th is regarded as World Day against Child Labor. Reference CNN. "The 10 worst countries for child labor .com." CNN. N.p., 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. . Hope, Sr. Kempe Ronald. "Journal of Children and Povert." CHILD SURVIVAL, POVERTY, AND LABOR IN AFRICA 11.5 (2005): 19-42. Print. Kondylis, Florence, and Marco Manacorda. "School Proximity and Child Labor: Evidence from Rural Tanzania." Journal of Human Resources 47.1 (2012): 33-62. Print. Kurosaki, Takashi, et al. "CHILD LABOR AND SCHOOL ENROLLMENT IN RURAL INDIA: WHOSE EDUCATION MATTERS?" The Developing Economies (2006): 440-446. 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Togunde, Dimeji, and Sarah Richardson. "Household Size and Family Composition as corelates of child labour in urban nigeria." african development 31.1 (2006): 51-63. Print. Read More